Leicester City guide, including Leicester Hotels
- By:travel guide
On first impression, Leicester is a resolutely modern thriving city and
the county town, with two universities. The city has good shopping
facilities with pedestrian friendly shopping streets and the Shires
Shopping Centre. There are traces of its medieval and Roman past. The
Romans, choosing this site in the middle of the territory of the
rebellious Coritani, developed Leicester's precursor, Ratae
Coritanorum, as a fortified town on the Fosse Way, the military road
running from Lincoln to Cirencester.
Places of interest:
There is a large Indian population with a good Hindu temple. For sport,
there is a racecourse, and successful Rugby, Football and Cricket
teams. Outside the city, there are wild moor land and woods at
Bradgate, and at Swithland there is a reservoir and golf course.
- Jewry Wall museum records the city's past on the site of Roman
baths, and has mosaic pavements. In the Roman times the settlement at
Leicester was the capital of Coritani. It also charts Leicester's
history from prehistoric to medieval times. The most interesting
artefacts are Roman, a hotchpotch of archaeological finds from Fosse
Way milestones to two splendid mosaics.
- Jain Centre is based in a totally revamped old Congregational
chapel. The rites and beliefs of the Jains, a long-established Indian
religious sect, focus on an extreme reverence for all living things.
The temple, the only one of its kind in Western Europe, has a
splendidly garish white marble facade, and visitors may enter the lobby
or even view the interior by prior appointment.
- Newarke Houses Museum, located in the 1511 Chantry House, two
adjoining Jacobean houses, makes a pleasant setting for an exploration
of the town's social history.
- St Martins Cathedral is built on a Saxon site, and former Roman
temple. By the 8th century Leicester had a bishop, though the bishopric
lapsed in 874 A.D. and was not re-instated until 1926 which is when the
14th century St. Martin’s Church became a cathedral.
- Leicestershire Museum & Art Gallery, located on the New Walk,
has a 'Discovery' room for children, an art collection and ever
changing exhibitions. It is easily the best of the city's museums.
Things to do:
Leicester's Hindu population put on a massive and internationally
famous Diwali, Festival of Light, in October or November, while the
city's sizeable Afro-Caribbean community celebrates its culture in a
whirl of colour and music on the first weekend in August.
- Bradgate Park is where you can find the picturesque ruins of
Bradgate House, birthplace of Lady Jane Grey, who was Queen of England
in 1554 for just nine days.
- Charnwood Forest has a wealth of country parks providing wonderful
walks and views. Other beauty spots include the rocky summit of Beacon
Hill and the long ridge occupied by the Outwoods. Billa Barra and Altar
Stones are unusual hills on the west side of Charnwood, whilst
Broombriggs Farm, Windmill Hill and Groby Pool add to the variety.
- Rutland Water is a reservoir in the east of the county. When it was
constructed, various areas were set aside to cater for different types
of leisure pursuits. At the eastern end, sailing and sail boarding are
popular, while in the central section trout fishing takes place, both
from boats and from the shore. The western part of the reservoir is a
nature reserve, but throughout the year large numbers of water birds
can be seen in all sections of the reservoir.
- Abbey Park is Leicester’s premier park and lies approximately one
mile north of the City centre. The River Soar divides this beautiful
park into two distinct areas: to the east of the river lies the highly
decorative Victorian part of the park with its evergreen shrubberies,
trees, lakes and formal flower displays. To the west lies the
fascinating Abbey Grounds where the remains of the twelfth century
Leicester Abbey and the ruins of Cavendish House, a seventeenth century
mansion are located.
- Foxton Locks comprises ten canal locks consisting of two
"staircases" of five locks and is located on the Leicester line of the
Grand Union Canal. Staircase locks are used where a canal needs to
climb a steep hill, and consist of groups of locks which open directly
into each other. Foxton Locks are the largest flight of staircase locks
on the English canal system. The locks are a popular tourist attraction
and the county council has created a country park at the top.