Stoneygate

Situated on the south-east side of the city some two miles from the centre, Stoneygate is a mainly residential suburb characterised by its large Victorian houses.

Particularly worthy of note are 'Brookfield' and 'The Firs' on London Road; two remaining examples of the oldest and grandest homes built by wealthy commercial families to imitate the country estates of the local gentry.

It was built in 1880 to plans by local architect William Beaumont Smith to relocate the 'Home for Penitent Females' from its previous premises at 16 Blue Boar Lane, Leicester.

'The Home', as it was known, was a charity run by a Committee of local philanthropists and religious leaders to provide welfare and reform for unmarried mothers (often referred to as 'fallen women').

The original plans are dated 23 July 1880 and appear to have been submitted for approval on 21 August that year and include a section of building up to No.

William Beaumont-Smith (WBS) appears to have begun his career working for Parsons & Dain who were quite a successful firm of local architects in the early Victorian period, William Parsons being responsible for some of Leicester's grand civic buildings including the Leicestershire and Rutland County Asylum (later part of the University of Leicester) and the Theatre Royal (now demolished).

58 Stoneygate Road had become 'The Home School' and some alterations were made including the addition of the single storey recreation room adjoining No.60 and the conversion of part of the outbuildings to a chapel.

In the late 1950s the building changed hands again, this time passing to the NHS for use as a new community-based rehabilitation facility for women (later mixed) with learning disabilities.

These large buildings in extensive grounds proved too tempting a target for profit in the mid-20th century, when substantial blocks of flats or estates of houses could replace a single unwanted mansion.

Several of the earliest houses in the suburb were lost in this way, including 'The Stoney Gate', a 17th-century farmhouse converted into a mansion in the 1820s, demolished in 1962.

Arriva Midlands operate Sapphire routes 31/31A/31E along the main London Road with buses up to every 10 minutes into Oadby and City Centre.

[6] It is part of the Leicester South parliamentary constituency whose MP is currently Shockat Adam Patel (Independent).