Death of a tree

A year ago I strode into Leicester's New Street car park with my camera as I set about researching the possible final resting place of Richard III. The car park is on the old site of the Greyfriars Monastery, the place where the slain king was brought by the friars to be cleaned and interred. I wanted a shot of the only thing that remains of the monastery: a small section of outer wall. As I wandered about looking like a cross between an American tourist and a reject hack from the Daily Star, the car park attendant emerged from his hut and steadily came towards me. Belatedly and sheepishly, I asked for permission to proceed.

This kindly and helpful man not only showed me the piece of wall I was looking for, but was very forthcoming about something else which I had not expected to find: a mighty tree, just a few feet from the wall and even closer to the attendant's hut. What a beast it was. Gloriously imposing yet strangely incongruous amongst the smart cars and busy patrons, its odd shape alone was enough to elicit curiosity.

"It could be 200 years old," he told me. "And I bet the roots spread right beneath the whole area of this car park. I reckon it could be two trees in one." I asked if that was possible; he assured me it certainly was. He even showed me the bend in the trunk where the merger had been effected.

I took photographs of the wall and of the tree. Imagine my surprise and sadness when I walked through New Street two days ago and saw that the mighty hybrid had been chopped down. For me it had become something of a marker; a point of reference to concentrate one's attention to the riveting possibility that somewhere beneath its shadow could lie the remains of England's lost king.

For those who do not believe the old legend that Richard's remains were ripped up during the Reformation when Henry VIII looted the Greyfriars, leaving a local mob to cast the bones into the nearby River Soar, the only feasible place where he could be is the area under the monastery grounds . . . where until recently a big tree had stood for a very long time.

For more about the above topic, please see my article 'Homeless Bones' in April's issue of Fortean Times (FT273), page 58-59.

Pics: 1.Tree in New Street car park. 2.Remains of Greyfriars Monastery wall. (c)