In leicester, Explore, tourism, travel, history

Take a tour round the Leicesters of the world with us! Yes, we’re not as unique as you might have first thought. While Leicester in the county of Leicestershire in the UK is famous the world over for King Richard III, Leicester City, Gary Lineker, the mighty Tigers, Pork Pies and Red Leicester cheese, we’re not the only place in the world with that name…

There are actually four places named Leicester in the USA and one in Sierra Leone! In this post we’re going to give you a little more info and some of the backstory about our international cousins!

Leicester, New York

We’ll start in the state of New York where the small town of Leicester and its 2,200 inhabitants can be found. It was named after Leicester Phelps, an early inhabitant of the area, though we can see that this was clearly catering to the common American mispronunciation of the word, as the name on original documents was spelled Lester and later changed to the more familiar spelling. This area was originally settled by the Seneca people, part of the Native American Iroquois people and there’s a gruesome history attached to a tree in the area’s Boyd-Parker State Park. Apparently two revolutionary soldiers who participated in the genocide of the Seneca people were tortured and executed here. Our own Leicester of course has some close links with the city of New York, with our own miniature Statue of Liberty and Exchange building (a petite version of the Flatiron building). 

Leicester, Vermont

Even smaller than this first town, with fewer than 1,000 people living there, Leicester in Vermont is the most northerly of our US namesakes (yet still on the same latitude as the south of France!) Vermont’s Leicester would probably class as a village, but it is still home to a school and a town hall. It is also near to one of the weird and wonderful roadside artworks that can be found throughout small town America, in this case a Gorilla holding a VW Beetle! It also has an area called Satan’s Kingdom, but we’re sure it’s nicer than it sounds! Despite having such a small population, Leicester VT does have one famous son. Blacksmith John Deere, whose company now produces millions of tractors and agricultural machines worldwide, had one of his first shops right there in little Leicester.

Leicester, Massachusetts

Massachusetts is one of the earliest colonised states in the USA and its town of Leicester, in keeping with our own fair city, is right in the centre of the state. The area was purchased from the Nipmuc native Americans in 1686 for just £15, but wasn’t settled for another 30 years. The name was suggested by First Selectman Thomas Green as it was where his father came from, and a Dr Samuel Green set up the first medical school in Massachusetts. Given that Leicester UK has one of the best medical schools in the region, there’s definitely a link there!

The town has an interesting link to the American Revolution in that Colonel William Henshaw, who was an assistant to George Washington’s second in command, coined the term ‘minutemen’ for the rapid response troops. It also had a key role in the industrialisation of the US, producing one-third of American hand cards, tools for straightening fibers for spinning and weaving, another link to our own Leicester’s textile history. The town also had a role on the abolitionist Underground Railroad with pastor Samuel May hosting escaped slaves. There’s also a Quaker Cemetery there, whose Spider Gate is reputed to be the 8th Gate to Hell. Just an hour from witchy Salem, you wouldn’t catch us in there!

Leicester, North Carolina

Further south, you can find the town of Leicester in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge mountains. Originally named ‘Turkey Creek’, the town was named for Leicester Chapman who bought the land in the 1850s (the name was changed in 1859). Leicester’s father, Robert Chapman, was a captain under the Earl of Leicester and stationed in Wales and named his son for his commanding officer. According to the town’s history page, the locals didn’t much care for such a highfalutin name and dubbed the place "Lick skillet". Then after some cajoling, begrudgingly settled for "Lee-ces-ter".

The town is very rural, with around 21,000 people living there, but looking at the streets there, it certainly doesn’t seem like it. It’s a big area, 2,000 feet above sea level, so it’s possible that Leicester’s UK residents might get a bit light headed, we’re simply not used to that altitude!

Leicester in Africa

Sitting on the coast of Sierra Leone, just 15 miles east of the nation’s capital Freetown, Leicester has a population of around 18,678. It was founded in 1809 to provide a place for enslaved Africans, freed from bondage by the Royal Navy, to live. It was likely given its name by Thomas Ludlam who was Governor of Sierra Leone up until 27 July 1808 after three terms of office and was born in Leicester. The centrepoint of the town is Leicester Peak. Reaching 564 metres above sea level, this mountain offers incredible views of Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown.

Leicester is just to the north of the Tacugama Chimpanzee sanctuary which was founded in 1995 to provide a safe haven for these endangered animals. And of course, right here in Leicestershire, you can see chimps at Twycross Zoo! In fact the zoo is the only place in the country where you can see all four species of great ape; Chimpanzees, Gorillas, Bonobos and Orang Outans. And Twycross is committed to conservation, working with reservations and partners across the world to preserve these beautiful animals both in zoos and in the wild.

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