A house demolished and rebuilt 4 times

Originally built as a deer park in the 13th century the house would have initially been built around an enclosed courtyard.
The house has been demolished and rebuilt a total of 4 times however the courtyard area has remained unchanged.

The Herrick family owned this property as a family residence for 350 years but in 1939 the building was taken over by the Ministry of Defence and worked as a sub listening station to Bletchley Park.

The Guild of Corpus Christi
This Guild was the richest in the town and a powerful force in medieval Leicester. The emblem of the Guild, the Host and Chalice, is featured in 15th century painted glass window fragments in the Mayor’s Parlour. The Guild had their own altar in the Church of St Martin (now Leicester Cathedral) and used the Great Hall for banquets at times of high festivals. Originally the Great Hall had a beaten earth floor which would have been laid with rushes and heated by an open hearth, with smoke rising to the roof. The Guildhall in its present form incorporates a later Tudor extension to the original Great Hall.

A threat of demolition
With its main civic purpose gone, the Guildhall became neglected. Townspeople considered it old-fashioned and gloomy and it was under threat of demolition in 1876. Fortunately the newly-created City Council embarked on a major renovation programme in 1922, spearheaded by the Leicester Archaeological Society. The Guildhall was reopened to the public in 1926 and today, as one of the city’s most important medieval buildings and an iconic local landmark, enjoys protection as a Grade I listed building.

You wont be disappointed!

It is believed that Robert De Herle bought the land and had the house built between 1258 & 1295.
For nearly 700 years the house remained a family dwelling. In the early part of the 16th century, the house was modernised and it was around this period the house may have been owned by the Digby family, who were caught up in the War of the Roses and the Battle at Bosworth in 1485. And as history tell us Sir Everard Digby achieved notoriety as one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot in 1605; as an associate of Guy Fawkes

Site of a former priory

In the mid 18th century the house had an estate of 600 acres and was set in a fenced park, but in 1789 the house was said to be ‘hastening fast to decay’ and the property was subsequently dismembered for coal mining, the house tenanted as a farm and the outbuildings converted for use as a pottery in 1794. In 1895, when the mining had destroyed too much of the estate for farming to be viable, it was converted into tenements. It then lay derelict for some time before being purchased by a Miners’ Welfare club, which employed Vernon Brice ARIBA to make it habitable in 1953. The house now stands in a remnant of the former park, once again derelict!

Over the castles 800-year history many powerful people have stayed here.  Simon De Montfort was a powerful man who inherited Leicester Castle and became the 6th Earl of Leicester in 1208. In 1264 Simon De Montfort led the Barons’ rebellion. He defeated King Henry III to become the uncrowned King Of England.

John of Gaunt, third son of King Edward III, inherited Leicester Castle in 1361. He was a solider, statesman and one of the richest men in England. He always liked Leicester Castle and made many improvements to it making it an extremely grand venue, he stayed here until his death in 1399.

Leicester Castle was also besieged, captured and ransacked during the English Civil War by the Royalist under the command of King Charles I and Prince Rupert in May 1645.

In 1821 the Great Hall was converted in courtrooms and used up until 1992, it was here where the trial took place for the famous Leicester’s Green Bicycle Murder.

Today it is home to Leicester Castle Business Castle, part of De Montfort University.

The Abbey was founded in 1145 by monks. although it took over one hundreds of years to complete, it was not a large monastery.

The abbey was closed in 1536 by order of Henry VIII and the estate was given to the Talbot family, Earl of Shrewsbury who used it as a part-time hunting lodge until around 1610. The Abbey was later acquired by the Savile family in 1626, it remained in their ownership until the mid-20th century.

In 1938, the Rufford estate was sold, this was quickly followed by military use during World War Two. The house continued to decay and in 1956 a controlled demolition had to be carried out leaving the building much as you see it today.

Ghost Hunt, Abington Park Museum, Northampton

In 1669, vast parts of the original Manor House were demolished to make way for a larger, more lavish extension, retaining of course, the Great Hall and Oak Room.
In 1845, Abington Manor was sold to a Londoner who leased out the Manor to Dr Octavius Pritchard who used the property as a mental asylum. It remained as an asylum until 1892. Conditions in the asylum are not believed to have been overly cruel or unpleasant, however it has been reported that during this time two patients hung themselves. The property further exchanged hands in 1897 when it was given to the people of Northampton. It has remained as a museum until present day