Newarke Houses Museum

The Newarke Houses Museum stands in Leicester’s medieval Newarke quarter, close to the 15th-century Magazine Gateway. It occupies two historic buildings: Wyggeston’s Chantry House from about 1511 and Thomas Skeffington’s 17th-century house. Both were used during the 1645 Siege of Leicester in the English Civil War. Sold in 1908, they became a private home and a boys’ school before being converted into a museum in 1953. One room still shows a 17th-century interior. The site lies within De Montfort University’s campus. The museum tells Leicester’s story from post-medieval times to today. It holds Daniel Lambert’s belongings, including his chair and clothes; he weighed over 50 stone and was once Britain’s largest man. A 1950s Wharf Street model shows a street scene with shops, while toy displays span from Tudor days to now. Exhibits cover Leicester’s hosiery trade, the Royal Leicestershire Regiment, and First World War centenary displays. A First World War trench model and Second World War home-front items are also on show. The gardens feature box hedges arranged in medieval maze patterns, planted in Victorian times with exotic trees. Some original trees remain, and the garden wall still bears gun loops made by Cromwell’s troops in 1645. The museum’s setting blends history with modern life, offering a quiet space near the city centre.