Date/Time
Date(s) - 14/09/2025
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Location
Magazine Square
“Leicester Old and New”
A walk lead by the Trust’s Chairman, Stephen Barker looking at features from Roman Times to the Present Day.
Sunday, 14th September 2025
Starting from Magazine Square by the Magazine.
(The Magazine stands opposite the junction of Southgates, Oxford St and Newarke Street)
I am sure you will all have favourite places where you can park.
eg :-
Newarke St Car Park, Newarke St, Leicester LE2 7AD is a 4 min walk
Highcross John Lewis Car Park, 1 Burgess St, Leicester LE1 4QG is 14 min walk
These both cost £5 for three hours
The Walk:
The Magazine is one of the finest surviving medieval buildings in Leicester and was built about 1410 as the gateway from the Southern suburbs into the precinct of the College of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Originally as The Newarke (The New Works) Gateway it was used as a store for weapons and ammunition in the 16th and in 17thCentury during the Civil Wars. The building survived the threat of demolition in the 1970s when the Southgates Underpass was contrasted but was left on an island surround by traffic. In 2007 with a reorganisation of the roads the Magazine was restored to a roadside position on the edge of the De Montfort University Campus.
From the Magazine we will go to Mill Lane which was pedestrianised in 2012 to unify the campus of De Montfort University, which was part of £136 Million investment in the University including the Vijay Patel Building for art and design which was awarded the Small Non-Residential Scheme of the year 2017 by Pro Con Leicestershire. The landscaping was designed and as rain gardens to feed trees and plants. The cost was £2 Million and employs the same stone as used in the Cathedral Square Gardens. We will pass the Queen’s Building opened in 1993 which houses computing and technology. At the time of it’s construction it was planned to be the largest naturally ventilated building in Europe. This has contributed to unconventional exterior.
After reaching the Canal we will walk round past the Medieval Trinity Hospital to the Main entrance of the Hawthorn Building, which was originally part of the college of Art and Design created in the 1890s. There are some fine carved panels in the stonework and on the bronze doors. We will then pass into the castle precincts going through The Turret (Prince Rupert’s) Gateway which was damaged in the siege of 1645. If they are open we will look at the Herb Garden behind Trinity Hospital which is used a resource of the fashion and textile courses of the University. We will then pass into the Castle courtyard in front of The Great Hall which was used as the Crown Court for several centuries before passing through the archway of Castle House. This will bring us to the graveyard of St Mary de Castro. The church was were Geoffrey Chaucer was married.
From Castle Street we will enter Castle Gardens, a public park from the 1920s, from there we can view the Castle Mound which was reduced in height in the 18th Century to create a Bowling Green. Before becoming a public park the area was used for allotments referred to as Guinea Gardens similar to the ones the Trust visited in Warwick at Hill Close. On leaving the Gardens by West Bridge we will the arch taken from the fish market and a sculpture marking the Dye works on Bath Lane.
From here we will go to the newly reopened Jewry Wall Museum where it will be possible to purchase a tea/coffee and a cake and be able to sit and look at the Roman Remains and St Nicholas Church. The main walk will finish here.
For those that are interested I will add a short extension passing St Nicholas Church, crossing to Jubilee Square which was landscaped in 2016 replacing a car park from an open area reconnecting historic parts of the town to the High Street. Going past Wyggeston House formerly a costume museum, now a restaurant we will pass the Guildhall originally the home of the Guild of Corpus Christi the most important Guild in medieval Leicester. It became the Town Hall until the later Nineteenth Century. It narrowly survived being demolished in the Nineteenth Century when surrounding factory owners felt that the old building detracted from their modern buildings. The final destination is the Cathedral Gardens the landscaping incorporates the new visitor centre for the Cathedral and connects the former Boys Grammar School adjacent to the Cathedral. Opposite the gardens is the Richard III visitor centre and the statue of King Richard III which formerly stood in Castle Gardens
Cost: £2.50 payable on the day
however please email me (steve@horsfste.plus.com) so that we have an idea of the number of people on the walk.