Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
siery, costume and lace industries. Leicester Castle ruins stand on a motte near St Mary de
Castro church, founded in 1107. St Martin's cathedral was a parish church until 1929, origin-
ally Norman, with a 13-14th century interior and mostly 19th century exterior, a high steeple
and a notable south porch. It stands next to the 14-15th century guildhall with cells and
gibbet irons, fine oak panelling and a massive carved chimney piece of 1637, the townhall
until 1876. The covered market is Europe's largest. Together with the Holiday Inn these are
approached along the A47 from West Bridge, which is also on the line of the Fosse Way, the
Roman road from Exeter to Lincoln. The Jewry Wall is the largest surviving Roman build-
ing in England. It was erected in 125-130, is 7.3m high and is part of a large public baths,
now with a museum and two in-situ mosaics. Also of note are the Jain Centre Temple & Mu-
seum, the best Indian traditional architecture and first Jain temple in the Western world. The
covered market is claimed to be the largest in Europe.
The start of the Mile Straight running through the heart of Leicester
.
The initials UN on a coping stone stand for Union Navigation and mark where the
Leicestershire & Northamptonshire Union Canal joined the Leicester Navigation. The river
rejoins briefly.
Coots dabble among lilies in front of a dyers' factory and swans nest with a controlling
view of Evans' Weir, where the river loops away again. At the end of the weir was the ter-
minus of the Leicester & Swannington Railway, one of the first standard-gauge lines in the
Midlands. Built in 1832 by Robert Stephenson, it allowed Leicestershire coal to compete with
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and took traffic from the canal downstream. An 1834 bridge
for horse-drawn wagons to cross the river is now in Snibston Discovery Park.
The canal returns to the river to allow excess water a second chance to discharge over
Hitchcock's Weir before leaving for North Lock. The A50 crosses between the lock and the
