A brief history of Leicester

The first is that the name is derived from a Celticmerchants managed to form a corporation and
one, Coriletav. This theory is supported by theLeicester could from then on elect its own Mayor
name the Romans are known to have given theto run the town. By 1500 the population had
settlement, Ratae Corieltauvorum. The otherdoubled to 3000 and it continued to rise despite
theory is that a mythical British King, Leir, foundedthe frequent outbreaks of plague which could
the settlement of Kaerleir around the same timedecimate the population of a town. In 1619 the
as the Celts were supposedly in the area. Kingtown was granted a coat of arms. During the
Leir, is supposed to be buried under the RiverEnglish Civil War Leicester declared itself for the
Soar!Parliamentarians and was laid to siege by the
What we do know for sure is that around in 47Royalists in 1645 who, after breaching the town
or 48 AD the Romans built a fort there and thenwall, again killed many of the inhabitants. At the
by about 50AD a city had grown up around it.beginning of the 18th Century the population had
Ratae Corieltauvorum was important to theagain doubled to about 6000 and the birth of the
Romans as it was one of the key staging postsindustrial revolution saw both the population and
on a major Roman road, the Fosse Way, whichprosperity of Leicester flourish. By the end of the
linked what are now Exeter and Lincoln. Rapidly18th Century the opening of the Soar canal in
becoming a market town for local people and1794 quite literally fuelled the boom in industry, by
their produce, the settlement thrived on the tradeproviding cheap and quick methods of transporting
that the Romans brought to the area. When thecoal and iron into Leicester.
Romans left, moving North to conquer more ofThe first national census of 1801 gives the
England, the settlement was well enoughpopulation of Leicester as 17,000. The town
established to continue to prosper. The mainexpanded rapidly and places that were once rural
feature still visible in Leicester of the Romanfarms became subsumed in the city as boroughs.
occupation is the Jewry Wall and its Bath House.The Victorian era is accepted as being an age of
As with most of England, little is known of theenlightenment in terms of science and engineering.
history of Leicester during the Dark AgesIn 1832 Leicester got its first railway line and in
following the departure of the Romans. The next1857 got a line connecting it with London.
significant event was in 680 when Leicester isLeicester got its first Public library in 1871, ten
known to have been given a Bishop; life inyears later its first telephone exchange and in
Leicester at this time seems to have been a1894 its first electric street lights. By the time of
good one with the settlement continuing tothe 1901 census the population had grown to a
prosper. Artefacts have been found showing thatstaggering 210,000 with boot and hosiery
Leicester, alongside its farming community, hadmanufacturing being the main source of
cloth weavers, potters, blacksmiths andemployment. Civic pride must have been at an all
carpenters. The ninth century saw a down-turn intime high during the Edwardian period when in
fortunes when the settlement fell to the Danish1919 Leicester was made a city by Royal
Viking invaders. The Bishop ran away which, forCharter; in 1926 it regained its Bishop and a
some canonical reason, left Leicester without aCathedral and in 1928 had its first Lord Mayor. A
Bishop until the twentieth century.period of light engineering expansion took place
The Norman Conquest sees Leicester mentionedwhen the Imperial Typewriter Company set up
in the Doomsday book as Ledcestre. This name ispremises in the city and between 1908 and 1950
thought to have been derived from Ligeraceaster;the number of people employed in Light
a combination of Castra - Camp and Ligore -engineering in the city more than doubled from
Legro, an early name of the River Soar. In6,000 to 13,500.
medieval times Leicester was a city of someLeicester escaped any heavy bombing during the
importance. With a population of some 1500 theSecond World War but a slum-clearance
Normans deemed it important enough to build aprogramme was instigated in 1945 to rid the city
wooden fort, which in the 12th century wasof much of the old housing built in the boom
re-built with stone. As was custom in those daysyears of the previous century. At this time there
Leicester was ruled by an Earl. Unfortunately, inwere influxes of Jewish, Latvian and Polish
1173 Robert - Earl of Leicester - rebelled againstrefugees into the city. These were followed in the
the King (Henry II), causing the citizens much1950s by West Indian immigrants and then in the
suffering, indeed such was the King's wrath with1960s the population was swelled by the arrival of
Robert that many were killed. It was during theAsian immigrants. The last major influxes of
Middle Ages that Leicester became well knownimmigrants were mainly Indians who had been
for the quality of the wool cloth it produced andforced to leave Uganda in the early 1970s.
the hosiery it made from the wool. At this timeRecently there has been a small community of
leather was also an important industry inSomali refugees arriving in the city, apparently
Leicester, giving rise to its association with shoesdrawn by its free and easy attitude and the
and footwear.number of Mosques within its boundaries.
In 1464 trade was so strong that the cities