Colin Crosby Heritage Tours

Street Names of Leicester (A Guided Walk in Leicester)

"Street Names of Leicester" is a walk around Leicester City Centre and Old Town, visiting some of the streets which have eccentric names. It is devised and led by Blue Badge Guide Colin Crosby, of Colin Crosby Heritage Tours.

These strolls are an excellent way of soaking up some Local History.

Some are named after people or trades, some bear names dating back to the Danish occupation a thousand years ago, and others refer to gates in the town wall.

All the streets visited have their names explained.

The streets ending in "Gate" do not refer to a gateway at all. This is an old Danish word which simply means "street". Thus Belgrave Gate would lead you to the village of Belgrave if you walked far enough, and Humberstone Gate would lead you to Humberstone, while Church Gate leads to the church, in this case St. Margarets Church.

Gallowtree Gate leads to the gallows tree, which was sited at the top of the hill near the present-day Victoria Park Gates.

"Every Street" refers to a carrier, a sort of early taxi business, whose notice on the wall stated that he could take you to "every street in Leicester".

The streets ending in "Gates", as opposed to "Gate", actually do refer to town gates. East Gates, for example, leads from the High Street to the Clock Tower.

Cheapside, containing the element "cheap", which we still use to mean inexpensive, led to Leicester Market. It has the same root as "Chipping", which signifies a town having a market. "Chipping Camden" gives the same information as does "Market Harborough".

Colin also leads a walk called "Street Names of London" and another called "Street Names of Loughborough".

Dates, costs and where to meet

A place on 'Street Names of Leicester' costs £6.00 per person, or £5.00 if paying in advance. The guided walk begins at Town Hall, and is running on:

I'm sorry, but there are no plans to run this event at present.

If you would like to book a place on one of these dates, please telephone Colin on (0116) 2611576 or email him at colin@crosbyheritage.co.uk.