Bagworth is a village and former
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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
, now in the parish of
Bagworth and Thornton
Bagworth and Thornton, formerly just Bagworth is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England, west of Leicester. The 2001 Census recorded a population of 1,836, increasing at the 2011 ...
, in the
Hinckley and Bosworth
Hinckley and Bosworth is a local government district with borough status in south-western Leicestershire, England, administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Its only towns are Hinckley, Earl Shilton and Market Bosworth. Villages in ...
district, in
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
, England, west of
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1568.
History
![Bagworth Colliery, 1990](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Bagworth_Colliery%2C_1990.jpg)
The village's name means 'the enclosure of Baecga'.
There are records of the
manor of Bagworth from the early 14th and early 15th centuries, when it was held by the same
feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...
lords as the neighbouring manor of
Thornton.
Bagworth Park is first recorded in 1279 under ownership of the Bishop of Durham. In 1318 Roger de Holland was given permission to fortify his property at Bagworth.
[Leicestershire Museums Archaeological fieldwork Group 2008, Monograph No 2, p.3] It is recorded under the ownership of Matilda Lovell in 1411. The Lovell family later sold the land to the Hastings family. Development of the site was granted to William, Lord Hastings by Edward IV in 1474 for "crenellation and emparkment of 2000 acres of land" along with the castle developments at Ashby de la Zouche and Kirby Muxloe but there is no indication of any building by Hastings on the site prior to his execution by Richard III in 1483. A later moated house was developed on the site by Sir Robert Banaster in 1616.
In 1761
Baron Maynard
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...
funded the building and endowment of a village school for Bagworth.
The then Viscount Maynard had the first shaft of Bagworth Colliery sunk in 1828 and, initially, the coal was carried to Leicester by road.
[Owen, C. (1984) ''The Leicestershire and South Derbyshire Coalfield, 1200-1900'' Ashbourne: Moorland Publishing Company Ltd.]
In 1832 the
Leicester and Swannington Railway
The Leicester and Swannington Railway (L&SR) was one of England's first railways, built to bring coal from West Leicestershire collieries to Leicester, where there was great industrial demand for coal. The line opened in 1832, and included a tun ...
was opened. It passed within of Bagworth and provided a railway station to serve the village at the foot of the rope-worked Bagworth
Incline
Incline, inclined, inclining, or inclination may refer to:
*Grade (slope), the tilt, steepness, or angle from horizontal of a topographic feature (hillside, meadow, etc.) or constructed element (road, railway, field, etc.)
*Slope, the tilt, steepn ...
, and a convenient connection to the colliery at the top of the incline.
[Clinker, C.R. (1977) ''The Leicester & Swannington Railway'' Bristol: Avon Anglia Publications & Services. Reprinted from the Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological Society Volume XXX, 1954.]
The
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 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 its headquarters. It am ...
took over the Leicester and Swannington in 1845 and built a gentler graded deviation line which bypassed the old incline and opened a new
Bagworth railway station north of the centre of the old village in 1849. The new station was renamed Bagworth and Ellistown in 1894 to reflect the nearby colliery village that had developed since
Ellistown
Ellistown is a village about south of Coalville in North West Leicestershire, England. It is named after Colonel Joseph Joel Ellis who died in 1885. The population from the 2011 census was included in the civil parish of Ellistown and Battlef ...
colliery was sunk in 1873.
British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
ways withdrew passenger services from the line and closed the station in September 1964. The railway remains open for freight.
Bagworth Colliery was connected underground to Nailstone Colliery in 1966. There the coal was raised, washed, and transported by train back along a branch line to interchange sidings next to the site of Bagworth and Ellistown station. In 1980 the branch line from Nailstone colliery was replaced by a conveyor belt which transported the coal to a rapid loader to the north of the site of Bagworth and Ellistown station. The colliery closed in 1991 when economic reserves were exhausted and the rapid loader was demolished.
In the 1990s BR planned to restore
Leicester to Burton upon Trent Line
Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the Nati ...
passenger services through Bagworth as the second phase of its
Ivanhoe Line project. However, after the
privatisation of British Rail
The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the industr ...
in 1995 this phase of the project was discontinued. In 2009 the
Association of Train Operating Companies
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), previously the Association of Train Operating Companies, is the British rail industry membership body that brings together passenger and freight rail companies, Network Rail and High Speed 2.
History
From 24 Oc ...
published a £49 million proposal to restore passenger services to the line that would include reopening a station at Bagworth.
On 1 April 1935 the parish of
Thornton was merged with Bagworth, on 13 August 2001 the parish was renamed "Bagworth & Thornton".
Chapels
![Holy Rood Bagworth - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Holy_Rood_Bagworth_-_geograph.org.uk_-_174536.jpg)
The
Chapel of the Holy Rood, Bagworth was a
dependent chapelry of the
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
of Saint Peter, Thornton. In 1848 Holy Rood was described as having a
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
door and that its walls bore the date 1637. In 1873 the entire church except for the tower was rebuilt in granite with limestone dressings, with
buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
es banded with red brick and
blue vitrified brick. In the 20th century the
Victorian church and medieval tower suffered subsidence so in 1968 they were demolished. They were replaced with a new modern church building that is unusual in being built of
CLASP prefabricated concrete panels. This building decayed fairly rapidly and was unused for a number of years before its demolition in 2019. The site has now been grassed over. The graveyard and a few relics of the earlier church remain.
Holy Rood is now part of the Church of England parish of Thornton Bagworth and
Stanton, which is part of a 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 ...
with the parishes of
Copt Oak
Copt Oak is a place in Leicestershire in England. It is in the North West Leicestershire district, near Bawdon Lodge, Charley and Ulverscroft.
In its name, ''cop'' is an old English word for ''head'', i.e. " eeaded oak" = "pollarded oak".
Fe ...
and
Markfield
Markfield is a large village in both the National Forest and Charnwood Forest and in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. The settlement dates back to at least the time of the Norman conquest and is mentioned in th ...
.
By 1848 Bagworth had also a
General Baptists
General Baptists are Baptists who hold the ''general'' or unlimited atonement view, the belief that Jesus Christ died for the entire world and not just for the chosen elect. General Baptists are theologically Arminian, which distinguishes them from ...
' chapel.
Amenities
Bagworth had a
public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
, The Maynard, opposite the former railway station. It was closed in 2008 due to a fire and has since been demolished to make way for development of a shop and houses. There were also 2 other public houses in Bagworth and they were The Barrel (closed in 1980s and demolished) and The Rose and Crown which is a private residence having closed in the first half of the 20th century.
Bagworth Heath Woods is nearby.
References
Sources
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External links
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{{authority control
Villages in Leicestershire
Former civil parishes in Leicestershire
Hinckley and Bosworth