Leicester Cathedral
All Saints Church
A Histor y of Medieval Leicester by Carol Brown Leicester was mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086. At the time there would have been around 2,000 people living in 378 houses in the city, along with two mills and six churches. The city was surrounded by walls on three sides and there appear to have been gates to the North, South, East and West, although no evidence of a wall on the west side. The city was mostly surrounded by fields with some woodland to the North. The main road through the city was known as High Street, part of the King’s Highway. Other
The Back Lanes and All Saints Church All Saints Church is in the north quarter of Leicester and has been there since straight after the Norman conquest. There were also three other churches nearby; St Clements, St Michaels and St Peters. After a siege in 1173 this area was completely destroyed and remained the least lived in for the next 300 years. The lanes, known as ‘Back Lanes’, where there were once lots of houses, led mostly to orchards and closes. By the 14th century High Street was lined on both sides with houses surrounded with orchards, gardens or a small field and most of the inns could be found here too, easily identified by their rudely painted signboards.
important streets ran from East to West across
By 1534 All Saints Church was the only one
the city, crossing the main road at ‘High Cross’.
still in use. It may be because the church
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