Lying to the southwest of Leicester city centre, Aylestone sits east of the River Soar in Leicestershire. Victorian terraces fill much of the area closest to the city, particularly around Aylestone Park, while 20th-century housing spreads outward in other directions. The original village core, centred on St Andrew’s Church, has been designated a conservation area and retains much of its older character despite the suburban growth around it.
A Settlement with Deep Roots
The name Aylestone traces back to the Anglo-Saxon words meaning ‘Aegel’s settlement’ or ‘Egil’s settlement’, pointing to origins well before the Norman Conquest. The settlement appeared in the Domesday Book under the name Ailstone, recorded as being held during the reign of Edward the Confessor by Alveva, Countess of Mercia. By 1086, Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester, held the manor. Ownership passed through several notable families over the following centuries – the de Quincys, the Harcourts, the Pembrugges of Tong in Shropshire, and eventually the Vernons. When Sir George Vernon died in 1565, his daughter Dorothy had married John Manners, second son of the 1st Earl of Rutland, and Aylestone passed to the Manners family, who later became the Dukes of Rutland. The 6th Duke of Rutland sold the estate at the Temperance Hall in Leicester on 26 June 1869. Aylestone was formally incorporated into the Borough of Leicester under the Leicester Extension Act 1891, at which point the village covered 1,723 acres. The civil parish was abolished on 26 March 1896 and merged with Leicester.
Meadows, a Packhorse Bridge, and Parish History
Aylestone’s open fields were enclosed in 1766. Around that time, the area was a regular route for packhorse trains carrying coal from collieries near Bagworth, Desford, and Swannington into Leicester. These packhorses crossed the flood plain – now known as Aylestone Meadows – via the Aylestone packhorse bridge, navigating what was often swampy ground beside the River Soar. St Andrew’s Church itself dates from the 13th century and anchors the conservation area that preserves what remains of the old village. The electoral ward of Aylestone covers Old Aylestone village, the Gilmorton estate, parts of Aylestone Park, and the southwest side of Saffron Lane as far as Grace Road. The ward borders Saffron and Eyres Monsell wards, as well as the county parish of Glen Parva, and falls within the parliamentary constituency of Leicester West. Two councillors represent the ward, currently Councillor Scott Kennedy-Lount and Councillor Nigel Porter, both Liberal Democrats.