Hugglescote is a village on the

River Sence The River Sence is a river which flows in Leicestershire, England. The tributaries of the Sence, including the Saint and River Tweed, Leicestershire, Tweed, fan out over much of western Leicestershire from Charnwood Forest and Coalville in th ...

North West Leicestershire North West Leicestershire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Leicestershire, England. The towns in the district include of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Castle Donington, Coalville, Leicestershire , Coalville (where the council is b ...

, England. The village is about south of the centre of

Coalville Coalville is a town in the district of North West Leicestershire in Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. In 2011, it had a population of 34,575. It lies on the A511 road, A511 between Leicester and Burton upon Trent, close to junct ...

, and its built-up area is now contiguous with the town. Hugglescote and

Donington le Heath Donington le Heath is a village on the River Sence just over south of the centre of Coalville in North West Leicestershire. Donington is contiguous with the village of Hugglescote immediately to the east. The population of the village is incl ...

were part of the parish of

Ibstock Ibstock is a former coal mining village and civil parish in North West Leicestershire, England. The population of the civil parish was 5,760 at the 2001 census increasing to 6,201 at the 2011 census and 7,615 at the 2021 census. The village i ...

until 1878, when they were formed into a separate

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 ...

. Against local belief, Hugglescote is not classed as Coalville. The civil parish of Hugglescote and Donington le Heath was reinstated by an order made in May 2010, and the new parish council held its first meeting in May 2011.

Manor

The manor was held by Hugh le Despencer in 1217 and was in various hands until 1464 when the king granted it to William Hastings. In 1463 William Beaumont, 2nd Viscount Beaumont held the manors of Donington and Hugglescote. However, in the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fo ...

Beaumont had fought for the

House of Lancaster The House of Lancaster was a cadet branch of the royal House of Plantagenet. The first house was created when King Henry III of England created the Earldom of Lancasterfrom which the house was namedfor his second son Edmund Crouchback in 1267 ...

so he was

attainder In English criminal law, attainder was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary titles, but ...

ed and

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

granted Donington and Hugglescote to the

Yorkist The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, th ...

courtier

William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings (c. 1431 – 13 June 1483) was an English nobleman. A loyal follower of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses, he became a close friend and one of the most important courtiers of King Edward IV, ...

. As of 1831 the Marquis of hastings was lord of the manor. The Hastings family's

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

has been lost. It had a

formal garden A formal garden is a garden with a clear structure, geometric shapes and in most cases a symmetrical layout. Its origin goes back to the gardens which are located in the desert areas of Western Asia and are protected by walls. The style of a form ...

in which a red brick building was erected in about 1700 and altered in about 1820. The building survives but part of its stone slate roof has collapsed.

Church and chapels

Church of England

There was an old Church of England

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

in Dennis Street which was replaced by a Georgian chapel of Saint James in 1776. Hugglescote's population outgrew the chapel and so the present

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 Saint

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

was built on a new site in Grange Road and consecrated in 1879. St. John's is a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

building designed by the architect J. B. Everard in an Early English style. The first vicar, Canon H. E. Broughton, was installed in 1878 and died in office in 1924. He is commemorated by a

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

installed in St. John's in 1937 and a nearby road-name, Broughton Street. St. John's is built largely of local materials: Charnwood granite

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

Swithland Swithland is a linear village in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. The civil parish population was put at 230 in 2004 and 217 in the 2011 census. It is in the old Charnwood Forest, between Cropston, Woodhous ...

slate, Ibstock brick and Coalville ceramic floor tiles. 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 ...

has five-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

arcades with

Shap Shap is a village and civil parish located among fells and isolated dales in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. The village is in the historic county of Westmorland. The parish had a population of 1,221 in 2001, increasing slightly to ...

granite

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

and a

clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

with paired

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

s. St. John's has a

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

al south chapel and a central belltower over the crossing. The building was extended in 1887. The 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, all cast by

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 ...

in 1900. St. John's 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 ...

St. John's has an

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

chalice A chalice (from Latin 'cup', taken from the Ancient Greek () 'cup') is a drinking cup raised on a stem with a foot or base. Although it is a technical archaeological term, in modern parlance the word is now used almost exclusively for the ...

dating from 1575 and a parish chest from the former chapel. The parish registers date from 1564. St. John's is the largest place of worship in the area, seating some 600 people. It is now part of a combined

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

with the parishes of

Ellistown Ellistown is a village about south of Coalville in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. It is named after Colonel Joseph Joel Ellis who died in 1885. The village is in the civil parish of Ellistown and Battlefl ...

and Snibston.

Methodist

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

chapel in Station Road was completed in 1831 and extended in 1891. It is now Hugglescote

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Church.

Baptist

Hugglescote had a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

chapel in Dennis Street. The building is now closed but the Baptist congregation continues to worship in Hugglescote Community Primary School.

Economic and social history

A few historic cottages survive in Dennis Street. 26 and 28 Dennis Street are two timber-framed cottages, one of which has the date 1583 on a

collar beam A collar beam or collar is a horizontal member between two rafters and is very common in domestic roof construction. Often a collar is structural but they may be used simply to frame a ceiling. A collar beam is often called a collar tie but this ...

and thus dates from the period that

W. G. Hoskins William George Hoskins (22 May 1908 – 11 January 1992) was an English local historian who founded the first university department of English Local History. His great contribution to the study of history was in the field of landscape history. ...

identified as the Great Rebuilding of England. The gable end has collar and tie beams and queen struts. The building was extended eastwards in 1761. In 1960 Hoskins considered the original part of the building to be the oldest dated cottage in a Leicestershire village. 16 Dennis Street is a timber-framed cottage with brick nogging that was mainly built in the 17th century, although the original part of the cottage was built in 1590, and has some alterations from the 19th or late 18th centuries. The staircase is in a semicircular extension at the rear of the cottage. 15 Dennis Street is a cottage built of brick with a Swithland slate roof and the date 1757 on a brick over the front door. The soil is in some parts of clay but in others a light sandy loam. In 1831 the number of houses was 127 and the population 683. Farmland in the township was

enclosed Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...

in 1774. In 1945 this estate was sold by Brigadier C. L. O. Tayleur. By 1848 Donington and Hugglescote had a National School. It moved into a new building completed in 1862, and an infants' school was added in 1883. The 1862 and 1883 buildings are now Hugglescote Community Centre.Hugglescote Community Centre
/ref> Construction of the Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway began in 1869 and it opened in 1873. The ANJR had a branch from through Hugglescote to . Hugglescote railway station had a junction to the north of it added in 1883, when the

Charnwood Forest Railway The Charnwood Forest Railway was a branch line in Leicestershire constructed by the Charnwood Forest Company between 1881 and 1883. The branch line ran from Coalville (joined from the Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway (ANJR)) to the town of Lou ...

opened from here to . The

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...

absorbed both lines in the 1923 grouping and withdrew passenger services from both lines in 1931. Nationalisation in 1948 made the lines part of

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, which withdrew freight services from the Charnwood Forest line in 1963 and from the Ashby and Nuneaton line in 1971.

Notable residents

The

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

ist, Henry Dennis (1818–87) lived in Hugglescote for forty years and is buried in the old Baptist Cemetery off Grange Road: Dennis Street is named after him. In the same cemetery is the tomb of William Stenson (1770–1861), the mining engineer and founder of

Whitwick Whitwick is a large village and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England, some two miles north of Coalville in the northwest of the county. It lies in an ancient parish which formerly included the equall ...

Colliery, who has sometimes been described as "the father of Coalville".

Amenities

Hugglescote now has a Community Primary School. The buildings of its former National School (see above) are now a community centre. The village has one

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

:, The Gate Inn. It has also a

working men's club Working men's clubs are British private social clubs first created in the 19th century in industrial areas, particularly the North of England, Midlands, Scotland, Northern Ireland and South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education ...

.Hugglescote Social Club
/ref> Roberts Travel Group are based on Midland Road within the village and provide the local bus service connecting the village with

and

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England, administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughborough, and is about halfway between L ...

References

Sources

* *

Gallery

Hugglescote StJohnBaptist west.JPG, West front of St. John the Baptist parish church Hugglescote StJohnBaptist southeast.JPG, St. John the Baptist parish church from the southeast Hugglescote WesleyanChapel CompletionStone.JPG, 1851 completion stone on Hugglescote Methodist church Hugglescote WesleyanChapel FireInsuranceMark.JPG, Norwich Union fire insurance mark on Hugglescote Methodist church

External links

{{authority control Villages in Leicestershire North West Leicestershire District Coalville