3 Churches to explore in Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands, being within the East Midlands. Leicestershire takes its name from the city of Leicester located at its centre and administered separately from the rest of the county. The ceremonial county – the non-metropolitan county plus the city of Leicester – has a total population of just over 1 million, more than half of which lives in the Leicester Urban Area.
Leicester Cathedral is at the physical heart of our city and county. This church, built on the site of a Roman temple and dedicated to St Martin of Tours, has been embedded in the public, economic, cultural and religious life of this community since medieval times. The building you see today is predominantly Victorian. The tower and 220 foot spire were designed by the architect Raphael Brandon and were rebuilt in the 1860s. It was one of the main pilgrimage centre as well as a tourist attraction
It was the first Catholic Abbey to be founded in this country after the Reformation. This is a Cistercian Monastery of white monks founded in 1835 as a continuation of Garendon Abbey. Includes gardens, high calvary, gift shop, and Abbey Church. The abbey was the first permanent monastery to be founded in England since the Reformation and is the sole Trappist house in England. The monks brew the only Trappist beer in Britain.
St Mary de Castro is a 12th century parish church in the heart of Mediaeval Leicester and its needle-crocketed spire has dominated the Leicester skyline since the beginning of the 15th century. It is believed to have been the first church in the UK to be viewable online using Google Streetview, having been photographed in August 2012.