One museum …. a posh walk …. and the picture I never took

Well actually it was a series of pictures, of which New Walk and the entrance to your museum were two of them.

What is worse is that I thought I had, so as part of the continuing contribution to stories from a tourist in Leicester, here is the museum in 1926 from a series produced by Tuck and Sin in 1926.

Eric of Knighton will sniffly comment that “it don’t look much different” and that is the point.

That said I bet it wasn’t as exciting inside in 1926 as it is today.

We only had half an hour to spend there but it was fun.

Leaving me just to fall back on an image of the entrance from Google maps, which replaces the one I would have taken.

Location; New Walk, Leicester

Picture;  The Museum, Leicester, 1926, from Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/  and in 2018 courtesy of Google Maps

A gate ….. a lost spire …… and the bit we missed

 When you are a Leicester tourist you will miss something.

St Mary's Gateway, 1926

And we did, which was St Mary’s Gate, Castle View and the Church.

That said we had packed a lot into the Saturday morning, and it was raining.

I don’t think we had even clocked that there had been a castle or that there was a gate we could walk through to access St Mary’s Church.

St Mary's Gateway, 2020

Although we did happen by accident on a stretch of Castle View, saw a bit of the church but alas moved on.

All of which was only revealed when I dipped back into my collection of Leicester Tuck picture postcards which date from the 1920s.

I raid them on occasion for scenes of the city long before now, and so here is St Mary’s Gate perhaps 20 or so and bit years before I was born.

I could at this point slide into the history of the gate, the church and the castle, but that would be arrogant.

After all I am but a tourist and those that live in the city will be well aware of their past, but I will quote the description from the back of the postcard which includes the Romans, King Lear and the stocking frame.

Castle View and the church, 2019

“St Mary’s Gateway. A fine view of the battered and time worn gateway with the noble spire of St. Mary’s beyond.  

The old walls and gateways carry us back to the ancient history of Leicester.  

The traditional residence of King Lear and his daughters, it was a fortified town under the Romans.  

Its modern prosperity dates from the introduction of the stocking frame (1686) and is now the centre of the hosiery trade”.

‘Nuff said.

Other than to observe St Mary's spire was taken down for safety reasons but everyone in Leicester will know that.

St Mary's Church, 1926

Location, Leicester

Pictures; St Mary’s Gateway (Roman), Leicester, From the collection of Tuck and Son, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/  and the scene in 2020, courtesy of Google Maps

How to be a tourist in Leicester ……. Gallowtree Gate … homework .... and a remarkable find

First  the tourist apologies for getting it wrong .....sorry Gallowtree Gate for calling you a street ... blame it on Tuck and Sons in 1926.

No defence I know as so many Leicester readers have pointed out, for which I hang my tourist head in shame. 

And promise to do better by checking the names off against a modern street map and not just relying on Mr. Tuck, who got it so wrong in 1926.

I tried ringing him but he ain't taking calls. So back to the original story ... about a Gate not a street.

Now there are two simple ways to be a tourist in Leicester or for that matter anywhere.

The first is to ignore the guidebooks, forsake advice and just boldly set off in the expectation that the journey will offer up plenty of surprises.  

The second is to carefully research the city with the help of the guidebook and the internet and if there is one search out the tourist bus.

I have always chosen the first course and as result walked for miles, missed heaps of interesting things, and ended up at a derelict car park.

Tina prefers the well-researched approach including the bus, and since giving into her way of being a tourist I have never been disappointed.

But back in January having done the research thingy we came unstuck with Gallowtree Gate.  I vaguely remember that gate was an old word for street but did think there might be a Roman connection.

And I rather laughed at the idea that the street might have a connection with hanging people.

Tina’s research revealed a lot to which I threw in my collection of Tuck and Son picture postcards which date from 1926.

These led me to expect a throughfare of Victorian and Edwardian buildings with a few modernist ones squeezing into gaps made by Mr. Hitler’s bombs.

But not so on the Saturday we found Gallowtree Gate with its post war shops and pedestrian way, which was a tad disappointing, although I think I was able to locate where Dun and Co were.

That said my picture post card offered up a nice message on the back from Minnie who was staying in Beaconsfield Road, and was “having a nice time, lovely weather. Plenty of motor rides [having had] a nice ride down from Heanor." 

And the added surprise was that Beaconsfield Road is still there, which may not have been the tourist attraction we had anticipated but was still a nice bit of historic continuity ……. Even if the City Planners had done for my Gallowtree Gate

Location; Leicester

Picture; Gallowtree Gate, Leicester, 1926, from Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/ 

When Granby Street and Humberstone Gate offer up a heap of surprises …

In Leicester we are tourists.

Granby Street and the Grand Hotel, 1926

We started going about four years ago to see the kids and now we have added the grandchildren to the reason we travel down from Manchester to Knighton.

But when they are at work and school we revert to being tourists, which is how we got to properly explore the city centre last January.

The Airbnb on Charles Street was perfect for forays out to see the sights, take in a meal, and discover Richard 111, the old Town Hall, and the museum.

In between there were all those tiny little streets which offer up a heap of surprises.

Reverse of Granby Street card, 1926

Not that Granby Street or Humberstone Gate can be said to be little, although they did both yield up some surprises.

The first was that the Grand Hotel was still there and still impossible to photograph, for which I took a tad bit of pleasure given that the photographer for Tuck and Son’s postcard did no better than me.

It is of course a big building, and the street is quite narrow making a decent shot which gets in all the detail a challenge.  At which point I am aware someone will contradict me and send one over.

And that is the challenge should anyone choose to attempt to pull off a photographic coup.

Knowing we were going to do the city centre tourist adventure I had brought along a selection of my Tuck picture postcards.  

Tuck and Son were a major postcard company with offices across the world and a huge catalogue of British and international locations.

Humberstone Gate and Bell Hotel, 1943

And amongst their Leicester collection are a series which appear to date from 1926, although the actual photograph might be older, and the usage date might stretch way beyond their first issue.

So, in the case of the Humberstone Gate card, it was posted in 1943, and was sent from the Bell Hotel which was located at number 26 Humberstone Gate.

Part of the surprise for this one was that the message records a Mr and Mrs Clayton were spending part of their honeymoon at the Bell, and “were having a grand old time there”.

Alas, the hotel and the rest of the buildings are now under the Haymarket.  Well I say so, but I am but a tourist so I shall wait confirmation.

Reverse of Humberstone Gate card, 1943

Location; Granby Street or Humberstone Gate, Leicester

Picture;  Granby Street or Humberstone Gate, Leicester, 1926, from Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/