New heritage panels aim to bring Leicester's history to life

The Thorne Lighting factory in about 1980

New heritage panels, designed to give residents and visitors an insight into Leicester's history, have been installed across the city.

The 10 panels detail locations and themes from the past, including John O'Gaunt's Cellar at Leicester Castle.

Others include the Home for Penitent Females - a Victorian refuge for unmarried mothers - and a High Street panel on the Temperance movement.

The panels are part of the Story of Leicester project.

The information panels have been commissioned by the city council to give residents and visitors the chance to find out more about the city's past, from Roman times, through the Middle Ages, to the Victorian era and beyond.

The latest panels feature local landmarks including The Cedars in Evington - an 1830s-built house which was home to the novelist Edward Phillips Oppenheim from the early 1900s, before it was bought by All Saints Brewery and turned into a pub in 1938.

A panel also explains the myths of the ancient John O'Gaunt's cellar at Leicester Castle which has been used as both a medieval dungeon and as a prison during the Napoleonic Wars.

Other panels feature:

• Evans Weir Industrial Area: the heritage panel highlights how the canal system supported industrial growth in Leicester from the late 1700s.

• All Saints Church: home to criminal trials in 1853, the ancient church also had a great clock that featured carved wooden Quarter Jacks that chimed on the hour.

• GE-Thorn Lighting: built in 1939-40, it became one of the most important lamp factories in Britain.

• Fielding Johnson Building: now part of the University Of Leicester, the building was built in 1837 as the Leicestershire County Lunatic Asylum, before becoming a military hospital during the First World War.

• A Coffee versus Ale: this panel on High Street explores the Temperance Movement's influence on the development of Leicester's coffee houses.

• Home for Penitent Females: dating from 1881, the building on Stoneygate Road was paid for by local philanthropists to rehabilitate unmarried women or girls who had fallen into prostitution or become pregnant. The grade II-listed building later became a Montessori School.

• Leicester Cathedral: the original church of St Martin was built in the early 12th Century, possibly on the site of a much earlier Roman temple. It became Leicester's cathedral in 1927 and became the final resting place of King Richard III in March 2015.

The new cathedral heritage panel

So far, 186 heritage panels have been installed throughout the city since 2014 as part of the Story of Leicester project.

Deputy city mayor councillor Piara Singh Clair, said: "The heritage panels bring to life the city's history in a colourful, easily-understandable way.

"These latest panels continue that work, shedding light on the stories behind some well-known, and some less well-known locations across Leicester."