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“If I had served my God as diligently as I have done the King, He would not have given me over in my grey hairs.”

Earlier this month I visited Abbey Park in Leicester, once home to the Augustinian Abbey of St Mary de Pratis, more commonly known as Leicester Abbey. Unfortunately, virtually nothing remains of this once great religious house, as it was almost entirely demolished after the abbey’s dissolution in 1538.

I was there to see the final resting place of one of Tudor England’s most well known figures, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who died at Leicester Abbey on 29 November 1530.

On 4 November 1530, Wolsey was arrested on a charge of high treason and was en route from York to London to face interrogation and, almost certainly, execution when he fell ill and died.

Wolsey’s remains were interred somewhere within the abbey’s church, possibly in the Lady Chapel, where they are thought to remain, however the exact location of his burial is unknown.

Back to our visit… we arrived early and parked in the main car park, about a ten-minute stroll to the abbey ruins. It was such a lovely walk through the park, past joggers, cyclists and picturesque lakes, home to beautiful swans and ducks. The kiddies had a great time spotting the many squirrels scampering around.

We crossed over a small bridge, past Wolsey’s statue donated by Wolsey the knitwear firm, which stands next to the cafe…

And on towards the ruins, where a memorial was erected on the site of the Lady Chapel, commemorating the fallen cardinal.

It’s decorated with Wolsey’s coat of arms.

The low stone walls are not remains of the abbey buildings, they were added in 1932 and mark out the plan of the abbey, established during excavations in the 1920s and 1930s.

Here we are at the west end of the church looking east towards where the transept and chancel would have been.

Abbey Park is also home to the ruins of a mansion known as Cavendish House, which dates to the late 16th or early 17th century. It was built on the site of the medieval abbey gatehouse using stones from the ruined abbey but was destroyed by fire during the English Civil War.

The remains of the abbey’s east precinct walls.

We left Abbey Park and made our way to Leicester Guildhall to see the Richard III exhibition. I’ll save those photos for another post. Perhaps now that Richard III’s skeleton has been found, Wolsey’s remains might be next on the list! A king buried in a carpark and a cardinal in a park… Leicester is certainly an interesting place!