St Nicholas Churchyard, Leicester
Visited September 2016
This churchyard stands right beside the Jewry Wall museum in Leicester, and the remains of the Roman baths - indeed there's a Roman wall just feet from the church door, across a footpath, and a Roman column or two among the graves (probably brought from the Roman basilica or forum, and used as early grave markers). The church is the oldest in Leicester - parts of the church date from c.AD 880, and the tower is Norman, with some Roman bricks built into the walls, although most of it is later.
The churchyard itself is rather small, hemmed in on two sides by busy roads, with the church and Roman wall on the other sides. Most of the graves date from the late 18th and early 19th century - I'm told the churchyard closed to burials in 1828. Many of the stones are made of Swithland slate - a common material for gravestones in this part of England, it's estimated there are over 10,000 slate headstones in Leicestershire alone!
If you're in the area it's worth popping in to the churchyard, and the church itself (generally open to visitors on Saturdays) - St Margaret's in Leicester is apparently also worth a visit, so maybe it would be good to combine the two?
The churchyard itself is rather small, hemmed in on two sides by busy roads, with the church and Roman wall on the other sides. Most of the graves date from the late 18th and early 19th century - I'm told the churchyard closed to burials in 1828. Many of the stones are made of Swithland slate - a common material for gravestones in this part of England, it's estimated there are over 10,000 slate headstones in Leicestershire alone!
If you're in the area it's worth popping in to the churchyard, and the church itself (generally open to visitors on Saturdays) - St Margaret's in Leicester is apparently also worth a visit, so maybe it would be good to combine the two?
