Timeline of Leicester

Prior to 16th century

48 – The Roman town of Ratae Corieltauvorum is established (approximate date)

130 – Jewry Wall built by Romans (approximate date).[1]

145 – Public baths built by Romans (approximate date).[2]

150 – The "Blackfriars Pavement" is laid (approximate date)[3]

155 – The "Peacock Pavement" is laid (approximate date)

680 – Cuthwine is installed as the first Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Leicester

870 – Leicester ceases to be a separate diocese when the last Saxon Bishop flees from the invading Danes.

877 – The Danes are in power.

880 – St Nicholas' Church active (approximate date).

1070 – Leicester Castle built (approximate date).

1086

Market active.

St Margaret's Church and St Martin's Church are active (approximate date).

In the Domesday survey, the walled town occupies 130 acres, with 322 houses and 6 churches.

1107 – Castle Chapel is founded.

1143 – Leicester Abbey is founded by Robert le Bossu, Earl of Leicester.

1228 – Leicester fair active.

1230 – Franciscan monastery active (approximate date).

1330 – Trinity Hospital is founded.

1350 – Guild of Corpus Christi constituted.[4]

1390 – Corpus Christi Guildhall built (approximate date).[5][6]

1444 – Most of St Margaret's Church is rebuilt, including the West Tower (approximate date).

1485 – Richard III spends his last night in Leicester before the Battle of Bosworth Field. His body is afterwards brought back to the town and buried at Greyfriars.

16th–18th centuries

1511 – Wigston's Chantry House is built in the Newarke (approximate date).[7]

1513 – Wyggeston Hospital founded.

1530 – Cardinal Thomas Wolsey dies at Leicester Abbey.

1535 – The Greyfriars Monastery is closed.

1538 – With the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Leicester Abbey is surrendered to the king and demolished.

1548 – The Guild of Corpus Christi is dissolved.

1550 – The Free Grammar School is established by this year, using money left by William Wyggeston .

1589 – Corporation of Leicester established.

1595 – Skeffington House is built in the Newarke (approximate date).[8]

1642 – Charles I passes through Leicester before raising his standard at Nottingham.

1645 – The Siege of Leicester during the English Civil War.

1751 – Leicester Journal newspaper begins publication.

1770 – Daniel Lambert is born in Leicester

1771 – Leicester Royal Infirmary opens.

1773 – The High Cross in High Street was removed.

1785 – The Greencoat School is established with money left by Alderman Gabriel Newton .

1792 – Leicester Chronicle newspaper begins publication.

19th century

1800 – Leicester Medical Book Society founded.

1801 – Population: 17,005.

1804 – The South Fields are inclosed.

1806 – Racecourse established.

1817 – Leicester Savings Bank established.

1821 – Leicester Gas Company is established.

1825 – Wharf Street Cricket Ground opens, home to the Leicestershire County Cricket Club.[9]

1828 – The new Leicester Prison opens on Welford Road.

1832

Leicester and Swannington Railway begins operating.

Christ Church built.

1835 – Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society founded.

1836

Leicester Borough Police Force is established.

The Theatre Royal opens in Horsefair Street.

1838 – Union Workhouse built.

1840 ---The Midland Counties Railway from Derby to Rugby opened, with a station at Campbell Street, Leicester.

1845 – Particular Baptist Chapel opens.

1849

Chamber of Commerce established.

New Walk Museum opens [10]

1851 – A pumping station is built near the River Soar under the Leicester Sewerage Act.

1853

Rowe's Circulating Library in business.

Leicester gains its first piped water supply

1857

Hitchin-Leicester railway begins operating.

Leicester Guardian newspaper begins publication.

1860 – Major restoration of St Martin's Church is begun; the tower and spire are demolished and rebuilt.

1861 – Population: 68,056.

1862 – Joseph Merrick, the "Elephant Man", is born in Leicester

1863 – The Old Bow Bridge is demolished and replaced with an iron bridge.

1864 – South Leicestershire Railway (Hinckley-Leicester) begins operating.

1866

Leicester's first working men's club opens

The Collegiate School for Girls opens.

1867 – Leicester Cathedral built.

1868 – Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower erected.

1871

The Free Library opens in Wellington Street.

Population: 95,084.

1872 – Leicester Borough Fire Brigade is established.

1874

Leicester's first horse-drawn tram service begins operating, from the Clock Tower to Belgrave.

Leicester Mercury newspaper begins publication.

1875 – Trams begin operating from the town centre to Victoria Park and Humberstone.

1876

Leicester Town Hall is built.

Leicester Co-operative Hosiery Manufacturing Society organised.

1877

The Wyggeston Hospital School opens.

Skating rink opens in Rutland Street.

Leicester Bicycling Club active (approximate date).

The Opera House opens in Silver Street.

1878 – Leicestershire County Cricket Club's new ground at Grace Road opens [11]

1879 – The first municipal swimming baths open in Bath Lane.

1880 – Leicester Tigers Rugby Union Football Club is founded [12]

1881 – Population: 122,351.

1882 – Victoria Park and Abbey Park open.

1884 – Leicester Fosse football club formed.

1885 – Leicester and Leicestershire Photographic Society founded.

1886 – Spinney Hill Park opens.

1889

Leicester becomes a County borough per Local Government Act 1888.

Leicester Branch of the Socialist League organised.

1891

Filbert Street stadium opens.

Abbey Pumping Station in operation.[13]

The Borough of Leicester is greatly enlarged by the Leicester Extension Act, with the addition of Aylestone, Belgrave, Knighton, Newfoundpool and parts of Braunstone, Evington and Humberstone.

Population: 174,624.

1892 – Leicester Tigers move to their new home at Welford Road Stadium[14]

London Road Station replaced Campbell Street Station.

1896

Leicester Corporation purchases Gilroes and begins laying out a cemetery there.

All of the civil parishes within the Borough of Leicester are merged into a single parish.

1898 – The Grand Hotel is built in Granby Street.

1899 – British United Shoe Machinery is established in Belgrave Road.

20th century

1904 – The conversion of Leicester's horse-drawn trams to electric trams is completed.

1913 – De Montfort Hall opens.

1919 – Leicester attains city status.

1920 – The City Boys School opens .

1921

The University College of Leicester is established.

Population: 234,000.

1923 – In the General Election, Winston Churchill is the Liberal candidate in Leicester West and loses.

1925 – Braunstone Frith is absorbed into the city of Leicester.

1927

St Martin's Church becomes Leicester Cathedral.

Dr. Cyril Bardsley is appointed the first Bishop of Leicester.

1932 – The Little Theatre opens in Dover Street.

1935 – New Parks and Beaumont Leys are absorbed into the city of Leicester.

1940 – Leicester suffers its worst air raid of World War II on the night of 19 November.[15]

1958 – Rock 'N' Roll comes to Leicester when Buddy Holly and the Crickets perform live at De Montfort Hall[16]

1962 – Jewry Wall Museum built.

1963 – The Beatles perform live at De Montfort Hall for the first time.[17]

1966 – The City of Leicester Polytechnic is established.

1969 – The Museum of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment opens in the Magazine Gateway.[18]

1970 – University of Leicester's Attenborough Building constructed.

1972 – Abbey Pumping Station museum opens.[19]

1973

Haymarket Shopping Centre in business.

Leicester Theatre Trust formed.

1974 – Leicester City Council established per Local Government Act 1972.

1985 – St Margaret's Bus Station opens.

1992 – The Leicester Polytechnic becomes De Montfort University.

1997

Leicester City Council becomes unitary authority per 1990s UK local government reform.

Leicester Bike Park opens.

21st century

2002 – King Power Stadium opens.

2011 – Peter Soulsby elected mayor.

2012

Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duchess of Cambridge visit Leicester during the Queen's Golden Jubilee tour of Britain.

The remains of King Richard III are discovered beneath a Council car park. Plans are begun for his eventual reinterment in Leicester Cathedral.

2016 - Leicester City win the 2015-16 Premier League for their first league title, being 5000-to-1 outsiders at the start of the season, and won the BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year Award.