Lost Pubs Of Leicester

by Barry Lount & Chris Jinks

The Blue Boar, Highcross Street

The Blue Boar stood on the corner of Highcross Street and Blue Boar Lane (a plaque marks the spot on the gable end of a café a couple of doors down from the present day Richard III pub). It was the Blue Boar's connection with the infamous King Richard that gave it a major role in Leicester’s history.

The origins of the Blue Boar are shrouded in the mists of time. Archaeological excavations of 1907 show a five-foot thick wall projecting from the south corner. Later, in 1954, the cellar of the old Blue Boar was examined. Its masonry was found to contain Roman Bricks with C18th reinforcement.

There is little doubt that the Inn was in existence before the King's fateful stay in 1485. What is in doubt is the origin of the name Blue Boar. The two most powerful theories are that the Inn was named the Blue Boar before Richard's stay, possibly so named after one of the badges of Richard Duke of York, the father of Edward IV.

The other main theory is that the Inn was known as the “White Boar", the cognisance of Richard III, either pre his visit or on his attendance, as he would display his sign to inform the populace the King was in attendance. After the battle and his defeat all allegiance to him was obliterated and the white boar painted blue.

We are told by historians that King Richard marched into Leicester, during August 1485, “gorgeously attired, his royal crown upon his helmet, riding on a milk white charger on his way to meet Henry Tudor”.

In company with many of his belongings, he lodged in Leicester at the Blue (or White) Boar, where he slept in the principal chamber in a large wooden bed gilded with a gothic design.

On leaving the Inn to meet Henry, Richard and his army marched out towards Bosworth over Bow Bridge. Recalling legend, his spur struck the coping of the bridge. An old beggar women standing close by foretold that where his “spur had struck so would his head on his return”.

King Richard III and the bed in which he slept at the Blue Boar were to become the centre of further intrigue.

Richard III and Henry Tudor’s armies mobilised for battle at Bosworth field where the King was defeated, Richard gallantly fighting to the last. A report in Nichols goes thus: “When all was lost but his life, stern Richard rushed into the arms of death to seek for Richmond (Henry), but was surrounded by his enemies. After performing the most brilliant war-like achievements that history has related, he died by the hands of a multitude, who cut his body in the most shocking and barbarous manner. Richard's body stripped naked, all tugged and torn with not so much a clout left to cover his shame, was trussed like a hog over his horse, from where he was taken back to Leicester by friends over Bow Bridge, where his head brushed the coping as the old crone had predicted”.

Richard's death brought an end to the War of the Roses, All allegiance to him in Leicester was obliterated, his belongings were plundered. It wouldn’t have been wise to support the defeated monarch. The Blue Boar was ransacked, the hangings on the richly carved bed were torn off, but the bedstead being heavy and cumbersome survived, continuing at the Inn, passing from tenant to tenant.

So all would know of his death, Richard's naked body laid ignominiously exposed in the Newark church for three days in a stone coffin. Franciscans buried him in their churchyard near St Martins (now a car park). Later a tombstone was allegedly erected over his grave, bearing the inscription “HERE LIES THE BODY OF RICHARD 111 SOMETIME KING OF ENGLAND”. Reports tell of Richard’s tomb later being ransacked, his remains being scattered over the Bow Bridge by a frenzied mob. A plaque was erected in 1863 when the bridge was rebuilt “NEAR THIS SPOT LIE THE REMAINS OF RICHARD 111, THE LAST OF THE PLANTAGENETS”. The plaque went missing some 25 years ago, so an inscription in stone now stands over the spot. His coffin was for many years used as a horse trough outside the White Horse in Gallowtree gate.

The Principal room at the Blue Boar in which Richard was to stay

By c1570 The Blue Boar was run by Thomas Clarke and his wife Agnes, Thomas died in 1603 leaving behind a considerable wealth; Agnes remained at the Inn until the autumn of 1604 when a certain Thomas Harrison on the run from a crime in Staffordshire took lodgings at the Blue Boar. Harrison made acquaintance with the maid Alice Grimbold. Alice confided in Harrison that there was gold hidden somewhere in the Inn. Harrison hatched a plan to rob Mrs Clarke. He, together with a couple of accomplices, seized Agnes Clarke and tied her up, but in the ensuing struggle Agnes cried out only for Harrison to choke her by shoving his fingers down her throat. The thieves escaped with almost £500 in gold and silver, leaving the hapless maid Alice trussed up. Mrs Clarke lay dead and was buried in St Martins. Eventually the thieves were caught and Harrison was condemned to death, while the unfortunate servant girl Alice Grimbold was sentenced to be burned at the stake for being an accomplice.

From this sorry crime grew the tale of its legendary association with King Richard and the possibility of the money being the King's treasure chest, hidden in the King's bedstead at the Inn before his demise.

The Blue Boar became the place to visit in Leicester during the C18th; reports of 1790 suggest the Inn was still in good preservation, but by 1835 it was to be pulled down. What came over the authorities to allow a rare relic of mediaeval Leicester to be demolished amounted to official vandalism.

A new Blue Boar was to be built, not on the original site, but some 200 yards away in Southgate Street. Early Victorian directories describe it as a carriers inn with a cobbled yard with stables etc. This Blue Boar was to befall the same fate as its predecessor when it was demolished c1970 to make way for the new underpass. The chair known as King Richards chair was taken from the pub and housed in Everards Brewery reception.                                                         

This page last updated: May 28, 2008

© Barry Lount and Chris Jinks 2002

Full Archive.

This site copyright © 2001 - 2008 The Leicester branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale