Mountsorrel
Mountsorrel | |
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Leicestershire | |
Ambulance | East Midlands |
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Mountsorrel is a village in Leicestershire on the River Soar, just south of Loughborough with a population in 2001 of 6,662 inhabitants,[1][2] increasing to 8,223 at the 2011 census.[3]
Geography
The village is in the borough of
The village is renowned for the Buttercross Market in the village centre as well as its granite quarry, the largest in Europe. The Leicester arm of the Grand Union Canal runs through Mountsorrel.
The civil parish meets with Rothley to the south, and some houses are actually in Rothley parish near the southern A6 junction. To the west of the parish is a nature reserve. North of here, the Leicestershire Round passes east–west through the north of the village. The parish boundary meets Quorndon where it first meets the quarry near Buddon Wood. North of there, it crosses the former A6, 500 metres (1,600 ft) towards Quorn from the roundabout for the A6 roundabout. Close to the bypass, the River Soar becomes the parish boundary and south of the A6 northern junction it meets Sileby at the point where it crosses the A6 bypass. Five hundred metres (one thousand six hundred feet) south of there, the boundary leaves the river to the west, with the river becoming the Sileby-Rothley boundary.
Geology
The local area is built on granite. Leicester's Humberstone came from this granite (igneous rock), and was originally known as Hunbeort's Stan. Another piece of Mountsorrel granite is at an RAF memorial at Screveton in Nottinghamshire near the A46.
History
Early history
A castle was built in 1080 by
In 1151,
Whilst the origin of the name 'Mountsorrel' is still not understood fully, it is thought that the English nobility of the time named Mountsorrel after Montsoreau castle, a castle in France close to Fontevrault, where Henry II was buried. The name Mountsorrel is of Norman-French origin and is thought to have developed due to the close likeness of Montsoreau and Mountsorrel – both settlements sit on rivers, the Loire and the Soar respectively, and are overshadowed by surrounding hills.[6][7]
Mountsorrel castle was used as a bastion against
One of the parish churches is Christ Church and the other, a Grade II* listed building, is dedicated to St Peter.
Recent history
The village was visited by
Mountsorrel was the site for a hospital for the
By 1781, the population was recorded as '150 dwellings',
The
The Stonehurst Family Farm and Motor Museum established in 1951 is located in the centre of the village and is home to many animals and offers tractor trailer rides.
The Butter Market
The Butter Market was built in 1793 by the Lord of the Manor, Sir John Danvers, to replace the fifteenth century Mountsorrel Cross, a market cross which he removed for use as an ornamental garden feature on his estate in Swithland, where it still remains.[8] It is a Grade II* listed structure.[10]
The Old Rectory
The Adam Style building opposite St Peter's Church and actually on the Leicester to Loughborough road, was built in 1783 for Ralph Tebbutt, whose monument is in St Peter's Church. Formerly known as Mountsorrel Hall it was a vicarage until 1983. A copy of this building was erected in 1790 in Liverpool, and in that house the politician and former Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) was born.
Industry and trade
Market
In 1292, Nicholas de Seagrave became
In addition to the granting of the market, de Seagrave was permitted to hold an annual fair for the "eve and morrow of St John the Baptist and 5 days after".[4] This fair was abolished in 1873 after villagers petitioned, as the legislation licensing the fair allowed anyone displaying a bush over their door to distribute liquor free of any duties.
By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Mountsorrel market had become increasingly important, with trade in raw wool, leather and woollen yarn, horses and cattle as well as 'Mountsorrel gloves', once as highly regarded as gloves from Woodstock and Oxford, being common.
Quarry
As early as 1860, there was a
Mountsorrel is home to one of the largest
.The quarry was run by Redland Quarries until its acquisition by Lafarge in the 1990s. The quarry itself is home to the common lizard, an endangered species.[14]
Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce acquired a factory previously used by an aircraft propeller manufacturer after World War Two in 1945. The factory, officially known as 'Rolls-Royce Mountsorrel',[15] became a specialist production factory for 'structural and high temperature fabrications', advising on new designs of both aircraft and cars for Rolls-Royce.
In a fire during a heatwave on 13 May 1959, the manufacturing area of the factory was heavily damaged although the design department was left undamaged.
In 1969, the Mountsorrel Rolls-Royce factory designed and produced components for the
Sport
Mountsorrel Castle Cricket Club is an amateur cricket club founded c.1880. It currently fields two senior teams in the Leicestershire and Rutland Cricket League. The home ground is based on the Memorial Recreation Ground, in Mountsorrel.[16]
Transport
The nearest major road is the A6, connecting Loughborough and Leicester. The village is currently served by only three buses.
Paul S Winson X27 – Loughborough – Quorn – Mountsorrel – Rothley[18]
Roberts Coaches 27 – Loughborough – Barrow-Upon-Soar – Mountsorrel – Rothley -Syston – Thurmaston[19]
The nearest mainline railway station is Sileby railway station, with hourly services to Leicester and Nottingham – Lincoln. The closest railway station is Mountsorrel railway station on Bond Lane, just about around a kilometre outside of the village. The station is the terminus of the Mountsorrel Railway, a heritage railway and the branch line of the Great Central Railway.
Notable persons
- James Biddles,[20][21] father of the 19th-century actor James Biddles, whose daughter Adelaide married the actor and stage manager Charles Alexander Calvert
- Quorndon.
- Professional footballer Billy Kee was born in Loughborough but raised in Mountsorrel.[22]
- The sculptor John Charles Felix Rossi lived in the village in the 19th century
- There is a plaque, stating that it is believed locally that Dick Turpin used the mounting point opposite The Swan Inn, Loughborough Road
- Rebecca Wakefield née Brewin, was born here in 1844. She died in 1873 as a Methodist missionary in East Africa[23]
References
- ^ a b http://www.leics.gov.uk/mountsorrel_ward.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Local Communities in Charnwood http://www.charnwood.gov.uk/uploads/localcommunitiesincharnwood.pdf Archived 14 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- ^ a b c d mountsorrel.org.uk "Welcome to the Mountsorrel Village Website, Mountsorrel, Leicestershire, UK". Archived from the original on 22 July 2006. Retrieved 10 September 2006.
- ^ Bradbury, Jim (2009) Stephen and Matilda: the Civil War of 1139–53, The History Press, p. 210
- ^ Harper, Charles George (1924) The Manchester & Glasgow road: this way to Gretna Green, C. Palmer, p. 180
- ^ Dryden, Alice (1911). Memorials of old Leicestershire. Robarts - University of Toronto. London: London G. Allen. pp. 117–118.
- ^ a b Pevsner, Nikolaus (1960) The Buildings of England: Leicestershire and Rutland, Penguin Books, p. 195, 247
- ^ Index of Lunatic Asylums and Mental Hospitals Archived 27 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Historic England. "The Market Cross (1287313)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
- ^ LaFarge Aggregates, Mountsorrel Quarry "Welcome to the Lafarge Mountsorrel quarry in Leicestershire, England: On this site you will find video of granite blasting in the quarry, an example of the quarry in action". Archived from the original on 6 April 2001. Retrieved 25 July 2006.
- ^ The Quorndon Magazine http://www.quorndon-mag.org.uk/archive/autumn1997/redland.html
- ^ A Guide to Mountsorrel Quarry http://www.lafarge-aggregates.co.uk/LAF5883-LO-RES.pdf
- ^ Quarry Products Association "Quarry Products Association". Archived from the original on 19 July 2006. Retrieved 25 July 2006.
- ^ mountsorrel.org.uk "Welcome to the Mountsorrel Village Website, Mountsorrel, Leicestershire, UK". Archived from the original on 22 July 2006. Retrieved 10 September 2006.
- ^ "Mountsorrel Castle CC facilities". Mountsorrel Castle CC. 27 April 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
- ^ 126/127 Service times http://www.arrivabus.co.uk/serviceInformation.aspx?id=6121
- ^ X27 Service areas "Paul S. Winson Coaches - Bus Schedules". Archived from the original on 30 April 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
- ^ "Bus Information". Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
- ^ 1841, 1851 and 1861 censuses
- ^ Baptism register of St. Dionysius parish church, Market Harborough
- ^ Wainwright, David; Warrington, Pete (4 May 2018). "Billy's goals pivotal to fairytale rise of Accrington Stanley". Loughborough Echo. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- required.)