Whetstone, Leicestershire

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Engineering Work In Whetstone

Whetstone is a village and civil parish in the Blaby district of Leicestershire, England. It has a population of 6,000 and largely acts as a commuter village for Leicester, five miles to the north.

The village is bounded on the east by the A426 (on the other side of which is Blaby village), to the north by the railway line from Nuneaton to Leicester, and to the west by the M1. (A short distance to the south the M1 and A426 cross).

Whetstone was the site of Frank Whittle's factory, where jet engines were developed. Alstom and Alstec now occupy this site, with smaller companies renting space (mainly for storing commercial vehicles). An interesting fact about the site is that until 2002 they still sounded an air raid siren at 8am - 'waking up' nearby workers.

There are a lot of good connections to Leicester town centre, with a very frequent bus service direct to Leicester. Up until about 1985 there was even an old train station, but that was closed due to lack of use.

Apart from Blaby, nearby places are Enderby, Glen Parva, Countesthorpe, Cosby, Littlethorpe and Narborough.