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Hinckley in Leicester County England History and GeographyHINCKLEY, a parish comprising the market town of Hinckley, the chapelries of Dadlington and Stoke-Golding, and the hamlet of Wykin, in the hundred of SPARKENHOE, county of LEICESTER, and the hamlet of Hydes-Pastures in the southern division of the hundred of KNIGHTLOW, county of WARWICK, and containing, exclusively of Hydes-Pastures, 6706 inhabitants, of which number, 5835 are in the town of Hinckley, 13 miles (S.W. by W.) from Leicester, and 100 (N.W. by N.) from London. This place was created a barony soon after the Conquest, and held by Hugh de Grentismenil, seneschal of England in the reigns of William Rufus and Henry I., who erected a stately castle and a church, and founded a small priory of Benedictine monks, which, prior to 1173, was given as a cell to the abbey of Lyra, in Normandy, by Robert Blanchmaines, Earl of Leicester: having fallen into the hands of the crown, Richard II. gave it to the Carthusian priory of Montgrace, in Yorkshire, to which it was finally annexed by Henry V., and, on the dissolution of that priory, it was granted to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. Under its ancient lords this town had all the privileges of a borough; but the inhabitants taking part with the house of Lancaster in the civil war of the fifteenth century, their privileges were annulled by Edward IV. Leland mentions the ruins of the castle (which in the time of Henry VIII., the period at which he wrote, belonged to the crown, but which had previously belonged to the Earl of Leicester), as being situated two miles from the town of Leicester, on the borders of the forest, and as being spacious and celebrated. The assizes for the county were formerly held here. The town stands close to the border of Warwickshire, from which county it is separated by the Roman Watling-street; and so elevated is its situation, that it commands a view of fifty churches. It comprises the Borough, within the limits of the ancient town, and the Bond, without those limits. The houses are indifferently built, the town is paved but not lighted, and is well supplied with water: the walks and views are pleasant and extensive. A permanent subscription library, including a news. room, has lately been established. The waste lands were enclosed in 1760, and one-seventh of the lordship allotted to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. The town has derived great benefit from the introduction of the stocking manufacture, which is now so extensive that a greater quantity of cotton and worsted hose, particularly the former, of the coarser kind, is supposed to be made here than in any other town of equal size in the kingdom: the number of frames in the town and villages adjacent is computed at two thousand five hundred, affording employment to nearly three thousand persons. It possesses a commercial communication with all parts of the kingdom by means of the Ashby canal, which traverses the south-western part of the parish. The market is on Monday; and fairs are held annually on the lst, 2d, and 3rd Mondays after January 6th, Easter-Monday, the Monday before Whitsuntide, and also on Whit-Monday, on August 26th, and the Monday after October 28th: the last is a cheese fair, and the rest are for horses, cattle, and sheep. The town is under the government of a mayor, or bailiff, a constable, and two headboroughs, chosen at the annual court leet of the lord of the manor: the Bond, or Bound, is under that of a constable and three headboroughs. There is also a townmaster, chosen at the church on the Tuesday in Easter week, who is empowered, in conjunction with his predecessor in the office, to audit annually the accounts of the trustees of the feoffment. In 1764, Shuckburgh Ashby, Esq. gave up to the town the tolls on corn and hogs, in order that they might be abolished. The town-hall was rebuilt in 1303, by means of funds arising from what is called the Feoffment benefaction. A bridewell was erected in 1768, the magistrates at the sessions allowing £25 towards the expense, and the remainder being paid by the overseers of the poor. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Leicester, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £9. 9. 9½., and in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a spacious edifice, erected chiefly in the thirteenth century, with a tower and finely-proportioned spire, the latter built in 1788: this church underwent a thorough repair, and had new windows inserted, and an organ erected, in 1808, at an expense of £500, raised by subscription, and it has recently received an addition of three hundred and forty free sittings, towards defraying the expense of which, the Incorporated Society for enlarging churches and chapels contributed £200. Of the several chapels of ease which formerly belonged to the church, only that of Dadlington remains, the chapelry having a distinct parochial rate. There are places of worship for General Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, and Unitarians, and a Roman Catholic chapel. On the dissolution of the Catholic college at Douay, in Flanders, some years ago, the institution was re-established here: it has a library, and there are funds for the support of two clergymen as tutors, several foreign students being now on the establishment. A National school was established in 1821, and is supported from the funds belonging to the Feoffment benefaction; and an infant school has been recently established, which is supported by subscription. At a short distance from Hinckley, on the road to Lutterworth, is a spring called Holy Well, and in the neighbourhood are good mineral waters, at Cogg's well, Christopher's spa, and the Priest hills. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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