32 



advauced is three miles from Bosworth, and was, when he wrote, a 

 wood of many acres.* He adds, " About thirty yards above the wood 

 is a spring, called at this day King Richard's Well. A small dis- 

 charge of water flows from the well directly down the hill, through the 

 wood, into the rivulet ; but, having no channel cut for its passage, it 

 penetrates through the soil, and forms that morass which Henry is said to 

 have left on his right. Amyon Hill is nearly in the centre of the field, 

 and is by much the highest ground ; the summit is two or three hundred 

 yards beyond the well. The hill has a steep descent on every side, 

 but is steepest towards the north, or the Bosworth side, and terminates 

 with a rill, a bog, and a flat, called Amyon Lays. The field extends 

 a mile further towards Bosworth, but that part was not the scene of 

 action."^ 



He also infoi-ms us that, after Richard had made an oration or 

 address to his forces, his army marched in battalia to Amyon Hill, 

 where they arrived before Henry.' 



The wood called Amyon (or Ambien) Wood still remains, and is, of 

 course, much grown and changed since Mr. Hutton's time. A portion 

 of the ground upon which it stands, seems to have been the scene of at 

 least a part of the engagement.* I walked with my son, Mr. 

 Alexander Brooke, through a portion of it, and found that part 

 rather wet and spongy; but there was not then any appearance of 

 what could with propriety be called a morass, either in the wood, or 

 below the well, or at the foot of the hill. 



Mr. Hutton, in his account of the position of Richard's army imme- 

 diately before the battle commenced, and of the place to wliich he 

 considers Richard's right wing extended, states that, "The King's 

 right extended to the declivity of the hill on the Bosworth side, called 

 Cornhill Furze,* or Amyon Lays, and his left towards King Richard's 

 Well." ' But it would perhaps be more correct and clear to state, that 

 the King's right wing extended along the summit of Amyon Hill, towards 

 the declivity which slopes down in the direction of Market-Bosworth, 

 and of the road leading from Shenton to Sutton Cheney ; that his 

 centre occupied the ground where Amyon Hill Farm, tenanted by Mr. 



' Hutton's " Bosworth Field," p. 69; and tee Ibid advertisement, pp. 4 and 6, where au 

 error is pointed out in his statement as to the number of acres. 



• Huttou's " Bosworth Field," pp. 69 anU 70. 

 » Ibid, p. 87. 



* Ibid, additional particulars, p. 241. 



' Some laud, occupied as part of Sutton Field Farm, bj- Mr. Cooper, a farmer of respec- 

 tability, is called Coruhill Furze, and lies on the north side of the road leading from Sbenton 

 to Sutton Cheney. 



' Hutton's " Bosworth Field," p. 88. 



