Leicestershire is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It covers 832 square miles (2,156 km2) and held an estimated 1,079,600 residents in 2021, counting both the county council area and the city of Leicester.
Leicester is the county town and by far the largest settlement. It has run its own affairs as a unitary authority since 1997 but remains within the ceremonial county. Outside the city the county is farmland, quarry country and market towns.
| Country | England, United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Region | East Midlands |
| Area | 832 sq mi (2,156 km2) |
| Population (2021) | 1,079,572 (ONS estimate) |
| Population (2011 census) | 980,806 |
| County town | Leicester |
| Councils | Leicestershire County Council, 7 districts, Leicester (unitary) |
| Highest point | Bardon Hill, 278 m |
| Postcode area | LE, with parts of CV, DE and NG |
The seven county districts are Blaby, Charnwood, Harborough, Hinckley and Bosworth, Melton, North West Leicestershire, and Oadby and Wigston.
Towns and Villages in Leicestershire
Leicestershire has 359 named towns, villages and hamlets in the GeoNames gazetteer, including the districts of Leicester itself. The full list runs alphabetically below.
- Ab Kettleby
- Acresford
- Allexton
- Anstey
- Appleby Magna
- Appleby Parva
- Arnesby
- Asfordby
- Asfordby Hill
- Ashby Magna
- Ashby Parva
- Ashby Woulds
- Ashby-de-la-Zouch
- Aston Flamville
- Atterton
- Aylestone
- Bagworth
- Barkby
- Barkestone-le-Vale
- Barlestone
- Barrow upon Soar
- Barsby
- Barton in the Beans
- Barwell
- Battram
- Beeby
- Belcher's Bar
- Belgrave
- Belton
- Belvoir
- Bescaby
- Billesdon
- Bilstone
- Birstall
- Bitteswell
- Blaby
- Blackfordby
- Blaston
- Boothorpe
- Botcheston
- Bottesford
- Branston
- Brascote
- Braunstone
- Breedon on the Hill
- Brentingby
- Bringhurst
- Broadnook
- Brooksby
- Broughton Astley
- Bruntingthorpe
- Buckminster
- Bufton
- Burbage
- Burrough on the Hill
- Burton Lazars
- Burton on the Wolds
- Burton Overy
- Bushby
- Cadeby
- Carlton
- Carlton Curlieu
- Carthorpe
- Castle Donington
- Catthorpe
- Chadwell
- Chilcote
- Church Langton
- Church Yard
- Claybrooke Magna
- Claybrooke Parva
- Coalville
- Cold Newton
- Cold Overton
- Coleorton
- Congerstone
- Copt Oak
- Cosby
- Cossington
- Coston
- Cotes
- Cotesbach
- Countesthorpe
- Cranoe
- Croft
- Cropston
- Croxton Kerrial
- Dadlington
- Desford
- Diseworth
- Donington le Heath
- Donisthorpe
- Drayton
- Dunton Bassett
- Earl Shilton
- East Goscote
- East Langton
- East Norton
- Eastwell
- Eaton
- Edmondthorpe
- Ellistown
- Elmesthorpe
- Enderby
- Evington
- Far Coton
- Farm Town
- Fenny Drayton
- Fleckney
- Foston
- Foxton
- Freeby
- Frisby
- Frisby on the Wreake
- Frolesworth
- Gaddesby
- Gartree
- Gaulby
- Gilmorton
- Glen Parva
- Glenfield
- Glooston
- Goadby
- Goadby Marwood
- Great Bowden
- Great Dalby
- Great Easton
- Great Glen
- Great Stretton
- Griffydam
- Grimston
- Groby
- Gumley
- Hallaton
- Halstead
- Harby
- Harston
- Hathern
- Heather
- Hemington
- Hethel
- High Cross
- Higham on the Hill
- Hinckley
- Hoby
- Holwell
- Horninghold
- Hose
- Hoton
- Houghton on the Hill
- Hugglescote
- Humberstone
- Huncote
- Hungerton
- Husbands Bosworth
- Ibstock
- Illston on the Hill
- Isley Walton
- John O'Gaunt
- Kegworth
- Ketteringham
- Keyham
- Keythorpe
- Kibworth Beauchamp
- Kibworth Harcourt
- Kilby
- Kimcote
- King Street Buildings
- King's Norton
- Kirby Bellars
- Kirby Muxloe
- Kirkby Mallory
- Knaptoft
- Knipton
- Knossington
- Langley Priory
- Launde Abbey
- Leesthorpe
- Leicester
- Leicester Forest East
- Leicester Forest West
- Leire
- Little Dalby
- Little Stretton
- Littlethorpe
- Lockington
- Loddington
- Long Clawson
- Long Whatton
- Loughborough
- Lount
- Lowesby
- Lubenham
- Lutterworth
- Marefield
- Market Bosworth
- Market Harborough
- Markfield
- Measham
- Medbourne
- Melton Mowbray
- Merry Lees
- Misterton
- Moira
- Mountsorrel
- Mowsley
- Muston
- Nailstone
- Narborough
- Nether Broughton
- Nevill Holt
- Newbold
- Newbold Heath
- Newbold Verdon
- Newton Burgoland
- Newton Harcourt
- Newtown Limford
- Newtown Unthank
- Normanton
- Normanton le Heath
- Normanton Turville
- North Kilworth
- Norton juxta Twycross
- Noseley
- Oadby
- Oaks in Charnwood
- Oakthorpe
- Odstone
- Old Dalby
- Old Ingarsby
- Orton on the Hill
- Osbaston Hollow
- Osgathorpe
- Owston
- Packington
- Peatling Magna
- Peatling Parva
- Peckleton
- Peckleton Common
- Pickwell
- Pinwall
- Plungar
- Potter Hill
- Potters Marston
- Prestwold
- Queniborough
- Quorn
- Quorndon
- RAF Wymeswold
- Ragdale
- Ratby
- Ratcliffe Culey
- Ratcliffe on the Wreake
- Ravenstone
- Rearsby
- Redmile
- Rotherby
- Rothley
- Saddington
- Saltby
- Sapcote
- Saxby
- Saxelby
- Scalford
- Seagrave
- Sewstern
- Shackerstone
- Shangton
- Sharnford
- Shawell
- Shearsby
- Sheepy
- Shellbrook
- Shenton
- Shepshed
- Shoby
- Sibson
- Sileby
- Sinope
- Six Hills
- Skeffington
- Slawston
- Smeeton Westerby
- Smockington
- Snarestone
- Somerby
- South Croxton
- South Kilworth
- South Wigston
- Spring Cottage
- Sproxton
- Stanton under Bardon
- Stapleford
- Stapleton
- Stathern
- Staunton Harold
- Stockerston
- Stoke Golding
- Stonesby
- Stoney Stanton
- Stonton Wyville
- Stoughton
- Stretton en le Field
- Sutton Cheney
- Swannington
- Swepstone
- Swinford
- Swithland
- Syston
- Theddingworth
- Thornton
- Thorpe Langton
- Thorpe Satchville
- Three Gates
- Thringstone
- Thrussington
- Thurcaston
- Thurlaston
- Thurmaston
- Thurnby
- Tilton
- Tonge
- Tugby
- Tur Langton
- Twycross
- Twyford
- Ullesthorpe
- Upper Bruntingthorpe
- Upton
- Walcote
- Waltham on the Wolds
- Walton
- Walton le Wolds
- Wanlip
- Wartnaby
- Welby
- Welham
- Wellsborough
- West Langton
- Whetstone
- Whitwick
- Wibtoft
- Wigston
- Wigston Magna
- Wigston Parva
- Willoughby Waterleys
- Wilson
- Wistow
- Withcote
- Witherley
- Woodhouse
- Woodthorpe
- Woolsthorpe by Belvoir
- Worthington
- Wycomb
- Wyfordby
- Wykin
- Wymeswold
- Wymondham
Geography
The county sits on the watershed between the Trent and the Welland. The River Soar runs north through Leicester and Loughborough to join the Trent at Trent Lock, fed by the Wreake from the east.
Charnwood Forest, north-west of Leicester, is the geological oddity. Its crags of Precambrian rock are among the oldest exposed in England and carry some of the earliest known fossils of complex life. Bardon Hill, at 278 metres, is the county’s highest ground.
The north-east falls into the Vale of Belvoir, a clay lowland of dairy farms below the Leicestershire Wolds. The south is gentler ridge and furrow country around Market Harborough and Lutterworth.
Neighbours are Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warwickshire to the south-west and Staffordshire to the west.
Demographics
The 2011 census counted 651,179 people in the county council area and 329,627 in Leicester. ONS estimated 712,632 and 366,940 respectively by mid-2021, giving a ceremonial total of about 1,079,600.
Leicester’s built-up area held 406,588 people at the 2021 census, spreading beyond the city boundary into Oadby, Wigston, Braunstone Town, Glenfield and Birstall. Loughborough followed with 64,884 and Hinckley with 50,712. Coalville, Melton Mowbray, Market Harborough and Ashby-de-la-Zouch are the other main towns.
Leicester is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the United Kingdom. Around half its residents identify as Asian or Asian British, a pattern set by arrivals from India and from East Africa in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The surrounding county is far less diverse.
Economy and Local Life
Leicestershire’s central position made it a logistics county. Magna Park at Lutterworth is one of the largest distribution parks in Europe, and warehouse clusters follow the M1 and M69 corridors and the edge of East Midlands Airport.
Quarrying has run for two centuries. The granite workings at Mountsorrel and Bardon Hill are among the biggest in Europe and supply road stone across the Midlands and the South East.
Food and drink carry a strong regional identity. Melton Mowbray pork pies hold protected geographical status and must be made within a defined zone around the town. Stilton cheese is made in the Vale of Belvoir, and Red Leicester takes its name from the county.
Leicester was built on hosiery and knitwear, and clothing manufacture continues on a reduced scale. Triumph Motorcycles has built machines at Hinckley since 1991. Loughborough University is a leading centre for sports science and engineering, and Space Park Leicester works on satellite data.
History
Leicester began as Ratae Corieltauvorum, the Roman civitas capital of the Corieltauvi, on the Fosse Way. The Jewry Wall, a surviving section of Roman bath house masonry, is one of the tallest standing Roman structures in Britain.
Under Danish rule Leicester was one of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw. Village names ending in -by and -thorpe across the county date from that settlement.
The Battle of Bosworth Field, fought near Market Bosworth on 22 August 1485, ended the Wars of the Roses and the Plantagenet line. Richard III was killed there. His remains were found under a Leicester car park in 2012 and reburied in the cathedral in 2015.
Coal was mined in the north-west around Coalville and Ashby-de-la-Zouch until the last pits closed in the 1990s. The National Forest planting programme now covers much of that ground.
Getting There
The M1 runs north to south through the county past Leicester, Loughborough and Lutterworth. The M69 links Leicester to Coventry, the A42 connects to the M42 for Birmingham, and the A6, A46, A47 and A426 carry cross-county traffic.
The Midland Main Line serves Leicester, Loughborough and Market Harborough with direct trains to London St Pancras, Nottingham and Sheffield. The Birmingham to Peterborough line crosses at Leicester, calling at Hinckley and Melton Mowbray.
East Midlands Airport at Castle Donington sits in the north-west of the county. It is the busiest dedicated air freight airport in the United Kingdom and also carries passenger flights.
The Great Central Railway between Loughborough and Leicester North is the only double-track main line heritage railway in Britain.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the largest town in Leicestershire?
Leicester, whose built-up area held 406,588 people at the 2021 census. Outside the city, Loughborough is the largest at 64,884.
How many towns and villages are there in Leicestershire?
The GeoNames gazetteer records 359 named settlements across the ceremonial county.
Is Leicester part of Leicestershire?
Yes for ceremonial purposes, no for local government. Leicester has been a unitary authority since 1997 and is not run by Leicestershire County Council.
What postcode does Leicestershire use?
The LE postcode area covers most of the county, with edges in CV, DE and NG.
Where was the Battle of Bosworth fought?
Near Market Bosworth in western Leicestershire, on 22 August 1485. The battlefield centre is at Ambion Hill, Sutton Cheney.
Which counties border Leicestershire?
Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Rutland, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Staffordshire.