Ratby
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ratby is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire. It is situated to the west of Leicester, and just south of the motorway (Groby is on the other side of the M1). It has a population of about 4,000. The Roman name for Leicester was Ratae Corieltauvorum. It is possible that Ratby takes its name from Ratae.
Other nearby places include Kirby Muxloe and Glenfield.
[edit] History
The oldest known human settlement in Ratby was at the Bury Camp on the edge of Ratby, an Iron Age encampment dating back approximately 3000 years. Later, the Roman army adapted the camp for use as a temporary fort in around 50.
The next oldest structure in Ratby is Ratby Church, built in the medieval period. There are also some cottages dating back several centuries. For most of its history, Ratby was a small agricultural village with a few farms and the open 3-field plan until enclosure in the 18th Century.
In the 20th century a War Memorial called the "Angel of Peace" was constructed after the First World War and unveiled in 1920 by the wartime British Army Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Haig.
