Stood opposite the Victoria Arcade in Gallowtree Gate.
Recorded in 1587, it had a rear entrance to Fox Lane. The pub was demolished some time in the early 19th century to make way for a newly erected Mansfield bank, which later became The Stamford and Spalding Bank.
1598 The Corporation had the White Horse conveyance to them from Queen Elizabeth 1st Charter. where it flourished for many years.
The White Horse had a swinging sign with a white horse and according to one report bore the inscription:
“My White Horse shall beat the Bear,
And make Angels Fly;
He’ll turn the Three Tuns upside down,
And drink the three cups dry”
In 1756, a warrant for the taking of a distress upon the goods of Thomas Towers at the White Horse, who refused to receive three soldiers billeted on him by the Mayor.
1794 ” Henry White recently entered upon the ancient well established carrier inn the White Horse Gallowtree Gate late in the occupation of John Taylor”
The White Horse’s history was perhaps best known for reputedly housing of King Richard III stone coffin. Also after the dissolution of the monasteries, many historians told of King Richard 111s body was housed in this stone coffin. also stories of his body dug up and thrown over the West Bridge into the River Soar. His stone coffin was said to be used as a drinking trough for cattle. William Gardiner wrote that the trough stood in the stable yard of the inn. John Evelyn wrote of it in his diaries in 1654 as did Celia Fiennes circa 1700, (although she thought the inn was called the Greyhound). She described how the stone coffin was shaped to the old king’s body but only part of it remained.
The coffin was broken up during the time of George I.
A plaque on the bridge told of the King’s remains being in the Soar, it became a point on Leicesters history tour, recent events however of the discovery of the King Richard’s remains in a car park in St Martins have proved most if not all of these writings to be FAKE NEWS.