One of England's best-preserved medieval guildhalls, this timber-framed building dates from around 1390 and served as the centre of civic life in Leicester for centuries. The Great Hall is particularly impressive, its oak beams and decorated plasterwork unchanged in nearly 600 years.
The building is free to enter and self-guided. The ground floor rooms convey the atmosphere of a medieval town's meeting place convincingly, while the cells in the basement are a sobering reminder of how justice was dispensed in earlier centuries. Leicester Cathedral sits immediately adjacent, and the Richard III Visitor Centre is a few minutes' walk away — you can comfortably combine all three in a morning.