As the world’s cameras pour upon a curious funeral ritual of a long lost King, it is appropriate perhaps to examine a noted well associated with the monarch and the event which resulted in his demise. For in the grounds of the supposed Bosworth Battle field is King Richard’s Well, (SP 402 000) and here lies a mystery. Why celebrate a well associated with a loser?

Early records

The name first appears on the Ashby Canal Company map of 1781, 1784 Montague Estate survey of Sutton Cheney Dixie Estate map of 1788 notes simply as Ambion Well after the Hill The earliest written descriptive record of the well I have uncovered appears to be Ireland (1785) who notes in Picturesque views on the Upper of Warwickshire Avon:

“near the scene of the action is a Well, which still retains the name King Richard’s Well, there were formerly a flight of steps leading down to it; it is now long overgrown with rushes and running to waste.”

This would suggest the existence of an older structure, but how old this is unclear. The statement ‘long overgrown’ suggests some age before the date of the publication but how much we cannot know for sure. The description of the structure is too little to date it, although a similar structure was to be encountered in the county at  based on a legend dating from….but that along gives no support for antiquity. Certainly, Nichols *() fails to mention the well, which is unusual considering his interest in holy and ancient wells elsewhere in the county, was it an oversight or was it not very well known then.

Hutton in the Gentleman’s magasine Vol 83 part 2

“ I paid a visit in July 1807 to Bosworth Field; but found so great an alteration since I saw it in 1788, that I was totally lost. The manor had been inclosed: the fences were grown up; and my prospect impeded. King Richard’s well, which figures in our Histories was nearly obliterated; the swamp where he fell became firm land; and rivulet proceeding from it lost in an under-drain, so that future inspection is cut off.”

Dr. Parr visited the site in 1812 found in drained and closed up since he had visited in six or seven years previous. He organised a subscription with a suitable Latin inscription. Of course as Peter Foss (1990) notes in The Field of Redemore the cairn may not mark the exact one as there are a number of springs there. Nevertheless the site was repaired in 1964 with limestone rubble.

Folklore

A local legend records that it was from the spring which Richard drank before the battle. This might suggest that the well was already noted and perhaps a holy well? Another legend records that on a hawthorn tree near the spring King Richard’s crown was found which would be very coincidental if the former legend was correct.  This seems likely to be a piece of folklore later adapted to support the well rather than vica versa.

Why commemorate the King’s well at all?

The association of royalty with springs is an understudied aspect of the subject and I have already given an overview here. It appears such dedications fall in three groups: Holy wells (such as those associated with saintly kings), true historical associations and antiquarian musings! But which one does Richard’s Well belong to? Certainly the later two, but is there another tradition hiding beneath that?

His burial in Greyfriars suggests that the community perhaps wanted to capitalise on any cult which might developed. Kings after all did develop into cult figures, England has a number from Edward II to Henry VI although only pre-Norman Kings have ever been canonised. Perhaps, as I have hinted those who die could be considered martyrs and the church attempted to develop a cult around them. Was this one still born due to the Reformation?

Interestingly, Dickie’s Well is not the only well associated with the unfortunate king, in Warwickshire at Kineton, perhaps giving more evidence. More significantly perhaps is King Dick’s Hole, a deep part of the Anker where local tradition Richard bathed before the battle, may have stationed his troops at Mythe Hall.

Again all this supposition especially as the name appears only the late 1700s it perhaps more a romantic notion than record any cult tradition.

In the right place?

This is an obvious question, as in 2011 archaeologists and historians cast serious doubt over the belief that Bosworth field was the location. However, a number have used the well to support the view. In support of his for example  Daniel Williams (1985) in A place mete for twoo battayles to encountre’: the siting of the Battle of Bosworth, 1485 cites the local tradition of King Richard’s Well, near the top of Ambion Hill on its western side, from which Richard is supposed to have drunk before the battle. There is also the discovery of cannonballs on Ambion Hill.

A number of historians have placed the marsh to varying degrees south and south-westward of Ambion Hill. Hutton located it on the slopes of the hill itself, created, he argued, by poor drainage of the spring at Richard’s Well. Others have tended to site the marsh nearer the Sence brook, regarding this as the probable source of waterlogged ground. Peter Foss (1990), however, in keeping with his theories about Redemore, has the marsh over half a mile to the south-west at the Fenn Lanes crossing.

Whatever the truth, Richard’s Well is one of the most famous springs associated with a King and a great part of the battlefield landscape.

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