Scheduled MonumentsEnglandGreyfriars, Leicester

Greyfriars, Leicester

England
List entry 1442955
Nation
England
The designation
Reference
List entry 1442955
Authority
Historic England (NHLE)
Status
Scheduled Monument
Scheduled area
0.71 hectares
Grid reference
SK5854004327
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic England (NHLE)

Overview

History & significance

Greyfriars, Leicester is a Franciscan friary founded in the thirteenth century within the medieval town of Leicester. The site occupies an area in the town centre and preserves archaeological remains of the friary church and associated monastic buildings, which would have served the Franciscan community until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth century. The friary represents an important example of mendicant religious architecture and planning from the medieval period. Excavations and standing structures have contributed to understanding the layout and character of urban friaries in medieval England.

Greyfriars, Leicester is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1442955. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Greyfriars, Leicester?

Greyfriars, Leicester is a Franciscan friary founded in the thirteenth century within the medieval town of Leicester. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1442955.

Who is responsible for protecting Greyfriars, Leicester?

Greyfriars, Leicester is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1442955.

What other scheduled monuments are near Greyfriars, Leicester?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Leicester Castle and the Magazine Gateway (0.3 km), Jewry Wall: remains of a Roman bath house, palaestra and Anglo-Saxon church (0.3 km), The Raw Dykes Roman aqueduct (1.7 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Greyfriars, Leicester

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Greyfriars, Leicester's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Domesday
The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
LiDAR
Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Greyfriars, Leicester

Greyfriars, Leicester stands on Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Triassic. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.