My wife and I will be spending a weekend in Leicester. I want to see the gravesite of Richard III and visit the battle field at Bosworth.
We'll be arriving about noon on Saturday, attending services at the Leicester cathedral on Sunday morning, and then on to Bosworth Field on Sunday afternoon, and back to London on Monday morning.
We were wondering what there might be for us to see on Saturday afternoon. I know that many towns and cities in England have an open-air market on weekends. But is this the case in Leicester? If not, can anyone suggest an alternative activity?
Also, can anyone recommend a good hotel within walking distance of the cathedral?
Posted by
205 posts
As it happens Leicester, (where I was born and raised) has Europe's largest covered market. The Lineker family (Gary's dad) still sell fruit and veg there. Go and have a chat about the Foxes' unstoppable rise to the top of the Premier League.
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(... and by the way Richard III did kill those boys).
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Oxford, United Kingdom
5466 posts
What are your interests? Since you mention Richard III I guess it is history. Don't be put off by the 1960s highway that separated many of the historic parts from the current centre. Leicester has the largest standing piece of non military Roman wall in Britain (Jewry Wall ). There is St Mary de Castro church where Geoffrey Chaucer is thought to have been married and Henry VI was knighted. The castle itself has what is considered to be "the oldest surviving aisled and bay-divided hall in Europe", although at present this is rarely open to the public. There is the Guildhall as another 13th century survivor. Regarding Richard III as well as his new tomb, you can see in the visitor centre the site of his previous resting place, and there are walking tours around the major sites associated with him.
Five medieval churches remain standing; besides St Martins's Cathedral and St Mary de Castro there is St Nicholas’, St Margaret’s (just outside the old town walls) and All Saints (closed).
One which is lost is the Church of the Annunciation where Richard III's body was on public display. Nothing survived the dissolution of the monasteries except part of the crypt now situated inside the Hawthorn Building of the De Montfort University. This is now open to the public as part of the museum of DMU (until recently it was a computer laboratory!).
Maybe have a stroll up New Walk (one of the oldest pedestrian streets in the UK) and a visit to the museum there which amongst other things has a world-class collection of German Expressionism.
Enough thoughts for a week, let alone an afternoon ...
There are many hotels in the centre, but maybe for its historic nature I'd suggest The Grand Hotel on Granby Street, now part of the Mercure brand about 5 mins walk from the railway station and not that far from the Cathedral. Rooms are being modernised, but there may still be a faded edge here or there. You can stay on the site where RIII had his last night, but it wasn't a Travelodge back then!