Market Bosworth, The Square c.1965

Photo ref: M233015

More about this scene

Market Bosworth was granted the privilege of a Wednesday market in 1285, and the small town was one of 29 in the country to combine this with an annual fair. In a primarily subsistence-orientated world, the market of the 13th century proved an efficient way for producers to sell their surplus products. More often than not the privilege of establishing a market had to be bought, and the lord needed to be sure of a return on his investment. The Market Square, which here takes a triangular form, is surrounded by modest, attractive, mainly 18th-century houses, apart from the Grammar School, which, to some extent, raises the scale. The presence of a traditional but modern cross completes the picture. Today the square has regrettably taken on a more regimented appearance, with a regularised car park behind concrete bollards, but it is, in its essentials, little changed. Situated away from major routes, the town has derived its fame from the Battle of 1485, when Henry Tudor, later Henry VII, defeated Richard III on Ambion Hill to its south.

An extract from Leicestershire Photographic Memories.