East Leake

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Coordinates: 52°49′45″N 1°11′00″W / 52.829167°N 1.183333°W

East Leake
St Marys church
East Leake East Leake shown within Nottinghamshire
Population	7,000
OS grid reference	SK5501726086
Civil parish	East Leake
District	Rushcliffe
Shire county	Nottinghamshire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LOUGHBOROUGH
Postcode district	LE12
Dialling code	01509
Police	Nottinghamshire
Fire	Nottinghamshire
Ambulance	East Midlands
EU Parliament	East Midlands
List of places UK England Nottinghamshire

East Leake /ˈiːst ˈliːk/ is a large village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district of Nottinghamshire, England, although its closest town and postal address is Loughborough across the border in Leicestershire. It has a population of around 7,000. The original village was located on the Sheepwash Brook. Kingston Brook also runs through the village. Near the centre of the village is the historic St. Mary's Church^[1] which dates back to the 11th century. The church has six bells.^[2]

One of the earliest mentions of East Leake is in the Domesday book recorded as 'Leche.' The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning wet land, since the village lies on the Kingston Brook, a tributary of the River Soar.

British Gypsum, a plasterboard manufacturer, has its headquarters in the village.^[3] The manufacturing of plasterboard began in this area in about 1880.

Name

The origin of Leake appears to be Laeke (Old Norse - brook or stream), and is consistent with East Leake's position in the heart of the Danelaw, which had various forms over time before becoming "Leake".

Local amenities

3 schools
- Brookside primary school^[4]
- Lantern Lane primary school^[5]
- East Leake Academy (secondary school)
Leisure centre with swimming pool
Three pubs (Nag's Head, Three Horseshoes and Bull's Head)
Co-op supermarket
Post office
A variety of other small shops
Police station
Fire station
Amateur theatre group (elaps)^[6]
Folk Club (ELFS - East Leake FolkieS)
Cricket, Football, Rugby and Bowls clubs
"Meadow Park", a local nature reserve used by dog-walkers and cyclists^[7]
East Leake pre-school play group a registered charity which provides term time play group facilities
2nd East Leake Scouts

Transport

East Leake lies close to the A60 and A6006 major roads and within 5 miles of the M1 motorway. Nottingham City Transport operate a frequent (15mins at peak times) bus service (no. 1) between Nottingham and Loughborough under the "South Notts" brand. An East Leake railway station used to exist, on the Great Central Railway. That line was controversially broken up in the Beeching Axe of the 1960s. The stretch from the point where the Great Central crossed the Midland Main Line through East Leake to Ruddington was retained to allow freight trains to travel to British Gypsum's works and to the MoD ordnance depot at Ruddington, but later fell into disuse. More recently this stretch has been re-opened as a heritage line running steam and heritage diesel locos between Ruddington and Rushcliffe Halt. In the long term, the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) hope to reinstate a passenger service from East Leake station, although the fact that the area alongside the station has been redeveloped for housing would preclude the provision of public car parking in the area of the station.

Churches

There are five churches in the village:

St. Mary's Parish Church (Church of England within the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham).
Our Lady of the Angels Roman Catholic Church^[8]
East Leake Methodist Church^[9]
East Leake Baptist Church^[10]
East Leake Evangelical Church (meets in the Village Hall)^[11]

Neighbouring villages

References

Publications

Sidney Pell Potter, A History of East Leake, published in 1903. Potter was the rector at the time.

External links

Media related to East Leake at Wikimedia Commons

Bluebells in Colonel's Covert

Kingston Brook at East Leake

Pinfold

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