Places to Visit

On the main Richard III Society Website and some Branches and Groups websites you will find suggestions of places to visit with connections to Richard III.

Some of the main sites associated with the Wars of the Roses are:

  • Windsor Castle: the birthplace of Henry VI. Edward IV built St George’s Chapel here and was buried there as were several of his children and, eventually, his queen. Richard III moved Henry VI’s body here too.
  • Conisbrough Castle: the birthplace of Richard Earl of Cambridge and may have been the birthplace of Richard Duke of York too.
  • Sandal Castle: Richard Duke of York’s northern base and it was close to here that he died at the Battle of Wakefield.
  • Raby Castle was the principal home of Ralph Neville Earl of Westmorland and most likely where Richard Duke of York and Cecily Neville spent their early married life together.
  • Every king and queen of the fifteenth century was crowned at Westminster Abbey. Elizabeth Woodville twice took sanctuary there with her children and Anne Neville, Henry VII and Elizabeth of York are buried here.
  • Henry VI married Margaret of Anjou at Titchfield Abbey.
  • King’s College, Cambridge was founded by Henry VI.
  • Queens’ College, Cambridge was founded by Margaret of Anjou and received its first statutes from Elizabeth Woodville.
  • Henry VI had new rooms built at Eltham Palace. for Margaret of Anjou before their marriage and it was later one of Edward IV’s favourite homes.
  • John of Gaunt built beautiful apartments at Kenilworth Castle which were popular with the Lancastrian royal family and frequently used by Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou in the 1450s.
  • Warwick Castle was the principal residence of Richard Neville Earl of Warwick so his daughters Anne and Isabel spent much time here. He imprisoned Edward IV here briefly and brought Jacquetta Duchess of Bedford here to be tried for witchcraft. It later belonged to George Duke of Clarence and then Richard III as Duke of Gloucester.
  • Ludlow Castle was one of Richard Duke of York’s principal homes. His sons Edward and Edmund lived here in the 1450s and Edward V grew up here too.
  • St Albans was the site of the first battle of the wars (1454) and of a victory for the Lancastrians in 1461. The body of Abbot John of Wheatampstead was recently discovered here – he knew many of the major figures in the wars and there is a display in the cathedral.
  • The remains of Coventry Priory were unearthed by Time Team: the Diabolical Parliament that attainted the Yorkist Lords met here. Nearby is St Mary’s Guildhall England’s finest surviving guildhall.
  • You can follow a walk that encompasses the Towton battlefield site.
  • There are battlefield walks at Tewkesbury where the Lancastrian Prince Edward died in 1471. He is buried in the Abbey there, as are George Duke of Clarence (probably) and his wife Isabel.
  • Richard III’s home as lord of the north was Middleham Castle
  • Richard III’s burial site, now part of the King Richard III Visitor Centre in Leicester
  • Where Richard III fought and died as King of England at Bosworth Battle Field Centre
  • Bosworth has a free Discovery Centre for children aged up to eight
  • York Minster where Richard III, his wife Queen Anne and their son, Edward of Middleham took part in ceremonies during Richard’s Royal Progress
  • The last battle of the Wars of the Roses was at Stoke Field in 1487.

Websites of Medieval Cathedrals in England

a medieval castle re-imagined in a painting
Middleham Castle as it would have looked © Geoffrey Wheeler
Tomb of Richard III in Leicester Cathedral. A slab of marble with his name inscribed
Tomb of Richard III by kind permission of the Dean, Leicester Cathedral
poster depicting the Battle of Bosworth with men at arms on horseback
© & permission given by Bosworth Battlefield Trust
the nave of York Minster looking towards the altar showing arches on both sides and the roof
York Minster interior, with kind permission from Visit York!