City of Leicester & Leicestershire - The Good and Historical Stuff

[foxy tiler]

Prob been mentioned on this thread loads already but not being from Leicestershire id never been ....However I went to Bradgate park for the first time and I must say its fantastic. Stunning views nice coffee shop and plenty of nature. Will most definitely be visiting it come the Autumn ....lovely place.

[davieG]

 

GCR Leicester Central Railway Station

Duncan Chandler ·

 

Northgate bridge under construction

[davieG]

 

John Ghent Leicester Estate Agent

 

This old photo shows Leicester Cattle Market, once a very different and much busier part of the city’s landscape.

Look at the huge cooling towers dominating the skyline in the background too!

Do you remember the old Cattle Market, or know someone who worked or traded here?

Share your memories and follow John Ghent for more forgotten Leicester history.

[Parafox]

On 26/08/2026 at 15:17, foxy tiler said:

Prob been mentioned on this thread loads already but not being from Leicestershire id never been ....However I went to Bradgate park for the first time and I must say its fantastic. Stunning views nice coffee shop and plenty of nature. Will most definitely be visiting it come the Autumn ....lovely place.

Yes. Please do. The autumn in Bradgate is something special. The deer, and spot the occasional squirrel and the feel of the change of the seasons as the leaves change colour.

I kind of prefer Swithland Woods. Less busy than Bradgate and not the same views or the stream, but in some ways better with many small tracks off the main ones to be explored. Great for kids to run free and explore and for dogs to be off lead. 

If you do go, the parking is cash only which is a bit of a pain.

Also, you might feel a bit lost as you wander round but there are markers and maps at the start to help guide you. 

You could do both as they are next to each other.

Edited 27 August by Parafox

[davieG]

 

 

1977

 

 

[foxy tiler]

On 27/08/2026 at 19:12, Parafox said:

Yes. Please do. The autumn in Bradgate is something special. The deer, and spot the occasional squirrel and the feel of the change of the seasons as the leaves change colour.

I kind of prefer Swithland Woods. Less busy than Bradgate and not the same views or the stream, but in some ways better with many small tracks off the main ones to be explored. Great for kids to run free and explore and for dogs to be off lead. 

If you do go, the parking is cash only which is a bit of a pain.

Also, you might feel a bit lost as you wander round but there are markers and maps at the start to help guide you. 

You could do both as they are next to each other.

Ah thats intresting both near....im in Grantham so its only 40 odd mins so next time we pop over will try both of them. 👍

[Trav Le Bleu]

On 26/08/2026 at 15:17, foxy tiler said:

Prob been mentioned on this thread loads already but not being from Leicestershire id never been ....However I went to Bradgate park for the first time and I must say its fantastic. Stunning views nice coffee shop and plenty of nature. Will most definitely be visiting it come the Autumn ....lovely place.

I don't think a lot of people in Leicester realise what a gem they have on their doorstep and it gets taken for granted.

 

Not saying that people don't like Bradgate, but they don't appreciate how so many other parts of the country don't have something like this. It's like a mini National Park.

[foxy tiler]

15 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

I don't think a lot of people in Leicester realise what a gem they have on their doorstep and it gets taken for granted.

 

Not saying that people don't like Bradgate, but they don't appreciate how so many other parts of the country don't have something like this. It's like a mini National Park.

I bet same where i live .....10mins from the vale of Belvoir and Belton house with its huge grounds on my doorstep. However im happy to travel 45mins to Bradgate park....so glad ive discovered it.

[davieG]

15 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

I don't think a lot of people in Leicester realise what a gem they have on their doorstep and it gets taken for granted.

 

Not saying that people don't like Bradgate, but they don't appreciate how so many other parts of the country don't have something like this. It's like a mini National Park.

I think it's the same in all places I use to have family in London years ago and when I visited I talked to them about going to the Old Bailey, Tower of London, National Art Gallery, the various Museums the list is endless and they'd never been to any of them. Their biggest outing was Hyde Park and Battersea Fun Fair as they were just around the corner.

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

I think it's the same in all places I use to have family in London years ago and when I visited I talked to them about going to the Old Bailey, Tower of London, National Art Gallery, the various Museums the list is endless and they'd never been to any of them. Their biggest outing was Hyde Park and Battersea Fun Fair as they were just around the corner.

It's the same for me with the National Space Centre. I love space stuff, and all the geeky days they have there too, but I've never been.

 

I guarantee if it was in Nottingham, Derby or Coventry I would have

 

[Sampson]

1 hour ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

It's the same for me with the National Space Centre. I love space stuff, and all the geeky days they have there too, but I've never been.

 

I guarantee if it was in Nottingham, Derby or Coventry I would have

 

Both Bradgate Park and the Space Centre are excellent and well worth visiting.

[davieG]

Oadby & Wigston Borough Council ·

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Learn more about Wigston's World Cup connections at our pop-up exhibition about the Admiral factory, which kicks off tomorrow (1 September) at the Record Office, Wigston!

Drop in until Thursday 24 September and discover the town's connection to the 1966 and 1982 World Cups, remember Admiral’s iconic England and Leicester City football kits and learn about the local people who made Admiral a pioneering sportswear brand.

[Free Falling Foxes]

Leicester's lost mainline.

 

[davieG]

Your Leicester is at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU). ·

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 ·Leicester ·

 

Massive news for Leicester! De Montfort University has just been shortlisted for University of the Year!

Huge congratulations to the entire team and student community over at De Montfort University (De Montfort University (DMU))! They’ve officially made the shortlist for University of the Year at the prestigious Times Higher Education (THE) Awards 2026, and we couldn’t be prouder to see our city represented on the national stage.

From their game-changing block teaching model to their dedication to modern student life, DMU continues to bring incredible energy, innovation and pride straight to the heart of Leicester. Redefining higher education right on our doorstep!

Swipe through the carousel to see the official announcement! Let’s show them some massive local love in the comments below.

[davieG]

Simon 'Schooly' Phillips

AI content

 

Been playing around with an idea and thought I’d share this very rough first attempt.

I’m going to do a little series of Then & Now images of Leicester, taking some of the oldest views I can find and trying to recreate roughly what the same landscape looks like today.

This first one is The South Prospect of Leicester, engraved by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck and published on 25 March 1743.

And this is where it gets interesting.

Look closely at the original and you can see Leicester as a remarkably small town surrounded by open countryside.

The fields in the foreground include land around what would eventually become Highfields and Victoria Park, complete with windmills. In the distance are the hills of Charnwood, also dotted with windmills.

Some of the old Leicester landmarks represented in that eighteenth-century skyline survive, while almost everything around them has changed.

Even Abbey Park has a connection to this landscape: the park itself didn’t open until 1882, but it was created from the former Abbey Meadows, alongside the historic landscape of medieval St Mary’s Abbey.

The second image is NOT a historical photograph, it’s my rough 2026 digital/3D experiment, imagining how a modern version of the Buck brothers’ prospect might be presented today.

Still plenty to correct and refine, but I love the idea of putting nearly 300 years of Leicester into the same view.

I’ll post more of these as I find them.

[davieG]

 

 

GCR Leicester Central Railway Station

John Davies 

 

Taken From Another Group Class B1 No 61077 Seen Crossing Dunns Lane and St Augastine Street Approaching Narbrough Road

[Parafox]

On 03/09/2026 at 16:44, Free Falling Foxes said:

Leicester's lost mainline.

 

Such a shame. What a building. Just look at it now.

[Parafox]

On 04/09/2026 at 18:39, davieG said:

Simon 'Schooly' Phillips

AI content

 

Been playing around with an idea and thought I’d share this very rough first attempt.

I’m going to do a little series of Then & Now images of Leicester, taking some of the oldest views I can find and trying to recreate roughly what the same landscape looks like today.

This first one is The South Prospect of Leicester, engraved by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck and published on 25 March 1743.

And this is where it gets interesting.

Look closely at the original and you can see Leicester as a remarkably small town surrounded by open countryside.

The fields in the foreground include land around what would eventually become Highfields and Victoria Park, complete with windmills. In the distance are the hills of Charnwood, also dotted with windmills.

Some of the old Leicester landmarks represented in that eighteenth-century skyline survive, while almost everything around them has changed.

Even Abbey Park has a connection to this landscape: the park itself didn’t open until 1882, but it was created from the former Abbey Meadows, alongside the historic landscape of medieval St Mary’s Abbey.

The second image is NOT a historical photograph, it’s my rough 2026 digital/3D experiment, imagining how a modern version of the Buck brothers’ prospect might be presented today.

Still plenty to correct and refine, but I love the idea of putting nearly 300 years of Leicester into the same view.

I’ll post more of these as I find them.

Excellent. I have a keen interest in local history, both city and county wide. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this work. 

Edited 6 September by Parafox

[Trav Le Bleu]

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

On 04/09/2026 at 18:39, davieG said:

Simon 'Schooly' Phillips

AI content

 

Been playing around with an idea and thought I’d share this very rough first attempt.

I’m going to do a little series of Then & Now images of Leicester, taking some of the oldest views I can find and trying to recreate roughly what the same landscape looks like today.

This first one is The South Prospect of Leicester, engraved by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck and published on 25 March 1743.

And this is where it gets interesting.

Look closely at the original and you can see Leicester as a remarkably small town surrounded by open countryside.

The fields in the foreground include land around what would eventually become Highfields and Victoria Park, complete with windmills. In the distance are the hills of Charnwood, also dotted with windmills.

Some of the old Leicester landmarks represented in that eighteenth-century skyline survive, while almost everything around them has changed.

Even Abbey Park has a connection to this landscape: the park itself didn’t open until 1882, but it was created from the former Abbey Meadows, alongside the historic landscape of medieval St Mary’s Abbey.

The second image is NOT a historical photograph, it’s my rough 2026 digital/3D experiment, imagining how a modern version of the Buck brothers’ prospect might be presented today.

Still plenty to correct and refine, but I love the idea of putting nearly 300 years of Leicester into the same view.

I’ll post more of these as I find them.

If you were to ask me the most noticeable spire in Leicester, until fairly recently, I would have said St Mary De Castro. 

 

Of course, after being struck by lightning several years ago, it was dismantled. However, in the earlier pic, St Mary doesn't have a spire then.

 

As memory serves however, St Nics doesn't have a spire, but is very old and modestly sized. Yet the pic makes it look massive.

 

Is it possible the two have been confused? SMDC should also be more visible because it is raised up on a bank.

[davieG]

3 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

If you were to ask me the most noticeable spire in Leicester, until fairly recently, I would have said St Mary De Castro. 

 

Of course, after being struck by lightning several years ago, it was dismantled. However, in the earlier pic, St Mary doesn't have a spire then.

 

As memory serves however, St Nics doesn't have a spire, but is very old and modestly sized. Yet the pic makes it look massive.

 

Is it possible the two have been confused? SMDC should also be more visible because it is raised up on a bank.

You need to find this guy on Facebook - Simon 'Schooly' Phillips

[Trav Le Bleu]

I'm fairly certain he's wrong. Geographically and from appearance of the churches, I think what he says is St Martin's is St Nick's because St Nick's is much closer to All Saints than St Martin's is and as I've said before, St Nick's has never had a spire, so what it says is St Nick's is St Mary de Castro.

 

I believe what it says is St Mary de Castro isn't even a church. The church is further left, spire less, so can't be either St Martin's or St Mary's. Possibly a church no long existing?

 

Lastly, from the vantage point stated, all of those churches would be in such a straight line that they'd be much closer together and St Margaret's would be on the right.

 

I'm very skeptical, especially as the second pic isn't a photograph, so no real landmarks to orientate from.

 

 

[danny.]

On 04/09/2026 at 18:39, davieG said:

Simon 'Schooly' Phillips

AI content

 

Been playing around with an idea and thought I’d share this very rough first attempt.

I’m going to do a little series of Then & Now images of Leicester, taking some of the oldest views I can find and trying to recreate roughly what the same landscape looks like today.

This first one is The South Prospect of Leicester, engraved by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck and published on 25 March 1743.

And this is where it gets interesting.

Look closely at the original and you can see Leicester as a remarkably small town surrounded by open countryside.

The fields in the foreground include land around what would eventually become Highfields and Victoria Park, complete with windmills. In the distance are the hills of Charnwood, also dotted with windmills.

Some of the old Leicester landmarks represented in that eighteenth-century skyline survive, while almost everything around them has changed.

Even Abbey Park has a connection to this landscape: the park itself didn’t open until 1882, but it was created from the former Abbey Meadows, alongside the historic landscape of medieval St Mary’s Abbey.

The second image is NOT a historical photograph, it’s my rough 2026 digital/3D experiment, imagining how a modern version of the Buck brothers’ prospect might be presented today.

Still plenty to correct and refine, but I love the idea of putting nearly 300 years of Leicester into the same view.

I’ll post more of these as I find them.

Am I being really thick here? Isn't Highfields off to the right? I assume that's the view from Victoria Park road?

[davieG]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2zkj09dy4o

 

Plans for major overhaul of councils halted
Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner

ByBecky Morton

7 September 2026, 
Plans for a major shake-up of local government are on hold, after the government launched a review in light of new legal advice.

Proposals to merge smaller councils to form larger authorities in Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk have been withdrawn.

Meanwhile, plans for 14 other areas will also be reviewed and paused.

Reorganisation in Surrey, where councillors for two new unitary authorities were elected in May, will not be affected by the review.

The government confirmed local elections in May 2027 would go ahead on existing council boundaries.

Confirming the review in Parliament, Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner told MPs that "in light of legal advice, I want to satisfy myself firstly that the right process is in place, that it is robust, and of course complies with the law".

She added: "And secondly, I want to fully test whether our proposals for local government reorganisation meet the priorities of a new administration and a new prime minister and any additional considerations."

The plans originated under Sir Keir Starmer's government, when Rayner was also local government secretary, before she was replaced by Steve Reed.

The government was already facing legal challenges over proposals to reorganise councils in Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

In June, Reform-led councils in Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk launched judicial reviews against the plans, while the Conservative-led administration in Hampshire did the same.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: "Reform UK not only argued that this government's plans for local government reorganisation were an unmitigated disaster, but we once again put our money where our mouth is."

He added: "Thanks to our judicial reviews in affected Reform-led councils, the government has backed down on their plans yet again."

Conservative shadow local government minister David Simmonds said it was a "humiliation" for the government.

He said: "Ministers are only backing off because they have been found out in the face of relentless Conservative opposition to their gerrymandering."

Liberal Democrat local government spokeswoman Zöe Franklin said: "This is an embarrassing and chaotic climbdown, which has resulted in already cash-strapped councils wasting huge sums on plans the government told them were legally watertight."

Sean Matthews, from the County Councils Network, welcomed the move, adding: "Many of our members will be relieved that the decisions they viewed as damaging to local services and financially unsustainable have been withdrawn or are being reviewed."

Local government in England is currently covered by a complicated patchwork of arrangements.

In some places, responsibility for local services is shared between county councils, which manage areas including social care and education; and district councils, which cover smaller areas and are responsible for services such as bin collections.

Some areas, particularly larger towns and some cities, have "unitary" authorities responsible for both - while the regions surrounding big cities are increasingly covered by regional mayors and multi-council "combined" authorities, with greater powers in areas such as transport policy, planning and housing.

In late 2024, as local government secretary, Rayner announced plans to move towards unitary councils across all of England, with council boundaries redrawn and smaller district councils abolished.

The government argued the proposals would make the system simpler and produce savings by making the delivery of services more efficient, while also handing new powers from Westminster to regions across the country.

However, critics said the plans would not save money; and would divert resources from front-line services and mean councils were more remote from their communities.

Under Sir Keir, the government had been pushing ahead with the proposals.

In July – just days before Andy Burnham became prime minister – Rayner's successor as secretary of state, Reed had announced plans for new councils in 14 areas.

 

 

The 14 areas where local government reorganisation is being paused while a review is carried out are:

Derby and Derbyshire

Devon, Plymouth and Torbay

East Sussex and Brighton

Gloucestershire

Hertfordshire

Kent and Medway

Lancashire, Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool

Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland

Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire

Oxfordshire and West Berkshire

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent

Warwickshire

Worcestershire

The government said decisions had not yet been taken on Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and West Sussex, with these areas being considered alongside the wider review.

[davieG]

Highfields the gooddays  · 

Nay Dabz ·

Highfields 250+ years ago.

Comment

Kate Cook

 ·I think this map is slightly more recent than 250 years ago, because it shows the Methodist Chapel on Bishop Street which opened in 1810 I think. What is now the Town Hall Square is labelled the cattle market. So perhaps the map is from around 200 years ago?