It truly is an archaeologist’s dream to find a complete skeleton in the first trench opened that turns out to be a
missing King of England. Phillipa Langley, from the Richard III Society,
personally raised over £10,000 to finance this dig. Many of the local
archaeologists admit now that they thought it was a lost cause but they were
wrong. The exact spot that Phillipa Langley had identified as having been where
the choir of the Greyfriars Priory once stood, was THE spot.
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| Reconstructed head using scans of the skull. |
We’ve had time to get used to the idea but even so,
yesterday, with the confirmation of the DNA results, the whole City was buzzing.
Everywhere we went people were saying, “Have you heard the news? It’s really
him!” For those of you who want the finer details, they are well documented on
the University of Leicester website so I won’t repeat them here.
The people of Leicester have long had a connection with Richard III. King
Richard’s Road is a busy main street running along the West of the
City. There are Richard III schools, Richard III pubs and Bosworth Field is only a few
miles out of town. Now we learn that his body will be
re-interred in Leicester Cathedral, beneath an inscribed stone that already
bears his name and there will be a Richard III Visitors’ Centre opening very soon. We're really looking forward to welcoming lots of new visitors to the
City.
But there is one thing I must insist upon… when you come to visit, don’t forget to
contact me [You can send me a tweet or mention it on this blog] and we’ll meet up for a coffee and cake. Now that IS a result!
