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Leicester
Chronicler A reflection of past and present thoughts and aspirations
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Freemen's Common and the South Field |
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Originally, four
large fields surrounded the town of Leicester on which people could graze
their livestock. The West Field disappeared
by the 12th Century. The East Field was being developed by the
18th Century, and by the beginning of the 19th
Century, the only sizeable field left was the South Field. |
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| This area, about 600 acres, was the source of much dispute because several comparatively large farms had grown up, occupying the open land which had left the free men worried about the loss of their rights to graze their few cattle. The Corporation dithered about this for years because the only effective way of taking control of the way the South Field was being used, would have been to buy it, and therefore exclude all the free men as well. The situation actually led to violence, even attacks on the homes of some of the members of the corporation. |
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Eventually, the Corporation did act, and they came up with a
compromise. The problem that faced all industrial towns in the 19th Century was the need to
expand to accommodate, for example, new factories and new homes for the
factory workers. They finally, in 1804, enclosed the entire area, but
respected the rights of the freemen by moving all their small parcels of
land, dotted about across the area into three large and properly defined
area. The Corporation took ownership of the rest for building development.. These three areas allocated to the free men were a small portion in the Saffron Lane area, now built on because it was later sold to the corporation, a larger portion where the Walkers Stadium now stands, and a much larger area which became known as Freemen's Common, situated between the Welford and Aylestone Roads. |
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| It is very noticeable that even today this entire area has a different feel to it, with more open space than inner areas of the town. There is the De Montfort Hall and gardens, Victoria Park, Regent College, Leicester University, Welford Road cemetery and the area known today as Freemen's Common, plus land on the other side of Aylestone Road, where the Walkers Stadium now stands. The corporation also sold off a portion of land on the edge of the South Field near New Walk in order to cover the cost of the enclosing. |
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| The Corporation began building extensively on the land they had acquired, but their plans were cut short by the arrival of the Midland Railway in 1840 which made this area rather less `desirable’ than it had previously been. On the other side of the area, on the west of Aylestone Road, the Corporation sold off some land to another railway which later became the route of the Great Central Railway, and also built a power station, which survived until a few years ago. |
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| In 1845, the land at Freemen's Common was divided up into individual allotments, and it remained occupied in this way until the recent past. These tracts of land were originally owned by the widows of former free men of Leicester and then by their descendants, but was finally built upon just a few years ago to form the commercial development that followed the closure of the Cattle Market. Incidentally, the Cattle Market was formerly on the site of Town Hall Square (hence Horsefair Street) and was moved to the Freemen's Common site because of the proximity of the railway. At one time, a siding ran from the main line near London Road Railway Station into the Cattle Market so that livestock could be transported by rail. |
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© Stephen Butt 2004 Rev 04/04/06 |