Sutton Cheney ( ) is a village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, now in the parish of Dadlington and Sutton Cheney, in the borough of

Hinckley and Bosworth Hinckley and Bosworth is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with borough status in Leicestershire, England. The council is based in Hinckley, the largest town. The borough also includes the town of Earl Shilton and numerous v ...

, in the county of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, England, near the county border with

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : In addition to the village of Sutton Cheney itself, the civil parish also contains the villages of

Dadlington Dadlington is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Dadlington and Sutton Cheney, in the Hinckley and Bosworth district, in Leicestershire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : It is situated between ...

and Shenton, a number of farms, and the location of the

Battle of Bosworth The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field ( ) was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 ...

. Its closest large towns are

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire to the north-east.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

and

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England, administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughborough, and is about halfway between L ...

. Its closest market town is

Market Bosworth Market Bosworth ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 1,906, increasing to 2,097 at the 2011 census. It is most famously near to the site of the decisive final battle of the ...

. The village of Sutton Cheney is clustered around the intersection of four roads: Ambion Lane leading westwards to the village of Shenton; Bosworth Road leading northwest to the neighbouring town of

; Main Street leading northeast to the villages of Cadeby or Stapleton; and Wharf Lane leading southwest to Sutton Cheney Wharf on the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal. The civil parish of Dadlington and Sutton Cheney is bordered by the civil parishes of

to the north; Cadeby to the northeast; Peckleton to the east;

Barwell Barwell is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, with a population of 8,750 residents in 2001, increasing to 9,022 at the 2011 census. The name "Barwell" literally translates as "Stream of the Boar" and is said to originate from ...

Stoke Golding Stoke Golding is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England, close to the county border with Warwickshire.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : According to the 2001 census ...

, and Higham on the Hill to the south; and Sheepy to the west. Its population at the 2021 census was 490, down from 538 in 2011 and from 545 in 2001.

History

The area was settled in both

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times but the earliest written mention of the village of Sutton Cheney is in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 when it was named Sutone. It was mostly owned by

Crowland Abbey Crowland Abbey (historically often spelled Croyland Abbey; Latin: ) is a Church of England parish church, formerly part of a Benedictine abbey church, in Crowland in the English county of Lincolnshire. It is a Grade I listed building. Histor ...

with a minor holding in the hands of Hugh de Grandmesnil, a companion of

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

. At that time it was recorded as having four households. The manor took the name 'Sutton Chainell' during the thirteenth century on account of a rich farmer named Chainell who held the village as a tenant of

but the name appears variously as Sutton, Sutton juxta Bosworth, Sutton Chenyie, and Sutton Cheynell in deeds and other official registers between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries. The army of

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

made camp in the village on 21 August 1485, the night before the

Battle of Bosworth Field The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field ( ) was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of House of Lancaster, Lancaster and House of York, York that extended across England in the latter half ...

, and the battle itself took place within the civil parish, near to

. Richard died in the battle, which was the last battle of the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fo ...

. It ended the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

in England and ushered in the

Tudor period In England and Wales, the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England, which began with ...

. In 1564 there were 25 families living in Sutton Cheynell and in 1630 the freeholders were Sir William Roberts, Richard May, William Drakeley and John Swinfen. Sir William Roberts endowed six

Almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the poor of a locality, for those who had held ce ...

s for the village in 1612 and his tomb is still extant in the village church, with the inscriptions: 'Sir William Roberts was son of Thomas Roberts and married to his first wife Katherine, daughter of Richard Elkington, and to his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of Valentine Hartopp; but by neither had issue. He lived 79 years and died Feb 24 1633' and 'Here lyeth interred the body of Sir William Roberts, who in his life-time, being devoted both to hospitality and charity, among other memorable works erected, out of a pious mind, a hospital for six poor men adjoining the churchyard and endowed it with 30 pounds worth of land yearly for their maintenance for ever.' Between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, the village of Sutton Cheney was an estate village, developed to suit the needs of a single farming family, with the Hall as their home. In addition to workers' cottages, a further range of buildings such as a blacksmith's, bakery, and post office provided the essentials of rural life, together with

s for poor single men. These have now all been converted to dwellings but the village retains its traditional character and is designated as a conservation area. Today, the majority of the land and approximately half the dwellings are still in the ownership of the estate, with half the dwellings in private ownership. Sutton Cheney was formerly a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the parish of Market-Bosworth, from 1866 Sutton Cheney was a civil parish in its own right, on 1 April 1935 the parishes of Dadlington and Shenton were merged with Sutton Cheney, the merged parish was named "Sutton Cheney" until 2023 when it was renamed "Dadlington and Sutton Cheney". In 1931 the parish of Sutton Cheney (prior to the merge) had a population of 207.

Battlefield Heritage Centre

Within the civil parish, on Ambion Hill, is th
Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre and Country Park
maintained by Leicestershire County Council as a

country park A country park is a natural area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment. United Kingdom History In the United Kingdom, the term ''country park'' has a specific meaning. There are around 250 designated c ...

and learning centre to advance public knowledge about the

. The battlefield entrance is opposit
Ambion Firewood & Contractors
The centre also contains the Tithe Barn restaurant and cafe, based in a reconstructed fourteenth century oak timbered barn, donated by the

Derbyshire County Council Derbyshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Derbyshire in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Derby. The county council is ba ...

. Other monuments within the centre include King Richard's Well, where

is reputed to have drunk before the battle and a cairn now stands as his monument, and a memorial sundial.

Other attractions and amenities

Sutton Cheney Wharf
is situated within the civil parish on the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal and maintained by the

Canal & River Trust The Canal & River Trust (CRT), branded as in Wales, holds the guardianship of 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, together with reservoirs and a wide range of heritage buildings and structures, in England and Wales. Launched on 12 July 2012, the ...

. It gives access through Ambion Wood to the Battlefield Centre and there is also a cafe calle
Sutton Wharf
on the site. A heritage steam railway, the Battlefield Line Railway, runs from Shenton station, within the civil parish, to Shackerstone. It is operated by th
Shackerstone Railway Society
In the village of Shenton the old village hall is now an art gallery and cafe, th
White Dove Gallery
and a group of restored and listed farm buildings now operate a
Whitemoors Antique Centre and Tearooms
The Leicestershire Round, a 200 mile walk around the county of

runs through the civil parish and the village itself, linking it by footpath to the adjacent town and civil parish of

in a walk through farmland and Market Bosworth Country Park.

Notable buildings in the village

The village of Sutton Cheney has two Georgian

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of t ...

s. Th
Hercules Revived
(formerly The Hercules Inn), is named after the prizewinning horse Hercules owned by the Dixie family of

in the eighteenth century. It was renovated and restored in 2012. Th
Royal Arms
(formerly The Greyhound Inn) was re-opened in 2003 as a hotel, restaurant, and wedding venue. St James' Church dates originally from the early 13th century with repairs and restorations in the centuries since, including the west tower built in brick in the nineteenth century.

reputedly heard his last

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

in the church the night before the

. The church is consequently known as "the Battlefield Church" and contains a plaque in remembrance of him. Many of the kneelers in the church were embroidered by members of th
Richard III Society
and on 22 March 2015, the funeral cortège of the King paused in Sutton Cheney en route to his burial in

Leicester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Martin, Leicester, commonly known as Leicester Cathedral, is a Church of England cathedral in Leicester, England, and the seat of the Bishop of Leicester. One of the city centre's five surviving medieval ch ...

. The six Almshouses founded by Sir William Roberts in 1612 and altered in 1811, as a plaque records, due to "the liberality of Rosamund Kinnersley" are now a private home, having been converted in the late twentieth century. The Hall dates from 1601 with later additions and a Victorian wing. Townshend Farmhouse dates from the early 19th century with an earlier core. The village has been designated as a conservation area.

Notable residents and visitors

As well as

, the parish also contained the campsite of Henry VII, the victor of the

, who was crowned King of England in the adjacent civil parish of

. The famous mathematician Thomas Simpson FRS (1710-1761) of

, and

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

is buried in the graveyard of St James' Church.'Simpson, Thomas (1710–61)' in The Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy There is a Latin memorial plaque to him inside the Church to the left of the door. The village's vicar from 1960 until his death in 1986, the Rev. E. R. "Teddy" Boston, was notable as a

traction engine A traction engine is a steam engine, steam-powered tractor used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin ''tractus'', meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any ...

and

light railway A light railway is a Rail transport, railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail": it uses lighter-weight track, and may have more Grade (slope), steep gradients and Minimum railway curve radius, tight curves to ...

enthusiast and engineer who constructed the now-dismantled Cadeby Light Railway. He was immortalised in his friend Rev. Wilbert Awdry's

The Railway Series ''The Railway Series'' is a series of British books about a railway known as the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Sodor (fictional island), Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first published in May 1945 by Wi ...

books (more commonly known as the Thomas the Tank Engine books) as "the Fat Clergyman". There is a plaque to him in the chancel of St James' Church.

References

{{authority control Villages in Leicestershire Former civil parishes in Leicestershire Hinckley and Bosworth