Church of St Mary de Castro, Leicester

St Mary de Castro stands within the castle bailey in Leicester’s historic centre. Built on a site first used in 918, it began as a simple church before becoming a collegiate foundation in the 12th century. The present building shows layers of Norman, Early English and Perpendicular styles, with surviving 12th-century walls and a 13th-century south aisle wider than the nave. Nikolaus Pevsner praised the Norman sedilia and piscina in the chancel as the finest in the county. The tower, added later, rises to a parapet and once supported a spire removed in 2014 after cracks threatened collapse. The church witnessed events that shaped English history. Geoffrey Chaucer is said to have married here around 1366. In 1426 the infant Henry VI was knighted in the nave, then dubbed 44 more knights on the same day. William Bickerstaffe, a noted local antiquarian, served as curate here for seven years. In 2012 it became the first UK church photographed for Google Street View. A three-manual Forster and Andrews organ installed in 1860 remains in use, played by a succession of organists including Henry Bramley Ellis and John M. Bence. Inside, visitors find the broad south aisle with its large 14th-century east window and the restored Norman chancel fittings. The tower arch frames views of the nave’s 19th-century Gothic revival furnishings. Outside, the castle walls enclose the churchyard, where headstones record generations of Leicester families. The tower’s empty spire stub stands as a reminder of the building’s resilience and the community’s efforts to preserve it.