Groby
| Groby | |
 The village centre in 2005 |
|
  Groby Groby shown within Leicestershire | |
| Population | 7,301 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SK5207 |
| Civil parish | Groby |
| District | Hinckley and Bosworth |
| Shire county | Leicestershire |
| Region | East Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LEICESTER |
| Postcode district | LE6 |
| Police | Leicestershire |
| Fire | Leicestershire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
| |
Groby (pronounced "groo-bee") 
listen (help·info) is a large English village in the county of Leicestershire, to the north west of the city of Leicester. The population at the time of the 2001 census was 7,301.[1]
Description
The village has expanded vastly since the 1970s and is now part of the Leicester Urban Area. The southern side is dominated by new housing estates, built upon what was formerly farming land between the historic part of Groby and the neighbouring village of Glenfield. The old village centre still retains some character, with some cobbled lanes and thatched cottages. The church of St Philip and St James, built in the lancet style by George Harry Grey, the seventh Earl of Stamford, dates from 1840 and stands on the site of Groby Castle.[2] The architect was William Railton.[3] Few remains are left of the castle, other than a small hill in the ground to the east of the main church building, which is the original medieval motte, and the manor house (Groby Old Hall), the stone-built parts of which are thought to have been part of the castle's outer buildings.[2] In April 2010 archaeologists from the popular Channel 4 television show, Time Team excavated the area behind the old hall and the parish church. They were looking to unravel the history of Groby Castle, and found a lost medieval mansion with its own chapel, built round a courtyard. The episode was aired on 20 March 2011.
The ancient main street through the centre of the village running south to Leicester and north towards Coalville was classified as the A50 under the British road numbering scheme, but this road has now bypassed much of the village due to two road schemes in the 1980s and 90s. The village also has easy access to the A46 Leicester Western Bypass and the M1 (J22 North and J21a South).
A 2011 survey, using 60 sets of data from police, Land Registry, Ofsted and Office for National Statistics named the village as the best place in the East Midlands to bring up children.[4]
History
Groby was mentioned in Domesday Book of 1086, when it was described as having "land for 4 ploughs, 10 villagers with 1 Freeman and 5 smallholders have 3 ploughs...the value was 20s; now 60s."[5][6] The estate was held by the Ferrers family until 1445 when it passed to the Grey family. By 1800 the village had expanded with the population reaching 250, and by 1920 it had reached 1,000.[5] Employment in the village was largely in the local granite quarries and in farming.[5] In the mid 19th century, the whole village was owned by the Earl of Stamford, who had the church and the village school built,[5] the latter to replace the cottage in which local children had previously been taught. He also had Bradgate House built in the 1850s, this is a large country house to the north-west of the village. A later Earl sold part of the estate in 1925, including Bradgate House, which was demolished (although the ruins of its extravagant stable block remain), from which many villagers bought their homes.[5] Plots of land in the area were subsequently sold to builders, leading to a significant expansion of the village.[5]
Historically, the village is noted for its connection with two Queens of England. Groby Old Hall, built in the 15th century, was owned by the Grey family whose estate included Bradgate Park.[2] Sir John Grey of Groby married Elizabeth Woodville. After his death, in battle, she married Edward IV of England. Bradgate Park was the childhood home of Lady Jane Grey, who became Queen of England for nine days in 1553. The Grey family held the barony until it was forfeited in 1554. Thomas Grey, Lord Grey of Groby became MP for Leicester in 1641 and fought on the side of Parliament in the English Civil War. In 1649 Grey was the only aristocrat of the 59 signatories of the death warrant of Charles I.
There is no definitive explanation of the roots of the village's name, but its '-by' ending implies a link to Viking rule during the period of the Danelaw. Also, groo is a Viking word for pit, which may well refer to the quarry situated next to the village. The Domesday entry lists the village as 'Grobi'. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Placenames also shows the names Groubi or Groebi in the 12th century. Furthermore, it suggests the name is from a tarn perhaps with the Old Scandinavian name grōf; and that the Old Norse gróf means "a torrent and a gully formed by it." The dictionary also says, "It is identical with [ Gothic language ] gróba, [ Old High German ] grouba 'pit. hollow'."[7]
Groby in art and culture
The ancestral seat associated with the protagonist Christopher Tietjens in Ford Madox Ford's literary masterpiece about the First World War, Parade's End published in 1925 is named Groby Hall. The stately home, with an ancient tree growing in the grounds, is fictionally located in the Cleveland district of the North Riding of Yorkshire.[8]
- "Groby Great Tree was the symbol of Tietjens. For thirty miles round Groby they made their marriage vows by Groby Great Tree. In the other Ridings they said that Groby Tree and Groby Well were equal in height and depth one to the other. When they were really imaginatively drunk Cleveland villagers would declare — would knock you down if you denied — that Groby Great Tree was 365 foot high and Groby well 365 feet deep. A foot for every day of the year. . . . On special occasions — he could not himself be bothered to remember what — they would ask permission to hang rags and things from the boughs. Christopher said that one of the chief indictments against Joan of Arc had been that she and the other village girls of Domremy had hung rags and trinkets from the boughs of a cedar. Or maybe a thorn? Offering to fairies. . . . Christopher set great store by the tree. He was a romantic ass. Probably he set more store by the tree than by anything else at Groby. He would pull the house down if he thought it incommoded the tree."
- excerpted from the final novel "The Last Post"[9]
Tietjens is a form of the patronym Theodore,[10] as is Teddy and Tudor, the regal dynasty founded and legitimated by Sir John Grey of Groby's widow Elizabeth Woodville as dowager Queen mother-in-law to the illegitimate Earl of Richmond's eldest son Henry VII by her daughter Elizabeth of York.
Shopping
The village centre has a few shops, including a Co-op supermarket, Co-op Chemists, Pricegate, Chaplins (traditional family butcher), a bakery, greengrocers, Cathy Stevens Jewellery, Mark Jarvis, Wilson & Sons Newsagent, Barclays Bank, Santander branch and Flint. There is also a fish and chip shop as well as other takeaways, a pub (the Stamford Arms) and various other shops. The Lawnwood shopping parade has Henson's hardware shop, Greens sandwich shop and a hairdresser. There is a Budgens supermarket a few minutes away from the village centre.
Education
There are five schools, Lady Jane Grey Primary, Elizabeth Woodville Primary and Martinshaw County Primary, whilst Brookvale High School and Groby Community College are located on a campus to the west of the village, and attract students from Groby and surrounding villages including Ratby, Kirby Muxloe and Glenfield. There is also a very successful Scout troop based on the edge of Martinshaw Woods, named Chomolugma Explorer Scout Group.
Industry
The old quarry in the village centre is now an industrial estate - mostly owned by the company GE Sensing formerly Druck Ltd, which makes pressure transducers.
Groby Quarry is located on the narrow lane which leads through to Newtown Linford, and is still used to quarry granite. Lawn Wood Quarry, on the A50, is now largely disused and is being filled in with landfill.
Groby Pool
Groby Pool, an SSSI is located opposite Groby Quarry on Newtown Linford Lane. It is privately owned, by the owners of Pool House. However, there is a public car park and it is possible to walk along the side nearest the road, which has been opened. Feeding the ducks at Groby Pool has long been a tradition for local people. The pool has a strict no fishing rule.
Local villages and towns
- Leicester - the nearest city, 5 miles along the A50.
- Glenfield - 1 mile along the A50 towards Leicester, a village/suburb bordering the city.
- Newtown Linford (and Bradgate Park - small tourist "honeypot" in Charnwood); 2 miles away.
- Field Head - on A50 towards Markfield, part of Groby Parish.
- Markfield - 3 miles along A50 towards Coalville. M1 Junction 22.
- Ratby - 1/2 a mile away along Ratby Lane / Sacheverell Way, the other side of the M1.
- Anstey - Large village along Anstey Lane or A46 LWB.
- Kirby Muxloe -Village with unfinished castle of Lord Hastings, 3 miles South of Groby
Field Head
Groby Parish also includes most of the settlement of Field Head.
References
- ↑ "Census 2001 Parish Profile - Groby".
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Pevsner, Nikolaus (1960). Leicestershire and Rutland. The Buildings of England. Penguin Books. p. 115.
- ↑ Details from listed building database (188535) . Images of England. English Heritage.
- ↑ "Village is top for families". Leicester Mercury. 27 September 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 The Leicestershire & Rutland Village Book. Countryside Books. pp. 79–80. ISBN 1-85306-056-9.
- ↑ Morris, John et al (1979). The Domesday Book: Leicestershire. Phillimore & Co Ltd. p. 232a. ISBN 978-0-85033-332-9.
- ↑ Ekwall, E. (1980). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Placenames (4th ed.).
- ↑ http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700171h.html Online text of the first of four novels Some Do Not … at Project Gutenberg Australia
- ↑ http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?u=1&num=106&seq=110&view=image&size=100&id=mdp.39015003675355 Online text of The Last Post the third of four novels at Project Gutenberg Australia
- ↑ Theodore at Behind the Name database
External links
Media related to Groby at Wikimedia Commons