Medieval Church Found Under Parking Lot Could Be Resting Place Of King Richard III

A medieval church found under a parking lot in England could yield the final resting place of King Richard III.

Archeologists working to uncover the medieval church announced that they believe they had indeed found the place where the king was buried in 1485, LiveScience reported.

“The discoveries so far leave us in no doubt that we are on the site of Leicester’s Franciscan Friary, meaning we have crossed the first significant hurdle of the investigation,” said Richard Buckley, the lead archaeologist on the dig.

The medieval church was found underneath a parking lot in Leicester, England, in late August. Archeologists had been looking for Greyfriars church, which was said to contain the grave of King Richard III after he died in battle during the civil conflict the War of the Roses.

After his death in the Battle of Bosworth Field, Richard III’s body was buried at Greyfriars, but the site of the church was eventually forgotten to history. But after some painstaking research, archeologists determined that the medieval church could be found underneath the parking lot of the Leicester City Council offices.

The found an open space while digging in the parking lot, then nearby found a building with walls nearly 5 feet thick.

“The size of the walls, the orientation of the building, its position and the presence of medieval inlaid floor tiles and architectural fragments make this almost certainly the church of the Greyfriars,” Buckley said.

Buckley, co-director of the University of Leicester Archaeological Services, said what they have found so far leaves no doubt that the site contains Leicester’s Franciscan Friary, Science Daily reported.

“It is remarkable that the third trench has now made us certain that we have located the Friary church — not only a huge step forward in the search for the remains of Richard III, but also important new evidence for one of Leicester’s major religious buildings, lost for over 400 years.”

The archeological team, called the “Tomb Team” in British media, said now that the medieval church is found they will continue to expand their search into the walls to find the exact location of King Richard III’s tomb.