opened for passenger traffic on 15 March 1899, no station was provided at Aylestone. The nearest stations were Leicester Central and Whetstone. Arriva Midlands operate frequent buses into Leicester on services 84, 85 and 87 all running along Aylestone Road while Centrebus 83/83A routes also operate at infrequent times into the nearby Gilmorton Avenue estate. Education In 1786 the assistant curate of St Andrew's, William Bickerstaffe, and 58 householders petitioned the 4th Duke of Rutland to establish a Charity School at Aylestone for 30 children. In 1844 a National School was opened on land given by the 5th Duke, off Church Road (then called School Road). It had about 40 boys and 50 girls. The school was enlarged in 1881 to accommodate 170 boys, 170 girls and 300 infants, and was run by the Aylestone School Board. It was closed in 1891, when the schools in Aylestone were taken over by the Leicester School Board. In 1879 the Aylestone School Board applied to open two more schools; these were in Landsdown Road (1881) and Granby Road (1889). The Leicester Education Authority built two schools, at Knighton Fields Road West and Wigston Lane, before 1939. Religious sites The Anglican church, St Andrew's, is built of grey-green Triassic sandstone. The tower and north aisle are 13th-century; the aisle was enlarged in the 14th century when the chancel was built. In the 15th century a clerestory and a south aisle were added. The tower is surmounted by a broach spire whose base is inset behind a parapet. The chancel, built circa 1300–1310, is taller, longer and wider than the nave. The Roman Catholic church of St Edward the Confessor opened on 3 May 1922. This replaced temporary premises in Knighton Lane (a bake house and later a room over a stable) which had been used since 1915 as chapels. The church was served by the Dominicans of Holy Cross Priory, Leicester, until 1937 when the parish was taken over by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nottingham. The Baptists of Aylestone originally met, from 1855, in a cottage belonging to a Mr and Mrs Crosher in The Hollow. By 1868 the cottage was recorded as being in disrepair. In 1869 a lean-to brick building adjoining a cottage in The Hollow was acquired; this held about 50 people. At the same time a plot of land on Sanvey Gate was purchased for the building of