Talk:Philippa Langley

Edits - bias aversion

I have edited the article to better reflect the truth of events and standing. While I agree her push for excavation and investigation over several years was instrumental in actually starting the archaeological search, excavation and discovery of the remains, she was not the discoverer, did not take part in the archaeology, and did not credit the original article from 1975. It is extremely unlikely that she did not read the article in her own societies magazine. I would quote Occams razor for my reasoning, if questioned. Audrey Strange wrote in 1975 in that article that "Their private car parks cover the centre and under one of these are the foundations of the thirteenth-century church, the dust and bones of the once-powerful king and saintly friars" - it is Audrey who should have received the credit for discovering the location, while Langley seems to have been aggrandising her own position. Going and standing in the car parks and claiming "I discovered it after I had a feeling it was here", seems far less credible once everyone realises she most definitely read the article. Chaosdruid (talk) 17:21, 28 August 2022 (UTC)

I don't think anybody disputes that a number of car parks, and other nearby locations, had been identified as possible sites for Greyfriars, but they were all discounted by subsequent (and eminent) historians. The car park that historians considered the most likely (but low probability) was across the road from the one that Langley had her "feeling" in. My reading is from that feeling, Langley and Buckley re-looked at the old maps and found an overlay that could justify digging in that specific car park (albeit Buckley was skeptical). However, as Langley/Richard III Society was mostly paying for it, and LCC was willing to provide some funding and licenses for the publicity, she was indulged. 78.18.228.191 (talk) 08:57, 23 January 2023 (UTC)

Actually, I can see that Landley wrote about Audrey's work in both her books, recognizing her work; however, it is also clear that nobody believed Strange because of the perceived location of Greyfriars and Blackfriar's churches. It wasn't until one of Buckley's earlier digs turned up empty, that they realized their maps were wrong, and Langley and Ashton reworked the overlays to identify the Social Services car park as the most likely location. 78.18.228.191 (talk) 22:47, 23 January 2023 (UTC)

Role in discovering the remains

Another editor and I are in disagreement at Talk:The Lost King#Langley as "leader" as to whether it is appropriate to say that Philippa Langley "led the search" to find Richard III's remains. Other views welcome. GrindtXX (talk) 11:35, 27 October 2022 (UTC)