Market Bosworth
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Market Bosworth is a small town in Leicestershire, UK and the 1988 winner of Britain in Bloom.
It is mainly known for giving its name to the nearby Battle of Bosworth Field, the concluding battle in the Wars of the Roses. A town charter, granting the right to the market was granted in 1285 by King Edward I.
The town saw some activity in the English Civil War. Troops from local garrisons descended upon the town seeking billets and fresh horses. A list of claims submitted by the constables of Market Bosworth to the Warwickshire county committee in June, 1646, reveals that Colonel Purefoy’s soldiers from the Coventry garrison availed themselves of "free quarter" worth £25.8.8 and stole £1.7.10 in “ready money” from Peter Storer. Two Coventry soldiers, identified as Lieutenant Beake (listed under Captain Flower in a 1645 garrison muster) and Capener, stole mares worth £5 apiece from Mr Pelsant and Mr Chancey. Captain Ottaway took a mare worth £2.19 from Woolstan Leaby, a servant, “leaving another in her roome”, and Captain Flower’s troops took a mare worth £2 from widow Siddon. On another occasion, Captain Smith's forces from the Tamworth garrison took a mare worth £4 from Richard Palmer. The town was also visited by soldiers under the command of the notorious "Tinker" Fox from Edgbaston Hall. On 8th September, 1644 Edward Raynor, "a soldier under Colonel Fox" allegedly took a mare worth £3.13.4 from Mr Chancey.
Michael Hudson of Market Bosworth was a royal chaplain and Scoutmaster-general of the Army in the North, killed at the capture of Woodcroft House in Northamptonshire in 1648.
There are three schools in the town: St. Peter's (C of E aided) Primary School, Market Bosworth High School, and the Dixie Grammar School.
Local Amenities
- Co-op supermarket
- Post office
- Mercury News shop
- HSBC bank with cash machine
- Many quirky antique and gift shops.
Market Bosworth is also home to Bosworth Hall Hotel; part of the Britannia Hotel chain. It has 192 rooms and conference and banqueting facilities, as well as a bar, restaurants (à la carte and carvery), and Spindles Health Club.
Places of interest
- [Medlantic Hi Tech]
- Bosworth Water Trust for water sports and outdoor leisure activities (with campsite and caravan pitching available)
- Twycross Zoo (5 miles approx)
- Bosworth Battlefield Visitor Centre (3 miles approx)
- The Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal
- The Battlefield Line heritage railway, which passes through the western end of the town, but can only be caught from either Shenton or Shackerstone at weekends.
- A country park
Notable Residents
- Dr. Samuel Johnson, author of the first English dictionary, who taught at the Dixie Grammar School.
- Thomas Simpson, mathematician
- Richard Dawes, classical scholar
- John Marney, naturalist and zoologist
- Wolstan Dixie, Lord Mayor of London in 1585.
Towns/villages close to Market Bosworth
- Atherstone
- Barton-in-the-Beans
- Carlton
- Dadlington
- Desford
- Ratcliffe Culey
- Hinckley
- Nuneaton
- Sheepy Magna
- Stapleton
- Sutton Cheney
- Twycross
- Witherley
- Bufton
External links
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