History of Leicestershire

History Of Leicestershire

In 1087, the first recorded use of the name was as Laegrecastrescir. In the Anglo-Saxon period the area was originally in the territory of the Middle Angles and later Mercia. After the Danish invasions it was included in the Danelaw, whose boundary ran on the south-western boundary of the shire.

Leicestershire was recorded in the Domesday Book in four wapentakes: Guthlaxton, Framland, Goscote and Gartree. These later became hundreds, with the division of Goscote into West Goscote and East Goscote, and the addition of Sparkenhoe hundred.

Leicestershire's external boundaries have changed little since the Domesday Survey. The Measham-Donisthorpe exclave of Derbyshire has been exchanged for the Netherseal/Overseall area, and the urban expansion of Market Harborough has caused Little Bowdon, previously in Northamptonshire to be annexed.

Read more about History Of Leicestershire:  Anglo-Saxon Diocese, Rutland and Leicester, County Symbol

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