Of the prevalence of alms-giving in
Leicester, this parish, together with the rest, bears full testimony, in a long list of benefactors, from the Royal Grant of Charles the first of forty acres of land in Leicester forest, to poor housekeepers, (which now produces annually 33l. 11s. 4d [42]) to the donor of the penny wheaten Loaf. From the returns to Parliament in the present reign, when accounts were made of all the charitable donations in the kingdom, it appears that there are donations in the parishes of Leicester, in land and money (including the endowments of the lesser Hospitals) mostly vested in the trust of the Corporation and by them distributed, to the annual amount of upwards of 800l.—see Nichols.—
A short space below the church is the spot where formerly stood the North Gates; here a narrow lane, which once obtained the name of St. Clements, from its leading to that church, but which is now degraded into Dead-mans Lane, is the passage to a Meeting House, belonging to the Society of Quakers. The street continuing in a right line, now takes the name of
NORTH-GATE STREET.
and conducts us to a bridge over the Canal, beyond which is the North or St. Sunday’s Bridge. This is an elegant stone structure, erected in 1796 and when viewed from the Abbey meadow below, it forms with the trees and slopes beyond it a very pleasing
scene. Its three arches are small segments of a large circle.
At the foot of the bridge in an area enclosed by a low wall, and distinguished by a few scattered grave-stones, the church-yard of St. Leonard meets the eye. The church, of which no trace remains, was demolished by the Parliament Garrison in the reign of Charles the first; as from its convenient situation it might have covered the approach of the enemy, and given them the command of the bridge. The parish still remains distinct, and the occasional duty is performed by the minister of St. Margaret’s.
We cannot leave the North Bridge, without remarking that near this spot once stood an establishment, which as it related to a privilege exclusively royal, that of coining money, has ever been thought to confer honor on the
places where it was allowed to be exercised. It is undoubtedly proved from the series of coins that has been collected, that money was coined at the Mint at Leicester, in regular succession from the reign of the Saxon king Athelstan, down to Henry the second. The Monetarii, or Governors of the mint, were entitled to considerable privileges and exemptions, being Socmen, or holders of land in the Soc, or franchise of a great Baron, yet they could not be compelled to relinquish their tenements at their lord’s will. They paid twenty pounds every year, a considerable sum, as a pound at the time of the conquest, contained three times the weight of silver it does at present. These pounds consisted of pennies, each weighing one ora or ounce, of the value of 20 pence. Two thirds of this sum were paid to the