Great Easton 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. The parish had a population of 558 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 671 at the 2011 census.

Overview

The village's name means 'eastern farm/settlement'. The village sits in the Welland Valley in the rolling south Leicestershire countryside. It is located in the extreme south-east of the county and is very close to the borders with

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

Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...

; it is just south of the Eyebrook Reservoir. Nearby places are

Bringhurst Bringhurst is a small village and civil parish in the Harborough district of south-east Leicestershire, England, bordering Northamptonshire and Rutland. Nearby places are Cottingham in Northants, Great Easton and Drayton in Leicestershire, ...

and

Drayton Drayton may refer to: People * Drayton (surname) Legal cases * '' United States v. Drayton'', 536 U.S. 194 (2002) Places Australia *Drayton, Queensland, a locality in the Toowoomba Region *Shire of Drayton, a former local government area in Quee ...

in Leicestershire, Caldecott in Rutland, and Rockingham and Cottingham in Northamptonshire. The nearest town is

Corby Corby is a town and civil parish in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, northeast of Northampton. In 2021 it had a population of 68,164. From 1974 to 2021, it was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

in Northamptonshire. St Andrew's is the

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

. It is a Grade II*

listed building 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, Hi ...

. The village has public transport services to

town centre,

Oakham Oakham is a market town and civil parish in Rutland (of which it is the county town) in the East Midlands of England. The town is located east of Leicester, southeast of Nottingham and northwest of Peterborough. It had a population of 12,14 ...

and

Uppingham Uppingham is a market town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Rutland, England, off the A47 between Leicester and Peterborough, south of Oakham. It had a population of 4,745 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 4,853 in 2019. ...

Market Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough District, Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, close to the border with Northamptonshire. The population was 24,779 at the United Kingdom census, 2021, 2021 census. It is the ad ...

town centre and St Margaret's Bus Station in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. The village formerly had a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

team, but after the playing field was destroyed they relocated to

Rockingham Castle Rockingham Castle is a former royal castle and Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom#Hunting lodge, hunting lodge in Rockingham Forest, approximately two miles from the town centre of Corby, Northamptonshire, England. History 11th – 14t ...

and now go by the name of Old Eastonians Cricket Club. Newspapers available in Great Easton include the ''

Harborough Mail ''The Harborough Mail'' is a weekly newspaper which serves Market Harborough and the surrounding area. The Harborough Mail was owned by Welland Valley Newspapers, a company established in April 1883, but is now part of Northamptonshire Newspape ...

'' and the ''

Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph The ''Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph'' is the local newspaper for north and east Northamptonshire and is the sister paper of Northampton's '' Chronicle & Echo''. It is based at Newspaper House in Rothwell Road, Kettering, and has since 1996 ...

''. Radio stations that can be picked up in the village are

Smooth East Midlands Smooth East Midlands is an Independent Regional Radio station for the East Midlands, 107.4 MHz, 97.2 MHz, 106.8 MHz 106.0 MHz which replaced Saga 106.6 FM at 6 am on Monday 26 March 2007. It is owned by Communicorp UK and oper ...

Harborough FM Harborough FM (HFM) is a community radio station covering Market Harborough, south Leicestershire and north Northamptonshire in England. HFM was originally formed in November 1994 with the aim to provide a local FM radio station for Market ...

BBC Radio Northampton BBC Radio Northampton is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Northamptonshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Abington Street in Northampton. According to RAJAR, the station has a we ...

and

BBC Radio Leicester BBC Radio Leicester is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Leicestershire, City of Birmingham, South Staffordshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth and Rutland. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at ...

. Great Easton is also home to the Opera Minima, which is an opera/theatre group registered as a charitable trust and based at the Old Corset Factory in the village and is sponsored by

Leicestershire County Council Leicestershire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Leicester. The county coun ...

, Harborough District Council, Creative LeicesterShire and the Welland Sub-Regional Strategic Partnership. The parish is protected and served by Leicestershire Constabulary (Harborough North Division). The local telephone dialling code is the

Kettering Kettering is a market town, market and industrial town, industrial town in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, west of Cambridge, England, Cambridge, southwest of Peterborough, southeast of Leicester and north- ...

and Corby code (01536) due to its proximity to Northamptonshire. Great Easton is the largest village and civil parish in South-East Leicestershire, however is only a small village itself. Many people who live in Great Easton commute to work in the nearby towns of Corby and Kettering in neighbouring Northants, to Market Harborough and indeed the

county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...

Local government and politics

Great Easton is a civil parish in the

Harborough District Harborough () is a local government district in Leicestershire, England. It is named after its main town, Market Harborough, which is where the council is based. The district also includes the town of Lutterworth and numerous villages and surroundi ...

however, as the boundaries of Harborough Parliamentary constituency differ from those of the district, it forms part of the Rutland and Melton Parliamentary constituency. Great Easton is in the Nevill Ward of Harborough District Council and is represented by Cllr Michael Rickman (Con).

''Time Team''

In 2003 Great Easton was visited by the archaeological television programme ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...

'' and the finds included 14th-century pottery, a brick surface thought to be related to the village's old slaughterhouse and a Chinese "cash coin". It appeared on Channel 4 as part of ''Time Team's Big Dig''. The Chinese coin was placed in the ground for a joke by a local and made the feature in that episode.

References

{{authority control Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Harborough District