Narborough is a large 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
in the
Blaby district of
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, around southwest 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 ...
. The population of the civil parish (including Littlethorpe) was 8,498.
The name is derived from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''north burh'', meaning "north fort or stronghold". At the
2001 Census, the parish had a population of 8,402.
Surrounding villages include
Enderby,
Whetstone,
Littlethorpe,
Cosby, and
Huncote
Huncote is a village and civil parish in the district of Blaby in the county of Leicestershire, England. It is just west of Narborough, and is on the Thurlaston Brook.
The place-name Huncote is the etymological root of the American surnames ...
.
Location
Narborough is situated on or near several major transport corridors. The
M1 motorway
The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which lat ...
passes through the east of Narborough, and the Leicester to
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
railway line runs beside the
River Soar
The River Soar () is a major tributary of the River Trent in the English East Midlands and is the principal river of Leicestershire. The source of the river is midway between Hinckley and Lutterworth. The river then flows north through Leicest ...
on its way through the village. Coventry Road in the village centre runs along the course of the
Fosse Way
The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis (Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bath), Corini ...
(Roman road), which then joins back onto the present course of the B4114 link from Birmingham to Leicester.
Narborough is often split into two distinct parts, the (old) village core to the South and the newer Pastures estate to the north east. These areas are separated by the B4114 which runs through the middle of the two areas.
Transport
Bus
Narborough is served by
Arriva Midlands
Arriva Midlands is a bus operator providing services in the East Midlands and West Midlands areas of England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus.
Arriva Midlands North Operations
In September 1981 Midland Red North was formed with 230 bus ...
services 50 and X84 both linking the village with
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
,
Enderby,
Croft
Croft may refer to:
Occupations
* Croft (land), a small area of land, often with a crofter's dwelling
* Crofting, small-scale food production
* Bleachfield, an open space used for the bleaching of fabric, also called a croft
Locations In the Uni ...
,
Fosse Shopping Park
Fosse Shopping Park is one of Britain's biggest out-of-town shopping parks and it is situated in Enderby parish, in Blaby district, on the southern edge of the city of Leicester, England.
The retail park is in an area of mixed industrial an ...
, and
Leicester city centre
Leicester City Centre is Leicester's historical commercial, cultural and transport hub and is home to its central business district. Its inner core is roughly delineated by the A594, Leicester's inner ring road, although the various central c ...
Rail
Narborough railway station
Narborough railway station serves the villages of Narborough and Littlethorpe in Leicestershire. It is on the Birmingham to Peterborough Line about southwest of . The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway, ...
is situated in the village centre and offers an hourly service with
South Wigston
South Wigston is a large village to the south of Leicester, England. It is outside the city boundary, forming part of the Oadby and Wigston district of Leicestershire. The population of the ward rose slightly from 7,471 at the 2001 census to 7,4 ...
and Leicester to the north, and
Hinckley
Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England. It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in the administrative county of Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughbor ...
,
Nuneaton
Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...
and Birmingham in the south and west.
Amenities
![View from Church tower 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/View_from_Church_tower_2.jpg)
To the north-east of the village lies Carlton Park, a
business park
A business park or office park is a designated area of land in which many office buildings are grouped together. These types of developments are often located in suburban areas where land and building costs are more affordable, and are typically ...
that included the headquarters of
Alliance & Leicester
Alliance & Leicester plc was a British bank and former building society, formed by the merger in 1985 of the Alliance Building Society and the Leicester Building Society. The business demutualised in the middle of 1997, when it was floated o ...
, who employed over 1,800 people locally. Carlton Park also has a Racquets and Health Club, David Lloyd (formerly Next Generation), which opened in the summer of 2006. Near to the village centre are the
Blaby District Council offices.
As well as Greystoke Primary School in the village, The Pastures and Red Hill Field are the two other primary schools serving the locality. Pupils from these schools generally continue their education at Brockington College in Enderby.
There are two large GP practices in the old village centre; The Limes Medical Centre and Narborough Health Centre. The village also contains a variety of retail outlets, pubs, restaurants and other amenities.
Politics and government
Narborough is part of the
South Leicestershire constituency and is currently represented in the
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 me ...
by
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
,
Alberto Costa.
Religion
Narborough also has a Congregational Church situated on ''School Lane'' and a Catholic church, St. Pius X, on ''Leicester Road''.
Narborough has been home to The Buddhist House, HQ for the Amida Trust, a Pureland Buddhist school, since 2001.
Crime
Narborough was where
Colin Pitchfork
Colin Pitchfork (born March 23, 1960) is a British double child-murderer and rapist. He was the first person convicted of rape and murder using DNA profiling after he murdered two girls in neighbouring Leicestershire villages, the first in Nar ...
raped and murdered a 15-year-old schoolgirl, Lynda Mann, in 1983. He also killed a girl of the same age, Dawn Ashworth, in nearby Enderby in 1986. Initially a 17-year-old youth was suspected, and even confessed to one of the murders, but DNA testing cleared him. Following what was the first mass DNA screening of an entire community, Pitchfork was the first person in the world to be convicted of murder using
DNA profiling
DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's DNA characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is called DNA barcoding.
DNA profiling is a forensic tec ...
.
Industry
The Empire Stone Works was founded in Narborough in 1900. It specialised in producing pre-cast concrete for cladding, which could be coloured with pigments and hand-finished to match natural stone cills, copings and cornices. The factory was the largest employer in Narborough, employing over 300 people, and had its own railway sidings. The company ceased trading in 1994, soon after the completion of the MI6 building at Vauxhall Cross which features in many of the later James Bond films.
See also
*
Narborough Hall
Narborough Hall is a Grade II* listed building in Narborough in Leicestershire. Believed to date from 1596 this Elizabethan manor house was built by James Meade, a local landowner. However it wasn’t until it was extensively remodelled in th ...
References
External links
Parish CouncilNarborough Congregational Church Website
{{authority control
Villages in Leicestershire
Civil parishes in Leicestershire
Blaby