City of Leicester & Leicestershire - The Good and Historical Stuff

[kenny]

7 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

BBC saying 623,000 population.

 

Which would make us the 4th biggest city in UK, bigger than Manchester, Bristol and Liverpool.

 

I can see the case for annexing areas with no obvious countryside between the city and them, eg Oadby, Wigston, Glenfield, Birstall and a few others, but some are a bit weird.

 

People need to realise it will happen eventuall. Braunstone, Aylestone and Knighton are all within the current city boundaries and were once their own villages.

 

I could fully foresee Nottingham, Derby and Leicester merging into one megacity in the distant future.

It's the Barratt dream.

 

Small orange-brick houses stretching as far as the eye can see, linked by endless winding roads. Every pavement lined with parked cars because public transport is hopelessly inadequate for vast, low-density estates.

Seas of block paving dominate front gardens, driveways and shared spaces — hard surfaces replacing greenery while adding to heat, runoff and the sense of a place designed around cars rather than people.

 

At every corner, a fenced-off depression doubling as a drainage swale. Tiny saplings planted here and there as a token gesture towards replacing the countryside and wildlife that were cleared to build it all.

 

A masterclass in creating car dependency while calling it sustainable.

 

 

[davieG]

21 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

but some are a bit weird.

Syston & Queniborough?

[Stadt]

It mean Leicestershire would have what, 6 proper railway stations? 

Harborough, Melton and Hinckley, Sileby, Barrow and Loughborough.

 

Parkway and Bottesford don’t count. So about 500,000 people - it’s not as if the county will receive any transport funding to readdress this either.

 

The Ivanhoe line and restoring a station at Kibworth are feasible 

[MattFox]

1 hour ago, Stadt said:

The County Council loses a huge proportion of its tax base and still has a vast amount of land, buildings, highways to administer. Likely has a much higher average age now so the social care bill will be crippling.

 

A Labour national government giving a Labour (for now) ran City some of the most productive non-London/SE LAs in England is just pork barrel crap.

 

The city council already passed their housing allocations on, people in suburbs like Anstey are already fed up with overdevelopment. 

Yeah taking Blaby out the County basically kneecaps it economically 

 

 

[Free Falling Foxes]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

I worked there from 1977 to 1995. It was Marconi Radar Systems by then before becoming Marconi Command and Control.

 

If you look closely, you'll notice the left hand side of the site was designed as the front of the building. This was because when it was built in the late 50s, it was already envisaged that a new road (A563) would be constructed to feed the newly built M1 (J21)

 

The roads at the lower part of the photograph are Liberty Road and Scudamore Road. The latter of which now continues to a roundabout on the aforementioned A563.

 

Many of the buildings on the left hand half of the photograph/site remain with countless further development including residential, commercial and industrial, taking place in the area. One noticeable exception on the site is the taller square building towards the top left of the photograph which was known as the 'High Test Bay'

 

Unfortunately, what does remain as a green open space in that area, the old Western Golf Course, is also due to be concreted over.

Edited 17 July by Free Falling Foxes

[kenny]

51 minutes ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

I worked there from 1977 to 1995. It was Marconi Radar Systems by then before becoming Marconi Command and Control.

 

If you look closely, you'll notice the left hand side of the site was designed as the front of the building. This was because when it was built in the late 50s, it was already envisaged that a new road (A563) would be constructed to feed the newly built M1 (J21)

 

The roads at the lower part of the photograph are Liberty Road and Scudamore Road. The latter of which now continues to a roundabout on the aforementioned A563.

 

Many of the buildings on the left hand half of the photograph/site remain with countless further development including residential, commercial and industrial, taking place in the area. One noticeable exception on the site is the taller square building towards the top left of the photograph which was known as the 'High Test Bay'

 

Unfortunately, what does remain as a green open space in that area, the old Western Golf Course, is also due to be concreted over.

Only Tory and Reform voters play golf so that fine IMO. The golf courses should all go and be replaced with more economically accessible and diverse sports.

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, kenny said:

Only Tory and Reform voters play golf so that fine IMO. The golf courses should all go and be replaced with more economically accessible and diverse sports.

As well as being one of the largest sporting consumers of the most vital resource on the planet - fresh water. 

[Free Falling Foxes]

5 minutes ago, kenny said:

Only Tory and Reform voters play golf so that fine IMO. The golf courses should all go and be replaced with more economically accessible and diverse sports.

Since Western Golf Course closed approx 10 years ago, it has become an even more wonderful green space.

You see all sorts of wildlife there and it's so picturesque. 

Arguably, it is a more beautiful open space than any of the city parks.

It would make a truly wonderful city Arboretum . 

Edited 17 July by Free Falling Foxes

[kenny]

43 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

As well as being one of the largest sporting consumers of the most vital resource on the planet - fresh water. 

Lets talk about fishing next, another pursuit I don't like but managed to catch one anyway.

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, kenny said:

Lets talk about fishing next, another pursuit I don't like but managed to catch one anyway.

Never understood the appeal myself tbh. 

[kenny]

7 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Never understood the appeal myself tbh. 

Me neither, but like golf, other people enjoy it and its an outdoor activity that should be encouraged.

[leicsmac]

Just now, kenny said:

Me neither, but like golf, other people enjoy it and its an outdoor activity that should be encouraged.

Right.

 

And just to be clear, my initial reply was intended to be as facetious as your own. 

[kenny]

1 minute ago, leicsmac said:

Right.

 

And just to be clear, my initial reply was intended to be as facetious as your own. 

It was a beauty.

[leicsmac]

8 minutes ago, kenny said:

It was a beauty.

It really wasn't (far too dry), but I appreciate the compliment anyway. 

 

Anyhow, back on topic, it's tragic that the area under discussion is being concreted over when rewilding it is an entirely viable option. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

3 hours ago, davieG said:

Syston & Queniborough?

And even Croxton.

 

The MP for the area that Croxton is in was on Radio Leicester and mispronounced it as "Crockston". Shows how much she actually cares.

 

FYI, it's pronounced "Crowston".

[Zear0]

On 17/07/2026 at 14:35, Trav Le Bleu said:

And even Croxton.

 

The MP for the area that Croxton is in was on Radio Leicester and mispronounced it as "Crockston". Shows how much she actually cares.

 

FYI, it's pronounced "Crowston".

I always went for Crowson 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

1 minute ago, Zear0 said:

I always went for Crowson 

 

Yeah Crowson for me n all

[davieG]

 

Saffron Lane Velodrome

 

 

Another lost amenity to housing

 

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

6 minutes ago, davieG said:

 

Saffron Lane Velodrome

 

 

Another lost amenity to housing

 

 

The stadium is currently just a big waste of space too.

[Trav Le Bleu]

5 hours ago, Zear0 said:

I always went for Crowson 

You are correct.

[Wymsey]

On 17/07/2026 at 10:51, Stadt said:

The County Council loses a huge proportion of its tax base and still has a vast amount of land, buildings, highways to administer. Likely has a much higher average age now so the social care bill will be crippling.

 

A Labour national government giving a Labour (for now) ran City some of the most productive non-London/SE LAs in England is just pork barrel crap.

 

The city council already passed their housing allocations on, people in suburbs like Anstey are already fed up with overdevelopment. 

Am still undecided if this is a good thing or not...

 

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/sir-peter-soulsby-claims-leicester-11065277

 

[MaidstoneFox]

On 19/07/2026 at 11:51, davieG said:

 

Saffron Lane Velodrome

 

 

Another lost amenity to housing

 

 

I didn't realise this had shut down. I used to know Alex Webster, who was from Leicester and rode for GB, he at one point ran a bike shop in Town Hall Square. I was also in a taxi once with his brother Daryl Webster, who had been a more successful track cyclist and had ridden in the 1984 Olympics. Daryl, was driving taxis to make a living, but his life had taken a real downturn in general. This was all pre-lottery funding and the massive injection of support, that Daryl in particular would have benefited from.

[davieG]

 

Andrew Savage Stories

1d ·

 

𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐅𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧... 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐋𝐞𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐩
"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐣𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭..."

Needlegate is a little street tucked away and running behind two business premises on Sanvey Gate. It is little more than a narrow passage, a back alley not wide enough to get a vehicle down and it has no street lights. It appears on maps, has its own street sign and it leads nowhere in particular, serving no obvious purpose.

It isn't famous. There are no plaques explaining its history. Tourists don't come looking for it. Thousands of people pass close by every day without giving it a second thought.

Yet there it is. But where did it come from, what is it a gate to?

One possible answer lies in the way medieval towns were laid out. Behind the buildings that fronted the main roads were long, narrow strips of land known as burgage plots. Each belonged to a house or business facing the street, stretching back like the teeth of a comb. Between them were passages giving access to workshops, yards, gardens, stables, wells and stores. Some marked property boundaries. Others were shared rights of way. They were practical spaces rather than grand thoroughfares.

Needlegate could have been one of these passages. It may have provided access to the rear of properties or connected places that have long since disappeared. Equally, it may preserve an even older line in the landscape that later generations simply built around.

We cannot say with certainty which is correct. But perhaps that isn't important. Needlegate is a fossil within the landscape of Leicester. A small piece of the city, now surrounded by industrial buildings, that has outlived its origins.

Once you start wondering why it is there, the questions keep coming.

My grandmother was born and grew up on nearby Friday Street. These were her streets. Needlegate wasn't a historical curiosity to her; it was simply part of everyday Leicester, as familiar as the houses, shops and neighbourhood it sat in.

As a little girl, in a time long before St Margaret's Way cut through the area, she would walk along Pasture Lane, at the end of Friday Street, on her way to the park. Needlegate ran immediately alongside it then, just as it still does today.

Pasture Lane wasn't given its name by chance. The lane led to the pasture land belonging to Leicester Abbey, across the river, where Abbey Park stands. The destination has changed. The name hasn't.

Perhaps that is why places like Needlegate and Pasture Lane matter. They are more than street names. They are fragments of an older landscape that survive within the modern city, preserving memories of place and purpose that have long since disappeared. Once you start looking, you begin to see them all around.

Within a few streets are others named after gates - Sanvey Gate, Church Gate, Northgate, Woodgate and Abbey Gate. We think of a gate as something that opens and closes. However, many of these names come from the Old Norse word gata, meaning a street. This reflects the influence of the Scandinavian settlers whose language became woven into everyday English in the Danelaw.

Needlegate may therefore have originated simply as the 'narrow street', from the Old English nǣdl (needle), describing something thin and pointed.

This is only one stage in a much longer story of language changing across the landscape. Before Roman rule introduced Latin, the Corieltauvi spoke their own language. Later centuries saw Old English, Old Norse and Norman French all leave their mark, gradually shaping the language that would become modern English.

They may now seem to be simply names, but they remain a visible layer of Leicester's past, preserved in our street signs. Although many Leicester's 'Gates' take their name from the Old Norse gata, some also led to actual gateways through the Roman town wall. The wall that surrounded the town for centuries and became the blueprint on which modern Leicester still stands. Its line can still be traced through today's streets and can still be walked.

Starting at Sanvey Gate, the line of Leicester's Roman wall can still be followed. From the River Soar it ran beside what is now Soar Lane before continuing along the line of Sanvey Gate. The wall then turned right at St Margaret's Way before continuing along the line of Church Gate. Although the stone walls themselves have long disappeared, their course shapes the streets of the modern city. Everything enclosed by this line was Roman Leicester. Homes, workshops, markets, temples and public buildings all lay within its protection. Beyond the wall, the city gradually expanded, but the line of the Roman defences stayed. The wall may have vanished and its foundations were built over by later buildings, but its line remains woven into the layout and fabric of Leicester.

Continuing up Church Gate and from the Clock Tower along Gallowtree Gate, the Roman wall follows the line beneath the buildings. Angel's Gateway and Victoria Passage preserve the position of gateways that once gave access to and from the Roman town.

Gallowtree Gate also has its own story, although a little grisly. Its name comes from the street leading to the town gallows, the ‘gallow tree’ at the top of London Road. From Gallowtree Gate, along Granby Street and up London Road to Gallows Hill, just outside Victoria Park gates by the junction of Evington Road. The place atop the hill, seen by all below. A stark reminder for all who witness.

The street pattern also tells a story. Gallowtree Gate runs alongside and outside the Roman wall, Cheapside and Market Place run inside. Two roads, separated by little more than the width of the vanished wall itself. The pattern continues as the wall turns right at Horsefair Street, with Market Place South running parallel on the inside. The pattern follows with Millstone Lane and Friar Lane as it goes past Southgate and Applegate towards the Newarke and the river behind De Montfort University.

Approaching the Newarke, little suggests the importance of the ground beneath your feet, yet this is one of the most significant archaeological sites in Roman Leicester.

Just beyond the Roman South Gate, on the corner of the Newarke and Oxford Street, lies one of the principal cemeteries of Ratae. Roman law required the dead to be buried beyond the town walls and for more than two centuries this was one of the places where the people of Leicester were brought to rest. Travellers leaving along the southern road would have passed rows of memorials and graves, just as they would have outside Roman towns throughout the Empire.

Excavations have revealed a cemetery unlike any ordinary collection of graves. Earlier pagan burials and later Christian burials occupy the same ground, preserving the changing beliefs of the people of Roman Leicester. Rather than separate cemeteries, both traditions survive side by side, making this one of the city's most important Roman archaeological discoveries and one of the clearest records of the changing religious life of late Roman Britain.

The Newarke itself belongs to a much later chapter of Leicester's story. Founded in the fourteenth century as a religious precinct on the edge of the old town walls, it became one of medieval Leicester's most important institutions. The Roman wall had long since disappeared, but its line endured. Norman castle builders, medieval earls and fifteenth-century masons all strengthened the same defensive boundary, culminating in Rupert's Gateway around 1423.

Rupert's Gateway, like Needlegate at the beginning of the walk, is another reminder of an age that has long since disappeared, another fossil preserved within the modern city. Needlegate survives as the name of a street. Rupert's Gateway survives in stone. Both, like the cemetery nearby, have outlived the world that created them.

Passing through the gateway into the old castle, the ground is on a rise. Ahead lies the bluff overlooking the river's natural crossing point, the site of the first settlement centuries before the Romans arrived. This was the ground chosen by the Iron Age Corieltauvi, and it is here, on this defendable ridge above the river, that Leicester's story began.

The walk ends where Leicester begins. Needlegate never did answer the question that first brought me here. Instead, it opened the door to something much bigger.

A walk around the old walls of Leicester has revealed far more than familiar streets. It has uncovered the story of a city that has grown layer upon layer through time. The line of the Roman wall still shapes the streets of modern Leicester. Scandinavian words survive in everyday place names. Pagan and Christian burials rest together beneath the same ground. Medieval gateways still stand where generations once passed in and out of the town. Beyond them all, the bluff above the River Soar still overlooks the crossing that first attracted the Corieltauvi.

Looking back across the journey, one thing becomes clear. Leicester has never really begun again. Each age adapted to its own needs and added something of its own. Roads became streets. Defences became boundaries. Languages mixed. Beliefs changed. New communities settled alongside older ones. The city evolved, yet never lost the traces of those who had shaped it before.

My grandmother knew these streets as the place she lived. She walked by Needlegate as part of everyday Leicester. Yet beneath those familiar streets lay the footprints of countless generations who had lived, worked, worshipped, traded and made Leicester their home.

Needlegate remains a fossil of Leicester's past. But that one narrow lane has revealed something much greater.

Leicester was never shaped by one people, one culture or one moment in history. The diversity of its people, ideas, beliefs and languages became part of the process by which the city adapted and evolved. Over time, each age inherited what was here, reshaped it and passed it on, adding its own layer.

The story that began on a bluff above the River Soar thousands of years ago is still unfolding today in a city that changes, yet always remains itself.

 

[davieG]

Joanne Vigor-Mungovin - Author Hidden Leicester ·

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On This Day – 25 July 1856

Today marks the 170th anniversary of the execution of William Brown, better known as 'Peppermint Billy', the last man to be publicly hanged in Leicester.

Brown's criminal career had begun years earlier. In 1843, he was sentenced to #vandiemansland ( now #Tasmania), ten years' transportation for theft. After serving thirteen years overseas, he eventually returned home. Just two months later, he was arrested, tried and convicted of the murders of Edward and James Woodcock at Thorpe Toll Bar Gate, near Melton Mowbray.

On 25 July 1856, an estimated 25,000 people gathered outside Leicester County Gaol to witness his execution. The hanging was carried out by the infamous executioner William Calcraft, whose name became synonymous with public executions in Victorian Britain.

One of the most poignant moments came as the trap was about to be sprung. Watching from one of the best vantage points at the nearby Turk's Head public house, Brown's father waved a handkerchief in a final attempt to catch his son's eye.

The execution marked the end of an era, as William "Peppermint Billy" Brown became the last person to be publicly executed in Leicester—a stark reminder of a time when executions were public spectacles, drawing thousands of curious onlookers.

Had you heard the story of 'Peppermint Billy' before? Or have you visited the site of the old Leicester County Gaol? Share your thoughts or any family stories in the comments below.

 

 

Hangman

 

[Free Falling Foxes]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

On 25 July 1856, an estimated 25,000 people gathered outside Leicester County Gaol to witness his execution.

 

 

 

If that was a Saturday and the City or Tigers were at home too, you would never have got a parking spot.