We all know the story of Richard III apparently spending a night at the White Boar Inn in Leicester, on his way to his fate at Bosworth. We know of his bed, with its supposed hidden treasure, and that the inn prudently decided to rename itself the Blue Boar, to avoid Tudor wrath (of which there was always a surplus). The blue boar was the emblem of the Earl of Oxford, who’d fought for the Weasel, um, King Henry VII, so anything to do with him would get the thumbs up. The white boar could simply be painted blue, so a costly new inn sign wasn’t required.
But rumours of the hidden treasure kept interest going, and there were many searches until, in the early 17th century, it was found….reputedly. The lucky man was the inn’s landlord, Thomas Clarke, who was said to have found a stash of gold in the bed’s false bottom. He certainly had enough money suddenly to become Leicester’s Lord Mayor!
After Thomas’s death, things took an alarming turn, when a villainous stranger, surnamed Harrison, stayed at the inn and heard of the treasure that now belonged to Mistress Clarke, Thomas’s widow. Deciding to have the goodies for himself, he seduced and then plotted with a woman named Alice, one of the inn’s servants. I won’t spoil the rest of the bloody drama, but will leave you to read it all here.
It seemed that after that a misty, white female apparition was seen, and was firmly believed to be Mistress Clarke. When the original Blue Boar was demolished and replaced, she simply occupied the new building. Subsequent landlords obliged people’s curiosity about Richard’s bed, showing it to them at a 1d a time. But then, in 1958, a new landlord didn’t believe in all that sort of thing, least of all ghosts. The spectral Mistress Clarke was offended and made sure he changed his ways. Again, read the above link to learn how she achieved her aim.
Alas, she seems to be the inn’s only ghost, with not a trace of one from the 15th century. So there was never a chance of Richard III returning to budge the bed’s occupant along to make room for himself. Then putting his cold feet on them to get warm. If he had, I can just imagine the reaction!
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