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Bede Island

Areas of LeicesterLeicesterLeicestershire geography stubsRedeveloped ports and waterfronts in EnglandUse British English from February 2017

Bede Island is an area of Leicester, England close to the city centre, with the River Soar to the west and Grand Union Canal to the east.For many years Bede Island South was a run down area of brownfield land home to Vic Berry's locomotive scrapyard but in the 1990s urban regeneration sought to improve housing, employment opportunities and the environment in the area. The programme was successful in developing the waterfront of Leicester, a key part of the overall transformation of the city. Local streets are named after herbs and spices, these are Sage Road, Tarragon Road, Coriander Road, Mint Road and Thyme Close (these names resulted from the children at Hazel Street infants and juniors School and Shaftesbury junior school being asked about names for the new housing development - they asked for them to be named after the pop group The Spice Girls but the Council deemed that was not appropriate and a compromise of the current names was the outcome!).Office blocks were built on northern side where had been the offices of the former Great Central Railway offices and the former site of the art-deco buildings of the Kirby and West dairy on The Newarke, which had relocated to Richard III Road.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Bede Island (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Bede Island
Martin Ryan Walk, Leicester Bede Island

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Wikipedia: Bede IslandContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 52.629 ° E -1.145 °
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Martin Ryan Walk
LE3 0AY Leicester, Bede Island
England, United Kingdom
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Bromkinsthorpe

The Domesday manor of Bromkinsthorpe was situated outside the West Gate of Leicester, on the alluvial west bank of the River Soar. Its location is now covered by the area around Braunstone Gate, Leicester, and for much of the medieval period was a liberty within the parish of St Mary de Castro, Leicester, and hence, part of the Borough of Leicester. Bromkinsthorpe was bisected by the Roman road later known as Fosse Way, which led from Lincoln via Leicester to Cirencester and Exeter. It is presumed this road formed an early north western frontier to the Roman province of Britannia following the original invasion. Whilst there was a Roman villa in what later became Bromkinsthorpe, the first mention of the manor was in the Domesday Book of 1086. At that time it was held by Hugh de Grandmesnil along with 64 other manors in Leicestershire. He held six carucates in Bromkinsthorpe outright, with another two that formed part of the Soke of Ratby in west Leicestershire. In the Domesday Book the manor was recorded as belonging to Leicester, although it is not clear what this statement signified. There was also a link with the manor of Smeeton in south Leicestershire as four sokemen from there were 'attached' to Hugh de Grandmesnil's land in Bromkinsthorpe. Later, Bromkinsthorpe became part of the Earls of Leicester holdings. Two manors were recorded at Bromkinsthorpe in the 13th century. One was Walsh or Danet's Hall. The second was Westcotes. Both of these manors and their tenants are clearly documented thenceforward. Inhabitants farmed the open field strips surrounding the two manors. Some records suggest these strips formed one of the great open fields of Leicester. Others indicate that Bromkinsthorpe itself had three great open fields. The abbey of St Mary de Pratis, Leicester held considerable land in Bromkinsthorpe. The inhabitants also had rights in Leicester Forest, for which they were compensated when it was deforested in 1628. The manors were largely enclosed by the end of the 17th century. During the 18th century, urban Leicester encroached the manors, with some large houses, complete with extensive grounds and orchards built. These were demolished in the 19th century when new high-density housing was built that obliterated the rural aspect of Bromkinsthorpe. The manors were thus subsumed into the rapidly expanding Borough of Leicester.