Leicester

Parks

Leicester and its environs have an abundance of parks and open spaces. At present there are 800 hectares of parks and open spaces within the city and we include some of them in this section.

Not only do these green and open areas bring tranquillity and peace to a bustling city location, they also provide areas where the natural environment can be studied and appreciated by both young and old alike.

Knighton Park

Lying two miles to the south of the centre of Leicester, Knighton Park is one of our regular haunts and a special favourite of our boxer dog, Jaffa. It comprises a beautiful 78 acre park with colourful shrub borders, a water garden, heather woodlands and a rock garden. Two well-equipped play areas are popular with the children and other recreational areas provide for tennis and football activities. Other, large grassed areas are suitable for a variety of leisure uses. The Wash (or Saffron) brook flows through the park and is bordered by trees and herbs in the northern area.

Leicester City Council bought the land from the Cradock-Hartopp trustees just before the Second World War with the intention of establishing a park but work was not begun until 1953.

Knighton village itself appears in the Domesday Book under its Scandinavian name of Cnihetone. In the 1720’s, Edmund Cradock, a woollen draper of Leicester, bought Knighton Hall and its associated farmland. In later years the family acquired almost all of the land in the parish. Close to Knighton Hall is the popular and partially thatched Cradock pub.
 
In 1840 oak trees were planted by the Cradocks to form the enclosed Spinney - but with the intention of providing oak wood for future shipbuilding. To make the oaks grow tall and straight, ash were planted in between them and their winged seeds have now spread far and wide. Later Cradocks decided to keep the woodland as a fox covert and in 1932 a covenant was published declaring that the spinney should be a nature reserve for all time. The spinney is fenced off from the rest of the park but is open to the public for guided walks.

Various avenues and paths within the park are planted with collections of various species of shrubs etc. i.e. -: magnolia border; cherry parade; rose walk; laburnum avenue; gingko avenue etc. The 'Blossom Time' pages in Knighton Park Galleries  2 ,  3  and  4  show the splendour of many of these.

Bradgate Park

Bradgate Park comprises 1100 acres of beautiful hilly countryside, with outcrops of volcanic granite and is situated a few miles North West of the city of Leicester.

In 1928 Charles Bennion of Thurnby presented Bradgate Park in trust, "that for all time it might be preserved in its natural state for the quiet enjoyment of the people of Leicestershire".

Bradgate House, in the heart of the park, was the historical home of the Grey family and childhood home of Lady Jane Grey, the nine days Queen. Innocent of the political wrangling surrounding her, Lady Jane Grey was beheaded at the Tower of London in February 1554 at the age of sixteen. The building of the house was reputedly begun around 1490 by Thomas Grey, 1st Marquis of Dorset with the bricks of Bradgate House supposedly being produced on the site. King William 111 was entertained there in 1696, such was the grandeur of the house at that time. The house fell into ruin after the 1730s when the family left but in summer months peacocks and doves can be seen parading the ruined walls.

The trees in Bradgate Park are an inspiration to any Bonsai enthusiast. Story has it that the stunted oaks were pollarded when the Nine Days Queen was beheaded. No doubt rooting into rocks of volcanic origin has something to do with it too! The river Lin meanders through the park towards the ruins of Bradgate House. In the historical past, parts of the river were dammed to provide fish ponds, the weirs still producing attractive waterfalls today.

Bradgate Park contains a folly, affectionately known as 'Old John'. The present day folly is in the shape of a tankard, the main tower of which being built in 1784 as a windmill. In 1786 a great pole, set up in the middle of a celebratory bonfire toppled over, killing an old retainer, reputedly partial to a tankard or two and who was named John, - or so the story goes. Close by 'Old John' is the War Memorial.

Both roe and fallow deer herds, numbering about 300 deer, can be seen roaming freely in Bradgate Park, and on a plaque near the ruins of the house is an inscription at the base of a venerable oak...

"Known as 'Queen Adelaide's oak' and reputedly the site of a July picnic with the Queen Dowager, the widow of William 1V.

'The venison was good, so were the trout...' wrote Queen Adelaide in a letter".

Author Joyce L. Cocozza. Copyright © 2003 Cocozza Collection. All rights reserved.