Dadlington is a village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

, now in the parish of

Sutton Cheney Sutton Cheney ( ) is a village and civil parish in the borough of Hinckley and Bosworth in the county of Leicestershire, England, near the county border with Warwickshire.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : In addition to the ...

, in the

Hinckley and Bosworth Hinckley and Bosworth is a local government district with borough status in south-western Leicestershire, England, administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Its only towns are Hinckley, Earl Shilton and Market Bosworth. Villages in ...

district, in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : It is situated between

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England. It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in the administrative county of Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughbor ...

Market Bosworth Market Bosworth is a market town and civil parish in western Leicestershire, England. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 1,906, increasing to 2,097 at the 2011 census. It is most famously near to the site of the decisive final battle of ...

and

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...

. In 1931 the parish had a population of 200. The village has a population of around 301 and contains a 13th-century church (St. James), a pub (the Dog and Hedgehog) and a hotel (the Ambion Court). The

Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal The Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal is a long canal in England which connected the mining district around Moira, just outside the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, with the Coventry Canal at Bedworth in Warwickshire. It was opened in 1804 ...

runs through the village.

History

The village's name means 'farm/settlement of Daedela'. Dadlington became a parish in 1866, on 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Sutton Cheney. A

silver gilt Silver-gilt or gilded/gilt silver, sometimes known in American English by the French term vermeil, is silver (either pure or sterling) which has been gilded with gold. Most large objects made in goldsmithing that appear to be gold are actually ...

white boar,

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

's own badge, given in large numbers to his supporters, was discovered at Fen Hole outside Dadlington in 2010. There is a theory that the

Battle of Bosworth The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 Augu ...

took place at Dadlington, not at

Ambion Hill Ambion Hill is a hill in west Leicestershire, England, south of the town of Market Bosworth and lying south of the Sutton Cheney to Shenton road and north of Dadlington and of Fenn Lanes Roman road. The Ashby Canal passes to the south of the hill. ...

.https://www.academia.edu/6190542/Finding_Bosworth_Battlefield_a_multiproxy_palaeoenvironmental_investigation_of_lowland_sediments_from_Dadlington._Leicestershire_England On Sunday 22 March 2015, the funeral cortège of King Richard III paused in Dadlington en route to his burial in

Leicester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Martin, Leicester, commonly known as Leicester Cathedral, is a Church of England cathedral in Leicester, England and the seat of the Bishop of Leicester. The church was elevated to a collegiate church in 1922 ...

. In 1511 the wardens of St. James' chapel at Dadlington petitioned

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...

for a chantry foundation in memory of those who fell at the

, 1485 (the churchyard being the main place of interment for the dead). A 'Letter of Confraternity' was published and the chantry was established in a minimal form but dissolved in 1547 under

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

with the general abolition of such foundations. In 1985, the quincentenary year of the battle, Dadlington (through the publications of Dr Colin Richmond and, subsequently, Dr Peter Foss) became the centre of a controversy over the battle's location, which has now resulted in a major reassessment of the battle site and scenario currently being undertaken by

Leicestershire County Council Leicestershire County Council is the county council for the English non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire. It was originally formed in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888. The county is divided into 52 electoral divisions, which return a to ...

. During the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

Dadlington was visited by troops from the parliamentary garrisons at Tamworth and

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

seeking horses and free quartering. A claim to the Warwickshire county committee submitted by the constables in June, 1646 reveals that on 12 March 1643 a certain Burdett, described as "a soldier under Captain Turton of Tamworth" made off with a horse belonging to Ann Turton, a widow. (A Richard Turton is listed in a 1643 Tamworth garrison musters of "officers, dragoons and soldjers"). A few months later "Mason, a soldier under Captain Turton" (probably John Mason, also listed among the Tamworth garrison) took a horse worth £2.6.8 from this same Ann Turton, who may well have been related to the captain. Colonel Purefoy's soldiers from Coventry availed themselves of free quarter "for one night and part of a day" estimated to be worth £2.10, while Captain Flower's footsoldiers from Coventry took a horse worth 2s from Michael Cox and Captain Ottaway's soldiers a horse worth 5s from Thomas Everard. (Exchequer accounts, SP 28/161)

References

External links

Dadlington Village History website
2007 website now archived

(Tim Parry's webpage, on the Internet Archive) {{commons category, Dadlington Villages in Leicestershire Former civil parishes in Leicestershire Hinckley and Bosworth