Aylestone - Religious Sites

Religious Sites

The Anglican church, St Andrew's, is built of grey-green Triassic sandstone. The tower and north aisle are 13th century; the aisle was enlarged in the 14th century when the chancel was built. In the 15th century a clerestory and a south aisle were added. The tower is surmounted by a broach spire whose base is inset behind a parapet. The chancel, built circa 1300-1310, is taller, longer and wider than the nave.

The Roman Catholic church of St Edward the Confessor opened on 3 May 1922. This replaced temporary premises in Knighton Lane (a bake house and later a room over a stable) which had been used since 1915 as chapels. The church was served by the Dominicans of Holy Cross Priory, Leicester, until 1937 when the parish was taken over by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nottingham.

The Baptists of Aylestone originally met, from 1855, in a cottage belonging to a Mr and Mrs Crosher in The Hollow. By 1868 the cottage was recorded as being in disrepair. In 1869 a lean-to brick building adjoining a cottage in The Hollow was acquired; this held about 50 people. At the same time a plot of land on Sanvey Gate was purchased for the building of a chapel- this, the Aylestone Baptist Chapel, was built in 1871. A new church and school building was built on Lutterworth Road in 1932, and opened in February 1933. The old church was sold in 1934, and became a clubhouse. It was acquired by the Apostolic Church in 1974.