The county has an area of 2,156 km2 (832 sq mi) and a population of one million according to 2022 estimates. Leicester is in the centre of the county and is by far the largest settlement, with abuilt-up area population of approximately half a million. The remainder of the county is largely rural, and the next-largest settlements areLoughborough in the north,Hinckley in the south-west, andWigston south-east of Leicester. Forlocal government purposes Leicestershire comprises anon-metropolitan county, with seven districts, and theunitary authority area of Leicester.
Leicestershire is generally a lowland county, characterised by small, rolling hills. It is bisected by theRiver Soar, which rises near the Warwickshire border south ofHinckley and flows north through Leicester and Loughborough before reaching theTrent at the county boundary. To the west of the river isCharnwood Forest, an upland area which contains Bardon Hill, which at 278 m (912 ft) is the county's highest point.
There are prehistoric earthworks in the county, and Leicester was aRoman settlement. The region was settled by theAngles in the sixth century and became part of the Kingdom ofMercia, and the county existed at the time of theDomesday Survey in the 1080s. The county has had a relatively settled existence; however, it was the site of theBattle of Bosworth Field in 1485, which established theTudor dynasty's position as monarchs of England. During theIndustrial Revolution theLeicestershire coalfield in the north and west of the county was exploited. Leicester became known for shoemaking, and with Loughborough continues to be a manufacturing centre. In agriculture the county is known forStilton cheese andMelton Mowbraypork pies.[4]
Leicestershire's external boundaries have changed little since the Domesday Survey. TheMeasham-Donisthorpe exclave ofDerbyshire has been exchanged for theNetherseal area, and the urban expansion ofMarket Harborough has causedLittle Bowden, previously inNorthamptonshire to be annexed. Until 1969, the county's legal name was "Leicester" rather than "Leicestershire", although the latter form was in common usage. In legal contexts the county was usually referred to as the "County of Leicester" where necessary to distinguish between the city and the county. In 1969 the government formally changed the county's name to "Leicestershire" at the county council's request.[5]
In 1974, theLocal Government Act 1972 abolished thecounty borough status of Leicester city and the county status of neighbouringRutland, converting both to administrativedistricts of Leicestershire. These actions were reversed on 1 April 1997, when Rutland and the City of Leicester became unitary authorities. Rutland became a distinctCeremonial County once again, although it continues to be policed byLeicestershire Constabulary.
Location map of Leicestershire and major towns/cities
TheRiver Soar together with its tributaries and canalisations constitutes the principal river basin of the county, although theRiver Avon andRiver Welland throughHarborough and along the county's southern boundaries are also significant. The Soar rises betweenHinckley andLutterworth, towards the south of the county near theWarwickshire border, and flows northwards, bisecting the county along its north–south axis, through 'Greater'Leicester and then to the east ofLoughborough where its course within the county comes to an end. It continues north marking the boundary withNottinghamshire in the Borough ofRushcliffe for some 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) before joining theRiver Trent at thepoint where Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire meet.
The geographical centre of England is in Leicestershire, nearFenny Drayton in the southwest of the county. In 2013, the Ordnance Survey calculated that the point was on land at Lindley Hall Farm. An alternative point atMeriden, around 10 miles (16 km) to the southwest, had been considered the traditional centre for more than 500 years.[9]
A large part of the north-west of the county, aroundCoalville, forms part of the newNational Forest area extending into Derbyshire and Staffordshire. The highest point of the county isBardon Hill at 278 m (912 ft),[10] which is also aMarilyn; with other hilly/upland areas of around 150–200 metres (490–660 ft) and above in nearbyCharnwood Forest and also to the east of the county aroundLaunde Abbey. The lowest point, at an altitude of about 20 metres (66 ft), is located at the county's northernmost tip close toBottesford where theRiver Devon flowing through theVale of Belvoir leaves Leicestershire and enters Nottinghamshire.[11]
Engineering has long been an important part of the economy of Leicestershire.John Taylor Bellfounders continues a history ofbellfounding in Loughborough since the 14th century. In 1881 John Taylors cast the largest bell in Britain, "Great Paul", for St Paul's Cathedral in London.Norman & Underwood have been making sand cast sheet lead roofing and stained glass since 1825 working on many of England's major cathedrals and historic buildings, including Salisbury Cathedral, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey, Hampton Court Palace, and Chatsworth House. There were three coal mines that operated in Coalville from the 1820s until 1986.Abbey Pumping Station houses four enormous steam powered beam engines built in Leicester in the 1890s in the Vulcan factory owned by Josiah Gimson, whose sonErnest Gimson was an influential furniture designer and architect of the EnglishArts and Crafts movement.
Engineering companies today includesports car makersNoble Automotive Ltd inBarwell andUltima Sports Ltd in Hinckley,Triumph Motorcycles inHinckley, Jones & Shipman (machine tools), Caterpillar Redford (Plant machinery), Plant manufacturers Metalfacture Ltd (sheet metal work), Richards Engineering (foundry equipment), Transmon Engineering (materials handling equipment), Trelleborg Industrial AVS inBeaumont Leys (industrial suspension components), Parker Plant (quarrying equipment) inBelgrave which opened in 1911 inside a single railway arch. The business relocated to an 18-acre site in 1926. In the 1950s, 60s and 70s they were employing over 1,400 people to meet demand. In 1969, 1978 and in 1994 the business won the prestigiousQueen's Award for Enterprise. In 2006 Universal Conveyors was acquired and in 2007 Phoenix Parker Holdings Ltd was formed. In 2014 Phoenix Transworld, Cartem & Universal Conveyors marketed under the Parker brand. Aggregate Industries UK (construction materials), Infotec in Ashby-de-la-Zouch (electronic information display boards), Alstec inWhetstone, Leicestershire (airport baggage handling systems), andBrush Traction (railway locomotives) inLoughborough. There are also consultancies (includingPick Everard) in Leicestershire supporting engineering and the built environment. Local commitment to nurturing the upcoming cadre of British engineers includes apprenticeship schemes with local companies, and academic-industrial connections with the engineering departments atLeicester University,De Montfort University andLoughborough University.
The Engineering Innovation Centre and Centre for Excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies are both based atLoughborough University. Private sector research and development organisations include PERA—the technology based consultancy in Melton Mowbray, and MIRA—the automotive research and development centre based on the outskirts of Hinckley. Automotive and aerospace engineers use the test facilities atMallory Park, andBruntingthorpe Aerodrome and proving ground. On 18 October 2007, the last airworthyAvro Vulcan was flown from Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome after 10 years of restoration there by aerospace engineers of the Vulcan Operating Company.
Leicestershire has a long history of livestock farming which continues today.Robert Bakewell (1725–1795) of Dishley, near Loughborough, was a revolutionary in the field of selective breeding. Bakewell'sLeicester Longwool sheep was much prized by farmers across theBritish Empire and is today a heritage breed admired.[14] Commercial and rare breeds associated with the descendants of Bakewell's sheep include theEnglish Leicester,Border Leicester, Bluefaced Leicester, Scotch mule and Welsh halfbred.
The Leicestershire County Show is held on the first Bank Holiday in May each year and includes animal showings, trade exhibitions and show jumping. Melton Mowbray Market is an important regional livestock market.
Field sports remain an important part of the rural economy of Leicestershire, with stables, kennels and gunsmiths based in the county.
Leicestershire food producers include Claybrooke mill, one of the very few commercially working watermills left in Britain producing a range of over 40 flours;[15] meat from rare and minority breeds from Brockleby's Pies;[16] and Christmas turkey and goose from Seldom Seen Farm.[17] Two dairies produce Red Leicester cheese in the county: Long Clawson, who also produce blue stilton,[18] and the Leicestershire Handmade Cheese Company.[19]
All-natural non-alcoholic fruit cordials and pressed drinks are made by Belvoir Fruit Farms and sold in supermarkets across Britain. Swithland Spring Water is sourced from the Charnwood hills. Breweries in Leicestershire and Rutland are listed on the LeicesterCAMRA website.[20] The county's largest beer brewer isEverards, and there are several microbreweries.
Various markets are held across the county. Leicester Market, given its Market status in the 13th century, is said to be the largest outdoor covered marketplace in Europe[21] and among the products on sale are fruit and vegetables sold by market stallholders, and fresh fish and meat in the Indoor Market.
The annual East Midlands Food & Drink Festival held in Melton Mowbray had over 200 exhibitors and 20,000 visitors attending in 2007 making it the largest British regional food festival.[22]
Food processing in the city and county includes popular British fish and chip shop piePukka Pies who are based in Syston. Walkers Midshire Foods, part of theSamworth Brothers group, makes sausages and pies in its Beaumont Leys factories. Walkers Midshire Foods - Walkers Deli & Sausage Co, part ofSamworth Brothers is on the Cobden Street Industrial Estate inBelgrave. The Business specialises in the manufacturing of Premium Sliced Cooked Meats and Sausages as well as being the largest producer of Pate in the UK. Samworth Brothers has operations in Leicestershire and Cornwall (Ginsters), making a range of products from sandwiches to desserts for UK retailers under their brands as well the company's own portfolio of brands including Dickinson & Morris, producers of pork pies and Melton Hunt Cake.Walkers crisps are made in Beaumont Leys using Lincolnshire potatoes.United Biscuits have their distribution centre in Ashby-de-la-Zouch as well as a snacks factory and they also have a biscuit factory in Wigston.[citation needed] TheMasterfoods UK factory at Melton Mowbray produces petfood. Hand made chocolates are produced by Chocolate Perfection inAshby-de-la-Zouch.[citation needed]
Some 15 major Indian food manufacturers are based in Leicester including Sara Foods, Mayur Foods,Cofresh Snack Foods Ltd, Farsan, Apni Roti and Spice n Tice.[citation needed] The 'Mithai' Indian sweet market is catered for by award-winning Indian restaurants—for instance, the vegetable samosas approved by the Vegetarian Society sold at The Sharmilee on Belgrave Road AKA theGolden Mile in theBelgrave area of Leicester. The growing market for Indian food has afforded new opportunities to long-standing local companies, for example the Long Clawson dairy, a co-operative manufacturer ofStilton (cheese) now also makesPaneer cheese used in the Indian dishMattar Paneer.[citation needed]
Leicestershire food exported abroad includes cheese from the Long Clawson dairy, which is sold in supermarkets in Canada and the United States via a network of distributors coordinated by Taunton-based company Somerdale.[citation needed] Belvoir Fruit Farms cordials and pressé drinks are sold on the United States east coast inWegmans Food Markets,World Market,Harris Teeter,Dean & DeLuca, and in specialised British food stores such as Myers of Keswick (New York City) and the British Pantry (near Washington, D.C.).[citation needed]
Leicester and Leicestershire has had a traditional industry ofknitwear,hosiery andfootwear, and the sheep on the county's coat of arms is recognition of this. The local manufacturing industry, which began with hand knitting in the Middle Ages, and was fully industrialised by the end of the 19th century, survived until the end of the 20th century through retailers buying UK-sourced products, and government measures such as the protection of theMulti Fibre Arrangement which ended in 2004. Cheaper global competition, coupled with the 1999 slump in the UK fashion retail sector, led to the end of much of the cheaper clothing manufacturing industry. Today Leicestershire companies focus on high quality clothing and speciality textiles.
Other local companies manufacture knitwear such as Commando Knitwear of Wigston, and others specialise in technical textiles for industrial or medical purposes. Clothing and fabric for theBritish Asian community is made here—for example the shop Saree Mandir sells silksarees andsalwar suits for women whose design patterns closely follow contemporary Indian trends. The Knitting Industries' Federation continues to be based in Leicestershire. On the creative side the design centre fornext is headquartered in Enderby, and the design centre for George Clothing (Asda/Walmart) is in Lutterworth. De Montfort University has, in the form of its Fashion and Contour Design course a leading design department for female underwear. It also has the only UK University courses in Footwear Design providing future designers for local shoemakers Shoefayre, Stead and Simpson, andShoe Zone, who all have their headquarters in the county.
Belgrave-basedBritish United Shoe Machinery, part of a group which for most of the 20th century was the world's largest manufacturer of footwear machinery and materials, exporting shoe machinery to more than 50 countries. In the 1960s and 1970s it was Leicester's biggest employer, employing more than 4,500 locally and 9,500 worldwide. The company had "a respected reputation for technical innovation and excellence",[23] between 1898 and 1960 it developed and marketed nearly 800 new and improved shoe machines andpatented more than 9,000inventions, at one time employing 5% of the UK’spatent agents.[24]
Also Belgrave-basedWolsey, a heritage British clothing brand founded in 1755, making it one of the oldest existing textile companies in the world.
Wolsey Chimney, part of the Hosiery Works, pictured in 2025
Pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical instrument manufacturing companies include3M, Bridgehead International in Melton, Fisher Scientific in Loughborough, and Ashfield Healthcare in Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
Transportation links are good.East Midlands Airport is one mile (1.6 km) south of Castle Donington, next to theM1 in north-west Leicestershire, and is the second largest freight airport in the United Kingdom after London Heathrow.DHL Aviation have a large purpose-built facility at EMA, and courier companiesUPS andTNT also use the airport as a base.Lufthansa Cargo is also a regular user of East Midlands, and the airport is a primary hub forRoyal Mail. The M1 is Leicestershire's other important transport hub. The start of theM6, and part of theA14 briefly intersect with the southern tip of Leicestershire. Many large retail companies have huge warehouses at theMagna Park complex near Lutterworth. TheWiddowson Group make use of J21a of the M1 to provide warehousing, transportation, freight forwarding, garage services and LGV/HGV training.Pall-Ex ofEllistown provide automated palletised freight distribution services from their location off Junction 22 of the M1. TheMidland Main Line provides important connections to Yorkshire and London, and theBirmingham–Stansted Line is essentially Leicestershire's east–west connection from Hinckley to Melton.
Ibstock-based developerWilson Bowden was bought in 2007 byBarratt Developments plc in a £2.2 billion deal. Charles Street Buildings (Leicester) and Jelson Homes are two other successful Leicester-based property companies.
Hamilton-basedSofidel Group manufactures more than 600 milliontoilet rolls and kitchen towel rolls per year in its Leicestershire factories.
Toy car companyCorgi have their European operation at the Meridian Business Park, although the toys are now manufactured in China and the company is owned by Margate-basedHornby.
Leicester's Cultural Quarter is an ambitious plan to drive the regeneration of a large run-down area of the city. It has delivered: a new venue for the performing arts, Curve; creative workspaces for artists and designers, LCB Depot; and a Digital Media Centre. Many creative and media businesses have thrived in the region.
Pension provision companyMattioli Woods employs 170 people at its Grove Park, Enderby, HQ and has a reputation for employing graduates directly from Leicestershire Universities.[27]
Companies that have their head office in the area includeNext and British Gas Business.
The European Association of Trade Mark Owners and the Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI) are based in Leicestershire.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire andRutland (it does not include theCity of Leicester) at current basic pricespublished (pp. 240–253) byOffice for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
Year
Regional Gross Value Added – components may not sum to totals due to rounding
Agriculture – includes hunting and forestry
Industry – includes energy and construction
Services – includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Leicestershire County Council consists of 55 elected members, from 52 wards. The most recent election was theMay 2017 elections, where all seats were up for re-election. Following these elections[31] the current political composition of the council is 42 Conservatives, 9 Liberal Democrats and 4 Labour councillors.
Publicly funded secondary schools in Leicestershire are comprehensive. The schools are segregated by age in some areas to ages 10–14 (middle schools), and 14–16 (upper schools) or 14–18 (upper schools which also providesixth-form education). The schools, compared with otherLEAs, have large numbers on the roll with school enrolment often 2,000 and more. For Melton and Blaby districts, although there is division by middle and upper schools, there is only one upper school in either district, giving no choice of school. However, many students ofLutterworth College inHarborough District actually hail from Blaby district.
Charnwood has the largest school population—four times the size of the Melton district. In 2007, the best-performing state school at GCSE wasBeauchamp College in Oadby. No comprehensives in Leicestershire LEA were rated as poor performers, unlike in some neighbouring counties. In 2007, 7,800 pupils took GCSE exams.
Loughborough Amherst School (formerly Our Lady's Convent School) was a co-educational day and boarding school located in Loughborough. It closed at the end of the 2024–25 academic year, following financial hardship.
Brooksby Melton College provides apprenticeships and further education training courses in animal care, countryside, equine, fisheries and land-based service engineering, at their Brooksby campus.
Several educational associations have their head offices in Leicestershire, including the Mathematical Association, the Association of School and College Leaders, the Association for College Management, the Girls Schools Association, the National Adult School Association, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education and the Headmasters & Headmistresses Conference.
The full range of music is performed in the county, from early medieval, European and Asian classical music, folk, jazz, blues, rock and pop.Download Festival, a major hard rock and metal festival, is hosted atDonington Park and 110 Above Festival takes place in the north west of the county near to Twycross.
Amateur orchestras include the Leicestershire Sinfonia, Loughborough Orchestra, Charnwood Orchestra, Coalville Light Orchestra and Soar Valley Music Centre Orchestra.
Leicester-based choirs include the Leicester Cathedral Choir, Leicester Bach Choir, Broom Leys Choral SocietyWhitwick, Cantamici, the Cecilian Singers, Charnwood Choral Society, Coalville and District Male Voice Choir, Coro Nostro Chamber Choir, Humberstone Choral Society, Kainé Gospel Choir, Kingfisher Chorale, Leicester Church Music Consort, Leicester City Male Voice Choir, Leicester Philharmonic Choir, Leicestershire Chorale, Loughborough Ladies Choir, Loughborough Male Voice Choir, Meridian Singers, Newtown Linford mixed voice choir, Red Leicester choir, the Scarlet choir, Shepshed Singers, Synergy Community Choir, Wigston and district male voice choir, Unity Community Choir and the Peepul Choir.
Stores selling sheet music and musical instruments in Leicestershire include Music Junkie Ltd, Sona Rupa (Indian), Intasound Music Ltd and MH Music (MH Music are actually in the centre of Market Harborough).
^Butt, Stephen (15 May 2013).Market Harborough & Around Through Time. Through Time. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing Limited. p. https://books.google.com/books?id=_fjBBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT105.ISBN9781445615462. Retrieved21 October 2025.Leicestershire is considered to be the birthplace of fox hunting in the form it is known today. The 'father' of English fox hunting, Hugo Meynell, rented Langton Hall and stayed in the area during the season. As with other Leicestershire market towns, hunting attracted wealthy visitors and participants who would stay at local manor houses, halls and hunting lodges, and many different trades and enterprises grew up to service their requirements including leather and footwear manufacturing, saddlers, blacksmiths, and veterinary practictioners.
^Biscotti, M. L. (23 June 2017). "Hawkes, John (1767-1834)".Six Centuries of Foxhunting: An Annotated Bibliography. Lanham, Maryland: Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 178.ISBN9798216302148. Retrieved21 October 2025.Hugo Meynell (1735-1808) is widely considered to be the father of modern fox-hunting.
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