| Hinckley | |
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Hinckley
Hinckley shown within Leicestershire |
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| Population | 43,246 (2001) |
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| OS grid reference | SP425939 |
| District | Hinckley and Bosworth |
| Shire county | Leicestershire |
| Region | East Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | HINCKLEY |
| Postcode district | LE10 |
| Dialling code | 01455 |
| Police | Leicestershire |
| Fire | Leicestershire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Bosworth |
| List of places: UK • England • Leicestershire | |
Hinckley is a town in southwest Leicestershire, England. It has a population of 43,246 (2001 census). It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is currently the second largest town in Leicestershire, after Loughborough (Leicester itself being a city which is not part of the non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire).[1]
Although part of Leicestershire, it is situated in close proximity to the larger town of Nuneaton in Warwickshire, and comprises part of the Nuneaton Urban Area.
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Hinckley has a history going back to Saxon times.[2] By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, Hinckley was quite a large village, and grew over the course of the following 200 years into a small market town—a market was first recorded there in 1311.[3] To the west of Hinckley lies Saxon Paddock where in 2000 archaelogists from Northampton University discovered a Romano-British settlement and later Saxon items.
In the 17th century, the town developed a hosiery industry, producing stockings and similar items.[4] Hinckley played a prominent part in the English Civil War. Its proximity to several rival strongholds—the royalist garrisons at Ashby de la Zouch and Leicester, those of the Parliamentarians at Tamworth and Coventry, and the presence of parties of troops or brigands occupying several fortified houses in nearby Warwickshire—ensured frequent visits by the warring parties. The local townsfolk were forced to decide whether to declare their allegiances openly or attempt to remain neutral—with the risk of having to pay levies, ransoms, and fines to both sides. In March 1644, Hinckley was occupied by a group of Royalist troops, though they were soon driven out by a force of Parliamentarians, who took many prisoners.
The Civil War years were a particularly unsettled time for the clergy in and around Hinckley. Parsons with parliamentary leanings like Thomas Cleveland, the vicar of Hinckley, suffered sequestration by the Leicester County Committee, like some of his "malignant" neighbours accused of visiting royalist garrisons or preaching against Parliament.[5]
The town was visited by both parliamentary and royalists troops from the rival garrisons, particularly parliamentary troops from Tamworth, Coventry and Astley Castle in Warwickshire. Troops from Coventry garrison were particularly active in the town, taking horses and "free quarter" and availing themselves of 'dyett and Beere', and taking some of the inhabitants hostage for ransom. Royalist troops raided the town to threaten those with parliamentary sympathies. The notorious Lord Hastings of Ashby de la Zouch is recorded to have "coursed about the country as far as Dunton and Lutterworth and took near upon a hundred of the clergymen and others, and carried them prisoners … threatening to hang all them that should take the Parliament's Covenant". Parliamentary newsheets record that on the night of 4 March 1644, Hastings' men brought in "26 honest countrymen from several towns" intending to take them to Ashby de la Zouch, along with a huge herd of cattle, oxen and horses from the country people and a minister named Mr Warner. These prisoners were herded into Hinckley church and asked "in a jeering manner, 'Where are the Round-heads your brethren at Leicester? Why come they not to redeem you?'"
The Parliamentarians responded in a memorable "Skirmish or Great Victory for Parliament". Colonel Grey with 120 foot soldiers and 30 troopers from Bagworth House rushed to Hinckley and re-took the town, routed the Royalists, rescued the cattle and released their imprisoned countrymen. No doubt the inhabitants of the town were as relieved as any when Ashby finally surrendered, as Vicars records, "a great mercy and mighty preservation of the peace and tranquillity of all those adjacent parts about it."[6]
At the time of the first national census in 1801, Hinckley had a population of 5,158: twenty years later it had increased by about a thousand. The largest industry in the early 19th century was the making of hosiery and only Leicester had a larger output of stockings. In the district, it was estimated ca. 1830 that 6,000 persons were employed in this work.[7]
Castle Street is the first known location of 'Luddism', where disgruntled workers, replaced by machinery in their jobs, took sledgehammers to the machines.[8] Joseph Hansom built the first Hansom cab in Hinckley in 1835.
Hinckley became an urban district under the Local Government Act 1894, covering the ancient parish of Hinckley. In 1934, under a County Review Order, Hinckley urban district expanded to include the ancient parishes of Barwell, Burbage and Earl Shilton and most of Stoke Golding. In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 the Hinckley urban district was abolished, becoming an unparished area in the borough of Hinckley and Bosworth. Since then, the civil parishes of Barwell, Burbage, Earl Shilton and Stoke Golding have been re-established. The core urban area remained unparished.
Hollycroft, Middlefield, and Wykin are suburbs of Hinckley.
Burbage is often thought to be a suburb of Hinckley but is in fact separate. It is a large village merging with Hinckley to the south, separated by the railway line. Sketchley is another small village which has merged into Burbage.
Hinckley is a traditional centre of the hosiery industry. The first framework knitting machine was brought here by Joseph Iliffe in the 17th century and by the 19th century Hinckley was responsible for a large proportion of Britain's hosiery production. Since the Second World War the hosiery industry has steadily shrunk in size although several textile firms remain in the area[16]. Hinckley & District Museum, which is housed in a range of former framework knitters' cottages, tells the story of the hosiery industry and contains some examples of framework knitting machines. Hinckley also has a history of engineering and is home to the Triumph Motorcycle company.
Ultima Sports Ltd, a manufacturer of sports cars is based in Hinckley as is Paynes Garages Ltd,[17] one of the oldest family-owned Ford Motor Dealerships in the UK. Established by JA Payne in 1907, the firm became Ford Dealers in 1922. The business remains family owned with Nigel Payne, grandson of the founder, one of the current Directors.
The town's central location and good links to the UK motorway network have made it a popular location for distribution warehouses. Hammonds Furniture, a family owned nationwide fitted furniture company, was established in the town in 1926 by Thomas Hammonds, and currently employs over 850 people in its two Hinckley factories.
Hinckley is served by the A5 and the M69. The M69 links Hinckley to the nearest cities, Coventry, and Leicester, and the M1 and M6 motorways.
Hinckley railway station is on the Nuneaton–Leicester section of the Birmingham to Peterborough Line and has regular services between Birmingham and Leicester via Narborough and Nuneaton. Journeys to London can be made via the West Coast Main Line through Nuneaton or the Midland Main Line via Leicester. The terminus of the Midland route is London St Pancras which has become the home of Eurostar international services since November 2007.[18]
The nearest airports are Coventry, East Midlands and Birmingham International.
The town is equidistant (19 km/12 miles) from Coventry and Leicester and 8 km (5.0 mi) to the east of Nuneaton. The small town of Ibstock is 18 km (11 mi) to the north on the A447.
The A447 was by-passed around the town during the early 1990s when the Northern Perimeter Road (Normandy Way) was completed. As well as relieving congestion in the town centre, new commercial developments have been built along the route.
The local radio station, Gem 106, serves the town and the surrounding area. The main local newspaper is the weekly Hinckley Times, which has its own website. The daily Leicester Mercury no longer publishes a Hinckley edition. The free (advertising-funded) Hinckley Herald & Journal is distributed to most houses. Hinckley has its own community website and online news resource.[19] take5 community news is a full colour gloss community magazine distributed free to homes and businesses.[20]
There is a 400 seat theatre located near the centre of the town in Stockwell Head (Concordia Theatre), which holds regular productions. Further, the local council holds an annual 'Proms in The Park' event.[21]
Hinckley has one football team, Hinckley United,[22] who compete in the Conference North. Hinckley United was formed in 1997 from the amalgamation of Hinckley Town and Hinckley Athletic, and is known as the Knitters — a nickname that comes from the town's history as a textile-producing centre. In 2006, a Hinckley United player, Matt Gadsby, died during a match against Harrogate Town.
The only rugby club, Hinckley Rugby Football Club,[23] was formed in 1893 and has been based at the Leicester Road Sports ground since 1968. Hinckley RFC have been involved in league rugby since 1987, during which time the first team has been as high as National League 3 North (level 4). They currently reside in Midlands 1 (level 5).
The town's largest school, John Cleveland College, is noted for its many achievements on the rugby field and has produced many professional players, many of whom have gone on to play for England. These include England and Leicester Tigers legends Graham Rowntree and Dean Richards, as well as current pros Ollie Smith, Sam Vesty and Manu Tuilagi. Vesty is the most recent ex-JCC man to make his international bow, coming on as sub against Argentina at Old Trafford in June 2009.
There is also one basketball team—the Hinckley 69ers; a name derived from the town's proximity to the M69 motorway. It was founded in 1974 and has involved some staff, ex-students and current students of John Cleveland College, as well as other interested, local players, throughout most of its history. The team play in Division 2 of the Leicestershire men's amateur league, having been promoted in the 2007/08 season. The 2007/08 season was one of the team's best performances, with a cup win too. The team are based at John Cleveland College and have home games and training there every Friday at 7:00 pm.
Hollycroft Park, in the centre of Hinckley is recognised as a great area for sports—the park contains two tennis courts, a golf pitch n putt and a lawn bowls green with pavilion.
Hinckley has one high performance Gymnastics Club[24] based at Clarendon Park. In its 30 years of existence, it has never failed to have a number of its members competing for their home nations or for Great Britain.
Hinckleys longest established priviate fitness club is Empire Fitness (formally John's Gym), www.EmpireFitness.net
Hinckley Ladies Netball Club is based at Redmoor High School and has four senior teams in the Coventry and Warwickshire Netball League.
The main primary schools in the area are Battling Brook CP, Holliers Walk, Richmond, St. Peters Catholic, St. Mary's Church of England, Westfield Infant/Junior and Sketchley Hill Primary School. The high (secondary) schools include Mount Grace, Redmoor, St. Martins (in Stoke Golding) and Hastings (in Burbage)—all feeder schools for John Cleveland College, the main college in the town for Years 10 and 11. JCC also includes a Sixth Form, as does North Warwickshire & Hinckley College, a Further Education college. The only other major college in the area is William Bradford (Earl Shilton).
Hinckley was known to its residents for many years as "Tin 'At" (tin hat). It is reputed that, many years ago, one of the itinerant sheep drovers bragged that he could drink a hat full of ale. The local landlord put this man to the test by getting the local blacksmith to make a tin hat, which he then filled with ale. Thereafter, the town became known as "Tin 'At". Another explanation is that the people of Hinckley used to place buckets on water pumps to keep them clean and prevent the spread of illness, the bucket obviously being the "Tin 'At". A tin hat can be seen on top of the flag pole which sits on the roof of the building society at the corner of Castle Street and Market Place. There is also a pub called The Tin Hat.
Hinckley is twinned with Le Grand-Quevilly, France,[28] and joined with Herford, Germany in the early 1970s.[29] Hinckley is also twinned with Midland, Ohio, United States.
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