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LEICESTERSHIRE
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LEICESTERSHIRE , a midland See also:county of See also:England, bounded N. by See also:Nottinghamshire, E. by See also:Lincolnshire and See also:Rutland, S.E. by See also:Northamptonshire, S.W. by See also:Warwickshire, and N.W. by See also:Derby-See also:shire, also touching See also:Staffordshire on the W. The See also:area is 823.6 sq. m. The See also:surface of the county is an undulating tableland, the highest eminences being the rugged hills of Charnwood See also:Forest (q.v.) in the See also:north-See also:west, one of which, Bardon See also: The Millstone Grit just enters the county to the north of the same region, while the See also:Coal See also:Measures occupy a considerable area See also:round See also:Ashby-de-la-See also:Zouch and contain valuable coal-seams. The See also:rest of the county is almost equally divided between the red Keuper Marls of the Trios on the west and the See also:grey limestones and shales of the See also:Lias on the See also:east. The former were deposited in lagoons into which the See also:land was gradually lowered after a prolonged See also:period of See also:desert conditions. The See also:Rhaetic beds which follow the Keuper See also:mark the incoming of the sea and introduce the fossiliferous Liassic deposits. On the eastern margin of the county a few small outliers of the Inferior Oolite sands and limestones are See also:present. The Glacial Period has See also:left See also:boulder-See also:clay, See also:gravel and erratic blocks scattered over the surface, while later gravels, with remains of See also:mammoth, See also:reindeer, &c., border some of the present streams. Slates, honestones, setts and roadstone from the Charnian rocks, limestone and See also:cement from the Carboniferous and Lias, and coal from the Coal Measures are the See also:chief See also:mineral products. See also:Agriculture.—The See also:climate is mild, and, on See also:account of the inland position of the county, and the See also:absence of any very high elevations, the rainfall is very moderate. The See also:soil is of a loamy See also:character, the richest district being that east of the Soar, which is occupied by pasture, while the See also:corn crops are grown chiefly on a lighter soil resting above the Red See also:Sandstone formation. About nine-tenths of the See also:total area is under cultivation. The proportion of pasture land is large and increasing. It is especially See also:rich along the See also:river-See also:banks. See also:Dairy-farming is extensively carried on, the famous Stilton See also:cheese being produced near Melton See also:Mowbray. See also:Cattle are reared in large See also:numbers, while of See also:sheep the New Leicester breed is well known. It was introduced by See also:Robert See also:Bakewell the agriculturist, who was See also:horn near See also:Loughborough in 1725. He also improved the breed of horses by the importation of mares from See also:Flanders. The county is especially famed for See also:fox-See also:hunting, Leicester and Melton Mowbray being favourite centres, while the kennels of the Quorn See also:hunt are located at Quorndon near See also:Mount See also:Sorrel. For this See also:reason Leicestershire is rich in See also:good See also:riding horses. Other See also:Industries.—Coal is worked in the districts about Moira, Colcorton and See also:Coalville. Limestone is worked in various parts, freestone is plentiful, See also:gypsum is found, and a See also:kind of See also:granite, extensively used for paving, is obtained in the Charnwood district, as at Bardon and Mount Sorrel! and at Sapcote and Stoney See also:Stanton in the See also:south-west. Apart from the See also:mining industries, the See also:staple manufacture of Leicestershire is See also:hosiery, for which the See also:wool is obtained principally from See also:home-bred sheep. Its principal seats are Leicester, Loughborough, Hinckley and See also:Castle Donington. See also:Cotton See also:hose are likewise made, and other industries include the manufacture of boots and shoes, as at See also:Market Harborough, elastic webbing, and bricks, also See also:iron See also:founding. Melton Mowbray gives name to a well-known manufacture of pork pies. Communications.—The See also:main See also:line of the Midland railway serves Market Harborough, Leicester, and Loughborough, having an important junction at Trent (on that river) for Derby and Notting-See also:ham. Branches radiate from Leicester to Melton Mowbray, to Coalville, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Moira and See also:Burton-upon-Trent, with others through the mining district of the N.W., which is also served by the See also:branch of the See also:London & North-Western railway from See also:Nuneaton to Market See also:Bosworth, Coalville and Loughborough. This See also:company serves Market Harborough from See also:Rugby, and branches of the See also:Great See also:Northern serve Market Harborough, Leicester and Melton Mowbray. The main line of the Great Central railway passes through See also:Lutterworth, Leicester and Loughborough. The principal canals are the See also:Union and See also:Grand Union, with which various branches are connected with the Grand Junction, and the Ashby-de-la-Zouch See also:canal, which joins the See also:Coventry canal at Nuneaton. The Lough-See also:borough canal serves that See also:town, connecting with the river Soar. See also:Population and See also:Administration.—The area of the See also:ancient county is 527,123 acres; pop. (1891) 373,584, (1901) 434,019. The area of the administrative county is 532,788 acres. The county contains six hundreds. The municipal boroughs are: Leicester, the county town and a county borough (pop. 211,5i9), Loughborough (21,508). The See also:urban districts are: Ashby-de-la-Zouch (4726), Ashby Woulds (2799), Coalville (15,281), Hinckley (11,304), Market Harborough (7735), Melton Mowbray (7454), Quorndon (2173), Shepshed (5293), Thurmaston (1732), Wigston Magna (8404). The county is in the Midland See also:circuit, has one See also:court of See also:quarter sessions, and is divided into 9 See also:petty sessional divisions. The county borough of Leicester has a See also:separate court of quarter sessions and a separate See also:commission of the See also:peace. There are 327 See also:civil parishes. The county is divided into four See also:parliamentary divisions (Eastern or Melton, See also:Mid or Loughborough, Western or Bosworth, See also:Southern or Harborough), each returning one member; and the parliamentary borough of Leicester returns 2 members. The county is in the See also:diocese of See also:Peterborough, with the exception of small parts in those of See also:Southwell and See also:Worcester; and contains 255 ecclesiastical parishes or districts, wholly or in part. See also:History. The district which is now Leicestershire was reached in the 6th See also:century by Anglian invaders who, making their way across the Trent, penetrated Charnwood Forest as far as Leicester, the fall of which may be dated at about 556. In 679 the district formed the See also:kingdom of the See also:Middle Angles within the kingdom of See also:Mercia, and on the subdivision of the Mercian see in that See also:year was formed into a separate bishopric having its see at Leicester. In the 9th century the district was subjugated by the Danes, and Leicester became one of the five Danish boroughs. It was re-covered by IEthelflaed in 918, but the Northmen regained their supremacy shortly after, and the prevalence of Scandinavian See also:place-names in the county bears See also:evidence of the extent of their See also:settlement. Leicestershire probably originated as a shire in the loth century, and at the See also:time of the Domesday Survey was divided into the four wapentakes of Guthlaxton, Framland, Goscote and Gartree. The Leicestershire Survey of the 12th century shows an additional grouping of the vills into small See also:local hundreds, manorial rather than administrative divisions, which have completely disappeared. In the reign of See also:Edward I. the divisions appear as hundreds, andin the reign of Edward III. the additional See also:hundred of Sparkenhoe was formed out of Guthlaxton. Before the 17th century Goscote was divided into East and West Goscote, and since then the hundreds have undergone little See also:change. Until 1566 Leicester-shire and Warwickshire had a See also:common See also:sheriff, the shire-court for the former being held at Leicester.
Leicestershire constituted an archdeaconry within the diocese of See also:Lincoln from 1092 until its transference to Peterborough in 1837. In 1291 it comprised the deaneries of Akeley, Leicester (now See also:Christianity), Framland, Gartree, Goscote, Guthlaxton and Sparkenhoe. The deaneries remained unaltered until 1865, Since 1894 they have been as follows: East, South and West Akeley, Christianity, Framland (3 portions), Sparkenhoe (2 portions), Gartree (3 portions), Goscote (2 portions), Guthlaxton (3 portions).
Among the earliest See also:historical events connected with the county were the See also:siege and See also:capture of Leicester by See also: Before the See also:Conquest large estates in Leicestershire were held by Earls Ralf, See also:Morcar, See also:Waltheof and Harold, but the Domesday Survey of ro86 reveals an almost total displacement of See also:English by See also:Norman landholders, only a few estates being retained by Englishmen as under-tenants. The first See also:lay-See also:tenant mentioned in the survey is Robert, See also:count of Meulan, ancestor of the See also:Beaumont See also:family and afterwards earl of Leicester, to whose See also:fief was afterwards annexed the vast holding of See also:Hugh de Grantmesnil, See also:lord high steward of England. Robert de Toeni, another Domes-See also:day tenant, founded Belvoir Castle and Priory. The fief of Robert de Buci was bestowed on See also:Richard See also:Basset, founder of Laund See also:Abbey, in the reign of Henry I. Loughborough was an ancient seat of the See also:Despenser family, and Brookesby was the seat of the See also:Villiers and the birthplace of See also:George Villiers, the famous See also:duke of See also:Buckingham. Melton Mowbray was named from its former lords, the Mowbrays, descendants of See also:Nigel de Albini, the founder of See also:Axholme Priory. See also:Lady Jane Grey was See also:born at Bradgate near Leicester, and See also:Bishop See also:Latimer was born at Thurcaston. The woollen See also:industry flourished in Leicestershire in Norman times, and in 1343 Leicestershire wool was rated at a higher value than that of most other counties. Coal was worked at Coleorton in the See also:early 15th century and at Measham in the 17th century. The famous See also:blue See also:slate of Swithland has been quarried from time immemorial, and the limestone See also:quarry at See also:Barrow-on-Soar is also of very ancient repute, the monks of the abbey of St See also:Mary de Pre formerly enjoying the tithe of its produce. The staple manufacture of the county, that of hosiery, originated in the 17th century, the chief centres being Leicester, Hinckley and Loughborough, and before the development of See also:steam-driven frames in the r9th century See also:hand framework See also:knitting of hose and gloves was carried on in about a hundred villages. Wool-See also:carding was also an extensive industry before 1840. In 1290 Leicestershire returned two members to parliament, and in 1295 Leicester was also represented by two members. Under the Reform See also:Act of 1832 the county returned four members in two divisions until the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, under which it returned four members in four divisions.
Antiquities.—Remains of monastic See also:foundations are slight, though there were a considerable number of these. There are traces of Leicester Abbey and of Gracedieu near Coalville, while at Ulverscroft in Charnwood, where there was an Augustinian priory of the 12th century, there are See also:fine Decorated remains, including a See also:tower. The most noteworthy churches are found in the towns, as at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Hinckley, Leicester, Loughborough, Lutterworth, Market Bosworth, Market Harborough, and Melton Mowbray
(qq.v.). The principal old castle is that of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, while at See also:Kirby Muxloe there is a picturesque fortified See also:mansion of Tudor date. There are several good Elizabethan mansions, as that at Laund in the E. of the county. Among See also:modern mansions that of the See also:dukes of Rutland, Belvoir Castle in the extreme N.E., is a massive mansion of the early 19th century, finely placed on the See also:summit of a hill.
See See also:Victoria County History, Leicestershire; W. Burton, Description of Leicestershire (London, 1622; 2nd ed., See also:Lynn, 1777); See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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