Gilmorton is a 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 ...

about northeast of

Lutterworth Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. It is located north of Rugby ...

in Leicestershire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 976.

Manor

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 ...

of 1086 records the village, when its population was about 140. The

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

may be derived from

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 settlers in the mid-5th c ...

: ''gilden'' (or ''gylden'') meaning "golden", and ''morton'', "town on the moor". In 1303 Roger de Martivall was permitted to alienate land and property at Noseley, Gilmorton and Stretton to create an income for four chaplains at a chantry chapel at Noseley.

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of All Saints has a 14th- and 15th-century tower but it and its spire were rebuilt in 1909. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

aisles Aisles is a six-piece progressive rock band originally from Santiago, Chile. The group was formed in 2001 by brothers Germán (guitar) and Luis Vergara (keyboards), and childhood friend Rodrigo Sepúlveda (guitar). Later on, it expanded to incl ...

and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

were rebuilt in 1860–61 and the south porch was built in 1897.

Burlison and Grylls Burlison and Grylls is an English company who produced stained glass windows from 1868 onwards. The company of Burlison and Grylls was founded in 1868 at the instigation of the architects George Frederick Bodley and Thomas Garner. Both John Bu ...

made the stained glass for the east window of the chancel in 1878.

Shrigley and Hunt Shrigley and Hunt was an English firm which produced stained-glass windows and art tiles. History The business began in the 1750s when Shrigley's was a painting, carving and gilding firm in Lancaster, Lancashire. In 1868, control of Shrigley' ...

made the stained glass for the Lady Chapel in 1896. Kempe and Kempe made all the other stained glass for the church between 1884 and 1906. All Saints' is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

. The west tower has a

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

of eight bells. Thomas I Eayre of

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of ...

cast the sixth bell in 1738 and the tenor in 1749. Joseph Eayre of St Neots,

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

, cast the fourth bell in 1766.

John Taylor & Co John Taylor Bell Foundry (Loughborough) Limited, trading as John Taylor & Co and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell foundry. It is located in Loughborough, ...

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 ...

cast the seventh bell in 1861, the fifth bell in 1871 and the treble, second and third bells in 1909 when the tower was rebuilt.

Economic and social history

The

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

debated the

inclosure act The Inclosure Acts, which use an archaic spelling of the word now usually spelt "enclosure", cover enclosure of open fields and common land in England and Wales, creating legal property rights to land previously held in common. Between 1604 and 1 ...

for Gilmorton in 1777. A

tower mill A tower mill is a type of vertical windmill consisting of a brick or stone tower, on which sits a wooden 'cap' or roof, which can rotate to bring the sails into the wind.Medieval science, technology, and medicine: an encyclopedia (2005), 520 Thi ...

at Gilmorton was built early in the 19th century. The brick tower survives and has been restored, but neither the cap nor any machinery survives. In the 1890s the Great Central Main Line from south to

London Marylebone Marylebone station ( ) is a Central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster. On the National Rail network it is also known as London Marylebone and is the southern te ...

was built through the west of Gilmorton parish, passing west of the village. It opened in 1899 with the nearest station being at northwest of the village and

Lutterworth railway station Lutterworth was a station which opened in 1899 to serve the Leicestershire market town of Lutterworth. It was situated on the Great Central Main Line, Great Central Railway, the last main line to be constructed from the Northern England, north ...

slightly further away to the southwest. In 1942 RAF Bruntingthorpe was opened just east of the parish. In 1953 its main runway was extended by , bringing it into Gilmorton parish and within of the village. The air station was decommissioned in 1962, sold for civilian use in 1965 and is now Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome. The M1 motorway extension from Crick, Northamptonshire, north to

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

was built parallel with the Great Central Main Line and just east of it, starting in 1965 and opening in 1968. In 1963 '' The Reshaping of British Railways'' report recommended that British Railways close the railway, which it did in 1969.

Amenities

Gilmorton has three pubs: the Crown Inn, the Grey Goose and Mortons, a Village Hall, and a combined Village Store, Post Office and Tea Room. Gilmorton Chandler Church of England primary school serves Gilmorton and six neighbouring parishes.Gilmorton Chandler C of E Primary School
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References

Sources and further reading

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External links

Gilmorton Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Harborough District