Sunday 22 March 2015

R is for...


Look how many formal parterres there are in such a small area in this old map. 'Cornwall Street' is now designated 'Walcot Street' after the the name of the medieval village which sprang up outside the city gates, but everything else stays the same.

There is a spelling mistake though. 'Cornwall' should be 'Cornwell', but even my spell-checker says that this is the wrong spelling, and the map could have been made before Johnson standardised spelling and phonetics ruled. I am assuming that the place was named after one of the many wells and not the land in the far West.

'Ladymead' to the left, was originally 'Law-Day Meadow', when travelling assizes were held once a year next to the river to settled legal disputes - like Runnymead, where the Magna Carta was signed.

Today, the bones of Richard 3rd will be taken from Leicester University to the Cathedral where they will sort of lie in state - next to the font - until they are put under a slab with a more formal burial. York wanted their last Plantagenet king back home of course, but York gets enough tourists as it is and Leicester badly needs them. I've never been to either place, believe it or not.

I still cannot get over the amazing story of how Richard was rediscovered, and how a woman who was previously thought of as a ranting obsessive suddenly turned into a national heroine, thanks to the funding of a T.V. station. I want to see that film again, where she walks into a modern, boring car-park, points to a large letter 'R' painted onto the tarmac and says, "I have a strong intuition he is right here."

They dig a hole, and - bugger me - there he is, right under the R.

I can't get enough of this living history stuff.


19 comments:

  1. We are all living history Tom in our own way. Some more than others - and I suspect you are up in the h igher echelons.

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    1. Not as high as you. You are about 20 years older than me aren't you, Weave?

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  2. I was watching your favourite, Lucy Worsley, last night, talking about history stuff ! XXXX

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    1. Hmm. I've deleted her blog from by bookmarks. To upsetting ever since she got into a bubble bath once.

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    2. What a horrible idea. I was keen until she started dressing up at every opportunity with the glee of a five year old in her eyes.

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  3. Replies
    1. You're going to have to explain that - without the use of four-letter words, please.

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  4. If you need to know why York has more tourists than Leicester then I suggest that you visit both.

    If you don't have much time, just visit York :)

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  5. Interesting to see so many people lining the route for his funeral.

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    1. Sounds like a bit of a circus.

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    2. Looks like there can't be much to do in Leicester on a Sunday.

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  6. The parking space with the " R" is where my cousin used to park her car! My husband's old grammar school is right next to it and I believe the car park was originally part of the playground.

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  7. Does that make me famous by association?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, although I have a good friend who is a Plantagenet, so were back to eclipses again.

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