East Leake () 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 authorit ...

in the

Rushcliffe Rushcliffe is a local government district with borough status in Nottinghamshire, England. The population of the Local Authority at the 2011 Census was 111,129. Its councilRushcliffe Borough Council Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second large ...

in Leicestershire. It has a population of around 7,000, measured in the 2011 Census as 6,337. The original village was located on the Sheepwash Brook. Kingston Brook also runs through the village. Near the centre of the village is the historic St. Mary's Church, dating back to the 11th century, which Sheepwash Brook flows past, and an old ford, which provided access to the pinfold. The church has six bells. The

Treaty of Leake The Treaty of Leake was an agreement between the "Middle Party", including courtier adherents of Edward II of England, and the king's cousin, the Earl Thomas of Lancaster and his followers. It was signed at Leake in Nottinghamshire on 9 August 1 ...

was signed in 1318 by

King Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to the ...

and his baronial opponents. British Gypsum, a plasterboard manufacturer, has its headquarters in the village. The manufacturing of plasterboard began in this area in about 1880.

Name

The origin of Leake appears to be Laeke (Old Norse – brook or stream), and is consistent with East Leake's position in the heart of the Danelaw, which had various forms over time before becoming "Leake". One of the earliest mentions of East Leake is in 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

(1086) recorded as "Leche". The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning wet land, since the village lies on the Kingston Brook, a tributary of the River Soar.

Local amenities

*Four schools **Brookside primary school **Lantern Lane primary school **Millside Spencer Academy primary school **

East Leake Academy East Leake Academy is an academy located in East Leake in the Rushcliffe area of Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the nort ...

(secondary school) * Leisure centre with swimming pool *Three

pub 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 ...

s (Nag's Head, Three Horseshoes, and The Round RobINN) *

Co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

supermarket *Post office *A variety of other small shops, e.g., florist, green grocer, hardware *Police station *

Fire station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire ...

*Amateur theatre group (ELAPS) *Folk club (ELFS – East Leake FolkieS) *

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

, football,

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 ...

and bowls clubs *"Meadow Park", a local nature reserve *East Leake pre-school play group a registered charity which provides term time play group facilities *2nd East Leake Scouts *Rushcliffe Golf Club

Transport

East Leake lies close to the A60 and A6006 major roads and within five miles of 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 ...

. Nottingham City Transport operate a frequent (15 minutes at peak times) bus service (No. 1) between

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

and Loughborough under the " South Notts" brand. An

East Leake railway station East Leake railway station is a former railway station serving East Leake, Nottinghamshire and is the only surviving Great Central Railway station accessed from an underbridge rather than an overbridge. The station opened on 15 March 1899 and c ...

used to exist, on the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

. That line was controversially broken up in the Beeching Axe of the 1960s. The stretch from the point where the Great Central crossed the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...

in Loughborough through East Leake to

Ruddington Ruddington is a large village in the Borough of Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, England. The village is south of Nottingham and northwest of Loughborough. It had a population of 6,441 at the 2001 Census, increasing to 7,216 at the 2011 Cens ...

was retained to allow freight trains to travel to British Gypsum's works and to the MoD ordnance depot at Ruddington, but later fell into disuse. More recently this stretch has been re-opened as a heritage line running steam and heritage diesel locos between Ruddington, Rushcliffe Halt (which is located next to the Gypsum works at the northern end of East Leake) and the South Loughborough Junction. In the long term, the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) hope to reinstate a passenger service from East Leake station, although the fact that the area alongside the station has been redeveloped for housing would preclude the provision of public car parking in the area of the station, and would require permission from the Secretary of State.

Churches

There are five churches in the village: * St. Mary's Parish Church (

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

within the

Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham The Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York, headed by the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham. It covers all the English county of Nottinghamshire and a few parishes in South Yorkshire. It is bo ...

). * Our Lady of the Angels

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Church * East Leake

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

Church * East Leake

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

Church * East Leake

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

Church (meets in the Village Hall)

Geography and ecology

In 2017

European bee-eater The European bee-eater (''Merops apiaster'') is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family, Meropidae. It breeds in southern and central Europe, northern and southern Africa, and western Asia. Except for the resident southern African populat ...

s nested at CEMEX quarry, attracting thousands of bird-watchers.BBC News
/ref> The European bee-eater is a colourful bird usually found in southern Europe, and seldom nests in the United Kingdom.

Gallery

File:Bluebells wood.jpg, Bluebells in Colonel's Covert File:Kingston Brook.jpg, Kingston Brook at East Leake File:Pinfold east leake.jpg,

Pinfold An animal pound is a place where stray livestock were impounded. Animals were kept in a dedicated enclosure, until claimed by their owners, or sold to cover the costs of impounding. Etymology The terms "pinfold" and "pound" are Saxon in origi ...

File:East Leake School Green - geograph.org.uk - 1293636.jpg, Sheepwash Brook

Neighbouring villages

* West Leake *

Costock Costock is a village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district of Nottinghamshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 621. It was estimated at 664 in 1998. Although in Nottinghamshire, Costock's closest town is ...

* Gotham *

Sutton Bonington Sutton Bonington () is a village and civil parish lying along the valley of the River Soar in the Borough of Rushcliffe, south-west Nottinghamshire, England. The University of Nottingham has a site just to the north of the village: Sutton Boni ...

* Normanton on Soar *

Rempstone Rempstone is a village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district of Nottinghamshire, although its closest town and postal address is Loughborough across the border in Leicestershire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was ...

Stanford on Soar Stanford on Soar, known locally as Stanford, is a village and civil parish in the south of Nottinghamshire in England near the River Soar. Stanford on Soar is the most southerly civil parish in Nottinghamshire. Description Setting Stanfo ...

* Zouch

References

Publications

* Sidney Pell Potter, ''A History of East Leake'', published in 1903. Potter was the rector at the time.

External links

Meadow ParkA Potted History of East LeakeSt Mary's Parish ChurchEast Leake community website2nd East Leake Scout Group
{{authority control Villages in Nottinghamshire Civil parishes in Nottinghamshire Rushcliffe