Catthorpe 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the Harborough district of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, England. It is located beside the River Avon and close to the

A5 road A5 Road may refer to: ;Africa * A5 highway (Nigeria), a road connecting Lagos and Ibadan * A5 road (Zimbabwe), a road connecting Harare and Bulawayo ;Americas * Quebec Autoroute 5, a road in Quebec, Canada * County Route A5 (California) or Bowm ...

, and hence close to the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

Dow Bridge Dow Bridge is a location in the English Midlands where the A5 road (Great Britain), A5 road (the former Roman road, Roman Watling Street) crosses the River Avon (Warwickshire), River Avon. It is the point where the three counties of Warwickshir ...

formed by Leicestershire,

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

and

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

; the nearest towns are Rugby, in Warwickshire, around to the southwest, and

Lutterworth Lutterworth is an historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Harborough District, Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwicks ...

around to the north. At the 2001 Census, the parish had a population of 179, falling slightly to 173 at the 2011 census, further decreasing to 156 at the 2021 census. The name 'Catthorpe' is made up of 'thorpe' meaning 'outlying farm/settlement' and 'Cat'. 'Cat' was probably added after Isabel le Cat and Simon Mallore donated the land to

Leicester Abbey The Abbey of Saint Mary de Pratis, more commonly known as Leicester Abbey, was an Augustinian religious house in the city of Leicester, in the East Midlands of England. The abbey was founded in the 12th century by the Robert de Beaumont, 2nd E ...

. The parish church, dedicated to St Thomas, dates from the early 14th century and is

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. It was restored in 1886, and underwent repairs in 2022 with help from the Heritage Stimulus Fund, as a result of which it has been removed from the

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

. There is a village pub called the Cherry Tree and a farm shop and restaurant, both located on Main Street. Catthorpe gives its name to the nearby Catthorpe Interchange road junction formed by the M1 and M6 motorways and the A14 road, which was known to be regularly congested owing to its non-standard design. The A14 passed under both motorways; these underpasses were built in the 1960s for the former A427, which passed through Catthorpe. Between 2014 and 2016 the interchange was the subject of a major redesign to reduce the congestion and improve safety by providing free-flowing links and removing direct access from the local road network. Between 1850 and 1966 Catthorpe was served by the nearby Lilbourne railway station on the now dismantled Rugby to Peterborough Line Catthorpe came to national attention in 1999 when alleged war criminal Konrāds Kalējs was revealed to be living at Catthorpe Manor, a nursing home near the village run by the Latvian Welfare Trust. After the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretar ...

, announced that moves would be made to deport Kalējs, he returned to Australia.

References

External links

Information on the M1/M6/A14 junction at Catthorpe

Local site

Leicestershire villages
Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Harborough District {{Leicestershire-geo-stub