|
About 3 miles northwest of Leicester City is the County Hall in Glenfield and it is now the seat of Leicestershire county council. Leicester City's administrative offices are in Leicester and the city council meets at Leicester Town Hall.
The earliest historic inhabitants were the Celtic Coritani, who were conquered by the Romans. In the sixth century, the district was penetrated by the Anglians, and in the 9th it was conquered by the Danes. Leicestershire was a Lancastrian stronghold during the War of the Roses and was the scene of the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Lady Jane Grey (1537-1544) was born at Bradgate near Leicester.
Leicestershire was recorded in the Domesday Book in four wapentakes: Guthlaxton, Framland, Goscote and Gartree. These later became hundreds, with the division of Goscote into West Goscote and East Goscote, and the addition of Sparkenhoe hundred.
A large portion of the northwest part of the county is the new National Forest located around Coalville. The climate is mild and the rainfall is moderate; the soil is of a loamy quality and very widely under cultivation. Dairying is an important industry, and the famous Stilton Cheese is made near Melton Mowbray. The Leicester sheep are esteemed for their fine fleeces, the wool being largely used in local manufactures of wool hosiery.
The county flower of Leicestershire is the Foxglove.
The Foxglove is a Harbaceous biennial with spirally arranged leaves. The flowers are tubular and arranged in a purple showy elongated pendent. The lowers can also be pink, rose, yellow or white.
Due to the presence of the 'cardiac glycoside digitoxin', the leaves, flowers and seeds of this plant are all poisonous to humans and some animals. If they are eaten it can be fatal. However, the digitoxin extracted from the leaves is used as a medication for heart failure.
Photographed by Philip Jägenstedt
Belvoir Castle was a Norman motte and bailey fortress. Robert de Ros founded the stone castle in 1267.
Launde Abbey is an Elizabethan Manor House. It was originally built on the site of an Augustinian Priory founded in 1119.
Stanford Hall Stanford Hall is a stately home in Leicestershire near the town of Lutterworth and is the ancestral home of the Cave family
Bradgate House, Chapel & Ruined Tower
I, the author of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.
The park was cleared by the Greys of Groby in the 15th century; the construction of Bradgate House was begun in 1490 by Sir John Grey, 7th Baron Ferrers of Groby, the husband of Elizabeth Woodville and the ruins of the house are still visible at the centre of the park. The house was the birthplace of Lady Jane Grey, later a puppet queen who ruled for a mere 9 days before being overthrown by Mary I. A much later park landmark is the folly known as 'Old John' on the top of the highest hill in the park, built in 1784. This was also built by the Greys of Groby, who were by then Earls of Stamford. In 1928 the park was bought from the heirs of the Greys by Charles Bennion, who gave it in perpetuity to the people of Leicestershire.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
Old John is a folly atop the highest hill in Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, England. It was originally an observaation built in 1784, by the Grey family of Groby, to give the ladies a view of a race course which circled the top of the hill.
It had been used as a meeting place for hunters with their fox hounds, a luncheon house for shooting parties in the park, and an observation tower at the centre of a one-mile long practice horse gallop. The remains at the bottom of the picture used to be an enclosure built into the rock face which was formerly a stable for the horses.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_John"
|
