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Blaby () is a town in the
Blaby District Blaby is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Leicestershire, England. The district is named after the village of Blaby, although the council is based in Narborough, Leicestershire, Narborough. The district covers an area lyin ...
in central
Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
, England, some five miles south of
Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
city centre. At the time of the 2011 census, Blaby had a population of 6,194, falling slightly from 6,240 in 2001. Given Blaby's proximity to the city, it is part of the
Leicester Urban Area The Leicester Built Up Area (BUA), Leicester Urban Area, or Greater Leicester is an urban agglomeration defined by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), centred on the City of Leicester in the East Midlands, England. With a population of 559 ...
. Its name likely came from
Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
. ''Blábýr'' = "
farmstead A farmstead refers to the buildings and service areas associated with a farm. It consists of a house belonging to a farm along with the surrounding buildings. The characteristics of a specific farmstead reflect the local landscape, which provides ...
or village belonging to a man named Blár" (where the ''-r'' is a
case ending A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and numerals) that corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a nominal group in a wording. In various languages, nominal ...
). There seems to have been a dense patch of
Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...
settlement in
Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
, although some records in the Blaby Library indicate the origin of the village's name was from the first vicar. Blaby is twinned with the village of Villers-sous-Saint-Leu in France.


Buildings

While there are few buildings of outstanding historical or architectural interest, old Blaby is a conservation area. Old Blaby contains The Bakers Arms, a thatched public house that dates back to 1485. The other public houses to be found in Blaby are The Fox & Tiger, The Bulls Head and The Black Horse. The Tom Thumb and The Egyptian Queen have been demolished. Blaby is home to three schools: Blaby Stokes CE Primary School, Blaby Thistly Meadow Primary School, and Foxfields Academy.


Parks

To the south of the Bakers Arms stands Bouskell Park, with a 19th-century ice house. Other parks include Northfield Park, used for football, cricket, fetes and fairs, and Oakfield Park, located off Hospital Lane.


Shops

Most shops and amenities stand on the old A426 road between
Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
to the north and
Lutterworth Lutterworth is an historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Harborough District, Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwicks ...
to the south. Fosse Park shopping centre, the
M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...
, and the M69 motorway are a few miles away.


Surrounding area

Blaby gives its name to the
Blaby district Blaby is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Leicestershire, England. The district is named after the village of Blaby, although the council is based in Narborough, Leicestershire, Narborough. The district covers an area lyin ...
and previously to the
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
ary
constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
that was held by former
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...
Nigel Lawson Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby, (11 March 1932 – 3 April 2023) was a British politician and journalist. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Member of Parliament for Blaby in Leicestershire from 1974 to 1992, and served ...
between 1974 and 1992. Blaby is now part of the constituency of South Leicestershire and represented by Alberto Costa of the Conservative Party. There was a
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
on the Birmingham to Peterborough Line, but it closed in 1968. The " Blaby Special"
heirloom tomato An heirloom tomato (also called heritage tomato in the UK) is an open-pollinated, non-hybrid heirloom cultivar of tomato. They are classified as family heirlooms, commercial heirlooms, mystery heirlooms, or created heirlooms. They usually have ...
variety originates from the Shoults' Tomato Farm, which was located in Blaby from circa 1908 until 1948: the variety was thought to be extinct but was revived from a
seed bank A seed bank (also seed banks, seeds bank or seed vault) stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity; hence it is a type of gene bank. There are many reasons to store seeds. One is to preserve the genes that plant breeders need to increase yield, ...
in 2005.''Leicester Mercury'' 16 August 2010, Scientist puts Blaby Special tomatoes back on the menu
A new school was incorporated (Blaby Stokes C of E) to absorb the influx of children from families new to the village taking up residence in the new development.


Sport

Blaby is home to
rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
side, Leicester Lions, who play at the 2,000 capacity Westleigh Park.


People associated with Blaby

*
Richard Duke Richard Duke (13 June 1658 – 11 February 1711) was an English clergyman and poet, associated with the Tory writers of the Restoration era. Life He was born in London, son of Richard Duke, and was admitted to Westminster School in 1670. He ...
clergyman of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
* Lord Lawson of Blaby (former MP for Blaby, and also served as
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...
, under
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
) *
Tom Meighan Thomas Peter Meighan (; born 11 January 1981) is an English singer and musician. He the rock band Kasabian in 1997 and was its lead vocalist until 2020. With Meighan, Kasabian released six studio albums and enjoyed commercial success, includin ...
lead singer with
Kasabian Kasabian ( ) are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997 by lead vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and second vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff and bassist Chris Edwards. Drummer Ian Matthews joined in 2004. Karloff ...
(1997-2020)


References


External links


Parish council
{{authority control Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Leicestershire