Francis, Viscount Lovel and All Hallows, Gedling
The Battle of Bosworth on 22 August 1485 resulted in the death of Richard III and the start of the reign of Henry VII. Lovel, whose arms are shown on the left was a close companion of Richard and attempted to organise a revolt against Henry the following year but did not obtain sufficient support.
A year later, Lovel persuaded Richard’s sister, Margaret of Burgundy to provide mercenaries to form the core of an army of 8000 which was supplemented by men from Ireland and England.
The rebel army crossed to north-west England then marched south to meet Henry’s army ten miles from Gedling at East Stoke near Newark where they were defeated on 16 June 1487.
Francis Lovel was never heard of again and several explanations as to what happened to him have appeared over the years since. This page sets out the evidence connecting Lovel with Gedling church and offers an explanation of how he may have come to be buried here.
The map below shows the location of Gedling three miles north-west of Nottingham and the battlefield at East Stoke.
A year later, Lovel persuaded Richard’s sister, Margaret of Burgundy to provide mercenaries to form the core of an army of 8000 which was supplemented by men from Ireland and England.
The rebel army crossed to north-west England then marched south to meet Henry’s army ten miles from Gedling at East Stoke near Newark where they were defeated on 16 June 1487.
Francis Lovel was never heard of again and several explanations as to what happened to him have appeared over the years since. This page sets out the evidence connecting Lovel with Gedling church and offers an explanation of how he may have come to be buried here.
The map below shows the location of Gedling three miles north-west of Nottingham and the battlefield at East Stoke.
Lawson Lowe and the Alabaster Slab
In 1883, Alfred Edward Lawson Lowe wrote a letter to a local newspaper describing an alabaster slab that he had seen in Gedling church in 1866 and suggested that it may have commemorated Francis Lovel.
Lowe was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries and had written several articles on memorials so he can be considered a reliable witness.
His suggestion that the slab commemorated Lovel is based on the Latin date which is the year of the battle and the appearance of the lower part of the legs of a man wearing armour.
The slab has deteriorated since Lowe saw it and a photographic survey in 2016 has not revealed either the date or any of the armour apart from one of the shoes or sabbatons that Lowe saw.
You can see the slab in detail by downloading the files resulting from this investigation with instructions on how to view them by clicking HERE.
Lowe’s letter was reported in the Transactions of the Thoroton Society in 1903 and Gerring’s History of Gedling in 1908. The issue of whether Lovel was buried at Gedling has arisen in recent years because copies of both of these publications are now available on the internet. LINKS
The Wikipedia entry on Francis, 1st Viscount Lovel says:-
It is feasible that Francis attempted to escape across the river
at the Fiskerton shallows but was either killed or died later of
his wounds, his body being buried under the flagstones in the
Gedling Church in order to prevent the certain fate of them
being 'hung, drawn and quartered'.
Similar text appears on other websites such as Murrey and Blue, King Richard Armitage, Mike Osborne Military History of Nottinghamshire etc
