Tuesday, September 04, 2012

In Leicester

Last Tuesday as a birthday treat I was taken to Leicester, the city where I was born, too many years ago now to mention.  We left when I was six years old so my memories are very vague, I know we lived in what was called 'the nut streets' (now mostly demolished and the area at present  the infirmary car park) close to the Granby Hall (that too is no more) on Napier Street and I attended a local school on either Hazel Street or Filbert Street. Anyway on last week's visit I wanted to see if we could find the council car park in the city centre where archaeologists from Leicester University are digging a couple of trenches to see if they can find evidence of the church belonging to the Franciscan priory of Greyfriars which stood somewhere in the vicinity.  There is  hope that they may also find the bones of King Richard III buried there.  It is on record that he was buried in the church after his battered body was brought back from the battlefield at Bosworth where he lost his life fighting for his crown on 22nd August 1485.

We did eventually find the car park down a little lane just across the road from the Guildhall and Cathedral and behind the Social Services Offices.  There was one long trench which had been taken down through modern, Victorian and earlier layers to the start of the medieval period. 

I've been keeping up to date with the progress of the dig since we visited by reading the reports in the Leicester Mercury on line - link - to latest the report which gives details of some interesting and relevant finds of the right kind of building materials.  Whilst we were there a man was filming the dig for a documentary to be shown on channel 4 later this year.


Before we found the site of the excavations we had a wonderful time looking around the Guildhall and the Jewry Wall Museum.  We had a lovely lunch in a little cafe on Loseby Lane called  Cafe Dido, the goat's cheese fig and apple paninis were very tasty!


The Guildhall stands at the side of the Cathedral, the entrance down a little lane between the two  The earliest part of it is the great hall, which according to their information, was built around 1390  to be used as a meeting place for the Guild of Corpus Christi.  Here is a  - link - to more information.

Below are more photos of The Guildhall.

 I loved the lamp, weather vane and chimneys in the entrance courtyard.

The automaton clock which is reconstruction of an original 17th century clock from All Saint's church, Highcross Street.  Apparently it chimes on the hour but we didn't hear it during our visit.
 
 Lovely leaded windows

The great hall

The unusual chair/desk  at the end of the parlour is 18th century and according to the label was probably used for some sort of oath taking ceremony.

More lovely windows

In 1632 the town library was moved from St Martin's Church to the Guildhall.  There are quite a few books still remaining in the upper rooms.  Many of a later date, of course.

After the building of the new Town Hall in 1876 the Guildhall was used for many different purposes including being the headquarters of the local police force.

You can see into the police cells - in this one is Emma Smith a notorious pick-pocket!

I mentioned the Jewry Wall museum earlier in this post but I'll have to include that in a later post as this one is already far too long!    We also looked in a fair few shops on our way around the city centre - especially book shops so all in all it was a very satisfying day not least because it was, for once,  a lovely sunny day- a special birthday treat!

26 comments:

  1. The Guildhall looks absolutely stunning. And seems from your photos to have survived in pretty much its original condition? What a great find!

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    1. It is a great survival and it's free to look around, too!

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  2. Belated Birthday wishes. Looks like you had an interesting time visiting Leicester. I wonder if they will find the remains of Richard III!
    June

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    1. Thank you, June. Wouldn't it be fascinating if they did find some bones - they have someone to test the DNA with:)

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  3. Happy Birthday!!
    I do think in my next life I would like a great hall of my own. So gorgeous, don't you think?
    xo,
    p

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    1. Thank you, Pamela and Edward - I can just see you both seated in your own great hall:)

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  4. Such an interesting post with much to think about. I look forward to seeing the documentary later in the year. I bet you would like to have had a look at those books contained within the Guildhall - I know I would!

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    1. There were a lot more books, all locked behind glass as you'd expect! It would have be great to look at a few of them:)

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  5. Looks really interesting!

    I lived in Leicester as a very small child for about a year but I don't remember it at all but from the look of your photos it is worth a visit now.

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    1. How interesting that you lived there as a small child as well - I'm guessing you are younger than me so I'd probably left by the time you lived there:)

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  6. Belated Happy Birthday Rosie. You've been tripping a lot lately - I am a bit jealous but I am in California on a trip. I'll be heading home tomorrow.

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    1. Thank you Ruth, we have had lots of short breaks and day trips this year rather than a longer holiday. Glad you had a good visit to California:)

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  7. Happy Birthday Rosie - it looks like you really enjoyed your day out. We went to Leicester Uni to look around for the young man last month, but we were too shattered to do the town afterwards. xxx

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    1. Thanks, Diane. I expect you will have visits if your young man decides to go to the Uni there. I did my Museum's Diploma studies at the Uni buildings at the top of New Walk opposite the De Montfort Hall:)

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  8. Your day out in Leicester sounded wonderful Rosie and steeped in history. Belated birthday greetings and look forward to hearing more about your trip.
    Patricia x

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    1. Thanks, Patricia - there is a lot to see in Leicester quite a few interesting Museums - my favourite one was the costume museum at Wygston House but unfortunately that one closed:)

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  9. Belated birthday greetings Rosie! I enjoyed sharing your day out and seeing the beautiful and historic buildings of Leicester.

    Marie x

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    1. Thanks Marie, glad you enjoyed visiting Leicester with me:)

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  10. Happy birthday. How exciting to see my home town as a blog post report. Your photos make it look amazing even though I've seen it many times! They'll be showing visitors round the dig this weekend and I'm hoping to get along there and check out the progress.

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    1. Thanks, Rosalind. I hope you get to see the dig this weekend, I expect there will be a lot more to see now:)

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  11. Happy birthday! Sounds like you had a good day. Leicester has some very interesting museums.

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    1. Thank you, AJ. I did my Museum's Diploma Studies at Leicester University and my tutor was based at Wygston House costume Museum which was my favourite one - closed now. I remember being taken to see the giraffe at the New Walk Museum when I was small - apparently I was fascinated my the Egyptian mummies in there too:)

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  12. Belated birthday greetings, it's mine tomorrow! And what super pix of the historic buildings of Leicester, a county which I've not visited.
    Margaret P

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    1. Thank you, Margaret. Happy Birthday to you for tomorrow - have a lovely day:)

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  13. Lovely pictures of Leicester and belated birthday wishes. We went to Leicester last year as I was born and lived there for the first 10 years of my life. It was lovely seeing all the places I remembered so well.

    ~x~

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  14. Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed reading my post and seeing the photos. Looks like we both spent our earliest years in the city! I don't go back that often but when I do I always enjoy my visit:)

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