Worthington 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 ...

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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, about north of the town 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 a similar distance north-east of the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

Ashby-de-la-Zouch Ashby-de-la-Zouch (), also spelled Ashby de la Zouch, is a market town and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England, near to the Derbyshire and Staffordshire borders. Its population at the 2021 census was ...

. The population of the civil parish (including

Gelsmoor Gelsmoor is a hamlet within the parish of Worthington in the English county of Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottingh ...

, Griffydam and Newbold) at the 2011 census was 1,461. The village is about from

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in Castle Donington, England. The airport is situated between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is to the south and Lincoln, England, Lincoln northeast. It serves the maj ...

and junction 23a of 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 ...

where it meets the A42 road. The parish also includes 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 ...

Newbold Newbold may refer to: Places ;United Kingdom * Newbold, Derbyshire, England ** Newbold Community School * Newbold, Harborough, Leicestershire, England ** Owston and Newbold, civil parish in Harborough, Leicestershire * Newbold, North West Leices ...

History

Worthington's

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 derive from the family name "Werden" or a man called "Weorth". 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

Henry de Ferrers Henry de Ferrers (died by 1100), magnate and administrator, was a Normans, Norman who after the 1066 Norman conquest of England, Norman conquest was awarded extensive lands in England. Origins He was the eldest son of Vauquelin de Ferrers and i ...

as holding four

carucate The carucate or carrucate ( or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms of tax assessment. ...

s of land at "Werditone". 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 ...

Saint Matthew Matthew the Apostle was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. According to Christian traditions, he was also one of the four Evangelists as author of the Gospel of Matthew, and thus is also known as Matthew the Evangelist. The claim of his g ...

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

.Pevsner, 1960, page 268 Most of its present windows were added in the 13th century and the remainder were added in about 1300. Fragments remain of a

Perpendicular Gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...

screen that was added later in the Middle Ages. St. Matthew's is now part of the United

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 ...

of Breedon and Worthington. The parish lock-up is believed to have been built late in the 18th century. It is an octagonal building with an octagonal spire but is called the Round House. It is built of brick and is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

. Worthington

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 ...

Chapel was built in 1820. In 1874 the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

extended its Melbourne branch through Worthington parish to and opened Worthington railway station to serve the village. The Midland's successor 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 ...

withdrew the line's passenger service in the 1930s and

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 closed the line to freight traffic in 1980. Worthington Primary school opened in about 1926. The school use an image of the 'Round House' as their logo which was created by Michael Colley, a local resident and landlord of the local pub the Malt shovel. He created the design in the early 1990s which substantially became the village logo. The parish was predominantly rural until the 20th century, when the village was rapidly expanded to house workers for nearby collieries including New Lount Colliery. By the 1990s many of the local collieries had ceased operating and the village began to lose its mining identity. Local nicknames for Worthington have included "Paraffin City" due to its late adoption of electricity, and "Yawny Box" which is an obsolete Derbyshire word for a donkey.

Amenities

Worthington has a

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 Malt Shovel Inn.http://www.marstonspubcompany.co.uk/pubs/view/1522
Marston Pub Company: Malt Shovel Inn
/ref> It used to have another pub called the Swan. The village has a post office.

National Cycle Route 6 Route Parts of the route are currently incomplete and some sections follow other routes. London to Milton Keynes The proposed route is to begin in central London, running from via Paddington railway station to the Grand Union Canal. The ...

passes through the parish, and at the site of the former railway station it joins the trackbed of the former railway to

Melbourne, Derbyshire Melbourne () is a market town and civil parish in South Derbyshire, England. It was home to Thomas Cook, founder of Thomas Cook & Son, the eponymous travel agency, and has a street named after him. It is south of Derby and from the River Trent ...

. In the parish the cycle route is called the Cloud Trail. The parish is in the hunting country of the

Quorn Hunt The Quorn Hunt, usually called the Quorn, established in 1696, is one of the world's oldest fox hunting packs and claims to be the United Kingdom's most famous hunt. Its country is mostly in Leicestershire, together with some smaller areas of ...

Notes

Sources and further reading

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External links

St Matthew’s Worthington
parish website {{authority control Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Leicestershire North West Leicestershire District