Moving to the end.

It was misty this morning but it bode well for a nice warm day to come.

We walked into Market Bosworth up the main road from the wharf with the sun on our faces. It was up hill all the way, but that meant that it was down on the way back. You come into the Market Place almost at once. It is a compact square with the War memorial in the middle. The buildings exteriors apparently hide much older buildings and as the properties are not unified it gives the whols a special look. The largest building is the Dixie Grammar School. 

There has been a school here since 1320 but it was founded again in 1601 by the local land owner Wolstan Dixie. The school is on the left and the three story building on the right was the Master's House. It has been an independant Grammar School since 1987. The blue plaque is for Thomas Hooker who was a pupil at the school 1596 to 1604 and it is said to be his teachings on democracy that were the foundations of the American declaration of Independence.

Bosworth Hall is now a hotel but was built to replace an earlier Hall in 1682 by Beaumont Dixie. It was much altered between1837 and 1850. The Dixies had sold the estate in 1883 to the Charles Tollemache Scott. There is also an extensive stable block. This is the south face of the Hall that also fronts on to the parkland that is now open to the public.

St Peter's Church is very close to the Hall and the Family had a separate door to enter the church. The tower, nave and north aisle were all started in the early 1300's. The south isle was added at the end of the 1300's. The spare was added in the 1400's when the thatched rood was raised and sealed. Therefore the spire would be visible by those at the Battle of Bosworth all those years ago,

We walked back to the boat down through the gold course as the dew had dried up and it was a present walk. We heard the whistle of the steam train as we approached the bridge over the track. The Battlefield Line runs from Shenton to Snarestone at the weekends. The engine was going backwards so doesn't look as good as it may have done.

After we got back to the boat we again decided to move on whilst the weather was so good. We shambled along in the sunshine enjoying the sun and very few boats to deal with. As we passed Shackertone we could see that there was plenty of moorings for the festival they hold each year. The Norman Motte and Bailey was plain to see across the moorings.

It had turned a little cool when we left Shackerstone as we passed through a wooded section. There was no wind at all so the reflection of the bridge was great but also was the promise of the sunshine ahead.

The 250 yd tunnel at Snarestone actually has the village above. There was nobody coming through as if there had been, with the wiggle in the middle we would have had to wait.

We moved to the end of the canal to fill with water and dump the rubbish. The Ashby canal Association shop was still open so we bought some Christmas presents before winding and mooring up a little back along the canal. There seems to be plenty of canal in water past the sanitary station so after tea we will explore further. Another beautiful day in beautiful countryside.