Heritage Open Days: Leicester Guildhall
Event Description
Guided tours of Leicester Guildhall
Travel back 600 years into Leicester's Guildhall, one of the best-preserved timber framed halls in the country.
Tour dates and times:
Sunday 12th September & Tuesday 14th September 2021
11.30am / 1.30pm / 3.30pm
Over the years it has been used as a court, town hall, venue for Shakespeare, prison, and now a museum and venue. Believed to be one of the ‘Most Haunted’ places in Leicester, uncover its ghostly stories! Leicester's Guildhall is a historic building and the oldest building still in use in the city. It was Leicester’s first police station and between 1876 and the 1900’s and saw many unsavoury characters pass through its doors.
The Great Hall itself was built in about 1390 as a meeting place for the Guild of Corpus Christi and it is reputed that Shakespeare performed here during Tudor times. When Elizabeth I’s navy defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, the Guildhall was the venue of choice for the city’s celebrations. More than 50 years later, when England was in the grip of Civil War, Royalist troops attacked Leicester and looted the Guildhall. After their defeat at the Battle of Naseby weeks later, the thanksgiving dinner to mark Cromwell’s victory was held here. Over the years it has had many uses, including housing one of the oldest public libraries and serving as the Town Hall.
Free tours throughout the day, booking is essential.