Wigston Magna

Wigston (or more properly Wigston Magna to distinguish it from the nearby Wigston Parva), is a town in Leicestershire, just to the south of Leicester, on the Welford Road which leads to Northampton.

It runs directly into Oadby to the east, with which it shares Oadby and Wigston district council, and Leicester to the north. An area known as South Wigston is actually to the west.

1 History
2 Local economy
3 Education
4 External links

[edit] History

In the Middle Ages it was known as Wigston Two Spires as, unusually there were two mediaeval churches there, All Saints and St. Wistans.

St Wistans is known as that because it was one of the places where the body of St Wistan rested before burial. First, he was buried at Repton and finally in Evesham. St Wistan was a Mercian Prince who was assassinated but was regarded as a Martyr.

It was the birthplace of George Davenport, a notorious highwayman and Abigail Herrick, the mother of Jonathan Swift, author of Gullivers Travels. Graham Chapman, of Monty Python fame, also did much of his growing up in Wigston.

There is a Framework Knitting Museum here, as it was an important occupation in this area.

Wigston was the subject of W. G. Hoskins's pioneering historical study, The Midland Peasant (London: Macmillan, 1965), which traced the social history of this village from earliest recorded history into the 19th century.

[edit] Local economy

MacFisheries' MacMarkets was the town's major supermarket for many years. It became a branch of International Stores in the late 70s and latterly a Gateway Foodmarket and Somerfield. There is a Sainsburys in the centre of the town, and Tesco on Blaby Road towards South Wigston.

[edit] Education

Abington High School (built 1957, former secondary modern, ages 10-14), Bushloe High School (ages 10-14, completely rebuilt September 2006), Guthlaxton College (built late 1950s, ages 14-18, former grammar school), and South Leicestershire College (formerly Wigston College) are all very near each other on on Station Road. The schools' results are average for Leicester, but below average for the UK. Close by on the same road are the headquarters of the district council.

1461 (Wigston) Squadron of the Air Training Corps is located in South Wigston, just down the road and recruits many members from the schools in Wigston.