Hinckley | |
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Town | |
Top to bottom, left to right: Hinckley & Bosworth Council Offices at Argents Mead, Water Tower, Town Centre, Ashby Canal at the Marina & St Mary's Church | |
Location within Leicestershire | |
Population | 50,712 (Urban area included Burbage) [1] |
OS grid reference | SP425939 |
Civil parish |
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District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Areas of the town | List
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Post town | HINCKLEY |
Postcode district | LE10 |
Dialling code | 01455 |
Police | Leicestershire |
Fire | Leicestershire |
Ambulance | East Midlands |
UK Parliament | |
Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England. It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughborough. Hinckley is about halfway between Leicester and Coventry and borders Nuneaton in Warwickshire. Watling Street forms part of the Leicestershire/Warwickshire border. The town forms an urban area with the village of Burbage, directly to the south.
In 2000, archaeologists from Northampton Archaeology discovered evidence of Iron Age and Romano-British settlement [2] on land near Coventry Road and Watling Street.
Hinckley has a recorded history going back to Anglo-Saxon times; the name Hinckley is Anglo-Saxon: "Hinck" is a personal name and "ley" is a clearing in a wood. [3] By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, [4] Hinckley was quite a large village, and it grew over the following 200 years into a small market town—a market was first recorded there in 1311. There is evidence of an Anglo-Saxon church – the remnants of an Anglo-Saxon sundial being visible on the diagonal buttress on the south-east corner of the chancel. [5]
Hinckley is around 4 miles (6.4 km) to the south of what is believed to be the location of the Battle of Bosworth, the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, which occurred in 1485, and resulted in Henry Tudor's forces defeating those of King Richard III. [6]
In the 17th century, the town developed a hosiery industry, producing stockings and similar items. Hinckley played a prominent part in the English Civil War. [7] Its proximity to several rival strongholds—the royalist garrisons at Caldicote, Ashby de la Zouch and Leicester, and those of the Parliamentarians at Tamworth and Coventry—and the presence of parties of troops or brigands occupying several fortified houses in nearby Warwickshire, led to frequent visits by the warring parties. The local townsfolk were forced to decide whether to declare their allegiances openly or attempt to remain neutral—with the risk of having to pay levies, ransoms, and fines to both sides.
In March 1644, Hinckley was occupied by a group of Royalist troops, though they were soon driven out by a force of Parliamentarians, who took many prisoners.
The Civil War years were a particularly unsettled time for the clergy in and around Hinckley. Parsons with parliamentary leanings like Thomas Cleveland, the vicar of Hinckley, suffered sequestration by the Leicester County Committee, like some of his "malignant" neighbours accused of visiting royalist garrisons or preaching against Parliament.[ citation needed ]
The town was visited by both parliamentary and royalist troops from the rival garrisons, particularly parliamentary troops from Tamworth, Coventry and Astley Castle in Warwickshire. Troops from Coventry garrison were particularly active in the town, taking horses and "free quarter" and availing themselves of 'dyett and Beere', and taking some of the inhabitants hostage for ransom. Royalist troops raided the town to threaten those with parliamentary sympathies. The notorious Lord Hastings of Ashby de la Zouch is recorded to have "coursed about the country as far as Dunton and Lutterworth and took near upon a hundred of the clergymen and others, and carried them prisoners … threatening to hang all them that should take the Parliament's Covenant".
Parliamentary newssheets record that on the night of 4 March 1644, Hastings's men brought in "26 honest countrymen from several towns" intending to take them to Ashby de la Zouch, along with a huge herd of cattle, oxen and horses from the country people and a minister named Warner. These prisoners were herded into Hinckley church and asked "in a jeering manner, 'Where are the Round-heads your brethren at Leicester? Why come they not to redeem you?'"[ citation needed ]
The Parliamentarians responded in a memorable "Skirmish or Great Victory for Parliament". Colonel Grey with 120 foot-soldiers and 30 troopers from Bagworth House rushed to Hinckley and retook the town, routed the Royalists, rescued the cattle and released their imprisoned countrymen. No doubt the inhabitants of the town were as relieved as any when Ashby finally surrendered, as Vicars records, "a great mercy and mighty preservation of the peace and tranquility of all those adjacent parts about it."[ citation needed ]
At the time of the first national census in 1801, Hinckley had a population of 5,158: twenty years later it had increased by about a thousand. The largest industry in the early 19th century was the making of hosiery and only Leicester had a larger output of stockings. In the district, it was estimated around 1830 that 6,000 persons were employed in this work. [8]
Between 1816 and 1822, Ada Byron, the only legitimate daughter of the poet, Lord Byron, lived at Kirby House, Kirkby Mallory 6 miles from Hinckley. She was cared for by her Grandmother, while running their midland estates and necessitating frequent visits to the bank in Hinckley. Ada would go with her, and it is recorded, Ada "loved Hinckley". If she misbehaved, her Grandmother would leave her at home! Ada was christened at K. Mallory Parish Church and a significant memorial stands in the churchyard to her. Hinckley is recognised as Ada's childhood home town. She was known latterly as Ada Lovelace and when working with Charles Babbage, she foresaw computerisation, writing the first computer programme.
Joseph Hansom built the first Hansom cab in Hinckley in 1835. [9]
In 1899 a cottage hospital was built to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria two years earlier. Money was raised by the local townspeople and factory owners, notably John and Thomas Atkins who also had a hand in building many of the key buildings of Hinckley. The cornerstone was laid by Sir John Fowke Lancelot Rolleston.[ citation needed ]
This hospital was central to the people of Hinckley and supported by local workers who donated one penny a week for its upkeep until it was adopted by the NHS in 1948. Over the years it expanded to align with the town. The hospital now appears dilapidated in some areas and is threatened with closure, sale and demolition by West Leicestershire Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS Properties Ltd.[ citation needed ]
On 16 May 1941 eleven people were killed, which was the worst attack in the county, outside Leicester. Nearby Nuneaton was heavily bombed that night. In Merevale Avenue, four men, six women and one child were killed. Numbers 5 and 7 had a direct hit. [10] [11]
The hosiery industry remained important for much of the 20th century, and by 1939 the Hinckley and District Hosiery Union alone had 6,000 members. [12]
The area was subject to new housing developments in the 1950s, 1960s and 1990s.[ citation needed ]
Hinckley's suburban districts include Hollycroft, Middlefield, Stoneygate, Wykin, Forest View, West Hinckley, Saxon Paddock and Druid Quarter. The suburbs of Burbage, Sketchley and Lash Hill are separated from the rest of Hinckley by the railway line.
Hinckley became an urban district under the Local Government Act 1894, covering the ancient parish of Hinckley. In 1934, under a County Review Order, Hinckley urban district expanded to include the ancient parishes of Barwell, Burbage and Earl Shilton and most of Stoke Golding.[ citation needed ] In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 the Hinckley urban district was abolished, becoming an unparished area in the borough of Hinckley and Bosworth. Since then, the civil parishes of Barwell, Burbage, Earl Shilton and Stoke Golding have been re-established.[ citation needed ] The core urban area remained unparished.
Hinckley is a traditional centre of the hosiery industry. The first framework knitting machine was brought here by Joseph Iliffe in the 17th century and by the 19th century Hinckley was responsible for a large proportion of Britain's hosiery production. Since the Second World War the hosiery industry has steadily shrunk although several textile firms remain in the area. [24] Hinckley & District Museum, housed in a range of former framework knitters' cottages, tells the story of the hosiery industry and contains some examples of framework knitting machines.
Paynes Garages Ltd, [25] one of the oldest family-owned Ford Motor Dealerships in the UK. Established by JA Payne in 1907, the firm became Ford Dealers in 1922. The business remains family owned with Nigel Payne, grandson of the founder, one of the current Directors.
The town's central location and good links to the UK motorway network have made it a common location for distribution warehouses. Hammonds Furniture, a family owned nationwide fitted furniture company, was established in the town in 1926 by Thomas Hammonds, and currently employs over 850 people in its two Hinckley factories.[ citation needed ]
Hinckley has housed the Triumph Motorcycles Ltd facility since 1990. [26] [27] Founded in 1902 Triumph is one of the oldest motorcycle producers still in activity.
Electricity was first provided Hinckley by the Leicestershire and Warwickshire Electric Power Company in 1913. Hinckley power station was built in Nutts Lane adjacent to the railway and the Ashby Canal. The power station closed in the early 1950s, when electricity was supplied from the National Grid. [28]
Hinckley is home to a well-established creative and technology community with designers, illustrators, artists and photographers taking up residence in the town, particularly in converted buildings such as the renovated Atkins Building (formerly Atkins Hosiery, also home to the Hinckley Times newspaper) and Graphic House on Druid Street, also a former factory converted to modern office and studio use.
Supercar manufacturer Ultima Sports are based in Hinckley. They claim to have set the fastest roadcar lap around the Top Gear test track with their GTR720 model, although it has never appeared on the programme.[ citation needed ]
The town is equidistant (19 km/12 miles) from Coventry and Leicester and 8 km (5 mi) to the east of Nuneaton. The small town of Ibstock is 18 km (11 mi) to the north on the A447.
The A47 between Nuneaton and Leicester was by-passed around the town during the early 1990s when the Northern Perimeter Road (Normandy Way) was completed. As well as relieving congestion in the town centre, new commercial developments have been built along the route.
Hinckley is also served by the A5 and the M69. The A5 links Hinckley to Tamworth, Staffordshire in the north-west and Milton Keynes in the south-east. The M69 links Hinckley to the nearest cities, Coventry, and Leicester, and the M1 and M6 motorways.
Arriva Midlands are the main operator of bus services within the town centre operating services to Leicester, Burbage, Earl Shilton and Nuneaton from their depot in Barwell. [29]
Roberts Travel Group operate service 159 to Coalville while Stagecoach in Warwickshire also operate a number of other routes around Hinckley. [30] [31]
Hinckley railway station [32] is on the Nuneaton to Leicester [33] section of the Birmingham to Peterborough Line and has regular services between Birmingham and Leicester via Narborough and Nuneaton. Journeys to London can be made via the West Coast Main Line through Nuneaton to London Euston or the Midland Main Line via Leicester to London St Pancras.
The nearest airports are East Midlands and Birmingham.
The local radio station, Fosse 107, serves the town and the surrounding area. [34] [35] [36] The town's local newspaper is the weekly paid-for Hinckley Times , which is published every Wednesday. [37] [38] The Hinckley Times regularly publish news stories on their own section of the Leicester Mercury's website, LeicestershireLive. [39] Castle Mead Radio is a hospital radio station which serves the patients and staff of Hinckley's two main hospitals. [40] BBC local radio station that broadcast to the town is BBC Radio Leicester, BBC CWR can also be received in the town.
Local television news programmes are BBC East Midlands Today and ITV News Central (East).
The town has had six notable football clubs over the years:
Hinckley Rugby Club, [41] was formed in 1893 and has been based at the Leicester Road Sports ground since 1968. The club has played in rugby league since 1987. The first team currently play in National 2 North (level 4). [42]
Hinckley Ladies' Netball Club is based at the Leicester Road Sports Ground and has four senior teams in the Coventry and Warwickshire Netball League. Hinckley Gymnastics Club, established in 1971, is based at Clarendon Park. [43]
Hinckley Basketball Club was founded in 1974, and included staff, ex-students and students of John Cleveland College. The team folded after the 2012–13 season, because of player shortage, then reformed in 2014. It plays home games at Green Towers club on Richmond Road. [44] [45] The two club teams are the Hinckley 69ers in Division 2, and Hinckley Hail in Division 4, of the Leicestershire men's league.
Hollycroft Park, in the centre of Hinckley, contains two tennis courts, a golf pitch'n'putt and a lawn bowls green with pavilion.[ citation needed ] Greentowers, a self-funded charity, is a youth club at Richmond Park which contains a climbing wall, skate park, astro turf pitch, and a BMX track.[ citation needed ]
On 8 May 2014, the Hinckley to Bedford second stage of The Women's Tour Great Britain cycle race, departed from Hinckley. [46]
Heart of England Boxing Club is based on Druid Street in the town
The main primary schools in the area are Battling Brook CP, Richmond, Hinckley Parks, St. Peter's Catholic, St. Mary's Church of England, Westfield Infant and Junior Schools, Burbage Infant and Junior Schools and Sketchley Hill Primary School (in Burbage). The high (secondary) schools include Redmoor, St Martin's Catholic Academy (in Stoke Golding), Hastings (in Burbage) and The Hinckley School. The Hinckley School also operates a sixth form. North Warwickshire & Hinckley College, a Further Education college, is also in the town. The only other major college in the area is Heath Lane Academy (Earl Shilton). There are also many pre-schools (nurseries) such as St Peters Pre school little explorers, St Bernards, Flutterbies Hinckley, Smiles PreSchool, etc. Within Hinckley there is also Dorothy Goodman Special School that caters for both juniors and seniors with disabilities, with units integrated within other local schools.
Simon de Montfort's banner, described as the 'Arms of Honour of Hinckley', per pale indented argent and gules, is shown in stained glass in Chartres Cathedral, [47] and is used in Hinckley's coat of arms, local sports teams and other organisations. Combined with Montfort's personal coat of arms, it forms part of the club crest for the town's football club Hinckley A.F.C. [48]
Concordia Theatre, of 400 seats and regular productions, is near the centre of the town in Stockwell Head. The local council holds an annual 'Proms in The Park' event. [49]
French organist and composer Louis Vierne [50] gave a recital and stayed one night in Hinckley while on a tour of England, and later wrote a carillon piece for organ called "The Bells of Hinckley", inspired by a carillon of bells he heard there. It is the last movement of his fourth suite of Vingt-quatre pièces de fantaisie .
The town is mentioned in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2 (Act 5, Scene 1): [51]
Hinckley is mentioned in the Monty Python sketch "Olympic Hide and Seek Final" as the home town of one of the competitors. [52]
The Simon Pegg and Nick Frost comedy horror series Truth Seekers has a major plot line centered around Hinckley. The episode 'The Hinckley Boy' sees Frost's character travel to the town. [53]
Hinckley was known to its residents for many years as "Tin 'At" (tin hat). It is reputed that, many years ago, one of the itinerant sheep drovers bragged that he could drink a hat full of ale. The local landlord put this man to the test by getting the local blacksmith to make a tin hat, which he then filled with ale. Thereafter, the town became known as "Tin 'At". Another explanation is that the people of Hinckley used to place buckets on water pumps to keep them clean and prevent the spread of illness, the bucket obviously being the "Tin 'At". A tin hat can be seen on top of the flag pole which sits on the roof of the Coral branch at the corner of Castle Street and Market Place. [73] There is also a pub called The Tin Hat, [74] and an annual fair held each December in the town centre called The Tin Hat Fair. [75] [76] [77]
Hinckley is twinned with Le Grand-Quevilly, France, [78] [79] and joined with Herford, Germany in the early 1970s. [80] Hinckley is also twinned with Midland, Ohio, United States.
Leicestershire is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warwickshire to the south-west, and Staffordshire to the west. The city of Leicester is the largest settlement and the county town.
Nuneaton is a market town in Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire to the north-east. Nuneaton's population at the 2021 census was 88,813, making it the largest town in Warwickshire. Nuneaton's urban area, which also includes the large villages of Bulkington and Hartshill, had a population of 99,372 at the 2021 census.
Atherstone is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone is on the A5 national route, and is adjacent to the border with Leicestershire which is here formed by the River Anker. It is situated between the towns of Tamworth and Nuneaton. Atherstone is the administrative centre of the North Warwickshire district, with the offices of North Warwickshire Borough Council located in the town.
Hinckley and Bosworth is a local government district with borough status in Leicestershire, England. The council is based in Hinckley, the largest town. The borough also includes the town of Earl Shilton and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. The Bosworth in the borough's name refers to the small market town of Market Bosworth, near which the Battle of Bosworth Field was fought in 1485.
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Burbage is a large village and civil parish, now generally considered a suburb of the neighbouring town of Hinckley. It is in the Borough of Hinckley and Bosworth in Leicestershire, England, near the border with Warwickshire.
Warwickshire is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire to the south, and Worcestershire and the West Midlands county to the west. The largest settlement is Nuneaton and the county town is Warwick.
Market Bosworth is a market town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 1,906, increasing to 2,097 at the 2011 census. It is most famously near to the site of the decisive final battle of the Wars of the Roses.
Dadlington is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Dadlington and Sutton Cheney, in the Hinckley and Bosworth district, in Leicestershire, England. It is situated between Hinckley, Market Bosworth and Nuneaton. In 1931 the parish had a population of 200.
Hinckley and Bosworth is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Luke Evans, a Conservative.
Hinckley United Football Club was an English football club, from Hinckley, Leicestershire, which last played in the Southern Football League Premier Division during the 2013–14 season. They were formed in 1997 as the result of a merger between Hinckley Athletic and Hinckley Town. The club latterly played their home games at De Montfort Park, having moved to the purpose-built football stadium in March 2005.
Witherley is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. The civil parish of Witherley includes Atterton, Fenny Drayton, and Ratcliffe Culey as well as the village of Witherley itself. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,373.
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Higham on the Hill is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 840.
Hinckley railway station serves the town of Hinckley and village of Burbage in Leicestershire, England.
The River Sence is a river which flows in Leicestershire, England. The tributaries of the Sence, including the Saint and Tweed, fan out over much of western Leicestershire from Charnwood Forest and Coalville in the north-east to Hinckley and almost to Watling Street in the south and south-west. Its watershed almost coincides with Hinckley and Bosworth Borough of Leicestershire, which was formed in 1974 by amalgamation of Market Bosworth Rural District and Hinckley Urban District. It flows into the Anker, which in turn flows into the River Tame. It is part of the wider River Trent catchment, which covers much of central England. In 1881, Sebastian Evans wrote that the usual names for this river were Shenton Brook and Sibson Brook.
Counties 1 Midlands East (North) (formerly Midland 2 East (North)) is a level 7 English Rugby Union league and level 3 of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the northern part of the East Midlands region including clubs from Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and the occasional team from Leicestershire, with home and away matches played throughout the season. When this division began in 1992 it was known as Midlands East 1, until it was split into two regional divisions called Midlands 3 East (North) and Midlands 3 East (South) ahead of the 2000–01 season. Further restructuring of the Midlands leagues ahead of the 2009–10 season, saw it changed to Midlands 2 East (North) and post the RFU's Adult Competition Review, from season 2022-23 it adopted its current name
The Leicestershire Rugby Union (LRU) is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for those counties. The LRU administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in those two counties and administers the Leicestershire county rugby representative teams.
Burbage Sketchley and Stretton is the name given to the ward and suburb of Hinckley in the Hinckley & Bosworth district in the county of Leicestershire, England. It is one of the six wards on Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council of the town. The ward is one of two of Burbage and covers the settlement of Leicester Grange and the suburbs of Sketchley, Stretton and Tilton.
I realised growing up in Hinckley that Leicester's biggest rivals in my eyes would always be the Sky Blues.
The annual Tin Hat Fair will run on Friday and Saturday November 23 and 24 with funfair rides, games and stalls stretched out along Regent Street.
Although the road will be re-opened to two-way traffic, motorists are reminded the annual Tin Hat Fair on Friday and Saturday will see a number of lane restrictions put in place to ensure the safety of visitors to the event.