(B) St Stephen's Church
St. Stephens is a fine 19th century church in New Walk. It is particularly notable as being “the church that moved”. It was originally built where Leicester Railway Station now stands, but when the present building replaced the earlier Campbell Street Station in 1891, the church was moved stone by stone to its present position.
(C) New Walk
Late 18th Century urban public walk, extending for 1,100 metres, developed in the 19th Century with residences and some public buildings.
Originally known as Queen's Walk, New Walk was laid out in 1785 by Leicester Corporation as a pedestrian way (which it still is), connecting the town from the area of Welford Place with the racecourse (now VICTORIA PARK, also a Historic Park) to the south-east, and overlooking the as yet undeveloped area of Southfields to the south. An Inclosure Award drawn up in 1804 and ratified in 1811 led to development of the South Fields area, which began with sale of plots at the north end of New Walk, adjacent to Welford Place, and the laying out of new streets to either side of New Walk.
The proviso was maintained, that houses should have no vehicular access from New Walk, and must be set back at least 10m from the footway. Residential buildings were at first put up along New Walk in a piecemeal manner, totalling 60 by 1847. Public buildings included the Roman Catholic Chapel, 1817-18, by Joseph Ireland; the Liberal Meeting Hall (1831); the Nonconformist Proprietary School (1836, by J A Hansom, to become NEW WALK MUSEUM 1849), and St Stephen's Church (1893, by R R G Fenning). The south-bound railway was cut through New Walk in 1840, passing underneath, as does Waterloo Way built 1960s, on the west side of the railway.
Three open spaces were attached to New Walk: Museum Square, to the west of the railway; and to the east, De Montfort Square (with a Statue of Robert Hall, 1870, by J Bimie Philip) and the Oval. More systematic building of houses took place in the 1850s and 1860s. Many properties were converted to office and business use in the 20th century.
In 1969 New Walk was designated a Conservation Area. Considerable repair and improvement to property since then, and replanting of trees along New Walk and its related squares.
(D) Victoria Park
Victoria Park is a public park of 69 acres (279,000 m²). It has facilities for various sports, including tennis, basketball, bowls, croquet, football and cricket. A skate park has been recently added. The park is sometimes used as a venue for outdoor events - in recent years these have included BBC Radio 1's One Big Sunday, the Leicester Caribbean Carnival, and Leicester Pride. A pavilion provides changing facilities, and is also the site of a cafe.
The park was historically part of the South Fields of Leicester, and was used from 1806 to 1883 as a racecourse - a function that was then transferred as to the purpose-built Leicester Racecourse in Oadby. It was opened as a park in 1882. A Victorian grandstand stood in the park until the mid-20th century, and was used as a pavilion after racing moved to Oadby. It was damaged by a German parachute bomb in 1940 and later demolished, with the new pavilion built on the same site and opened in 1958.[1] Leicester Fosse (who later became Leicester City Football Club) played here on various occasions between 1884 and 1890.
The park is home to two memorials. The War Memorial, a quadrifrons arch, was designed by Edwin Lutyens and built in 1923, to commemorate the dead of the First World War. The memorial, a Grade I listed building, stands at the top of an ornamental walkway ("Peace Walk") with gates (also by Lutyens) opening on to University Road. A smaller memorial near the cafe commemorates the American 82nd Airborne Division, stationed in Leicester prior to D-Day.