Prehistory Leicester is one of the oldest cities in England, with a history going back at least two millennia. The
native Iron Age settlement encountered by the
Romans at the site seems to have developed in the 2nd or 1st centuries
BC, around a century or so before the arrival of the Romans. Little is known about this settlement or the condition of the
River Soar at this time, although
roundhouses from this era have been excavated and seem to have clustered along roughly of the east bank of the Soar. This area of the Soar was split into two channels: a main stream to the east and a narrower channel on the west, with a presumably marshy island between. The settlement seems to have controlled a ford across the larger channel. The
later Roman name was a
latinate form of the
Brittonic word for "ramparts" (cf.
Gaelic rath and the nearby villages of
Ratby and
Ratcliffe The
Celtic tribe holding the area was later recorded as the "
Coritanians" but an inscription recovered in 1983 showed this to have been a corruption of the original "
Corieltauvians". The Corieltauvians are believed to have ruled over roughly the area of the
East Midlands.
Roman and the
Jewry Wall It is believed that the
Romans arrived in the Leicester area around
AD 47, during their
conquest of
southern Britain. The Corieltauvian settlement lay near a bridge on the
Fosse Way, a
Roman road between the legionary camps at
Isca (
Exeter) and
Lindum (
Lincoln). It remains unclear whether the Romans fortified and garrisoned the location, but it slowly developed from around the year 50 onwards as the
tribal capital of the Corieltauvians under the name
Ratae Corieltauvorum. In the 2nd century, it received a
forum and
bathhouse. In 2013, the discovery of a Roman cemetery found just outside the old city walls and dating back to AD 300 was announced. of the
History of the Britons. Following the
Saxon invasion of Britain, Leicester was occupied by the
Middle Angles and subsequently administered by the kingdom of
Mercia. It was elevated to a
bishopric in either 679 or 680; this see survived until the 9th century, when Leicester was captured by
Danish Vikings. Their settlement became one of the
Five Burghs of the
Danelaw, although this position was short-lived. The Saxon bishop, meanwhile, fled to
Dorchester-on-Thames and Leicester did not become a bishopric again until the parish church of became
Leicester Cathedral in 1927. The settlement was recorded under the name
Ligeraceaster in the early 10th century. Following the
Norman conquest, Leicester was recorded by
William's
Domesday Book as
Ledecestre. It was noted as a city (
civitas) but lost this status in the 11th century owing to power struggles between the
Church and the
aristocracy and did not become a legal city again until 1919. (top left),
St Margaret's (top right),
Leicester Cathedral (bottom right),
All Saints (bottom left), and
St Mary de Castro (centre).
Geoffrey of Monmouth composed his
History of the Kings of Britain around the year 1136, naming a
King Leir as an
eponymous founder figure. According to Geoffrey's narrative,
Cordelia had buried her father beneath the river in a chamber dedicated to
Janus and his feast day was an annual celebration. When
Simon de Montfort became
Earl of Leicester in 1231, he gave the borough a grant to expel the Jewish population "in my time or in the time of any of my heirs to the end of the world". He justified his action as being "for the good of my soul, and for the souls of my ancestors and successors". Leicester's Jews were allowed to move to the eastern suburbs, which were controlled by de Montfort's great-aunt and rival, Margaret, Countess of Winchester, after she took advice from the scholar and cleric
Robert Grosseteste, at that time
Archdeacon of Leicester. It would appear, however, that the expulsion was largely effective, and there is no evidence of any Jews remaining in Leicester. , dating from the 14th century During the 14th century, the earls of Leicester and Lancaster enhanced the prestige of the town.
Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster and of Leicester founded a hospital for the poor and infirm in the area to the south of the castle now known as The Newarke (the "new work"). Henry's son, the great
Henry of Grosmont, 4th Earl of Lancaster and of Leicester, who was made first Duke of Lancaster, enlarged and enhanced his father's foundation, and built the collegiate Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of The Newarke. This church (a little of which survives in the basement of the Hawthorn Building of De Montfort University) was destroyed during the reign of King Edward VI. It became an important pilgrimage site because it housed a thorn said to be from the Crown of Thorns, given to the Duke by the King of France. The church (described by Leland in the C16th as "not large but exceeding fair") also became, effectively, a Lancastrian mausoleum. Duke Henry's daughter
Blanche of Lancaster married
John of Gaunt and their son Henry Bolingbroke became
King Henry IV when he deposed King Richard II. The Church of the Annunciation was the burial place of Duke Henry, who had earlier had his father re-interred here. Later it became the burial place of
Constance of Castile, Duchess of Lancaster (second wife of John of Gaunt) and of
Mary de Bohun, first wife of Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV) and mother of King Henry V (she did not become queen because she died before Bolingbroke became king). John of Gaunt died at Leicester Castle in 1399. When his son became king, the Earldom of Leicester and the Duchy of Lancaster became royal titles (and the latter remains so). At the end of the
War of the Roses,
King Richard III was buried in Leicester's
Greyfriars Church a Franciscan Friary and Church which was demolished after its dissolution in 1538. The site of that church is now covered by
King Richard III Visitor Centre (until 2012 by more modern buildings and a car park). There was a legend his corpse had been cast into the
river, while some historians argued his tomb and remains were destroyed during the
dissolution of the monasteries under
Henry VIII. However, in September 2012, an archaeological investigation of the car park revealed a skeleton which
DNA testing helped verify to be related to two descendants of Richard III's sister. It was concluded that the skeleton was that of Richard III because of the DNA evidence and the shape of the spine. In 2015 Richard III was reburied in pride of place near the high altar in
Leicester Cathedral.
Modern Tudor ruins, now part of
Abbey Park On 4 November 1530,
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was arrested on charges of treason and taken from Yorkshire. On his way south to face dubious justice at the
Tower of London, he fell ill. The group escorting him was concerned enough to stop at Leicester to rest at Leicester Abbey. There, Wolsey's condition quickly worsened. He died on 29 November 1530 and was buried at
Leicester Abbey, now
Abbey Park.
Lady Jane Grey, who claimed the English throne for nine days in June 1553, was born at
Bradgate Park near Leicester around 1536. Queen
Elizabeth I's intimate and former suitor,
Robert Dudley, was given the
Earldom of Leicester.
Stuart After the
Union of the Crowns,
Anne of Denmark,
Prince Henry, and
Princess Elizabeth travelled to Leicester on 24 June 1603, after the courtier and usher Thomas Conway was assured that the town was free from infection or plague.
Prince Charles, later King Charles I, travelled to London with his guardian
Alexander Seton. The royal party stayed at Leicester for three days in August 1604 at the townhouse of
William Skipwith. The Corporation of Leicester opposed the efforts of Charles I to disafforest the nearby
Leicester Forest, believing them to be likely to throw many of its residents into poverty and need of relief.
Sir Miles Fleetwood was sent to commission the disafforestation and division of lands being used in common. Riots destroyed enclosures in spring 1627 and 1628, following a pattern of
anti-enclosure disturbances found elsewhere including the Western Rising. Petitions challenging the enclosures were presented by the Corporation of Leicester and borough residents to the King and
Privy Council. They were unsuccessful so petitioned the
House of Lords in June 1628 who however supported Fleetwood but asked for proceedings made by the Crown against the rioters to be dropped. Compensation made to the legal residents of the forest was reasonably generous by comparison with other forests. The Corporation of Leicester received for relief of the poor.
Civil War Leicester was a Parliamentarian (colloquially called
Roundhead) stronghold during the
English Civil War. In 1645, King
Charles I of England and
Prince Rupert decided to attack the (then) town to draw the
New Model Army away from the Royalist (colloquially called
Cavaliers) headquarters of
Oxford.
Royalist guns were set up on
Raw Dykes and, after an unsatisfactory response to a demand for surrender, the assault began at 3pm on 30 May 1645 by a Royalist battery opposite the Newarke. The town – which only had approximately 2,000 defenders opposed to the Royalist Army of approximately 10,000 combatants – was sacked on 31 May 1645, and hundreds of people were killed by Rupert's cavalry. It was reported that 120 houses had been destroyed and that 140 wagons of plunder were sent to the Royalist stronghold of
Newark. Following the Parliamentarian victory over the Royalist Army at the
Battle of Naseby on 14 June 1645, Leicester was recovered by Parliament on 18 June 1645.
Industrial era (1990)Leicester, Hotel Street The construction of the
Grand Union Canal in the 1790s linked Leicester to London and
Birmingham. The first railway station in Leicester opened in 1832, in the form of the
Leicester and Swannington Railway which provided a supply of coal to the town from nearby collieries. The
Midland Counties Railway (running from
Derby to
Rugby) linked the town to the national network by 1840. A direct link to
London St Pancras was established by the
Midland Railway in the 1860s. These developments encouraged and accompanied a
process of industrialisation which intensified throughout the reign of
Queen Victoria. Factories began to appear, particularly along the canal and river, and districts such as
Frog Island and
Woodgate were the locations of numerous large mills. Between 1861 and 1901, Leicester's population increased from to and the proportion employed in trade, commerce, building, and the city's new factories and workshops rose steadily.
Hosiery, textiles, and footwear became the major industrial employers: manufacturers such as
N. Corah & Sons and the Cooperative Boot and Shoe Company were opening some of the largest manufacturing premises in Europe. They were joined, in the latter part of the century, by engineering firms such as Kent Street's Taylor and Hubbard (crane makers and founders), Vulcan Road's
William Gimson & Company (steam boilers and founders), Martin Street's Richards & Company (steel works and founders), and
British United Shoe Machinery Co (manufacturer of
footwear machinery and materials). The politics of Victorian Leicester were lively and very often bitter. Years of consistent economic growth meant living standards generally increased, but Leicester was a stronghold of
Radicalism.
Thomas Cooper, the
Chartist, kept a shop in Church Gate. There were serious Chartist riots in the town in 1842 and again six years later. The
Leicester Secular Society was founded in 1851 but
secularist speakers such as
George Holyoake were often denied the use of speaking halls. It was not until 1881 that
Leicester Secular Hall was opened. The second half of the 19th century also witnessed the creation of many other institutions, including the town council,
the Royal Infirmary, and the Leicester Constabulary. It also benefited from general acceptance (and the powers given by the Public Health Acts) that municipal organisations had a responsibility to provide for the town's water supply, drainage, and sanitation. In 1853, backed with a guarantee of dividends by the Corporation of Leicester the
Leicester Waterworks Company built a reservoir at Thornton for the supply of water to the town. This guarantee was made possible by the
Public Health Act 1847 and an amending local act of Parliament, the
Leicester Waterworks Amendment Act 1851 (
14 & 15 Vict. c. xxxiii). In 1866 another amending act, the
Leicester Waterworks Act 1866 (
29 & 30 Vict. c. xxvii), enabled the Corporation of Leicester to take shares in the company to enable the construction of another reservoir at Cropston, completed in 1870. The Corporation of Leicester was later able to buy the waterworks and build another reservoir at Swithland, completed in the 1890s. Leicester became a
county borough in 1889, although it was abolished in 1974 as part of the
Local Government Act 1972, and was reformed as a non-metropolitan district and city. The city regained its unitary status, being administered separately from Leicestershire, in 1997. The borough had been expanding throughout the 19th century, but grew most notably when it annexed
Belgrave,
Aylestone,
North Evington,
Knighton, and
Stoneygate in 1892.
Early 20th century In 1900, the
Great Central Railway provided another link to London, but the rapid population growth of the previous decades had already begun to slow by the time of Queen Victoria's death in 1901.
World War I and the subsequent epidemics had further impacts. Nonetheless, Leicester was finally recognised as a legal city once more in 1919 in recognition of its contribution to the British war effort. Recruitment to the armed forces was lower in Leicester than in other English cities, partly because of the low level of unemployment and the need for many of its industries, such as clothing and footwear manufacturing, to supply the army. As the war progressed, many of Leicester's factories were given over to arms production; Leicester produced the first batch of Howitzer shells by a British company which was not making ammunition before the war. After the war, the city received a royal visit; the king and queen received a march-past in
Victoria Park of thousands of serving and demobilised soldiers. Following the end of the war, a memorial arch—the
Arch of Remembrance—was built in Victoria Park and unveiled in 1925. The arch, one of the largest First World War memorials in the UK, was designed by
Sir Edwin Lutyens, who also designed
the Cenotaph in London and is a grade I
listed building. A set of gates and lodges, again by Lutyens, were added in the 1930s, leading to the memorial from the University Road and London Road entrances to Victoria Park. in
Victoria Park In 1927, Leicester became a cathedral city again on the consecration of Church as the cathedral. A second major extension to the boundaries following the changes in 1892 took place in 1935, with the annexation of the remainder of
Evington,
Humberstone,
Beaumont Leys, and part of
Braunstone. A third major revision of the boundaries took place in 1966, with the net addition to the city of just over . The boundary has remained unchanged since that time. Leicester's diversified economic base and lack of dependence on primary industries meant it was much better placed than many other cities to weather the tariff wars of the 1920s and
Great Depression of the 1930s. The Bureau of Statistics of the newly formed
League of Nations identified Leicester in 1936 as the second-richest city in Europe and it became an attractive destination for refugees fleeing persecution and political turmoil in
continental Europe. Firms such as Corah and Liberty Shoes used their reputation for producing high-quality products to expand their businesses. These years witnessed the growth in the city of
trade unionism and particularly the
co-operative movement. The Co-op became an important employer and landowner; when Leicester played host to the
Jarrow March on its way to London in 1936, the Co-op provided the marchers with a change of boots. In 1938, Leicester was selected as the base for Squadron 1F, the first A.D.C.C (Air Defence Cadet Corp), the predecessor of the
Air Training Corps.
World War II Leicester was bombed on 19 November 1940. Although only three bombs hit the city, 108 people were killed in Highfields.
Contemporary The years after
World War II, particularly from the 1960s onwards, brought many social and economic challenges.
Urban expansion; central rapprochement Mass housebuilding continued across Leicester for some 30 years after 1945. Existing housing estates such as Braunstone were expanded, while several completely new estates – of both private and council tenure – were built. The last major development of this era was Beaumont Leys in the north of the city, which was developed in the 1970s as a mix of private and council housing. There was a steady decline in Leicester's traditional manufacturing industries and, in the city centre, working factories and light industrial premises have now been almost entirely replaced. Many former factories, including some on
Frog Island and at
Donisthorpe Mill, have been badly damaged by fire. Rail and barge were finally eclipsed by automotive transport in the 1960s and 1970s: the Great Central and the Leicester and Swannington both closed and the northward extension of the
M1 motorway linked Leicester into England's growing motorway network. With the loss of much of the city's industry during the 1970s and 1980s, some of the old industrial jobs were replaced by new jobs in the service sector, particularly in retail. The opening of the Haymarket Shopping Centre in 1971 was followed by a number of new shopping centres in the city, including St Martin's Shopping Centre in 1984 and the Shire Shopping Centre in 1992. The Shires was subsequently expanded in September 2008 and rebranded as Highcross. By the 1990s, as well, Leicester's central position and good transport links had established it as a distribution centre; the southwestern area of the city has also attracted new service and manufacturing businesses.
Immigration '' newspaper to discourage Ugandan Asians from settling in Leicester Since World War II Leicester has experienced large scale immigration from across the world. Many Polish servicemen were prevented from returning to their homeland after the war by the communist regime, and they established a small community in Leicester. Economic migrants from the
Irish Republic continued to arrive throughout the post war period. Immigrants from the
Indian sub-continent began to arrive in the 1960s, their numbers boosted by
Asians arriving from Kenya and Uganda in the early 1970s. In 1972,
Idi Amin announced that the entire
Asian community in Uganda had 90 days to leave the country. Shortly thereafter, Leicester City Council launched a campaign aimed at dissuading Ugandan Asians from migrating to the city. The adverts did not have their intended effect,
instead making more migrants aware of the possibility of settling in Leicester. Nearly a quarter of initial Ugandan refugees (around 5000 to 6000) settled in Leicester, and by the end of the 1970s around another quarter of the initially dispersed refugees had made their way to Leicester. Officially, the adverts were taken out for fear that immigrants to Leicester would place pressure on city services and at least one person who was a city councillor at the time says he believes they were placed for racist reasons. not least because the immigrants included the owners of many of "Uganda's most successful businesses." Forty years later, Leicester's mayor Sir
Peter Soulsby expressed his regret for the behaviour of the council at the time. In the 1990s, a group of Dutch citizens of
Somali origin settled in the city. Since the 2004
enlargement of the European Union a significant number of
East European migrants have settled in the city. While some wards in the northeast of the city are more than 70% South Asian, wards in the west and south are all over 70% white. The
Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) had estimated that by 2011 Leicester would have approximately a 50% ethnic minority population, making it the first city in Britain not to have a
white British majority. This prediction was based on the growth of the ethnic minority populations between 1991 (Census 1991 28% ethnic minority) and 2001 (Census 2001 – 36% ethnic minority). However, Professor Ludi Simpson at the
University of Manchester School of Social Sciences said in September 2007 that the CRE had "made unsubstantiated claims and ignored government statistics" and that Leicester's immigrant and minority communities disperse to other places. The Leicester Multicultural Advisory Group is a forum, set up in 2001 by the editor of the
Leicester Mercury, to co-ordinate community relations with members representing the council, police, schools, community and faith groups, and the media.
Coronavirus The
COVID-19 pandemic has brought many social and economic challenges across the country and across the world. Leicester has been particularly badly affected in the United Kingdom; from July 2020 during the imposition of the first local lockdown which saw all non-essential retail closed again and businesses such as public houses, restaurants and hairdressers unable to reopen. Businesses such as these in areas such as Glenfield and that part of Braunstone Town which outside of the formal city council area, have since been allowed to reopen following a more tightly defined lockdown area from 18 July 2020. ==Geography==