Leicester is one of England's most historically layered cities — the place where Richard III was buried under a car park for 500 years, where Roman Ratae Corieltauvorum's walls still stand in the city centre and where the Victorian hosiery and boot and shoe industries built a prosperous industrial economy that is now progressively abandoning its infrastructure. Here are 5 of the best abandoned places in Leicester, selected from our Abandoned Places Map UK — 640+ GPS locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
Why Leicester Is a Hidden Gem for Urban Exploration
Leicester is consistently overlooked in UK urbex guides despite having an extraordinarily varied abandoned landscape — a complete Victorian asylum campus, the largest derelict Georgian hall in the East Midlands and significant textile factory heritage within easy cycling distance of the city centre. The city's urbex community is active on 28DaysLater and documents sites that rarely appear on national lists precisely because Leicester gets less attention than Birmingham or Nottingham.
1. Towers Hospital – Humberstone, Leicester — 1869 Leicester Borough Asylum, Kirkbride Campus, Gothic Water Tower, Grade II Listed, Largely Abandoned (Known Location)
Towers Hospital in Humberstone opened in 1869 as the Leicester Borough Lunatic Asylum — a complete Kirkbride-plan psychiatric campus whose Gothic water tower, visible for miles across the Leicester suburbs, gave the hospital its name. The original ward buildings, the ornate chapel and the administrative block make up one of the most architecturally complete Victorian asylum campuses in the East Midlands. While parts have been converted to housing, significant derelict original structures remain, extensively documented by the urbex community on historic England's Heritage at Risk register.
🔗 Learn more: Wikipedia – Towers Hospital Leicester
2. Great Central Railway Viaduct – Leicester — 1899 Mainline Railway Viaduct Through the City, Closed 1969, Arches Still Standing, Leicester's Most Dramatic Piece of Abandoned Infrastructure (Known Location)
The Great Central Railway viaduct carried the last mainline railway built in Victorian England through the heart of Leicester — opened in 1899 and closed in 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts, the brick viaduct arches still march through the city providing one of the most accessible and most visually dramatic pieces of abandoned railway infrastructure in the East Midlands. The elevated trackbed above the city centre, the original brick piers and the ghost of a mainline that once connected London to Manchester create one of Leicester's most distinctive urbex destinations.
🔗 Also read: Top 5 Abandoned Places in England →
3. Scraptoft Hall – Scraptoft, Leicestershire — Georgian Country House, Abandoned for Decades, Grade II Listed, Overgrown Grounds, Documented by Historic England as At-Risk (Known Location)
Scraptoft Hall is a Grade II listed Georgian country house in the Leicestershire village of Scraptoft — a substantial 18th-century mansion that has been empty and deteriorating for decades, listed by Historic England on the Heritage at Risk register. The original Georgian architecture, the overgrown grounds and the progressive decay of a building that should be protected make Scraptoft one of the most discussed and most photographed abandoned country houses in Leicestershire. A well-known target in the local urbex community precisely because of the contrast between its listed status and its condition.
🔗 Learn more: British Listed Buildings – Scraptoft Hall
4. Abandoned Leicestershire Victorian Hosiery Factory – 1870s-1900s Textile Mill, Original Knitting Frame Mounting Points and Overhead Drive System, Leicester Textile Quarter (Exclusively on Our Map)
An 1870s-1900s hosiery factory in Leicester's Victorian textile quarter — the original multi-storey brick mill with the mounting points for knitting frames still embedded in the timber floors, the overhead lineshaft drive system still partially mounted and the finishing room where hosiery was inspected and packed. Leicester's hosiery industry made it the centre of British knitwear production through the Victorian era; when cheaper imports ended the trade, the factories were progressively abandoned. Discover its exact location on our England Urbex Map.
5. Abandoned Charnwood Forest Country House – Victorian Mansion, Gothic Tower and Chapel Ruins, Overgrown Grounds, Rural Leicestershire (Only on Our Map)
A Victorian country house in the Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire — the original Gothic tower still standing above the overgrown grounds, the chapel ruins with their decorated stonework and the main house shell with original Victorian plasterwork visible through the decay. Charnwood Forest's Victorian gentry built estates across this distinctive rocky landscape; post-war death duties emptied several within a decade. GPS coordinates available with our England Urbex Map.
Safety Tips
- Asbestos: universal in pre-1980 Leicester hosiery factories and institutional buildings — FFP2 mask mandatory in any enclosed industrial space
- Unstable floors: Victorian hosiery factory floors have had heavy knitting frame loads removed — always test each section before crossing
- Never explore alone — always bring at least one other person
The urbex code: "Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints."
❓ FAQ
What is the most famous abandoned place in Leicester?
Towers Hospital in Humberstone — the 1869 Leicester Borough Lunatic Asylum whose Gothic water tower gave it its name, still visible for miles across the Leicester suburbs. Kirkbride campus with chapel and original ward buildings extensively documented by the urbex community.
What is Scraptoft Hall?
A Grade II listed Georgian country house in Scraptoft, Leicestershire, that has been empty and deteriorating for decades. Listed by Historic England on the Heritage at Risk register — one of the most discussed abandoned country houses in the county.
What was the Great Central Railway?
The last mainline railway built in Victorian England — opened in 1899, connecting London Marylebone to Manchester via Leicester. Closed in 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts; the viaduct arches through Leicester city centre are the most dramatic remnant of this forgotten mainline.
🎯 Summary
Leicester's abandoned places range from a Victorian asylum whose Gothic water tower defines the Leicester skyline to a Georgian country house rotting on the Heritage at Risk register and a Victorian mainline railway viaduct marching through the city centre. Each of these 5 derelict buildings in Leicester captures a different layer of a city whose history runs deeper than most English visitors ever realise.
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