Belgrave Hall Museum & Gardens

Belgrave Hall provides an oasis of peace and quiet in a busy city.

It was built in the early 18th century, in what was then a small village three miles from the town of Leicester. Now city traffic passes, almost unnoticed, just beyond the garden walls. It has changed hands many times but the owners have always played a major role in the economic, social and charitable life of the community.

Over the years the house has been lived in, loved and altered to meet the changing needs of its owners. Today, as one of six museums run by Leicester City Council, it fulfils yet another purpose by giving visitors a glimpse of the past.

Edmund Cradock, a 'nouveau riche' hosiery merchant, built the Hall between 1709 and 1713 and died soon after its completion. Little is known of the next owners, the Simons. The Vann's who lived there from 1767 to 1844, ran a thriving hosiery business from the Hall, employing the local framework knitters as outworkers. They gave generously to many local charities, including Leicester's first free school.

John Ellis, who purchased Belgrave Hall in 1845 and his family were also noted for their good work in the community. Ellis, a wealthy businessman, was responsible for bringing the railways to Leicester in 1833.

Today, the period rooms have a fresh look and show the contrasting lifestyles of an upper middle class family and domestic servants in a Victorian house and gardens with beautifully laid out natural room settings that give the feeling of having just missed the occupants of the house.

The dining room is set in the style of the Arts and Crafts movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The furniture was designed by the famous Cotswold Group, of which Leicester-born Ernest Gimson was a member.

The Hall is in the midst of two acres of serene walled gardens that are open to the public. The gardens were an important aspect of the Hall in Victorian times (a status symbol that showed the family's wealth).