On display in the courtyard at Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre stands a stone coffin. The Romans used coffins similar to this example to bury important citizens. The above coffin is thought likely to be 2000 years old and was previously used as a watering trough in Leicester. During the Medieval period, monks and friars used such stone coffins and the remains of important benefactors, bishops, abbots and priors are often found buried in stone specimens. The above coffin was taken from Leicester in 1903 to be used as a water feature in the gardens of a large house in Earl Shilton. Iron pipes were put into the ends at that time. The coffin has tool marks from the Romano-British stone mason who shaped the coffin and worn edges from the harnesses of animals drinking from it in Leicester. The garden of the property in Earl Shilton was developed for housing in 2009 when David Wilson East Midlands donated the coffin to the Battlefield Centre.
Bosworth Battlefield: Earl Shilton Coffin