Kegworth

Coordinates: 52°50′13″N 1°17′1″W / 52.83694°N 1.28361°W / 52.83694; -1.28361
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Kegworth
Leicestershire
AmbulanceEast Midlands
UK Parliament
Websitekegworthparishcouncil.gov.uk
List of places
UK
England
Leicestershire
52°50′N 1°17′W / 52.833°N 1.283°W / 52.833; -1.283

Kegworth (

civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire,[1] in the East Midlands region, England. It forms part of the border with Nottinghamshire and is situated 6 miles north of Loughborough, 12 miles southwest of Nottingham, 12.5 miles southeast of Derby and 17 miles north of Leicester. The population of Kegworth as of the 2011 census was 3,601.[2]

Lying on the

East Midlands Gateway freight terminal and East Midlands Parkway railway station. The village is served by a primary school that was rated good at its last Ofsted inspection,[3] and which takes children from ages 4 to 10 years and has both Anglican[4] and Baptist[5] churches. Beyond the primary school age, most children attend schools in Castle Donington and Shepshed. Shops in the village include a supermarket, butcher, pharmacy and optician.[6] There are a number of cafes, restaurants and takeaway food outlets including Fish & Chips, Indian and Chinese cuisine.[7] Kegworth has several public houses,[8] a doctor's surgery[9] and a village hall that hosts village events and the local playgroup.[10] Kegworth has thriving sports clubs, which include the Kegworth Imperial football club,[11] Kegworth Town Cricket Club[12] and Kegworth Bowls Club.[13] There are two parks with play areas for younger children and a skate park.[14] The village has a library[15] and a museum of local history.[16] One Kegworth community group also organise many village events throughout the year such as the Easter Charter market, Sideley Park family fun day and food festival, and the Christmas market.[17]

Nearby places include

Ratcliffe on Soar, Zouch, Kingston on Soar and Hathern. The post town is Derby, with the Derby postcode prefix of DE74.[18]

Kegworth is twinned with Bois-Guillaume, a suburban town located on the plateau immediately to the north of Rouen in Normandy, north-western France.[19]

History

The site of Kegworth was situated well within the territory of the Coritani (or

Kingston-on-Soar[20] and at Hathern, a pin from the 7th century was also found near the hermitage, which may indicate the date and location of the earliest settlers. The name of Kegworth comes from two languages, Old English and Danish
, so it must date from some time between 874 and 1086. It means "worth" or "enclosure" of a man named Kaggi, the Danish name for redbeard. However, some sources claim it may mean locked enclosure, from caega "key", an Old English word. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as being held by Earl Harold Godwin, who became the last of the Saxon kings. After Harold's defeat at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 the Earl Hugh of Chester was given the land by William the Conqueror. It was known in those days as Cachworde, Caggworth and Cogga.[21]

The view from Soar Bridge — the canalised river is the border between the counties of Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire

After the royalists defeated

Act of Parliament was passed in 1555 ordering every man in the parish to work for four (later six) days a year on the roads; each farmer had to provide horses and carts according to his land holding. This continued until the early 18th century when, with the increase in traffic, it became necessary to change this to paid labour.[21]

Although farming was a large factor in Kegworth life and still remains on the fringes, industry started in the late 18th century/early 19th century with the introduction of

Quaker graveyard. The last trace of these 'yards' was demolished when the entrance to Australia Yard was removed to make way for the library in High Street.[21]

Kegworth sunset from the Soar Bridge

A depression in the 1890s coincided with the introduction of the

charwomen. In 1899 their work was arduous with long hours, and the restricted personal freedom and the lack of privacy was poor by the standards of today but at the time they counted themselves lucky to be fed, clothed and housed. Industrialisation was the beginning of the end of this era in Kegworth's history, but there were still socks and stockings being made in the village as late as the 1940s. Despite the growth in trade and manufacturing, there was only a very slight increase in population during the 19th century.[21]
The number of inhabitants rose from 1,416 people in 1801 to 2,078 a century later, but with actual decline in some decades, today there are approximately 3,500 people living in the village with 1,500 houses.

Kegworth air disaster 30th anniversary memorial bench

47 people died in a plane crash on 8 January 1989, when it came down just short of the runway on the eastern side of the nearby East Midlands Airport. Although this was outside the village, it has subsequently been referred to as the Kegworth air disaster. A memorial to those who died in the crash stands in the village cemetery on Whatton Road. There is also a plaque sited on the Ashby Road bridge over the M1, close to where the plane came down. Since 1989, the Parish Council and those who remember that fateful night have marked each anniversary by laying wreaths at both memorial sites.[22] A special commemorative service was held in 2019 at St Andrew's Church in the village, to mark the 30th anniversary of the disaster.[23] Survivors, relatives and emergency services first-responders attended.

Kegworth has always prospered from its advantages of trade and routes. Originally these were farming, road and river, later textiles, railway and canal, and now light industry, motorway and airport. It has been lucky in having relative prosperity and slow but steady growth, which has given it the character of a friendly, active community. The nearby

Sutton Bonington Campus has grown markedly since 2006 and many students now live in the village. A number of modern housing developments to the south of the village expanded Kegworth in the 2010s and further developments are making use of brown field sites. Kegworth was part of the rural district of Castle Donington until 1974 when it became part of the district of North West Leicestershire, whose administrative centre is located at Coalville
.

Structures

North side of St Andrew's Church

The earliest surviving building is

Lord of the Manor. The next oldest building visible is the Cruck Cottage forming the street front of the Cottage Restaurant. This is from the 15th century, but the stucco covering conceals its age. Many other buildings similarly hide their oldest parts under stucco or modern fronts, as at the top of Packington
Hill, where early 18th-century timber frames show at the rear.

Many buildings in High Street and London Road date from the 18th century, when the main

Saxon cemetery was found two hundred years ago and the bumps and hollows between the A6 and the River Soar
may be the remains of a Saxon village.

Notable people

Thomas Parkinson was Rector of Kegworth from 1789 until his death in 1830.

Cartoonist Bill Tidy was a long-term resident of Kegworth in the 1980s and 1990s.

Biologist Keith Campbell was resident in the village. He is well known as one of the team to clone the sheep Dolly and produced further clones, sisters to Dolly, during his time in Kegworth.

Irish poet Thomas Moore lived at The Cedars, London Road, Kegworth, for almost a year.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kegworth (Parish Council)". www.leicestershireandrutlandalc.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  2. Office for National Statistics
    . Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  3. ^ "Ofsted report 2016 Kegworth Primary School" (PDF).
  4. ^ "Kegworth: St Andrews". www.achurchnearyou.com. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Kegworth Baptist Church". Kegworth Baptist Church. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  6. ^ "Kegworth - Shopping and Shops Kegworth,Leicestershire". kegworth.2day.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  7. ^ "THE 10 BEST Restaurants in Kegworth - Updated July 2020 - Tripadvisor". www.tripadvisor.com. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  8. ^ "Search results: pubs in kegworth - Tripadvisor". www.tripadvisor.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Kegworth & Gotham Surgery". www.kegworth.net. Archived from the original on 22 July 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  10. ^ "KVH | Kegworth Village Hall". www.kegworthvh.org. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  11. ^ "Leicestershire & Rutland County FA - Kegworth Imperial". www.leicestershirefa.com. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  12. ^ Buxton, David. "History of Kegworth Cricket Club". Kegworth Town Cricket Club.
  13. ^ "Kegworth Bowls Club, Kegworth, Derby". www.kegworthbowlsclub.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  14. ^ "Sideley Park". www.kegworthparishcouncil.gov.uk. 4 June 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  15. ^ "Kegworth Library | Leicestershire County Council". www.leicestershire.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  16. ^ "Local History". Kegworth Parish Council.
  17. ^ "One Kegworth Organises Local Family Events in Leicestershire". One Kegworth. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  18. ^ "Kegworth Village, Postcodes". www.kegworthvillage.com. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  19. ^ "Ville de Bois-Guillaume – Relations internationales". 19 October 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  20. ^ "ANGLO-SAXON NOTTINGHAMSHIRE" (PDF). Archaeology Data Service. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  21. ^ a b c d "A General History of Kegworth". Kegworth Village.
  22. ^ "Air Disaster". www.kegworthparishcouncil.gov.uk. 10 January 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  23. ^ "Air disaster remembered 30 years on". BBC News. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  24. ^ Shaw, Tony (28 June 2010). "Thomas Moore and Kegworth, Leicestershire". Retrieved 20 November 2020.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kegworth.


52°50′13″N 1°17′1″W / 52.83694°N 1.28361°W / 52.83694; -1.28361

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