Market Harborough

Bit overcast this morning but looks like it will brighten up. Had a nice shower and our usual cooked breakfast. We had a ride to Market Harborough about 7miles away. Market Harborough is a market town that sits on the Northamptonshire - Leicestershire border.

The Centre of the town is dominated by the steeple of St. Dionysius Parish Church which rises directly from the street, as there is no church yard. It was constructed in grey stone in 1300 with the church itself a later building of about 1470.

Next to the church stands the Old Grammar School, a small timber building dating from 1614. The ground floor is open, creating a covered market area and there is a single room on the first floor. It has become a symbol of the town. The nearby square is largely pedestrianized and surrounded by buildings of varying styles. The upper end of the high Street is wide and contains mostly unspoiled Georgian buildings.

After a stroll around the shops and the market we went to the Harborough Museum, based in the old Symington corset factory. The museum celebrates Market Harborough’s long history as a centre of trade and industry in the heart of the Welland Valley, and is also the home of the Hallaton Treasure. In 2000 metal detectorist, Ken Wallace, and other volunteers from the Hallaton Fieldwork Group came across some Roman pottery in a field outside their village in Southeast Leicestershire. Along with the Hallaton Fieldwork group, The University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) began excavating what turned out to be one of the most important Iron Age sites in Britain. They discovered over five thousand silver and gold coins, the remains of an ornately decorated Roman silver-gilt helmet and some mysterious silver finds. The Treasure was found near the village of Hallaton in south east Leicestershire in what was once an Iron Age shrine.