Shady Lane Arboretum

Detailed History
Evington possibly dates back to Anglo-Saxon times. It was originally known as Aefa’s Turn, then Avintone and finally Evington. There were Roman settlements along the nearby Gartree Road. The Doomsday book provides the earliest description of Evington, in which a mill is described.

The manor of Evington came into possession of Hugo de Grentemesnil following the Norman Conquest. After his death his property descended to the earls of Leicester and was held by them until 1265, when it was forfeited to Edmund of Lancaster, Henry III’s son. The Lancasters remained overlords of the manor of Evington until the Duchy was merged with the Crown in 1399.

In the early-13th century the manor of Evington was subinfeudated to Richard de Grey, a member of the Derbyshire family of Grey of Codnor. He and his descendants held Evington as sub-tenants until the late-15th century. It is likely that John de Grey constructed the moat associated with the manorial buildings in the late-13th century. Immediately to the east of the moat lies the parish church of St Denys and it is probable that the present church would have been built at around the same time, although there is evidence to suggest that a church has existed on this site since the Norman Conquest.

Sir William Stanley acquired Evington in 1491 but the King seized it back from him in 1494 in attrition for his support of the pretender, Perkin Warbeck. The King leased the property to Robert Orton, bailiff of Leicester, who at some stage assigned his lease on to the Leicester merchant, Roger Wigston.

In 1526 Wigston surrendered his lease back to the King, possibly because the manor of Evington had been granted to George Hastings who later became Earl of Huntingdon. The Hastings family retained the manor until 1616 when it was sold to William Cavendish, Earl of Devonshire, whose family held it for the next 100 years.

It is likely that the manorial buildings became disused during the period when the Hastings and Cavendish families were in possession. Evington would have been one amongst many local possessions of these wealthy families and thus was probably never again used as a main residence. The earliest map of Evington that survives is dated 1627 - probably drawn at the time of the enclosure of Evington’s open-fields – and no building is shown on the moated area which is marked simply as Hall Yard.

Around 1734 the Manor was purchased by Dr James Sherrard of Eltham, a well-known botanist and apothecary. Under the provisions of his will dated 1737 the property was divided among his five nieces. In time these five Lordships of the Manor shares descended to three families, the Kecks, the Burnabys and the Colemans and, by 1877, the Lordship had passed to the Keck branch.

Shady Lane, which runs along the Arboretum’s eastern boundary, was built around 1850 to take noisy traffic away from the vicinity of Stoughton Grange, the home of the Keck family. Being conspicuous, standing out from the surrounding hunting country, it soon became a popular walk with local people. It is also possible that a pleasure boating lake may also have existed in this area, though for whose use it is not clear.

The name 'Piggy’s Hollow', the site of the former manorial buildings, did not come into use until the 19thcentury.It is believed a Mr Wilson kept his herd of swine here to prevent them from straying.

By the 19th century most of the property belonged to Thomas Powys-Keck who sold his estate very shortly after the end of the First World War, the chief purchaser being the Co-operative Workers Society.

In 1942 a camp was built on the site now occupied by the Arboretum to house the 82nd American Airbourne Division prior to the D-Day landings in 1944. During 1945 the camp was turned into a Prisoner of War camp and, following its decommission in 1947, was occupied by squatters until it was dismantled, bulldozed and levelled. During the period from 1948 right through to the late-1960s the ‘Gartree Riding School’ used the site.

The Leicester City Council established Shady Lane Arboretum in 1970as the city's contribution to the European Conservation Year. Designating the site as an arboretum saved the land from possible development and secured its future as a public open space. It was developed between 1970 and 1973 under the direction of the late Mr George Page, Parks Superintendent, during which time over 500 trees were planted. All were donated by local businesses, organisations and members of the public. Many trees were planted by family, for instance the poplars and willows in the south-west corner of the arboretum, interspersed with random planting of other specimen, ornamental and native species.

In more recent years the northern part of the arboretum in particular has been designated for memorial tree planting. Ornamental trees are planted by the City Council on behalf of members of the public who wish to commemorate relatives and friends and are chosen for ornamental value and suitability to the site. These include such cultivars as Liquidambar styraciflua, Liriodendron tulipifera, Cercis siliquastrum, acers, wellingtonias and prunus.