of where Canal Street stands today. North of Kirkdale Road, the Midland Railway built the south chord of Wigston Junction in 1872. To the east of the Countesthorpe Road and Canal Street junction was Crow Mill, a post mill, which is recorded on the County Sites and Monuments Register as a medieval windmill. The mill is shown as disused on the 1886 Ordnance Survey Map, though it had gone by the second edition of the map in 1914. The town of South Wigston was developed in the late 19th century by the owner of a large brickworks, Orson Wright. The settlement follows the tradition of establishing 'model' towns set by Victorian philanthropists at places such as New Lanark and Saltaire and continued in towns such as Bournville and Port Sunlight. Unlike the majority of these other towns however, South Wigston was not just intended to house workers in the brickyard. Other commercial premises, particularly associated with the clothing industry, were established from the start. Like other model settlements such as Saltaire, the street pattern is generally a grid and most of the housing is in terraces. Most of the houses are of similar type (though some were slightly bigger and had front gardens) with just a few larger houses on Orange Street, Blaby Road (until many were converted to shops) and particularly Saffron Road built to house more affluent residents. The clear provision of different sizes and standards of housing to suit different classes of occupiers is not so great as in many model towns. Although there are differences of detailing between the terraces and groups of houses, the area has a very strong character. The buildings were seemingly all built using bricks from Orson Wright's Wigston Junction Brick Works. The majority of traditional buildings are therefore of red brick with a colour range towards orange and purple, with a few houses of gault brick or with such brick used as detailing. In terms of town planning, Blaby Road was the main cross route and was lined by many of the shops and public buildings. Canal Street was the home of most of the industrial and manufacturing concerns and had shops on some street corners and some public buildings especially at the north end. Countesthorpe Road had some industrial uses and public buildings. The schools were all off Bassett Street, whilst housing was generally sited on east–west-orientated streets south of