On Thursday 4th February we held our first online talk we have done as a Museum Committee, ‘Richard III: The king under the car park’. It was, without doubt, a huge success, with over 40 people joining us.
The discovery of King Richard III’s remains during an archaeological excavation in 2012 was a world-wide sensation; a 500-year-old missing persons case bought to life through modern archaeological and forensic investigation.
Guest speaker Mathew Morris, one of the lead archaeologists on the Grey Friars Project, revealed how this amazing discovery was made; showing how archaeologists knew where to look and what was found during the excavation, and taking a close look at how forensic scientists were able to successfully identify 500-year-old skeletal remains as Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England (d.1485)
Just a few of the comments following on from our talk:
“That was brilliant, thank you. We have heard Mathew at least twice before but this was by far the best - lots of new info and being on zoom could see the slides so clearly. We are on a high after that! Thank you”
“Many, many thanks....to all the museum committee for a most magnificent evening.”
“Thank you so much Linda- what a fascinating talk!! ….. Wouldn’t have missed it for anything”
“Many thanks to you and your Hallaton Museum friends. I followed this story at the time and watched the TV documentaries but it was really interesting to revisit it.
Alan was also listening and declared ‘That was gripping wasn’t it?”
“Last night's lecture was extremely fascinating and interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Mathew was so immersed in this project, which really showed in his in depth knowledge and passion. Thank you so much for organising it. If you come across anything similar, I would be really grateful for any information.”
“Just a few lines to say many thanks for organising last night's talk. Please will you pass on my thanks to other people concerned, including Mathew. I've heard him speak before - I volunteer at the Richard III Centre in Leicester when we're not in lockdown - and he was right when he said he alters it each time: I learnt things I didn't know before.”