Lying south of the former Leicester and Swannington Railway, Newfoundpool is a residential area in west Leicester, falling within Fosse Ward and the Leicester West parliamentary constituency. Fosse Road North runs through the area and connects it to the wider city, with the surrounding streets largely made up of Victorian terraced housing laid out in the late nineteenth century.
From Spa to Suburb
The story of Newfoundpool begins around 1830, when a market gardener named Isaac Harrison purchased the land with plans to develop a spa. He intended to use a natural spring as the water source for a hydrotherapy and bathing establishment, but the venture failed within a few years. The building was later converted into a private residence called Newfoundpool House, occupied by successive members of the Harrison family until 1885, passing first to Harrison’s nephew – also named Isaac – and then to his daughter Beatrice. The house eventually became the Empire Hotel on Fosse Road North. The family’s connection to the area is quietly preserved in the street layout: the initial letters of the street names between Pool Road and Beatrice Road spell out the acrostic “IHARRISON”.
Building the Neighbourhood
In 1885, Leicester builder Orson Wright bought the land and set about laying out roads and selling off plots for development. Most of the housing built was two-storey brick-built terracing, with corner plots constructed as shops. Along Fosse Road North, a row of three- and four-storey red-brick villas was also erected. Until 1891, Newfoundpool sat outside the Borough of Leicester, with the borough boundary running along Fosse Road North itself. That same road saw the construction of St. Augustine’s Church in 1888, an iron-framed parish church built for £1,000 and enlarged in 1896 for a further £250. The church was abandoned in 2000 and suffered severe damage in an arson attack in 2004. To address a shortage of school places – an 1889 estimate put 500 school-age children in the area – the Newfoundpool School Board was established and oversaw the construction of the Ingle Street Board School, now the site of Inglehurst Junior School. The Board was dissolved in 1891 when Newfoundpool was incorporated into the Borough of Leicester and its schools transferred to the Leicester School Board.
Later Changes
The Fosse Cinema on Fosse Road North was a later landmark in the area. After its days as a cinema it became a bingo hall, before being demolished to make way for a Tesco Express shop and filling station.