Twycross is a small 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

Hinckley and Bosworth Hinckley and Bosworth is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with borough status in Leicestershire, England. The council is based in Hinckley, the largest town. The borough also includes the town of Earl Shilton and numerous v ...

district, 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 ...

, England, on the A444 road.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Situated in the far west of the county and close to the

North Warwickshire North Warwickshire is a local government district with borough status in Warwickshire, England. The borough includes the two towns of Atherstone (where the council is based) and Coleshill, and the large villages of Hartshill, Kingsbury, Ma ...

border, the population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 850. The civil parish includes the villages of Norton Juxta Twycross and Orton on the Hill and the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

s of Little Orton and Little Twycross, as well as Twycross Zoo, and the selective, private Twycross House School. The Twycross Cricket Club is a village club with a 1st and 2nd XI who play in the Leicestershire Senior League. It also has a Sunday XI which plays many friendly games throughout the season. The 1st team XI play regularly in the Premier division, whilst the 2nd team XI play in division 3, which hosts a 1st team and 2nd teams while also holding a Sunday friendly team. It has a youth set-up with under-15, under-13, and under-11 teams. The church of St. James contains the oldest stained glass in England, originally from

Sainte-Chapelle The Sainte-Chapelle (; ) is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine in Paris, France. Construction b ...

, Saint-Denis, and Le Mans Cathedral. The earliest glass is from Saint-Denis, the panels having been presented to William IV who gave them to Earl Howe, who got the glazier Thomas Willement to arrange and install them in the church during its restoration in the 1840s. Twycross is the home of Rare, a video game developer owned by

Xbox Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, fo ...

History

"A Dictionary of British Place Names", by A. D. Mills, says it was recorded as ''Tvicros'' 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 ...

, from Old English ''twī cros'', a place with 'two crosses'. The owners of the estate, listed in the Domesday book, 1086AD, were: Tenant-in-chief in 1086: Henry of Ferrers. Lord in 1086: Nigel (of Stafford). The A444 connects it to

Burton-on-Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

and

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

and the B4116/ B4114 to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. These two routes cross each other, but share a common route through part of the village, in effect a staggered crossroads. On 1 April 1935 the parishes of Gopsall, Norton juxta Twycross and Orton on the Hill were merged with Twycross.

References

External links

Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Leicestershire Hinckley and Bosworth {{Leicestershire-geo-stub