Leicester Cathedral, Leicester (must see)

Leicester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of Saint Martin is the fourth smallest Anglican cathedral in England. The remains of King Richard III were reburied in the cathedral in 2015 after being discovered nearby in the foundations of the lost Greyfriars chapel.

The church was built on the site of Roman ruins and is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, a 4th century Roman officer who became a Bishop. It is almost certainly one of six churches referred to in the Domesday Book (1086) and portions of the current building can be traced to a 12th century Norman church which was rebuilt in the 13th and 15th centuries. In the Middle Ages, its site next to Leicester’s Guild Hall, ensured that Saint Martin’s became Leicester’s Civic Church with strong ties to the merchants and guilds of the town.

The building you see today is predominantly Victorian. The tower and 220 foot spire were designed by the architect Raphael Brandon and were rebuilt in the 1860s. In 1927 Saint Martin’s was dedicated as Leicester’s Cathedral when the diocese was re-created, over 1,000 years after the last Saxon Bishop of Leicester fled from the invading Danes.

Today over one hundred thousand people visit Leicester Cathedral every year, primarily to see the tomb of King Richard III, the last English monarch to die in battle. King Richard’s mortal remains were interred by the Archbishop of Canterbury in March 2015 after five days of commemoration events and activities around the city and county of Leicester. A magnificent tomb cut of a single piece of Swaledale fossil stone weighing 3 tonnes now covers his grave. Inside, on permanent exhibition, is the Pall, a decorative cloth which covered King Richard’s coffin during his reinterment. It was designed and created by artist Jacquie Binns. The embroidery tells the story of King Richard’s life and the discovery of his body in a car park very near to the Cathedral.

Other items that can be seen inside the Cathedral include 14th century wooden carved figures, each “afflicted” with some kind of illness. One has a medieval hearing aid, while another is suffering from sore shoulders.

Leicester Cathedral is a Grade II* listed building comprising a large nave and chancel with two chancel chapels, along with a 220-foot-tall spire which was added in 1862. The building has undergone various restoration projects over the centuries, including work by the Victorian architect Raphael Brandon, and the building appears largely Gothic in style today. Inside the cathedral, the large wooden screen separating the nave from the chancel was designed by Charles Nicholson and carved by Bowman of Stamford. In 2015 the screen was moved eastward to stand in front of the tomb of Richard III, as part of the reordering of the Chancel by van Heyningen and Haward Architects.