The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Leicester, the county town of Leicestershire, in England.
Prehistory
Palaeolithic c. 12,000 BC – Ice sheets retreated helping to form the geography of the Soar Valley. c. 10,000–9,500 BC – First hunter gatherers active in the Leicester area. Flint axe heads from the Early Stone Age have been found on Abbey Meadows, in Scraptoft, and in Eyres Monsell.
Mesolithic 9,500–4,500 BC – Late hunter gatherers active in the area. Stone tools found at Humberstone and Mowmacre Hill.
Neolithic 4,500–2,500 BC – Farming begins in the area and forests are cleared. More than 50 axes and other worked flint tools have been discovered scattered across every part of the city and its suburbs.
Copper Age 2,500–2,000 BC - pottery craft was discovered.
Bronze Age 2,000-1,000 BC Metal working begins: metal remains found in High Street, Abbey Meadows, Eyres Monsell, and Glenfield. Pottery remains have been found in Glenfield in large quantities, as well as in Western Park and the modern city centre. Evidence of ritual areas, crop marks and burial mounds, survive in Western Park and New Parks (for pre Roman Leicester religion see Druidism). Burial area near High Street with a crematorium urn and another crematorium urn from Aylestone Park. 1,000 BC – earliest permanent settlement on Glenfield Ridge overlooking Soar Valley from the west (today Glenfield).
Iron Age Period
c. 750 BC – Legendary foundation by King Leir according to Geoffrey of Monmouth's work Historia Regum Britanniae. This origin myth dates to the 12th cent and is based on Lier's name. There are no archaeological remains of a settlement on the eastern bank of the Soar to support the legend. c. 200 BC — Hill forts present at Ratby, Beacon Hill, Burrough Hill, and Breedon on the Hill. c. 100–50 BC – the Corieltauvi Tribe develop an oppidum on the eastern bank of the River Soar. The settlement had the northernmost Iron Age coin mint yet discovered in Europe.
Roman period
1st century CE (AD) 44–46 – Roman Conquest of the area by Legio XIV Gemina under Aulus Plautius. c. 48–60 – The Corieltauvi become allied with Rome (approx. date): Tribespeople were made Civitas stipendaria of the Roman Empire. The gradually Romanising settlement of Ratae Corieltauvorum (meaning Ramparts of the Corieltauvi) was recognised as the Corieltauvi's Civitas Capital. The plural conjugation of the name Ratae might have either referred to the different sided ramparts of a single oppidum or to the ramparts of several oppida surrounding the main one excavated east of the River Soar. c. 48 – The Fosse Way was constructed just to the north of the original Iron Age oppidum, perhaps initially as a defensive ditch. The northern most boundary of the first wave of Romano-British occupied territories, it came to be a major route of transportation connecting Lincoln to the north east and Cirencester, Bath, and Exeter to the south west. It was also came to act as the Decumanus Maximus (principal street running east to west) of the city of Ratae. Outside the city walls the Fosse way is the road northeast to Belgrave, Syston, and Melton (today's A46), and southwest to Coventry (today's B4455 and A429) until the mid 20th century. In the 18th and 19th the areas around the Fosse Way had been developed while the straight road was preserved as today's: Narborough Road, Belgrave Gate Belgrave Road (the Golden Mile), and Melton Road. c. 51 — Watling Street constructed about 12 miles south of the city connecting Canterbury, London, and St Albans in the south east with Wroxeter in the north west, later extending to Chester. This road followed the route of today's A5 and marks the border between Leicestershire and Warwickshire. c. 70 – The Via Devana is gradually constructed connecting Ratae to the Roman capital Colchester in the south east and Chester in the north west vier Watling Street. This road eventually constituted the southern section of Ratae's divided Cardo Maximus (principal street running north to south) connecting what is still Southgates with the old Forum (roughly today's Jubilee Square) vier Vaughan Way before joining the Fosse way in the western half of the Decumanus Maximus, exiting vier the former West Gates, and continuing towards Mancetter where it met Watling Street. To the south east it passed through Medbourne to Godmanchester. The route survives today as Gartree Road (the B582 passing through the Strettons), Evington Footway, New Walk, and Glenfield Road (possibly). c. 75–99 – A drainage ditch, most likely with a defensive rampart of some kind, was dug around an area enclosing the original Iron Age oppidum. The north to south ditches measured about 805 metres and from east to west 670 metres enclosing 53 hectares (130 acres). These boundaries will mark the site of the 3rd century stone walls and the boroughs boundaries with very few changes until the 19th century. Within the boundaries of the outer ditch a gridded network of streets (cardines, decumani, and insulae) were laid out, including the split Cardo Maximus and the continuous Decumanus Maximius. The route the Cardo Maximus followed is now: South Gates; The short footpath continuous with Wyggeston's House as far as Applegate (the route of the Decumanus, i.e. the Fosse Way); The route of the present Highcross Street over Vaughn Way as far as Sanvey Gate and Soar Lane. The Decumanus Maximius, following the route of the 48 AD Fosse Way, is now: East Gates opposite the Haymarket and Belgrave Gate; Silver Street; Guildhall lane past Wyggeston's House and Jubilee Square; beneath St Nicolas Circle to the lost west gate around St Augustine's Road. The Raw Dykes were likely constructed during this stage of development.
2nd century
120 – the Emperor Hadrian visited Ratae. The Thurmaston Milestone was erected, inscribed with Hadrians name. c. 130–200 – Ratae developed into well established Municipium: The Forum and Basilica complex were constructed on the north side of the Fosse Way between what is presently Highcross Street and Vaughan Way. The site is now Jubilee Square. Thermae (public bath house) constructed. Ruins preserved in the courtyard of Jewry Wall Museum. Jewry Wall constructed, the wall of a communal Palaestra or Gymnasium constructed on the eastern side of the bath complex, the archways are likely the surviving entry between the exercise hall and the baths. Leicester City Council The Mithraeum, a temple to the deity Mithra, was constructed on what is now St Nicholas Circle. The "Cyparissus Pavement" laid (approx. date). The four "Blackfriars Pavements" laid (approx. date). The "Peacock Pavement" laid (approx. date).
3rd century
c. 208 – Emperor Septimius Severus likely visited Ratae during his journey to Hadrians Wall for the Caledonian Campaign. c. 220 – Civic buildings expand: Large Macellum (indoor market hall) constructed immediately to the north of the Forum, around the site of the Medieval Blue Boar Inn in between today's Highcross Street, Vaughan Way, and Jubilee Square. Semi circular Theatrum constructed adjacent to the north wall of the Macellum (today under Vaughan Way). A Septisolium shrine was probably constructed around this time according surviving written testimony and some possible archaeological evidence. Inspired by the Roman Septisolium, although on a far smaller scale, it was devoted to the seven planetary deities (Saturn, Sol, Luna, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus). c. 270 — City walls constructed in stone along the route of the earlier ditches (see entry for c. 80–99 AD above). Stone defensive structures remain until the 16th century and surviving stones can be seen reused in the wall between St Mary de Castro churchyard and the gardens of the Newarke Houses Museum. The entrance roads and tracks along the walls extern have almost all survived as thoroughfares in the modern city. Working round the boundary, to and from the focal point of the Victorian Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower, and starting from East Gates these are: Gallowtree Gate, Horsefair Street, Millstone Lane, past Southgates and Vaughan way, The Newarke, particularly the south wall of the 11th century Leicester Castle, Castle Gardens, St Nicholas Circle, Bath Lane, Soar Lane, past Northgate and Highcross Streets, Sanvey Gate, and Church Gate. The walls had four major gateways of which no visible remains survive. Three of them have been preserved in the names of the streets. They were: South Gate – today commemorated in the street name Southgates, they stood roughly where Millstone Lane meets Vaughan Way. Two roads branched from here; the Via Devana to Medbourne and Godmanchester, and an unnamed road to the local settlement of Tripontium on Watling Street (now the Caves Inn near Lutterworth). The Newarke Street Cemetery grew up in between the two forks in the road. East Gate – today East Gates, it stood roughly between Cheapside and Gallowtree Gate. This was the eastern entrance of the Fosse Way (Belgrave Gate and Melton Road) into the city and the road to Lincoln. In the Middle Ages the two tracks following the east wall became Church Gate to the north leading up to St Margaret's and Gallowtree Gate to the south leading up to the gallows where the track met the Via Divana at the top of St Mary's Hill (opposite the Victoria Park gates on London Road). North Gate – today the crossroads of Highcross Street, Northgate Street, Sanvey Gate, and Soar Lane. In the Middle Ages the road to Leicester Abbey and a procession route between St Martins Church (the cathedral) and St Margaret's Church (Sanvey Gate being an Anglo Saxon distortion of the Latin Sacra Via or Holy Way). West Gate – today where St Augustine's Road meets St Nicholas Circle. The onward route of both the Fosse Way (Narborough Road) to Bath and Exeter and the Via Devana (possibly Glenfield Road).
4th century 300 – roughly the time the provinces of Britain were reorganised. Ratae fell into the province of Flavia Caesariensis, its capital being at Lincoln. 360 – major fire destroyed the public baths and many other buildings never to be rebuilt. c. 375 — Antonine Itinerary records Ratae on a postal route between London and Lincoln.
5th century 406–420 — End of Roman occupation beginning around 406 with the departure of many unpaid centurions and the rise of Constantine III.
Anglo-Saxon period
6th century c. 515 — Icel, King of the Angles, led his tribe across the North Sea to settle in the Trent and Soar Valleys. In time this came to include a small settlement on the edge of the old Roman city of Ratae, near Southgates.
7th century 653 — Saint Cedd undertook a mission to the Mercian Middle Angles with three companions, Adda, Betti, and Diuma. The mission was instigated by the baptism of Prince Peada, son of the famous warrior Penda King of Mercia, prior to his marriage to Elfleda daughter of Oswiu. This marked the beginning of the conversion of the territories around the Tame, Trent, and Soar Valleys to Christianity. 655 — Diuma appointed first Bishop of the Mercians. Leicester's early church was initially ministered from Lichfield. 669 — Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed Saint Chad Bishop of the Mercians. 679 — Cuthwine was installed as the first Bishop of Leicester, separating Leicester from the See of Lichfield. Part of wider reforms by Archbishop Theodore and King Ethelred of Mercia.Powicke Handbook of British Chronology p. 232 Possible foundation date of the first church on the site of St Margaret's.
8th century 792 - Bishop Unwona of Leicester accompanies King Offa of Mercia (of Offa's Dyke fame) on pilgrimage to Rome.
Early 9th century (800-870's) 803 — Earliest Saxon written record of the town, referred to as Legorensis Caester.