Colin Crosby Heritage Tours

Leicestershire Promotes Market Towns

Leicestershire County Council have produced a booklet entitled “Seasons Greetings From Leicestershire Market Towns and Shopping Centres”.

It does a good job of encouraging visits to these attractive towns, and hopefully will lead to more visits from outside the county after the Christmas period.

The market towns include Ashby-de-la-Zouch, which also has a ruined castle where Sir Walter Scott set “Ivanhoe”; Hinckley, where Joseph Aloysius Hansom invented the hansom cab; Loughborough, home of the famous John Taylor Bell Foundry; and Lutterworth, whose 14th century Rector, John Wycliffe, was the first to translate the Bible into English.

Then there’s also Market Bosworth, which gave its name to the battle where Richard III lost his crown and his life; Market Harborough, whose story involves the Civil War, coaching inns, Thomas Cook and the infamous Liberty Bodice; and Melton Mowbray, home of hand-raised pork pies and Stilton cheese.

If you’ve not visited Leicestershire, try to do so. There’s a lot to discover.