Abbey Park is a public park containing the 12th century Abbey in Leicester, England, through which the River Soar flows.
Abbey Park is a public park containing the 12th century Abbey in Leicester, England, through which the River Soar flows. It is owned and managed by Leicester City Council, It was opened on 29 May 1882 by the Prince and Princess of Wales, the park was created in an area that had previously been described as "marshy ground in a poor district" at a cost of over £40,000. The works included the widening and deepening of the river and creating mounds within the park, as well as building stone bridges, weirs, lakes and locks. It contains the site of the 12th century Leicester Abbey, which is marked out with low stone walls, and the ruins of Cavendish House (built in the 17th century by William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire using stone from the abbey). The house was used by Charles I after the siege of Leicester during the English civil war in 1645; after he left, his soldiers set fire to it leaving the house gutted. The charred stone window frame is still visible today and a statue of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey stands next to the Park's cafe. The park has regularly won the Green Flag Award, a national award made annually to parks which reach a high standard. The Abbey has been the site of training excavations by Archaeology students at Leicester University.
Size: 6000px × 4000px
Location: Abbey PArk, Leicester, England, UK
Photo credit: © Philip Chapman / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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