| Leicestershire | |
|---|---|
| [image] | |
| Geography | |
| Status: | Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county |
| Region: | East Midlands |
| Area: - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area | Ranked 28th 2,156 kmē Ranked 26th 2,083 kmē |
| Admin HQ: | Glenfield |
| ISO 3166-2: | GB-LEC |
| ONS code: | 31 |
| NUTS 3: | UKF22 |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total (2003 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop. | Ranked 21st 903,160 419 / kmē Ranked 17th 619,247 |
| Ethnicity: | 85.0% White 11.9% S.Asian 1.2% Afro-Carib. |
| Politics | |
| [image] Leicestershire County Council http://www.leics.gov.uk/ | |
| Executive: | Conservative |
| Members of Parliament | |
| Stephen Dorrell, Alan Duncan, Edward Garnier, Patricia Hewitt, Andy Reed, Andrew Robathan, Peter Soulsby, David Taylor, David Tredinnick, Keith Vaz | |
| Districts | |
County Hall, situated in Glenfield, about 5 km (3 miles) northwest of Leicester city centre, is the seat of Leicestershire County Council and the headquarters of the county authority. The City of Leicester is administered from offices in Leicester itself and the City Council meets at Leicester Town Hall.
The River Soar rises to the east of Hinckley, in the far south of the county, and flows northward through Leicester before emptying into the River Trent at the point where Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire meet. A large part of the northwest of the county, around Coalville, forms part of the new National Forest area extending into Derbyshire and Staffordshire. The highest point of the county is Bardon Hill at 278m/912ft, which is also a Marilyn.
Leicestershire was recorded in the Domesday Book in four wapentakes: Guthlaxton, Framland, Goscote and Gartree. These later became hundreds, with the division of Goscote into West Goscote and East Goscote, and the addition of Sparkenhoe hundred.
Leicestershire's external boundaries have changed little since the Domesday Survey. The Measham-Donisthorpe Exclave of Derbyshire has been exchanged for the Netherseal/Overseall area, and the urban expansion of Market Harborough has caused Little Bowdon, previously in Northamptonshire to be annexed.
In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 abolished the County borough status of Leicester city and the county status of neighbouring Rutland, converting both to administrative districts of Leicestershire. These actions were reversed on 1 April 1996, when Rutland and the City of Leicester became unitary authorities.
The largest population centre is Leicester, followed by Loughborough. Other major towns include Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Coalville, Hinckley, Market Harborough, Melton Mowbray, Oadby and Wigston.
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