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Timeline of Leicester facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Leicester, England.

Prior to 16th century

  • 48 CE – The Roman town of Ratae Corieltauvorum is established (approx. date)
  • 120/121 CE - Ratae Corieltauvorum on Fosse Way, was a municipality.
  • 130 CE – Jewry Wall built by Romans (approx. date).[1]
  • 145 CE – Public baths built by Romans (approx. date).[2]
  • 150 CE – The "Blackfriars Pavement" is laid (approximate date)[3]
  • 155 CE – The "Peacock Pavement" is laid (approx. date)
  • 680 – Cuthwine is installed as the first Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Leicester
  • 870 – Leicester ceases to be a separate diocese when the last Saxon Bishop flees from the invading Danes.
  • 877 – The Danes are in power.
  • 880 – St Nicholas' Church active (next to Jewry Wall (approx. date).
  • 1070 – Leicester Castle built (approx. date).
  • 1086
  • 1107 – Castle Chapel is founded.
  • 1118 - Death of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester who owned the town.
  • 1143 – Leicester Abbey is founded by Robert le Bossu, Earl of Leicester.
  • 1228 – Leicester fair active.
  • 1230 – Franciscan monastery active (approx. date).
  • 1307 - Edward III. granted a fair for 17 days after the feast of the Holy Trinity.
  • 1330 – Trinity Hospital is founded.
  • 1350 – Guild of Corpus Christi constituted.[4]
  • 1390 – Corpus Christi Guildhall built (approx. date).[5][6]
  • 1444 – Most of St Margaret's Church is rebuilt, including the West Tower (approx. date).
  • 1485 – Richard III spends his last night in Leicester before the Battle of Bosworth Field. His body is afterwards brought back to the town and buried at Greyfriars.

16th–18th centuries

  • 1511 – Wigston's Chantry House is built in the Newarke (approximate date).[7]
  • 1513 – Wyggeston Hospital founded.
  • 1530 – Cardinal Thomas Wolsey dies at Leicester Abbey.
  • 1535 – The Greyfriars Monastery is closed.
  • 1538 – With the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Leicester Abbey is surrendered to the king and demolished.
  • 1548 – The Guild of Corpus Christi is dissolved.
  • 1550 – The Free Grammar School is established by this year, using money left by William Wyggeston .
  • 1589 – Corporation of Leicester established.
  • 1595 – Skeffington House is built in the Newarke (approximate date).[8]
  • 1642 – Charles I passes through Leicester before raising his standard at Nottingham.
  • 1645 – The Siege of Leicester during the English Civil War.
  • 1680 - Knitting frames for hosiery were introduced about this time.
  • 1751 – Leicester Journal newspaper begins publication.
  • 1770 – Daniel Lambert is born in Leicester
  • 1771 – Leicester Royal Infirmary opens.
  • 1773 – The High Cross in High Street was removed.
  • 1785 – The Greencoat School is established with money left by Alderman Gabriel Newton .
  • 1792 – Leicester Chronicle newspaper begins publication.
  • 1794 - The corporation sanctioned several fairs.
  • 1800 – Leicester Medical Book Society founded.

19th century

  • 1801 – Population: 17,005.
  • 1804 – The South Fields are enclosed.
  • 1806 – Racecourse established.
  • 1817 – Leicester Savings Bank established.
  • 1821 – Leicester Gas Company is established.
  • 1825 – Wharf Street Cricket Ground opens, home to the Leicestershire County Cricket Club.[9]
  • 1828 – The new Leicester Prison opens on Welford Road.
  • 1832
    • Leicester and Swannington Railway begins operating.
    • Christ Church built.
  • 1835 – Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society founded.
  • 1836
    • Leicester Borough Police Force is established.
    • The Theatre Royal opens in Horsefair Street.
  • 1838 – Union Workhouse built.
  • 1840 ---The Midland Counties Railway from Derby to Rugby opened, with a station at Campbell Street, Leicester.
  • 1845 – Particular Baptist Chapel opens.
  • 1849
  • 1851 – A pumping station is built near the River Soar under the Leicester Sewerage Act.
  • 1853
    • Rowe's Circulating Library in business.
    • Leicester gains its first piped water supply
  • 1857
    • Hitchin-Leicester railway begins operating.
    • Leicester Guardian newspaper begins publication.
  • 1860 – Major restoration of St Martin's Church is begun; the tower and spire are demolished and rebuilt.
  • 1861 – Population: 68,056.
  • 1862 – Joseph Merrick, the "Elephant Man", is born in Leicester
  • 1863 – The Old Bow Bridge is demolished and replaced with an iron bridge.
  • 1864
    • South Leicestershire Railway (Hinckley-Leicester) begins operating.
    • Leicester balloon riot
  • 1866
    • Leicester's first working men's club opens
    • The Collegiate School for Girls opens.
  • 1867 – Leicester Cathedral built.
  • 1868 – Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower erected.
  • 1870 - Leicester School of Art founded.
  • 1871
    • The Free Library opens in Wellington Street.
    • Population: 95,084.
  • 1872 – Leicester Borough Fire Brigade is established.
  • 1874
    • Leicester's first horse-drawn tram service begins operating, from the Clock Tower to Belgrave.
    • Leicester Mercury newspaper begins publication.
  • 1875 – Trams begin operating from the town centre to Victoria Park and Humberstone.
  • 1876
    • Leicester Town Hall is built.
    • Leicester Co-operative Hosiery Manufacturing Society organised.
  • 1877
    • The Wyggeston Hospital School opens.
    • Skating rink opens in Rutland Street.
    • Leicester Bicycling Club active (approximate date).
    • The Opera House opens in Silver Street.
  • 1878 – Leicestershire County Cricket Club's new ground at Grace Road opens [11]
  • 1878 - Leicestershire Lawn Tennis Club Established [12]
  • 1879 – The first municipal swimming baths open in Bath Lane.
  • 1880 – Leicester Tigers Rugby Union Football Club is founded [13]
  • 1881 – Population: 122,351.
  • 1882 – Victoria Park and Abbey Park open.
  • 1884 – Leicester Fosse football club formed.
  • 1885 – Leicester and Leicestershire Photographic Society founded.
  • 1886 – Spinney Hill Park opens.
  • 1889
    • Leicester becomes a County borough per Local Government Act 1888.
    • Leicester Branch of the Socialist League organised.
  • 1891
    • Filbert Street stadium opens.
    • Abbey Pumping Station in operation.[14]
    • The Borough of Leicester is greatly enlarged by the Leicester Extension Act, with the addition of Aylestone, Belgrave, Knighton, Newfoundpool and parts of Braunstone, Evington and Humberstone.
    • Population: 174,624.
  • 1892
  • 1894 – Leicester Fosse joined the Football League.
  • 1896
    • Leicester Corporation purchases Gilroes and begins laying out a cemetery there.
    • All of the civil parishes within the Borough of Leicester are merged into a single parish.
  • 1898 – The Grand Hotel is built in Granby Street.
  • 1899
    • British United Shoe Machinery is established in Belgrave Road.
    • Leicester Central railway station opened. (closed 1969)

20th century

  • 1901 - Population: 211,579.
  • 1904 – The conversion of Leicester's horse-drawn trams to electric trams is completed.
  • 1905 - Leicester General Hospital opened.
  • 1906 – Future Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald was elected as one of the two MPs for Leicester.
  • 1913 – De Montfort Hall opens.
  • 1919 – Leicester attains city status.
  • 1920 – The City Boys School opens .
  • 1921
  • 1923 – In the General Election, Winston Churchill is the Liberal candidate in Leicester West and loses.
  • 1925 – Braunstone Frith is absorbed into the city of Leicester.
  • 1927
    • St Martin's Church becomes Leicester Cathedral.
    • Dr. Cyril Bardsley is appointed the first Bishop of Leicester.
  • 1932 – The Little Theatre opens in Dover Street.
  • 1935 – Humberstone, Knighton, New Parks and Beaumont Leys are absorbed into the city of Leicester.
  • 1936
    • The city boundaries were further extended to include most of Evington
    • Odeon Cinema opened.
  • 1940 – Leicester suffers its worst air raid of World War II on the night of 19 November.[16]
  • 1947 - University of Leicester Botanic Garden opened.
  • 1958 – Rock 'N' Roll comes to Leicester when Buddy Holly and the Crickets perform live at De Montfort Hall[17]
  • 1962 – Jewry Wall Museum built.
  • 1963 – The Beatles perform live at De Montfort Hall for the first time.[18]
  • 1966 – The City of Leicester Polytechnic is established.
  • 1969 – The Museum of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment opens in the Magazine Gateway.[19]
  • 1970 – University of Leicester's Attenborough Building constructed.
  • 1972 – Abbey Pumping Station museum opens.[20]
  • 1973
    • Haymarket Shopping Centre in business.
    • Leicester Theatre Trust formed.
  • 1974 – Leicester City Council established per Local Government Act 1972.
  • 1985 – St Margaret's Bus Station opens.
  • 1992 – The Leicester Polytechnic becomes De Montfort University.
  • 1997
    • Leicester City Council becomes unitary authority per 1990s UK local government reform.
    • Leicester Bike Park opens.

21st century

See also

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Timeline of Leicester Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.