Whetstone is a village and civil parish in the

Blaby Blaby () is a large village in the Blaby District in central Leicestershire, England, some five miles south of Leicester city centre. At the time of the 2011 census, Blaby had a population of 6,194, a slight fall from 6,240 in 2001 figures). B ...

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 and largely acts as a commuter village for

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 ...

, five miles to the north. The population at the 2011 census was 6,556. It is part of the Leicester Urban Area. The village is bounded on the east by the A426 (on the other side of which is

village), to the north by the railway line from Birmingham to Leicester, and to the west by the M1. It is well connected to Leicester City centre, with a very frequent direct bus service. From 1899 to 1963 the village was served by Whetstone railway station. Whetstone was the site of Frank Whittle's factory, where jet engines were developed. Babcock Services, ITP Engines Ltd and Converteam now occupy much of the site. Smaller companies rent space, mainly for storing commercial vehicles. Until 2002 the site sounded an Air Raid Siren at 8am every Wednesday. The site of the Whittle factory became the

English Electric N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail) The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during th ...

Company (later GEC). A significant part of several nuclear power stations was made there in the 1960s and 70s. English Electric was one of the largest engineering companies in the Leicester area, employing thousands of workers and training hundreds of apprentices each year. At one point more than 4,000 workers had to be shipped in from Middlesex to reduce labour shortages. Many settled permanently, causing a boom in the late 60s. The computer performance measurement called the " Whetstone" was named for the Whetstone ALGOL compiler, developed by English Electric at the factory; Randell, Brian and Russell, Lawford John
Algol 60 Implementation
London: Academic Press, 1964. . it thus takes its name from the village. Apart from Blaby, nearby places are Enderby,

Glen Parva Glen Parva is a civil parish in the Blaby district of Leicestershire, England with a population of over 17,000. The population of the civil parish (including Eyres Monsell) was measured at 17,189 in the 2011 census. To the north it runs into ...

Countesthorpe Countesthorpe is a large village and civil parish in the Leicestershire district of Blaby, with a population of 6,393 (2001 census, falling slightly to 6,377 at the 2011 census. It lies to the south of Leicester, and is about from the city ce ...

, Cosby, Littlethorpe and Narborough. There are two schools in Whetstone: Badgerbrook primary school and St Peter's primary school. Whetstone has several football clubs: Blaby and Whetstone Boys, Whetstone Juniors and Saffron Dynamo. Holmes Park is the home of the Leicester & Rutland County FA. Holmes Park is also home to the Leicester City Football Club Under 23s. An amateur rugby union club, Vipers RFC, is based in the village. Another rugby club in Whetstone is the Leicester Lions RFC which is situated on the outskirts of Whetstone, the National Tap Dancing Doubles (over 60s) competition held every year. Whetstone holds an annual Remembrance Parade led by the Church Lads and Church Girls Brigade, supported by 1st Whetstone Scouts and 1st Whetstone Guides.

References

External links

Whetstone Village Web SiteWhetstone Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Leicestershire Blaby