Walking around Leicester this morning you realise that this is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Britain. It might not have the numbers of say London but it is a real ethnic melting pot – but then again it has always been that way.
The image above is the modern Gallowtree Gate/Clock Tower and is the centre of the city. However, it is the also the line of the old Roman town wall – in fact the road running out of the shot in the centre of the image is called Eastgate because, well, it was where the eastern gate of the Roman wall was. Just to confuse matters the clock tower is also were Belgrave Gate, Church Gate, Gallowtree Gate and Humberstone Gate meet. The gate place name element doesn’t mean there was a series of openings into the city wall but rather is the Old Danish for road or way. This comes from when Leicester was overrun by Danish vikings in the 9th century. So for at least 2000 years what became the City of Leicester has been dealing with influx of immigrants and settlers from all over the place. Some things, it seems, never change.
I also discovered if you move the iPhone quickly the Pano function is really quit good at capturing people in the image and you only have to make a few corrections in Photoshop. However, what it is like with a really packed scene might not be as successful – I guess I’ll have to test it out.
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