20 Millstone Lane, Leicester, City of Leicester

Summary

An C18 house with C19 additions, now used as offices.

Description

A C18 house with C19 additions, now used as offices.

MATERIALS: the building is constructed of red brick, with a graded slate roof and timber framed sashes.

PLAN: the C18 house is near square on plan with a C19 addition projecting to the rear forming an L plan.

DESCRIPTION: the building is two storeys and attic. The principal elevation is to the south and is classically proportioned with three bays. It has a central doorway with semi circular fanlight and timber moulded door case with an open dentiled pediment. There are flanking windows with flat brick arches above. A single sash to the left and two to the right. There are single sashes above and hipped dormers with multi-pane windows at the roofline. There is a base course and a slightly projecting string course. The windows are vertically sliding sashes to the ground and first floors set in moulded cases, and horizontally sliding sashes to the dormers.

INTERIOR: the interior of the building has been adapted for office use including the insertion of suspended ceilings on the ground floor. The original plan form of two rooms on the ground floor flanking a central passage which leads to the stair towards the rear, is clearly readable. There are two further rooms on the first floor reached from the landing and access to the wing at the rear which contains further meeting rooms and an additional stair at the very rear of the building. The main, open string stair with carved decorative brackets, slender, tapered and turned balusters and ramped handrail is indicative of the buildings C18 origins and survives well. A number of fireplaces of C18-C19 date, on both the ground and first floor, are retained and original carpentry including door frames, some skirting, simply panelled cupboard doors and plain cornicing survive throughout. The attic, which is accessed from the neighbouring 20A Millstone Lane retains the early timber roof structure whilst other features of note include a vaulted cellar and a rear window on the ground floor with timber mullions, open longer lights and divided, simply coloured and patterned upper lights.

History

Leicester is one of the oldest settlements in England and its origins can be traced back at least to the Iron Age. There is significant remaining evidence of the Roman settlement particularly on the east bank of the River Soar where the bath house and palaestra at Jewry wall represent the only standing remains of Ratae Corieltauvorum and one of the largest standing pieces of Roman civilian building in the country. However, there is little known of the settlement between the Roman departure and the medieval period.

In the Middle Ages, Leicester became an increasingly important urban centre. William Conqueror ordered the construction of the first motte and bailey castle in the late C11. This was later rebuilt in stone and the great hall survives containing one of the finest medieval interiors in the country. The city became closely associated with Simon De Montfort who became the Lord of the Town in 1281, and one of the city’s two universities is named after him. The town also became closely linked to the royal family through the earldoms of Leicester and Lancaster, which were joined under one person, Robert Beaumont, in the late C14. This led to further expansion and prosperity in the late-middle and early-modern periods.

The town also became a focus for religious devotion, with an area next to the Castle known as the Newarke, being the location for a collegiate church as well as other religious centres. After his death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, the body of King Richard III was brought to the town and buried in the church of the Greyfriars, a Franciscan abbey which tradition has it had been founded by De Montfort in the late C13. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey died at Leicester Abbey in 1530 on his way to face trial in London and was buried there. Other major individuals to be associated with the city include Robert Dudley, who was made Earl of Leicester by Elizabeth I.

The church of Greyfriars was destroyed in 1538, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The site was sold and a manor house built with an associated estate. Both the monastic buildings and the location of Richard’s tomb were lost by the late C17. The manor belonged to Alderman Robert Herrick and remained in the family until the early C18 when it was sold to Thomas Pares. The former Greyfriars precinct was then divided with a new thoroughfare, called New Street laid north-south across it. The street plan more generally continues to resemble that of the medieval borough, although street names have changed, with the boundaries of the precinct on the whole respected.

Throughout the early C18 the two parts of the estate were gradually parcelled and sold for development. It was in the Georgian period that the wider Greyfriars estate was developed, primarily as residences for the professional and polite classes. Many of the remaining buildings date to that period and are domestic in both scale and character. Industry did encroach at the fringes and commercial activities and industry such as hosiery appear on the 1888 map of the area. Latterly the area became the legal centre for Leicester and many of the buildings were converted into offices. The manor house was demolished in 1872 although its garden remained unencumbered of development, as did that of 17 Friar Lane. Both became car parks in the C20.

Leicester itself became an industrial centre following the construction of the Grand Union Canal, which linked the town to London and Birmingham at the end of the C18. By 1800 the population had reached over 17,000 and continued to grow throughout the C19. The first railway arrived in the 1830s and Leicester was linked to mainline network by the 1840s, which allowed for significant industrial expansion. The major industries were textiles, hosiery and footwear. The size of Leicester increased dramatically at this time and many surviving medieval and early-modern buildings in the Greyfriars area were either replaced or refaced in brick at this time. The C19 also saw the construction of several large schools in the area.

Although the city faced significant economic and social challenges in the C20 it remains a vibrant urban centre and is now known as one of the most culturally diverse cities in Britain. The Greyfriars area has been the focus of international attention and economic investment since the remarkable discovery of the remains of King Richard III under a council car park in 2012 and his re-burial in the Cathedral in 2015. Resultant extensive research and archaeological investigation led to the Scheduling of the former monastic site in December 2017 (see List entry: 1442955) and the renaming of the Guildhall/Cathedral Conservation Area to Greyfriars.

20 Millstone Lane was originally constructed as a dwelling house in the early C18. It was converted to office use in the late C20. The house appears on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey (Leicestershire, 1888) with the same footprint it has currently. Like many residential buildings in the area the building was used as legal offices. The building was originally listed in 1975.

Reasons for Listing

20 Millstone Lane in Leicester, dating to the C18 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a well executed example of C18 domestic architecture in the classical form;
* for the survival of many internal fixtures and fittings indicative of its C18 origins including the elegant central stair, numerous fireplaces and much of the early carpentry.

Historic interest:
* as an example of a building set within a historic urban context which displays the evolution of both the building and the area from domestic to commercial in the C19 and C20.

Group value:
* with other listed buildings in the vicinity, specifically 20A Millstone Lane but also 22 Millstone Lane (List entry: 1463182), 9 and 11 Millstone Lane (List entry: 1074000) and the former Constitutional Club (List entry: 1389645).

External Links

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