This inner city walk has a number of busy roads, please take care when crossing these and use pedestrian crossings where possible
Some of the pavements and paths are uneven in places - take care.
[1] From the Clock Tower walk along High Street, with the Highcross centre on the right. Continue past the High Street entrance to the Highcross Centre
[2] Turn first right onto Shires Lane and walk towards St Martin's Square. After a short distance turn first left onto Freeschool Lane and continue to its end to face the King Richard III public house. To your right you can see the Travelodge.
(A) This is the site of the Blue Boar Inn where King Richard III spent the night on August 21st 1485 before being slain at the Battle of Bosworth. He brought his own bed with him in which a hoard of gold coins was hidden until:
In 1604 the landlord's widow, Agnes Clarke, who was running the inn alone, found the hoard of gold sovereigns. News of this find got out and she was murdered for the treasure. Edward Bradshaw was executed and Alice Grimbold, who worked at the inn, was burned at the stake for the crime. The Blue Boar was pulled down in 1836 and re-located 200 yards away to Southgates. Agnes's ghost was said to have moved to the new site.
[3] Turn left at the top of Freeschool Lane and return to Highcross Street, continue forward over High Street and along St Nicholas Place to its junction with Applegate
Beware of the road works in this area. Take care when walking through them.
(B) In front is the site of Wygston's House. This is the oldest house in Leicester, with the timber hall dating from around 1490. The house probably belonged to Roger Wygston whose family had become rich through involvement in the local wool trade. He was a mayor of Leicester and also its Member of Parliament. From 1974 the house became Leicester's museum of costume.
Here is the ghost of a small boy dressed in Edwardian clothes who sits on the stairs crying. In 2009 a member of a ghost hunting party reported that she had seen the outline of a small head looking at the party.
[4] Turn immediately left onto Guildhall Lane and continue for a short distance to the Guildhall
(C) This is the location of the Guildhall and St Martin's Cathedral. The Guildhall is Leicester's oldest civic building dating from the late 14th century. It has served many purposes including meetings of religious guilds and the town council, public library and a police station. St Martin's Cathedral can trace its roots from a church erected on the site in 1086. It was much extended in Victorian times with the 220ft steeple added in 1862.
The Guildhall is supposed to be Leicester's most haunted building. There have been sightings of a White Lady who moves furniture around the building's library. However some believe that the ghost is not a White Lady, but a monk dressed in grey, which may be explained by the fact that there used to be an old Grey Friars Monastery nearby. A Cavalier type character has also been seen in the building's Great Hall, as well as a phantom dog and black cat. Staff often close the bible that sits on the main table of the library to find in the morning that the White Lady/Monk have opened it up to the same page each time. Some claim that they've seen legs grow from the portrait of Henry Earl of Huntington, which hangs in the Mayor's Parlour.
In the churchyard of St Martin's Cathedral resides one of Leicester's most famous ghosts. It is said to be a hooded figure which may have been the ghost of a monk belonging to Greyfriars Monastery and he has been spotted coming from St Martin's East, crossing the graveyard and disappearing towards the Leicester Grammar School. Misty apparitions have also been reported here with one that reaches out and touches peoples faces with its icy fingers. People so touched will be dead within a year.
[5] Turn right between the Cathedral and the side of the Guildhall onto St Martins West and turn left at the end of the cathedral building to cross St Martin's Cathedral Plaza to join Peacock Lane
[6] Cross straight over onto New Street to pass the car park on the left where King Richard III's remains were found. The well documented search started on 24th August 2012 and his remains were swiftly discovered although it took months to positively identify them.
Philippa Langley, secretary of the Scottish branch of the Richard III Society, was instrumental in the funding of the search for Richard III. According to The Sunday Times, she said: 'It was a hot summer and I had goose bumps so badly and I was freezing cold. I walked past a particular spot and absolutely knew I was walking on his grave. I am a rational human being but the feeling I got was the same feeling I have had before when a truth is given to me.'
[7] Turn left at the end of New Street and, after a short distance, turn right onto Berridge Street and continue along Pocklingtons Walk
[8] At the end of Pocklingtons Walk cross over Welford Place and continue forward along the pedestrianised New Walk, with Leicester City Council's New Walk Centre on the right. Continue just past the Holy Cross Priory to the Blackfriars Hall
(D) Blackfriars Hall is now a part of the Holy Cross Priory, but was once the entirety of the original church. This was the first building to be erected on New Walk in 1818. The church became a Dominican friary in 1882 and was later extended between 1930 and 1958 as the Catholic Church became more established in Leicester.
The ghost of Father Norbert Wylie, a priest here until his death in 1928, has been seen here on numerous occasions. Another former prior has been spotted moving about in the hall and who then just vanishes. On one occasion a group of workmen from a roofing company, playing 5-a-side football in the hall, noticed a friar passing through as they were playing. There had been no friars in the premises for many years. There were no more 5-a-side games after that.
[9] Continue along New Walk to pass the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery on the right. The museum houses an exhibition of Egyptian Mummies and also has a resident ghost. Turn left just after the museum onto the sloping path alongside Waterloo Way. Continue forward, following the road around to the left. Pass the railway station on the right, and cross over Granby Street and Charles Street along St Georges Way.
Follow the alternative route to the site of the gallows and the Marquis Wellington pub by continuing along New Walk and Upper New Walk to Granville Road. Turn left onto Granville Road and then almost immediately turn left onto London Road (formerly Gallows Hill). Pass the Marquis Wellington on the left and continue down the hill to rejoin the route on Waterloo Way.
(E) The gallows stood at the junction of two ancient Roman routes the Via Devana (Colchester to Chester) and the Fosse Way (Exeter to Lincoln). They were probably placed here as a warning to visitors as well as the ultimate punishment to wrongdoers.
(F) On the route to the gallows lay the inn named the Marquis Wellington. For some their last taste of life may have been a drink here before being hanged The Marquis Wellington was built in 1813 and has a history of hauntings. One recurring is the ringing of the pub doorbell at 3am, glasses flying off the shelves, plants being hurled across the room, the till being opened and a piano being played in the attic..
[10] Turn left, just before the Leicester Mercury building, onto St George Street and then, after a short distance, turn left onto the footpath leading to St George's Church Continue ahead through the graveyard towards the church.
(G) St Georges Church was built of local sandstone in 1827, This Anglican church was built following the Church Building Act of 1818 which aimed to erect churches in places of need and was the first to be built in the city since the medieval period. In the early 1970s the church closed for Anglican worship and subsequently transferred to the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1983. There are 70,000 ethnic Serbs living in the UK with a sizeable population in Leicester.
[11] Exit the church grounds onto Orton Square with the Curve Theatre in front. Take the second street on the left, Halford Street, and continue to its junction with Gallowtree Gate.
(H) The whole of the road from the East Gate to the parish boundary by Victoria Park Road was known as Gallowtree Gate. The word "gate", as used in Leicester and other East Midlands towns, has nothing to do with gateways. It is an old Danish word meaning "street", and dates back to the Danish occupation of this part of England over a thousand years ago. Gallowtree Gate takes its name from the gallows which used to stand at the end of Evington Footpath roughly where the entrance to Victoria Park currently stands. This was the point where main thoroughfares crossed on their way into and out of Leicester.
[12] Turn right onto Gallowtree Gate and continue past the Clock Tower to the top of Church Gate. Continue along Church Gate for a short distance to view the Synergy public house.
(I) The pub has had a number of different names and landlords over the years. And ghostly happenings too!.
During its time as the Long Stop it experienced a period when there were supernatural happenings such as glasses falling off shelves, strange sounds and draughts. Shadowy beings have appeared and then just as suddenly disappeared much to the consternation of the drinkers. It is said that a previous landlord who died in 1896 as a result of falling down the cellar stairs. Apparently he returned because he wanted the world to know what had happened to him!
[13] Return to the Clock Tower to conclude the walk.