THE history of one of Leicester’s most diverse neighbourhoods is being commemorated in the city’s 200th heritage information panel.
Narborough Road, from its origins as a Roman road through to its present-day role as a bustling multicultural community, are celebrated in the newly-installed information panel between its junctions with Beaconsfield Road and Equity Road.
It is the latest in the Story of Leicester programme of information panels bringing to life the stories behind some of the city’s key historic, cultural and industrial sites.
Narborough Road itself was originally part of the route of the Fosse Way, which ran across England from Exeter to Lincoln. The late 1800s saw more development of the area, due to a combination of flood prevention works, improvements to the River Soar, the expansion of the Great Central Railway and the need for new housing for workers in the local hosiery, knitting, boot and shoe trades.
A study in 2015 looking at the ethnicity of the UK’s communities found that shopkeepers in Narborough Road represented 22 different countries, earning it the title of Britain’s most culturally diverse street.
The latest selection of heritage panels also includes one celebrating the Church of St James the Greater, near Victoria Park, the UK’s first local radio transmitter, on Anstey Lane at the exit of Gilroes Cemetery, and the history of Leicester Stadium, at the junction of Parker Drive and Somerset Avenue, where audiences once flocked to watch greyhound and speedway races.
Leicester deputy city mayor for culture, leisure and sport, Cllr Piara Singh Clair, said: “Heritage information panels are a fantastic way for people to find out more about Leicester’s extensive history from Roman times, through the Middle Ages, to the manufacturing, engineering and transport the Victorian era and beyond.
“The project brings to life our colourful 2,000-year history by remembering the people, places and events of Leicester’s recent and distant past.
“Narborough Road’s history shows how one neighbourhood has grown and flourished over hundreds of years to create one of the city’s most diverse communities.”
More details of the city’s heritage information panels are available at the Story of Leicester website here.
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