Hathern 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 ...

in the Charnwood district of

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 village itself is located in the north of the district, and is just north of

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 ...

. It is served by the A6. The parish has a population of about 1,800. Nearby places are Dishley,

Long Whatton Long Whatton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Long Whatton and Diseworth, in the North West Leicestershire district, in the Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England, English county of Leicestershire. It is ...

, and Zouch, over the border in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

. Residents of the village have, in recent years, campaigned to prevent the green "wedge" separating Loughborough,

Shepshed Shepshed (often known until 1888 as ''Sheepshed'', also ''Sheepshead'' – a name derived from the village being heavily involved in the wool industry) is a market town and civil parish in the Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England with ...

and Hathern from being built on. The village is home to the Swift Sock Factory, one of only a small number of independent

sock A sock is a piece of clothing worn on the feet and often covering the ankle or some part of the Calf (leg), calf. Some types of shoes or boots are typically worn over socks. In ancient times, socks were made from leather or matted animal hair. ...

manufacturers left in the UK. UK Hathern

Notable residents

John Heathcoat (1783–1861), inventor and industrialist, operated a textile mill in Hathern (where, in 1808–9, he invented the bobbin net machine, for weaving a lace-like hexagonal net), before moving his business first to Loughborough, and later to Tiverton, Devon.

History

A settlement probably existed here in the Saxon period but the first written record was in 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 ...

where it was called Avederne, Old English for hawthorne. Prominent in the centre of the village is Hathern cross, dating from the 14th century. Like most villages in this part of the country, farming and framework knitting were major sources of employment. The parish church dates mainly from the 14th century although a place of worship probably existed on the site in earlier times. An ancient font, one of the oldest in the county is regularly used for

baptisms Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

References

External links

Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Leicestershire Borough of Charnwood {{Leicestershire-geo-stub