Market Bosworth is a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

and

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 authorit ...

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 the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the throne of England, English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These w ...

. In 1974,

Market Bosworth Rural District The rural district of Market Bosworth existed from 1894 to 1974 in Leicestershire, England. It was named after Market Bosworth, and was created under the Local Government Act 1894, based on the Market Bosworth rural sanitary district, and t ...

merged with

Hinckley Rural District The rural district of Hinckley was set up in 1894, covering the rural area around Hinckley, Leicestershire, England. It was named for Hinckley, but did not include it. It was created by the Local Government Act 1894 based on the Hinckley Rur ...

to form the district of Hinckley and Bosworth. Although the town is 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 ...

, its postal address is

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 ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

and postal area code CV13.

History

The town's historic cattle market closed in 1996. Building work here and at other sites has revealed evidence of a settlement on the hill since the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. Remains of a

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

have been found on the east side of Barton Road. Bosworth as an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

village dates from the 8th century. Before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conq ...

of 1066, there were two manors at Bosworth one belonging to an Anglo-Saxon knight named Fernot, and some

sokemen __NOTOC__ The term ''soke'' (; in Old English: ', connected ultimately with ', "to seek"), at the time of the Norman conquest of England, generally denoted "jurisdiction", but its vague usage makes it probably lack a single, precise definition. An ...

. Following the Norman conquest, as recorded in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

'' of 1086, both the Anglo-Saxon manors and the village were part of the lands awarded by

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

to the

Count of Meulan The county of Meulan, in Normandy, France, appeared as an entity within the region of the Vexin when the otherwise unknown Count Waleran established an independent power base on a fortified island in the River Seine, around the year 1020. Waleran' ...

from Normandy, Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester. Subsequently, the village passed by marriage dowry to the English branching of the French

House of Harcourt The House of Harcourt is a Duchy of Normandy, Norman family, and named after its Fief, seigneurie of Harcourt, Eure, Harcourt in Normandy. Its mottos were "Gesta verbis praeveniant" (Olonde branch), "Gesta verbis praevenient" (Beuvron branch), ...

. King

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

gave a royal charter to Sir William Harcourt allowing a market to be held every Wednesday. The village took the name Market Bosworth from 12 May 1285, and on this day became a "town" by common definition. The two oldest buildings in Bosworth, St. Peter's Church and the Red Lion pub, were built during the 14th century. 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 Au ...

took place to south of the town in 1485 as the final significant battle in the

between the

House of Lancaster The House of Lancaster was a cadet branch of the royal House of Plantagenet. The first house was created when King Henry III of England created the Earldom of Lancasterfrom which the house was namedfor his second son Edmund Crouchback in 126 ...

and the

House of York The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of Yor ...

, which resulted in the death of

King 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 Batt ...

. Following the

discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discove ...

of the remains of

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 Bat ...

in Leicester during 2012, on Sunday 22 March 2015 the king's funeral cortège passed through the town on its way to

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 192 ...

for his reburial. This event is now commemorated with a floor plaque in front of the war memorial in the town square. In 1509 the manor passed from the Harcourts to the Grey family. In 1554, following the beheading of

Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey ( 1537 – 12 February 1554), later known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) and as the "Nine Days' Queen", was an English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553. Jane was ...

, the manor of Bosworth was among lands confiscated in the name of

Mary I of England Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...

and her husband

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

. They awarded the manor to the Catholic nobleman Edward Hastings. In 1567, his heirs sold it to Sir

Wolstan Dixie Sir Wolstan Dixie (1524/1525 – 1594) was an English merchant and administrator, and Lord Mayor of London in 1585. Life He was the son of Thomas Dixie and Anne Jephson, who lived at Catworth in Huntingdonshire. Wolstan was the fourth son ...

, Lord Mayor of London, who never lived in Bosworth. The first Dixie to live in Bosworth was his grand-nephew, Sir Wolstan Dixie of

Appleby Magna Appleby Magna is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England. It includes the small hamlets of Appleby Parva and Little Wigston. The parish has a total collective population of 1,084 (2011) spread across 500 properties (2020), with ...

, who moved to the town in 1608. He started construction of a manor house and park, as well as establishing the free

Dixie Grammar School Dixie Grammar School is an independent school in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire. The earliest records of the School's existence date from 1320, but the school was re-founded in 1601 under the will of an Elizabethan merchant and Lord Mayor of L ...

. The modern hall, Bosworth Hall, was the work of Sir Beaumont Dixie, 2nd Baronet (1629–1692). In 1885 the 11th Baronet 'Beau' Dixie was forced to auction Bosworth Hall to pay his gambling debts. It was bought by Lady Agnes Tollemache, whose husband Charles Tollemache Scott enlarged the estate, planted woodlands and rebuilt the lodges and farms. Lady Agnes' daughter sold the estate in 1913. The War Memorial in the town square honours 19 local men who died in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and 11 men dead in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Notable residents

This includes people born, educated, or having lived in Market Bosworth. * William Bradshaw (1571–1618) – Puritan * Dr.

John Charles Bucknill Sir John Charles Bucknill (25 December 1817 – 19 July 1897) was an English psychiatrist and mental health reformer. He was the father of judge Sir Thomas Townsend Bucknill QC MP. Biography Bucknill was born in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire ...

(1817 Market Bosworth – 1897) – asylum reformer, psychiatrist * Sir Charles Carter Chitham (1886–1972), policeman in British India * Richard Dawes (1708–1766) – Latin scholar *

Lady Florence Dixie Lady Florence Caroline Dixie (née Douglas; 25 May 18557 November 1905) was a Scottish writer, war correspondent, and feminist. Her account of travelling ''Across Patagonia'', her children's books ''The Young Castaways'' and ''Aniwee; or, The ...

(1855–1905) – wife of the 11th baronet; travel writer, war correspondent, and feminist * Sir Wolstan Dixie of Market Bosworth (1597–1630) – founder of the grammar school * Sir Wolstan Dixie, 4th Baronet (1700–1767) – most colourful of the 13

Dixie baronets The Dixie Baronetcy was created in the Baronetage of England at the time of the English Restoration, Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 for Sir Wolstan Dixie (1602–1682), a supporter of Charles I of England, King Charles I during the English ...

* Rev.

Arthur Benoni Evans Arthur Benoni Evans (1781–1854) was a British writer. Evans was born at Compton Beauchamp in the English county of Berkshire (now in Oxfordshire), on 25 March 1781. His father, the Rev. Lewis Evans, vicar of Froxfield, Wiltshire, was a well-kn ...

(1781–1854) – scholar, headmaster of the Dixie Grammar :*

Sir John Evans Sir John Evans (17 November 1823 – 31 May 1908) was an English archaeologist and geologist. Biography John Evans, son of the Rev. A. B. Evans, was born at Britwell Court, Buckinghamshire. At the age of seventeen he started to work for the p ...

(1823

Burnham Burnham may refer to: Places Canada *Burnham, Saskatchewan England *Burnham, Buckinghamshire ** Burnham railway station **Burnham Grammar School *Burnham Green, Hertfordshire, location of The White Horse * Burnham, Lincolnshire **High Burnham, I ...

– 1908) – his son, treasurer of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

Sebastian Evans Sebastian Evans (2 March 1830 – 19 December 1909) was an English journalist and political activist, known also as a man of letters and an artist. He helped to form the National Union of Conservative Associations. Life Born on 2 March 1830 at ...

(1830 Market Bosworth – 1909) – poet. Revised his father's book ''Leicestershire Words, Phrases, and Proverbs'', (1848, 1881) * Davey Graham (1940-2008) - influential folk guitarist, born at Bosworth Infirmary (now Bosworth Hall Hotel) and commemorated with a blue memorial plaque * James Holden (b. 1979) – electronic music producer *

Thomas Hooker Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent English colonial leader and Congregational minister, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known as an outstanding spea ...

(1586 Markfield – 1647) – Puritan, founder of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

– essayist and lexicographer; in 1732 worked at the Dixie Grammar after leaving

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

because of debt, but left after four months, unable to bear the "boorish" 4th Baronet *

Andy Morrell Andrew Jonathan Morrell (born 28 September 1974) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, Morrell played 359 games in the Football League for Wrexham, Coventry City, Blackpool and Bury, scoring 96 goals. Initially handed the ...

(b. 1974) – footballer *

Colin Pitchfork Colin Pitchfork (born March 23, 1960) is a British double child-murderer and rapist. He was the first person convicted of rape and murder using DNA profiling after he murdered two girls in neighbouring Leicestershire villages, the first in Nar ...

(b. 1960) - First person convicted of murder using

DNA Fingerprinting DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's DNA characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is called DNA barcoding. DNA profiling is a forensic t ...

, attended school in Market Bosworth * Cliff Price (1900-unknown) – footballer for Southampton F.C. in the 1920s *

Thomas Simpson Thomas Simpson FRS (20 August 1710 – 14 May 1761) was a British mathematician and inventor known for the eponymous Simpson's rule to approximate definite integrals. The attribution, as often in mathematics, can be debated: this rule had been ...

(1710–1760) – mathematician * Ollie Smith (b. 1982) - England international rugby player began his career with Market Bosworth RFC

Community

The Town entered into the

Britain in Bloom Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

competition on the 500th anniversary of the battle in 1985. Floral decorations were displayed around the town. The success of this entry caused the formation of the "Bosworth in Bloom Committee", to prepare for more displays. In 2012 – the Town reached the national finals for England and won a Gold Award. The town has two football teams, AFC Market Bosworth (playing mostly on Saturdays) and Market Bosworth FC (mostly Sundays). Both have teams across various age groups from under 5s to over 35s. The triathlon club and cricket club are based at the same ground as Market Bosworth FC, the sports and social club. The town also has a rugby club and a tennis club.

Facilities and places of interest

The facilities within Market Bosworth are very good for a town of its size. The market square is in the centre of the town, surrounded by various shops, including craft and antique shops, small cafes, a traditional green grocery store,

co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

, newsagents, an

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tr ...

bank and estate agents. A regular market takes place on Wednesdays and monthly Sunday Farmers’ Markets. The town also has a doctor's surgery, dentist and library. The town has three schools, Market Bosworth Primary and Junior School,

The Market Bosworth School The Market Bosworth School (formerly Market Bosworth High School) is a secondary school with academy status located in the small town of Market Bosworth in Leicestershire, England. The school was rated 'Outstanding' in its 2018 OFSTED inspec ...

, and the private

, three churches, Anglican, Catholic and Free Church, a fire station, and a large hotel. The town centre boasts many characterful, historic buildings. In the corner of the Market Place are two cottages, known as the Rose and Thistle Cottages, named to confirm the link of the Dixie family to England and Scotland. The properties date back to 1640 (engraved in the frame at first floor) and the original Crook A frame can still be seen in Thistle Cottage which is now a tea room and bistro. Rose Cottage remains as a private residence. The cottages were extensively rebuilt and re-faced with brickwork in 1807 (evidenced by date stamped brick on Thistle Cottage facade) to modernise the appearance in keeping with other properties around the Market Place. There are three pubs, The Black Horse, The Dixie Arms Hotel and the Red Lion, which is one of Bosworth's oldest buildings. Earlier pubs included King William IV, now converted into private residences; Inn on the Park, demolished to accommodate the Sycamore Way housing estate, and the Wheatsheaf, now a small shopping courtyard.

Market Bosworth Country Park Market Bosworth Country Park is to the east of Market Bosworth town. The {{convert, 35, ha landscaped Country Park was formerly part of Bosworth Hall deer parkland. The park features a lake, a planted arboretum with many different exotic species, ...

and Bosworth Water Park offer outside recreation. The site of the

is a few miles south of the town. Market Bosworth was previously served by the

Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway The Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway was a pre-grouping railway company in the English Midlands, built to serve the Leicestershire coalfield. Both the Midland Railway and the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) wished to build a line on simi ...

which is now the heritage

Battlefield Line Railway The Battlefield Line Railway is a heritage railway in Leicestershire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : It runs from Shackerstone (Grid ref ) to Shenton (), via Market Bosworth, a total of . Shenton is near Bo ...

and runs at weekends from

Shackerstone Shackerstone is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. It is situated on the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal and the River Sence. According to the 2001 census the parish, which also includes the ...

, via Market Bosworth station to

Shenton Shenton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sutton Cheney, in the Hinckley and Bosworth district, in the county of Leicestershire, England, situated south-west of Market Bosworth. Shenton was formerly a chapelry and ...

. The

Ashby 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, a ...

runs adjacent to the railway and is served by Bosworth Marina with moorings for 150 boats. There are hourly bus services to Leicester, Hinckley and Coalville.

References

External links

*
Hinckley and Bosworth borough council

Market Bosworth parish council
{{authority control Towns in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Leicestershire Hinckley and Bosworth