Gilmorton is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

about northeast of

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 ...

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. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 976.

Manor

The

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 records the village, when its population was about 140. The

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

may be derived from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

: ''gilden'' (or ''gylden'') meaning "golden", and ''morton'', "town on the moor". In 1303, Roger de Martivall was permitted to alienate land and property at Noseley, Gilmorton, and Stretton to create an income for four chaplains at a chantry chapel at Noseley.

Parish church

The

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

of All Saints has a 14th- and 15th-century tower, but it and its spire were rebuilt in 1909. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, aisles and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

were rebuilt in 1860–61, and the south porch was built in 1897. Burlison and Grylls made the stained glass for the east window of the chancel in 1878. Shrigley and Hunt made the stained glass for the Lady Chapel in 1896. Kempe and Kempe made all the other stained glass for the church between 1884 and 1906. All Saints' is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The west tower has a

ring (The) Ring(s) may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...

of eight bells. Thomas I Eayre of

Kettering Kettering is a market town, market and industrial town, industrial town in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, west of Cambridge, England, Cambridge, southwest of Peterborough, southeast of Leicester and north- ...

cast the sixth bell in 1738 and the tenor in 1749. Joseph Eayre of

St Neots St NeotsPronunciation of the town name: Most commonly, but variations that ''saint'' is said as in most English non-georeferencing speech, the ''t'' is by a small minority of the British pronounced and higher traces of in the final syllable ...

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

, cast the fourth bell in 1766.

John Taylor & Co John Taylor Bell Foundry (Loughborough) Limited, trading as John Taylor & Co and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell (instrument), bell foundry. It is locat ...

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

cast the seventh bell in 1861, the fifth bell in 1871, and the treble, second, and third bells in 1909 when the tower was rebuilt.

Economic and social history

The ( 17 Geo. 3. c. ''122'' ) enclosed common land in the parish. A

tower mill A tower mill is a type of vertical windmill consisting of a brick or stone tower, on which sits a wooden 'cap' or roof, which can rotate to bring the sails into the wind.Medieval science, technology, and medicine: an encyclopedia (2005), 520 Thi ...

at Gilmorton was built early in the 19th century. The brick tower survives and has been restored, but neither the cap nor any machinery survives. In the 1890s, the

Great Central Main Line The Great Central Main Line (GCML), also known as the London Extension is a former main line railway in the United Kingdom. The line was opened in 1899, built by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR), which had been renamed t ...

from south to

London Marylebone Marylebone station ( ) is a London station group, Central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster. On the National Rail network, it is also known as London Marylebone a ...

was built through the west of Gilmorton parish, passing west of the village. It opened in 1899, with the nearest station being at northwest of the village, and Lutterworth railway station slightly further away to the southwest. In 1942, RAF Bruntingthorpe was opened just east of the parish. In 1953, its main runway was extended by , bringing it into Gilmorton parish and within of the village. The air station was decommissioned in 1962, sold for civilian use in 1965, and is now

Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome and Proving Ground is a privately owned former airport near the village of Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire to the south of Leicester. It was opened as RAF Bruntingthorpe in 1942. History The aerodrome was originally ...

. The M1 motorway extension from Crick, Northamptonshire, north to

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

was built parallel with the Great Central Main Line and just east of it, starting in 1965 and opening in 1968. A 1963 '' The Reshaping of British Railways'' report recommended that

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

ways close the railway, which it did in 1969.

Amenities

Gilmorton has three pubs: the Crown Inn, the Grey Goose, and Mortons, as well as a Village Hall, and a combined Village Store, Post Office, and Tea Room. Gilmorton Chandler Church of England primary school serves Gilmorton and six neighbouring parishes.Gilmorton Chandler C of E Primary School
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References

Sources and further reading

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External links

Gilmorton Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Harborough District