Frog Island, Leicestershire

Frog Island is an inner city area of Leicester, England, so named because it lies between the River Soar and the Soar Navigation (a continuation of the Grand Union Canal). Frog Island is adjacent to the Woodgate area to the north, and Northgates to the South. The population of the island was at the 2011 census in the Abbey ward of Leicester City Council.

Frog Island lies to the north of central Leicester, and to the south of the River Soar and Leicester Abbey. The site was not an island before the late-eighteenth century, but was created as such upon the completion of the improved Soar Navigation between Loughborough and Leicester in 1794. The Navigation involved constructing a new section of canal to by-pass a meander in the River Soar. The area enclosed by the River Soar and the canal is Frog Island. The road which crosses the island is also named 'Frog Island'.

The island lies immediately to the south of Leicester Abbey, and historically was partly covered by the Abbey Meadows, which were too marshy for construction. In 1877, the meadows were drained and incorporated into Abbey Park.

The purpose of the Leicester Navigation was to make the River Soar navigable to commercial traffic, and particularly to allow the transportation of coal produced in the Leicestershire region. Upon the completion of the Navigation in 1794, goods could be taken by boat down the Soar to the River Trent. Moreover, the opening of the Leicester to Swannington Railway in 1832 meant that the coal fields of Leicestershire were even better linked with the Soar and the Grand Union Canal, which extends as far as London. Frog Island is located at the epicentre of this connection, and as a result much of the island became highly industrialised in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

By the mid-twentieth century there were several large mills on Frog Island. These manufactured clothing, machinery (particularly for the production of textiles) and materials demanded by the city's hosiery trade, such as spun wool and dyes. Frog Island had easy access to water from the river and canal, which was particularly important in the dyeing industry. It was also provided water for the operation of steam- and water-powered milling equipment.

The western tip of the island was crossed by the Great Central Main Line, which linked Leicester with Sheffield and Nottingham in the north, and Marylebone station in the south. The line was closed as part of the Beeching Axe reorganisation in the 1960s. Some railway arches remain and are now used by a number of small businesses. The arches are constructed from the distinctive Staffordshire Blue bricks, and were part of the immense north viaduct which brought the line into central Leicester. Before the construction of St Margaret's Way, Slater Street provided easy access to St Margaret's Pastures and thence to Abbey Park.

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