The King's Grave: The Discovery of Richard III's Lost Burial Place and the Clues It Holds

by Langley, Philippa

  In Trench One it looks as if our strange wall without a foundation is a bench built up against a (robbed) wall, which could have been inside a room. By lunchtime careful key-hole investigation of the robbed wall has found a second, similar bench, with evidence of floor tiling between them. These parallel benches are a major breakthrough, giving Richard Buckley and his team an important clue as to which part of the friary has been found. The benches suggest a place where people could have sat and talked, which Morris explains in a medieval friary would have been the chapter house. As the chapter house is normally built off the eastern side of a square cloister, this would make the corridor joining it, over in the northern end of Trench Two, the eastern cloister walk. To confirm this, the team will need to expose more of the southern end of Trench One to see if it reveals another east–west robbed-out wall, running parallel to the more northern one. They will also have to extend the northern end of Trench Two slightly to see if this more northern wall does travel east–west and intersect the trench at this point.

  To the north of the chapter house, the ground in the northern end of Trench One is too disturbed for any guesswork as to which side the church might be on, with this area, potentially, outside the friary buildings. I wander back to see Jon Coward in the northern end of Trench One for the millionth time. It’s hot, thirsty work and he’s got some way to go to clear the large quantities of heavy rubble. Having looked again at the maps of the area, Richard Buckley has confirmed that the coal cellars built here by the Victorians for their outhouse are making it nigh on impossible to interpret the archaeology. It also doesn’t help that a later garage, with a possible inspection pit, had been built here in the 1930s, its massive concrete walls still visible, and immovable.

  Stopping for a moment to take a drink, Jon Coward tells me that he’s found something, and points to a small area in Trench One directly behind where he is working. I can see a short red-bricked Victorian wall, forming a small square area. ‘Smell it,’ he says. I jump down into the trench and take a good sniff. It’s a bit pungent. ‘A Victorian lavatory,’ he says, and shows me where its doorway would have been. I’m shocked that we can still smell it. He laughs and says if we dig down we’ll probably find what’s causing it! I make a face and try to make light of it but, climbing out of the trench, it cuts me to the core. As I watch Coward back at work, I look at the Victorian lavatory. It’s directly over a wall, and only inches from the human remains, the lower leg bones, discovered on the first day of the dig. A final resting-place next to a leaking Victorian lavatory is not fit for anybody, never mind a king.

  Tony Gnanaratnam is continuing his trowel work in the southern end of Trench One and shows me his latest find, a beautiful piece of stained-glass window. I ask if we can be sure it’s medieval. It will have to be properly cleaned but Gnanaratnam, one of the most experienced archaeologists on site, thinks it looks like it. In no time the find has drawn a crowd of archaeologists. Stained glass means a high-status building, which could be the Greyfriars Church. Jon Coward also has a new find. In the rubble he’s been clearing he has uncovered a carved masonry mullion, with a slot. Richard Buckley and Mathew Morris explain that the slot would have held the lead, which would have held the window, perhaps of stained glass. There’s a tangible feeling of excitement as the team heads back to work and I wonder what else Trench One might reveal. I don’t have long to wait.

  In the afternoon Jon Coward’s work on the massive rubble heap with voids is just about done. Beneath the rubble is a massive robbed-out wall, its shadow an enormous dark stain in the ground. It seems about 1.5 metres thick. I look at Mathew Morris. ‘It’s big enough,’ he says. ‘It could be the southern wall of the church.’ Jon Coward is smiling, the sweat dripping off him, and I hug him. Richard Buckley checks the area and instructs Coward to clean it up as much as possible. He too is smiling.

  ‘It might be the church,’ he says. ‘Let’s see what tomorrow brings.’

  At 4 p.m. we down tools, and I tell the DSP team that I’ll walk back today instead of taking a lift in their vehicle. I want time to think. As I head to the hotel through the New Walk, a beautiful tree-lined Georgian avenue that bisects Leicester’s city centre streets, for the first time I’m happy in the knowledge that the search for Richard was the right thing to do. And I know that whether it is him, or someone else, we can’t leave the remains where they are.

  Day Seven

  Friday, 31 August 2012

  I arrive to see a truck at the northern end of the car park preparing to remove some of the modern infill to give us more room and help safety on site. I check the area where the bones are, as I do every morning. And I’m shocked. The ground has been disturbed, someone’s been poking about. Security personnel Ken John and Luke Thompson check the CCTV. The only way in is over the high Victorian red-brick wall of the former grammar school, which is currently empty. The Social Services car park is locked each night. It doesn’t look like anything has been taken as the plastic sheeting covering the bones is still in place, but someone’s been looking. Has word got out?

  It turns out there’s nothing on the CCTV except pigeons, but two or three of the big blocks of brick near the bones have been dislodged. A pigeon couldn’t do that. As we try to figure it out, one of the truck drivers comes over to say that earlier, he’d jumped into the trench and accidentally dislodged some of the stones there. I hope he hasn’t damaged anything. Although a relief, it’s a stern reminder to bring in the night security I’d budgeted for. Thompson tells me that rumours about bones being discovered are already doing the rounds of the social workers. The last thing we need is this news getting out.

  Jon Coward is in the northern end of Trench One continuing his cleaning work. Tony Gnanaratnam is mapping out the southern end, recording all measurements and dimensions. He’ll then move into Trench Two and do the same there. These measurements will give Richard Buckley and his team a much better understanding of the buildings and spaces we’re looking at. I’m about to wander over to Trench Two when Gnanaratnam shows me what’s been found in the southern end of Trench One. When he was clearing the last of the rubble to try to locate a possible southern east–west robbed wall, he uncovered further pieces of window tracery. They’re stunning, almost intact. Mathew Morris confirms they’re medieval, and could be from the church. But there’s more: archaeologist Pauline Houghton has also found a medieval roof tile with a ridge crest. It’s damaged but still glazed, further denoting a high-status building, and its close proximity.

  Richard Buckley is due for our on-site meeting, and I’m pacing up and down. We might have found a church wall, stained glass, window tracery and a glazed roof tile, which means the remains uncovered on the first day might be situated in the church itself. Buckley arrives, checks the finds, and we agree to dig Trench Three in the north of the site, in the former grammar school car park, directly adjacent to and east of Trench One. In a confined space, this trench will be twenty-five metres long. If Jon Coward’s wall is the only indication we have of the Greyfriars Church, then Trench Three will test if the massive robbed-out wall from Trench One can be picked up at the new position. Buckley tells me to keep my fingers crossed and hope for a positive result. We have one week left to dig.

  He asks what I want to do with the human remains found on the first day of the dig as, without any archaeological evidence to give them some context, they are of no interest to him. He doesn’t know if they are a burial, but thinks their position could be in the nave and could belong to a friar. Buckley knows what my response will be and smiles, and as expected I say that I want the remains in Trench One exhumed. They’re beside my letter ‘R’. Buckley wants to wait and carry out some possible exhumations, should we find any more remains, in the former grammar school area to the east so asks if I have the funds to cover this one. I have nearly £800 left from the International Appeal, and ask if that will be enough. ‘More than enough,’ he says, and it’s agreed. Buckley will apply for the Exhumation Licence as soon as he’s
back at his office. It’s a weekend so it won’t come through until Monday, 3 September. The excavator will then dig out a western slot over the remains both to see whether they are a complete burial and to aid the exhumation.

  I ask about Harriet Jacklyn, the osteologist, who has been ill and is unavailable for the project. A replacement has been appointed and, although not quite as experienced as Jacklyn, is certainly up to the job. I suggest calling in a metal detector expert and Buckley agrees to contact Ken Wallace, a reliable and experienced professional.

  We head over to Leicester’s Guildhall, a magnificent fourteenth-century timber-framed building where Richard Taylor from the university has called a press conference at 11 a.m. to update the media on the dig’s progress. Assistant City Mayor Piara Singh Clair will speak on behalf of LCC, and is delighted to hear the positive results from the dig so far.

  In the afternoon, Richard Buckley calls from his office to say he needs to amend our agreement to allow DSP to film the human remains. The original agreement allowed for specific photography but not filming. They, and Carl Vivian, have already filmed the lower leg bones, but I’m aware that a potential full set of human remains is a different matter to individual bones. Filming will be needed for the historic record. Reminding myself of the conditions in place to protect the remains from general circulation if they are those of Richard III – an identifiable individual – I agree to the change and ask Buckley to confirm that nothing else in my agreement is to be altered, which he does. The change allows the filming of human remains on dedicated memory cards that will be kept securely by ULAS.

  Later that day, Trench Three in the former grammar school car park is outlined with yellow spray paint by Leon Hunt and Mathew Morris. It is then buzz-sawed ready for machining first thing next morning, when Stevie, the excavator driver, will be back.

  Day Eight

  Saturday, 1 September 2012

  It’s 8 a.m. and I meet archaeologist Steve Baker, our site supervisor for the weekend work. Baker guides the excavator and Stevie, its driver, out on to a quiet St Martins and into the former grammar school car park. The final twenty-five-metre-long Trench Three is machined in the north of the site, immediately adjacent to, and east of, the Social Services car park – and Trench One. At the medieval level in the centre of the trench, large areas of mortared flooring are appearing, along with possible grave cuts. These are excavations made in the earth to bury a body or coffin and generally have straight edges. There is also an area of paving with medieval floor tiles in the south of the trench.

  Excitingly, it looks as though there is a continuation of the massive east–west robbed-out wall from Trench One together with an equally large northern one, running parallel. Could this really be the Church of the Greyfriars?

  Day Nine

  Sunday, 2 September 2012

  The cleaning of Trench Three reveals two grave cuts in the large central mortared floor area. It also looks as if the large robbed-out wall to the north had a buttress on its northern edge, facing on to St Martins. The estimated width between the two great parallel robbed-out walls is 7.5 metres which is, Richard Buckley informs me, consistent with priory churches (the exact width turned out to be 7.4 metres).

  Everyone is getting really excited about Trench Three. Buckley and Morris believe we’re in the east end of the Greyfriars Church, but are not exactly sure where yet, although the grave cuts are highly suggestive. We might be near the altar or choir, which means that the human remains found on the first day would be in the nave of the church.

  Day Ten

  Monday, 3 September 2012

  Richard Buckley wants to find out more about what they are uncovering in Trench Three. It looks like the mortared floor in the central area is much higher than the surround. At this stage, however, he won’t be drawn on what it might be, but he’s very keyed up. The others are much happier to speculate though. Could it be the choir of the church and the location of the burial of Richard III? Quantities of inlaid medieval floor tile have also come from the new trench. To the south, and outwith the church building, there is now a definite area of random paving using medieval floor tiles of different sizes that may have been robbed from the friary buildings and re-laid at a later date. Buckley speculates that this might be paving from Robert Herrick’s garden.

  With the grave cuts and robbed-out walls being on the right orientation (east–west), and with associated building materials consistent with a medieval religious house, Buckley is as sure as he can be that we have found the Church of the Greyfriars. At an on-site meeting with Sarah Levitt from LCC, he says he wants to dig an additional (fourth) trench in the Social Services car park to pick up the west end of the church (or at least confirm whether it carries on into New Street), and expand Trench Three in the hope of revealing more of the interior of the church and the burials it contains.

  With more difficulties, and costs, arising from a fourth trench in the Social Services car park, it’s decided instead to expand Trench Three using the contingency fund available within the original budget. Two central slots – east and west – will be cut into Trench Three starting tomorrow. Both slots will be large enough to reveal a significant portion of the archaeology without hitting services or undermining the nearby dividing wall between the car parks, or the former grammar school building.

  News of the discovery of the Greyfriars Church is passed to Leicester’s mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, who immediately authorizes a third week for the dig. The extra week will be paid for by LCC with help from the university. The Exhumation Licence has now come through from the Ministry of Justice, made out to ULAS as the archaeological contractor. Jo Appleby, lecturer in bioarchaeology at the university and our osteologist, is unavailable today so it’s agreed that the exhumation in Trench One will start tomorrow morning when she’s back. Turi King, also a trained archaeologist, will assist.

  I can’t quite believe that we may have found Herrick’s garden. I feel the need to get involved and help with some of the cleaning work under the guidance of archaeologist Neil Jefferson. At the southernmost end of Trench Three it looks like the pattern of the tiling is heading in a circular direction. Could this be the central area that held Herrick’s ‘handsome stone pillar’, the last known marker of King Richard’s grave? If so, what does it tell us about the remains in Trench One? They could be too far away from here to be those of King Richard. Or, as Herrick’s central area is situated outside the church, did he get the location of Richard’s grave wrong? Tomorrow’s exhumation might hold some clues.

  6

  Seizing the Throne

  ON 9 APRIL 1483 King Edward IV passed away. This monarch, who had begun his reign in the spring of 1461 with so much heady optimism, had died unnaturally early, at the age of forty. He left a court dangerously divided and the king’s personal charm – which had kept many of these tensions at bay – could now no longer be exercised. And he had left no clear provision for the government of the country until his oldest son and heir Edward V, twelve at the time of his death, came of age. This uncertainty, and the hatred or deep suspicion that still existed among the aristocracy of the realm about the family of his queen, Elizabeth Woodville, was a ticking time bomb that would blow up with terrible force, leaving carnage in its wake.

  The sequence of events that followed has normally been told with Richard, Duke of Gloucester as the villain, usurping power not rightfully his by a series of strikes against an unsuspecting political community. The reality was rather more complex. When Edward IV died there were three power bases in the country. The first lay in London, where the king’s court had assembled, government was carried out, and the council was now ruling the country on behalf of the twelve-year-old Edward V. The second was in Ludlow, on the Welsh Marches, where Edward V was actually staying, nominally head of the king’s council for Wales, although affairs were in fact directed by the queen’s brother, Anthony, Earl Rivers. And the third was in the north, at York, where Richard, Duke of Gloucester was to travel from h
is residence at Middleham to receive oaths of loyalty from the northern community to the new king.

  The queen and those members of her family in London held the advantage. They were at the centre of government, and they were first to be informed of the king’s death, although rumours of his serious illness had been spreading earlier, and they took immediate action to enable their own faction to gain control as rapidly as possible. Their measures were principally directed against the young king’s uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester.

  On 11 April, two days after the king’s death, the council met. From the testimony provided by Dominic Mancini, who was in London at the time of these events, we learn that shortly before his death Edward IV had added a codicil to his will naming his brother Richard Protector of the Realm, and giving him control of the kingdom until the coronation of Edward V took place. The Woodvilles now concentrated all their efforts on overturning this provision.

  Their immediate intention soon became clear: to disregard the late king’s wishes, ignore Richard’s appointment as Protector and instead take political control themselves. Their plan was simple: to bring the young king to London at the head of a large army, rush forward the coronation to the beginning of May, and then, with the king crowned, and holding all offices of government and with an army at their back, rule the country as they pleased with the young king as their figurehead. This scenario could not have been more threatening to Richard.

  A series of stormy meetings took place, against the backdrop of the continuing arrangements for Edward IV’s funeral. The Woodvilles took prompt steps to strengthen their position. Another of the queen’s brothers, Sir Edward Woodville, was put in charge of the fleet. The late king’s treasure was quickly divided between the queen, Sir Edward, and her eldest son by her first marriage, Thomas, Marquis of Dorset. Dominic Mancini’s account – our most important contemporary source – is clear that the council, dominated by the Woodvilles, embarked upon this course because they did not want political power to pass to Richard. Their raid on the late king’s treasure – and for Mancini this was tantamount to theft – was confirmed by an extant financial memorandum dating from this time, which showed the remaining financial reserve dispersed among the queen’s kin. Its consequence was a sudden and dangerous shift in the balance of power in the kingdom. ‘We are so important,’ said the Marquis of Dorset, ‘that even without the king’s uncle [Richard] we can make and enforce our own decisions.’