Bradgate House (16th century) It was lived in by the Grey family for the next 220 years. It is believed that the house was the birthplace of Lady Jane Grey, later Queen, ruling for a mere 9 days before being overthrown by Mary I. Jane was executed in 1553 and when her father was executed the following year the estate passed to the crown. Local history claims that groundskeepers marked the occasion of Jane's execution by pollarding the estate's oak trees in a symbolic beheading. Examples of pollarded oaks can still be seen in the park. In 1563 the family regained favour, and the
Bradgate Park and Cropston Reservoir Natural England as "a site of great importance to the study of Precambrian palaeontology". There are footpaths through the park and around the reservoir. Bradgate Park and Cropston Reservoir Bradgate Park and Cropston Reservoir is a 399.7 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest north=west of Leicester. It is also a Nature Conservation Review site, and Bradgate Park contains Geological Conservation Review sites and a Scheduled Monument. Bradgate Park has one of the best examples of ancient parkland in the county, and Cropston Reservoir has unusual plants on its shores. The park has Charnian rocks dating to the Ediacaran period