Belgrave Stuart Galloway
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U3A WTT Belgrave Stuart Galloway Route Summary A circular walk around historic Belgrave. Route Overview Category: Walking Length: 6.430 km / 4.02 mi Parking: The Sidings LE4 3BR Last Modified: 1st March 2017 Difficulty: Medium Rating: Unrated Surface: Average Refreshments: Platform Cafe The Sidings Date Published: 1st March 2017 Description This is an urban walk which crosses several busy roads so care should be taken. Some muddy patches after rain along the river. Waypoints Great Central Railway (52.66658; -1.13374) The Great Central Railway is now a heritage railway which links Leicester and Nottingham. Leicester North Station is the southernmost station. It is on the route of the original railway that linked Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham and Leicester with London Marylebone. It was originally called Belgrave and Birstall Station. Following Beecham's sentence of death it became derelict but was restored by the Main Line Steam Trust and is now the site of a proposed new heritage railway museum. Backed by £10 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund, it is set to open in 2021 Walk down The Sidings, turn left and proceed a few yards along Redhill Way, turning left into Belgrave Cemetery Belgrave Cemetry (52.66637; -1.13221) 1 / 7 During the 1800's owing to the rapidly expanding towns and cities, sanitation was becoming appalling with diseases; such as cholera becoming mass killers. Up until about the middle of the 1800's those who died in urban areas such as Belgrave were buried in urban churchyards and had been for about 850 years since the Norman Conquest. But these small churchyards were overflowing so something had to be done. In 1848 a private act of Parliament was obtained to build the first Municipal Cemetery in the south of Leicester - Welford Road. Belgrave cemetery Is the smallest of Leicester’s Municipal cemeteries, the other being Gilroes, Saffron Hill and Welford Road. It opened in 1881. It has about 4,500 burial plots and is still a working cemetery, although you can no longer buy a plot. There is a small voluntary group - The Friends of Belgrave Cemetery, dedicated to the history and conservation and who are on site on Sunday mornings. They can provide help and advice for those undertaking family tree research or wishing to track down relatives. Have a walk around and see if you recognise the names of any of the 'residents'. One worth mentioning is Jabez Penn, and his son-in-law, Tom Hoskins, who started brewing at Hope Cottage, Beaumanor Road, later to become Tom Hoskins Brewery. Turn right out of the cemetery and carry on back into The Sidings, taking the first track on your right which will take you over the main road via a road bridge. Turn left on to the old Thurcaston Road (Route 4 on the signpost opposite). Cross the road and walk down to and over the traffic lights over A6. Carry on down Thurcaston Road and over the old bridge to the notice board about Old Belgrave. Medieval Bridge (52.66075; -1.12819) This Medieval Bridge dates from the 15th century, although a bridge has existed since 1357. It was widened sometime around the late 18th century when the unnavigable bits of the River Soar was canalised to the north and south of Belgrave, to enable barges through. It was once on one of the country's most important roads and was shown on an early strip map dated 1675 as part of the route from London to Manchester and Carlisle. It has 6 arches and was originally made from stone rubble (mostly granite). As can be seen, it has undergone considerable ugly alterations and only one of the arches now retains its original stone lining. It now has Grade III listed status. It was the only way to cross the Soar in Belgrave until a new bridge was built to the north in 1834 which diverted the traffic along a less tortuous route (the now Loughborough Road) during the time when the main road from Loughborough to Market Harborough was turnpiked and a toll was set up to cover the costs of repairing the bridge and the upkeep of the roads. This new bridge is still today referred to as 'The New Bridge' Carry on down Thurcaston Road to the Talbot Inn. 2 / 7 Old Belgrave (52.65965; -1.12555) The first settlement of Belgrave is thought to be Saxon when it developed as an agricultural community clustered here around Thurcaston Road, St. Peters Church and Bath Street (which is a sort of continuation of Thurcaston Road over the traffic lights) where the old village green was. The site was well chosen, sitting above the fertile flood plain of the meandering River Soar as did its neighbours, Birstall, Thurmaston and Wanlip. After the Norman conquest, as did most of Leicestershire, it passed to Sir Hugh de Grandmesnil. Most of the neighbouring villages retained their old English names. But Belgrave's old name was Merdegrave - derived from meard meaning 'marten' and graf meaning 'grove', which seems to suggest a comfortable picture of birds swooping around a grove of trees. But 'Merde in Norman French translates as a rather rude word and must have been a bit laughable, so it was renamed with 'Bel' replacing 'Merde' to mean 'fair' or 'beautiful' - so becoming Belgrave. It has 2 entries in the Doomsday Book, one in Hugh's and the other in his wife's Adeliza's name. In 1086 there were 26 male working adults. Women and children brought this figure up to 65. A Mill was also mentioned which yielded 12s per annum. Much of Belgrave changed hands after the dissolution, but the biggest change occurred after the enclosures of land during the 17th century. The development of the roads and building of the canal during the middle 18th century brought greater economic prosperity and attracted the wealthier Leicester tradespeople to the area. The building of Belgrave Hall in 1709 was to mark the beginning of Belgrave as a residential suburb of Leicester for the wealthy merchants that these changes heralded. Until this time it had stayed an agricultural community until by the 1830's framework knitting was gradually taking over. This quiet corner with Belgrave Hall, House, Gardens and Church is all that remains of Old Belgrave and is now a conservation area; more about these buildings a bit later. The Talbot Inn, named after the Talbot (a white hunting dog) dates from the 18th century when Thurcaston Road was the main road through Belgrave. In the parish records of 1784 it is referred to as being 'new built'. A fire in the 1950's resulted in it being reduced from its original 3 stories to 2 stories high. It is said that it was the last place a criminal could get a meal on the way to be executed at the nearby Red Hill Gallows. Their bodies were then returned to the outbuildings, which served as a morgue. Return to the Old Bridge and take the sloping path down to the right and follow the narrower of the two paths, keeping the river immediately on the left. After a few hundred yds or so you will reach the New Bridge mentioned earlier. If not flooded, go under this bridge which carries the Loughborough Road. Otherwise there is an obvious track which takes you over the road and down the other side (could be a bit slippery). Carry on along the side of the river passing over 3 small bridges, marked 13A, 13B and 13C turning right when reaching the Watermead Way Bridge and into Oaklands Nature Reserve. Follow the path round for a few hundred yds or so, keeping well to the perimeter (can be flooded in centre). Turn right directly after crossing a small footbridge and carry on until you get back to the path by the river. Turn left and go back over bridges 13B and 13C 3 / 7 Follow cycle route 1 to the left, following it round until Bath Street is reached (Amusement Depot on your right). Turn right and proceed down Bath Street until you reach some bollards. Old Village Green (52.66278; -1.12102) This is the site of the old Village Green where the old medieval mansions and halls once stood. The Old Workhouse also once stood here. It was built to the same pattern as the one at Birstall and consisted of 3 poor cottages with a larger one on the left for the workhouse master. It was in use until 1837 when the Barrow Union Workhouse was built in Mountsorrel to accommodate the poor of the parishes of Belgrave, Birstall, Wanlip, Syston, Thurmaston along with other villages along the Soar. Carry on down the 2nd part Bath Street and cross over Loughborough Road at the traffic lights. Cross Corners (52.66028; -1.12396) Here is the Cross Corners which was built in 1776 by James Vann. During the 1st World War it served as accommodation for Belgian refugees and later became a home for 'mentally deficient boys'. It is now a community arts centre owned by the City Council. The National School on the other corner was built in 1861 on the original site of the Bulls Head pub. Alfred Ellis, who lived opposite the Cross Corners, didn't like the sordidness, so he bought it, demolished it and gave the land for the new school. A new pub was built a few years later on Bath Street. By 1877 the school had 870 pupils. It closed in 1974 and is now owned by a firm of solicitors.