Follow
Leicestershire Main Page
Historic County of England.
Related Projects
Leicestershire Famous People
Leicestershire Genealogical Resources
Historical Leicestershire
Historic Buildings of Leicestershire
Leicestershire Monumental Transcriptions, Cemeteries & Graveyards
People Connected to Leicestershire
Go to People Connected to Leicestershire
Leicestershire
- Administrative centre Glenfiled
- County Flower - Foxglove
- People from Leicestershire are called - ?
- Motto For'ard, For'ard.
- Claims to Fame:
- Leicester Longwool sheep
- The John Taylor Bell Foundry of Freehold Street in Loughborough is the largest in the world and is responsible for making the country’s biggest bell - the Great Paul which weighs 17 tonnes - which rings out from St Paul’s in London. The business began in 1784, moving to Loughborough in 1839. They also made Great George, the 14-tonne giant at Liverpool Cathedral which is Britain’s next largest.
- The expression “painting the town red” is said to originate from an event in Melton Mowbray in 1837. A few loutish aristocratic hunters led by the notorious Marquis of Waterford, out celebrating a day of success, daubed red paint on houses, pub signs, and the toll-bar there. Traces of the paint can still be seen on older buildings in the High Street.
- Melton Mowbray is renowned for the very wonderful raised pork pie that proudly bears the town’s name
- Melton Mowbray is also the home of Stilton Cheese and Red Leicester, the last product originally made it is said only when the market would bear no more Stilton.
- Places of Interest
- Ashby Castle
- Leicester Cathedral
- Kirby Muxloe Castle connected to William Hastings, 1st baron of Hastings
Leicestershire (abbreviated Leics.) is a landlocked ceremonial county of historic origin in the Midlands of England. The county borders Derbyshire to the north-west, Nottinghamshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Warwickshire to the south-west, Staffordshire to the west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-east.
Leicester is an English corruption of the Latin "a fort on the river Leire". The 12th Century writer William of Malmesbury referred to the Leire as the Legra.The name was first recorded in 1087 as Laegreceastrescir.
The highest point of the county is Bardon Hill at 278 metres (912 ft). The River Soar rises to the east of Hinckley, in the far south of the county, and flows northward through Leicester before emptying into the River Trent at the point where Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire meet.
Leicestershire has a long history of livestock farming which continues today. Robert Bakewell (farmer) (1725–1795) of Dishley, near Loughborough, was a revolutionary in the field of selective breeding. Bakewell's Leicester Longwool sheep was much prized by farmers across the British Empire and is today a heritage breed admired all over the world. Commercial and rare breeds associated with the descendants of Bakewell's sheep include the English Leicester, Border Leicester, Bluefaced Leicester, Scotch mule, and Welsh halfbred.
Leicester and Leicestershire has had a traditional industry of knitwear, hosiery and footwear, and the sheep on the county's coat of arms is recognition of this. The local manufacturing industry, which began with hand knitting in the Middle Ages, and was fully industrialized by the end of the 19th century.
The Districts of Leicestershire
- Charnwood
- Melton
- Harborough
- Oadby and Wigston
- Blaby
- Hinckley and Bosworth
- North West Leicestershire
- Leicester (Unitary)
Towns of Leicestershire
- Ashby-de-la-Zouch - made famous by Sir Walter Scott in his Ivanhoe
- Barrow upon Stour
- Barwell
- Birstall
- Blaby
- Castle Donington
- Coalville
- Earl Shilton
- Enderby
- Hinckley
- Kegworth
- Loughborough
- Lutterworth - once an important stage coach stop.
- Market Bosworth (Nearby is the the battlefield of Bosworth which ended the War of the Roses in 1485.
- Melton Mowbray
- Oadby
- Shepshed
- Wigston
If you have Leicestershire connections please join the project.
Getting Involved
Feel free to follow, request to collaborate
To join the project use the request link under "actions" at the top right of the page.
Visit
Geni's Project Plaza
Working with Projects
Wicked Wiki
Geni Wikitext, Unicode and images which gives a great deal of assistance.
See the discussion Project Help: How to add Text to a Project - Starter Kit to get you going!
How to Participate
- If you have any queries please start a discussion linked to this project. (See the menu top right).
- Please add related projects to the menu on the right.
- If you have links to related web pages that would be of interest to others please add them in the relevant section at the bottom of the page. In order to do this use the drop down menu at the top left of the screen and Join the Project. If this option is not available to you then contact a collaborator and ask to be added to the project. As a collaborator you will be able to edit this page.
- Add any documents of interest using the menu at the top right of the page, and then add a link to the document in the text under the heading below. If you do not know how to do this please contact one of the other collaborators to assist you.
Parish Map
from The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers 1984.
See http://www.geni.com/photo/view/4560155096930045739?photo_id=6000000019134478020 - open full view.