Dadlington 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

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 ...

district, in

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.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : It is situated between

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. In 1931 the parish had a population of 200. The village has a population of around 301 and contains a 13th-century church (St. James), a pub (the Dog and Hedgehog) and a hotel (the Ambion Court). The Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal runs through the village.

History

The village's name means 'farm/settlement of Daedela'. Dadlington became a parish in 1866, on 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with

Sutton Cheney Sutton Cheney ( ) is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Dadlington and Sutton Cheney, in the borough of Hinckley and Bosworth, in the county of Leicestershire, England, near the county border with Warwickshire.OS Explorer Ma ...

. A silver gilt white boar,

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 ...

's personal emblem, and distributed widely among his followers, was discovered at Fen Hole outside Dadlington in 2010. There is a theory that 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 ...

took place at Dadlington, not at Ambion Hill.https://www.academia.edu/6190542/Finding_Bosworth_Battlefield_a_multiproxy_palaeoenvironmental_investigation_of_lowland_sediments_from_Dadlington._Leicestershire_England On Sunday 22 March 2015, the funeral cortège of King Richard III paused in Dadlington 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 ...

. In 1511 the wardens of St. James' chapel at Dadlington petitioned

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...

for a chantry foundation in memory of those who fell at the

, 1485 (the churchyard being the main place of interment for the dead). A 'Letter of Confraternity' was published and the chantry was established in a minimal form but dissolved in 1547 under

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

with the general abolition of such foundations. In 1985, the quincentenary year of the battle, Dadlington (through the publications of Dr Colin Richmond and, subsequently, Dr Peter Foss) became the centre of a controversy over the battle's location, which has now resulted in a major reassessment of the battle site and scenario currently being undertaken by

Leicestershire County Council Leicestershire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Leicester. The county coun ...

. During the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

Dadlington was visited by troops from the parliamentary garrisons at Tamworth and

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

seeking horses and free quartering. A claim to the Warwickshire county committee submitted by the constables in June, 1646 reveals that on 12 March 1643 a certain Burdett, described as "a soldier under Captain Turton of Tamworth" made off with a horse belonging to Ann Turton, a widow. (A Richard Turton is listed in a 1643 Tamworth garrison musters of "officers, dragoons and soldjers"). A few months later "Mason, a soldier under Captain Turton" (probably John Mason, also listed among the Tamworth garrison) took a horse worth £2.6.8 from this same Ann Turton, who may well have been related to the captain. Colonel Purefoy's soldiers from Coventry availed themselves of free quarter "for one night and part of a day" estimated to be worth £2.10, while Captain Flower's footsoldiers from Coventry took a horse worth 2s from Michael Cox and Captain Ottaway's soldiers a horse worth 5s from Thomas Everard. (Exchequer accounts, SP 28/161)

References

External links

Dadlington Village History website
2007 website now archived

(Tim Parry's webpage, on the Internet Archive) {{commons category, Dadlington Villages in Leicestershire Former civil parishes in Leicestershire Hinckley and Bosworth