Enderby, Leicestershire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Enderby is a village in the middle of Leicestershire, England. It is situated on the southwestern outskirts of the city of Leicester and has a population of just over 8,000. The name Enderby comes from the Old Norse saying for 'excellent farming land', which local Historians believe was given to the settlement in tribute to the plentiful crops that the land produced.
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[edit] The Village
The village is part of the Blaby constituency, which is represented by the Conservative MP Andrew Robathan in the House of Commons. The people of Enderby are of a mixed working class and middle class background.
The village centre consists of a number of old and very narrow roads, with more recent housing developments to the south and west. Despite retaining a traditional village centre, Enderby has excellent road links to the rest of the country, being situated between the M69 and the M1. A disused railway line known locally as ‘Whistle Way’ lies to the north of the village, and has since become the western edge of the Enderby area.
The original area of the village, known as 'Classic Enderby', is said to be a typical example of a traditional English village. However, it is assumed that sometime in the future Enderby will lose its 'village' status and become part of the city of Leicester.
The people of Enderby also share a close relationship with those in the neighbouring village of Narborough (and to a lesser extent Littlethorpe). In fact, many residents are unsure as to where the boundaries of the villages are and in the past the parish council has seemed uncertain on the issue. Many residents from all three villages consider themselves to be part of one community. In addition, there are three distinct areas of Enderby. These are 'classic' Enderby, 'new' Enderby and St Johns. The location of Enderby St Johns is separated from the rest of the village by the M1 motorway. Some residents consider the area to be a separate entity. The headquarters of Leicestershire Constabulary are located at the very far end of Enderby St Johns, bordering Leicester and adjacent to Fosse Park.
During the 1990s a housing estate known as ‘Salt’s Close’ was constructed, which attracted single parent families from deprived areas of Leicester, due to the low cost of the housing and government subsidy. This sparked a wave of house building on many spare bits of land throughout Enderby, and subsequently Enderby developed problems of crime and disorder due to residents of poor areas (mainly Braunstone) moving to Enderby. The theory behind this programme of rapid low cost house building was that the disorderly residents would be civilised by the village atmosphere and Church of England schools. This programme failed and many middle class residents are now leaving the village for quieter areas.
Despite its close proximity to a major city, Enderby has a very low crime rate. There are problems with anti-social behaviour and to a certain extent, drug related crime. It is worth mentioning that Enderby is known throughout the policing and scientific worlds as the location where murderer Colin Pitchfork raped and murdered a 15 year old schoolgirl. Pitchfork also killed a girl of the same age in Narborough. These crimes are still well known if not talked about by the residents of the community. The people of Enderby were subject to the first mass DNA screening of locals in history, and Pitchfork was the first person to be arrested and convicted of a crime using DNA profiling. The BBC have screened several television documentaries about the crimes since they occurred. There have been several drug related murders in Enderby during 2006, and Enderby is home to alleged mob boss Barry Hardy.
Enderby by demographics is overwhelmingly white, but with a relatively large Chinese minority. However, the demographics of the village is expected to change over the course of the next 30 years and reflect those of other neighbouring areas 'independent' from the city such as Braunstone Town, which has a significant Irish Traveller minority.
Nearby villages include Narborough, Whetstone, Huncote and Thurlaston.
Longitude: 1 degree 12 minutes West, Latitude: 52 degrees 35 minutes North. Ordnance Survey national grid reference SK 536 994
[edit] Fosse Park
Fosse Park is the UK's largest outdoor shopping centre, attracting shoppers from throughout the midlands and beyond. Although Fosse Park is not technically part of Enderby, it is considered so by many of its residents. It is also said that the land the precinct is built on is the most expensive in the UK, with shops (including ASDA, Gap and M&S to name a few) paying several million pounds a year in rent. Fosse Park is also home to the UK's biggest porn superstore, 'Taste of Amsterdam'.
[edit] The Journal
Enderby is home to the UK’s oldest free newspaper. With ‘The Journal’ being founded in 1624 by local resident John Murphy. The original mandate of the paper was to service the village of Enderby with local news, views and opinion, but has since expanded to include neighbouring villages such as Narborough and Huncote. As of December 2006 circulation stood at approximately 23’000 copies a month.
[edit] Booze Britain Incident
In an episode of Bravo’s ‘Booze Britain’, originally broadcast on November 23rd 2005, a group of Enderby residents where filmed committing acts of anti social behaviour and violence in the village. Booze Britain is a show, which follows a group of young people on a typical night out and documents their behaviour and alcohol consumption. The Enderby group where filmed drinking in a local pubs before heading into the nightclubs of Leicester for a night out. Their behaviour whilst in the city was relatively mild but on their return to Enderby at the end of the night, they were captured stealing a wheelie bin and attempting to set it alight on a local park. This incident caused quite a controversy in the village when the episode was originally aired.
[edit] Local Characters
Enderby is home to several classically eccentric English people. The most famous eccentric is 'Mad Maureen'. Mad Maureen can often be seen in the village centre picking up discarded cigarette butts and shouting at pedestrians. Although she is a figure of fun, she should not be approached as she is prone to punching. Local lollipop man Frank Evans has guided many generations of Endery children from one side of King Street to the other and is also a prolific essay and letter writer. His letters are often published in the Leicester Mercury. Mr Evans was offered his own column in the Mercury but turned it down as he claimed writing the column would leave no time for lollipopping. In a well documented incident, Mr Evans once found a £5 note in the village and took it to the local police station. He received an 'Honest Citizen' award from Blaby District Council and six months later claimed the £5 note for himself after the owner did not come forward.
'Walking Walter' is another local character, and is only seen on Wimpey Park at night, on Coleridge Drive. He can walk around the park in under two minutes and is quite a local night time attraction. 'Litter Man' lives on Coleridge Drive and is seen all over Leicester picking up litter. Local legend says he keeps the litter in his house, but this has not been confirmed.
