Markfield
Encyclopedia
Markfield is a commuter village sitting within both the National Forest
National Forest, England
The National Forest is one of England’s most ambitious environmental projects. Across parts of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire, are being transformed, blending ancient woodland with new planting to create a new national forest...

 and Charnwood Forest
Charnwood Forest
Charnwood Forest is an upland tract in north-western Leicestershire, England, bounded by Leicester, Loughborough, and Coalville. The area is undulating, rocky and picturesque, with barren areas. It also has some extensive tracts of woodland; its elevation is generally 600 ft and upwards, the area...

 and in the Hinckley and Bosworth
Hinckley and Bosworth
Hinckley and Bosworth is a local government district with borough status in south-western Leicestershire, England, administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Its only towns are Hinckley, Earl Shilton and Market Bosworth...

 district of Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The settlement dates back to at least the time of the Norman conquest and is mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 under the name Merchenefeld. A variant of this is still used as the name for the village primary school, Mercenfeld. It is to the south-east of Junction 22 of the M1
M1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...

, and to the south of the A50
A50 road
The A50 is a major trunk road in England. It runs from Warrington to Leicester; however, it was once a much longer route.-Current route:...

. Nearby places are Newtown Linford
Newtown Linford
Newtown Linford is a linear village in Leicestershire, England.It is located in a valley in the Charnwood Forest area, and has four access roads. The first is from Anstey, then there are roads which lead to the A50 at Groby and at Markfield...

, Groby
Groby
Groby is a large English village in the county of Leicestershire, to the north west of the city of Leicester. The population at the time of the 2001 census was 7,301.-Description:...

, Field Head
Field Head
Field Head is a small settlement situated along the A511 on the edge of the Charnwood Forest in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. It is mainly a ribbon development along the A511 from the top of Bradgate Hill to the Coach and Horses public house. However, in the 1960s...

, and Stanton under Bardon
Stanton under Bardon
Stanton-under-Bardon is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. Population approx 1000 residents.. The houses are generally constructed out of red brick, with many on Main Street being Terraced and having long, thin gardens...

. In the 1831 census its population was recorded at 1,088. http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/MarketBosworth/MarketBosworth.shtml The modern civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in the 2001 census had a population of 4,474. Markfield is within the LE67 postcode district. In early 2010 Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council began a review of the Markfield Conservation Area, involving an exhibition where members of the public could offer their opinions of the review. The council stated the purpose of the review was to “...provide a sound basis for decisions on future development proposals, help to develop initiatives to improve the area and provide an educational and informative document for the local community.” http://www.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/pp/gold/viewGold.asp?IDType=Page&ID=20981

Facilities

The village of Markfield has three pubs – The Red Lion, The Queens Head and The Bulls Head – and a Travelodge
Travelodge
Travelodge refers to several hotel chains around the world. Current operations include: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand and Australia...

 hotel; the parish contains a fourth pub – the Coach and Horses in Field Head
Field Head
Field Head is a small settlement situated along the A511 on the edge of the Charnwood Forest in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. It is mainly a ribbon development along the A511 from the top of Bradgate Hill to the Coach and Horses public house. However, in the 1960s...

. The Fieldhead Hotel adjoins Markfield, but is on the Newtown Linford
Newtown Linford
Newtown Linford is a linear village in Leicestershire, England.It is located in a valley in the Charnwood Forest area, and has four access roads. The first is from Anstey, then there are roads which lead to the A50 at Groby and at Markfield...

 side of the boundary. Markfield has Chinese and Indian takeaways, a fish and chip shop, a newsagent, a florist, Just Naturally Healthy - an independent shop selling organic produce, a Co-Operative Supermarket, a financial advisory office, a GP surgery, a chemist, a Londis
Londis
Londis is the name for two convenience store franchises operating in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The stores form a symbol group and are all owned on a franchise basis.-Great Britain:...

 supermarket, a Post Office, a newly built and equipped library and a cafe called the Markfield Bakery. There are also several hair-dressing salons and an industrial estate. Markfield has a well-funded and run Community Centre which has just been extended and refurbished. This Centre was built in 1985 and in time has replaced the old Markfield Memorial Miners Institute as the main community building in the village. Until recently the village also had a small hardware shop, which had been empty for sometime. The premises are now being refurbished for a new hardware and homeware shop to be called Bown2have it.

Markfield has close links with the Methodist movement and was often a stopping point for its founder John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...

 (see blue plaque on parish church) He was allowed to preach in the parish church but as his visits became popular he would preach on the village green. Today Markfield has the parish church of St Michaels and all Angels, Holy Trinity Methodist chapel and the Congregational church. The original Methodist chapel (temperance hall) is no longer used. At one time there were actually two Methodist chapels in the village. Markfield is also the setting of the renowned Dawah Centre otherwise known as the Islamic Foundation and institute of higher education. The centre is linked with Loughborough University
Loughborough University
Loughborough University is a research based campus university located in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, in the East Midlands of England...

 and runs degree courses in Islamic finance and banking. The Library is thought to be the finest Islamic library in Western Europe. The most recent wing of institute was opened by HRH Prince Charles in 2004.
The village benefits greatly from being surrounded by easily accessible countryside. There are a variety of public footpaths radiating out from the village - including the "Leicestershire Round", which passes along Main Street. To the north-western side of the village lies the Hill Hole Nature Reserve. Hill Hole is the highest point within the village and from the top of this quarried granite outcrop there are extensive views across the Midland Plain (43 miles to the Clent Hills), southwards to the Cotswold and westwards towards the Leicestershire/Lincolnshire boundary. Almost adjoining Hill Hole are the Altar Stones playing fields and the Blacksmiths Fields nature reserve.

Markfield has a long association with the quarrying industry and has a particular type of granite (microdiorite) named after it. The granite stone (microdiorite) 'Markfieldite' is a very hard granite found in the local area and used in roadstone and railway construction. The former headquarters of Aggregate Industries
Aggregate Industries
Aggregate Industries, a member of the Holcim Group, is an aggregates, construction and building materials group, with its base in the United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Holcim in 2005.-History:...

 (now under the Holcim
Holcim
Holcim is a Swiss-based global company supplying cement and aggregates . The company also supplies ready-mix concrete and asphalt including associated construction services.-Holcim Group:...

 company) was in Markfield and currently proposals are being discussed to expand the Bardon Hill Quarry
Bardon Hill
Bardon Hill is a hill in the civil parish of Bardon near Coalville, Leicestershire. It the highest point in Leicestershire and the National Forest, above sea level. The hill has two very distinct faces – one half preserved as a site of special scientific interest , the other removed by Bardon Hill...

into the parish of Markfield to create a large extension which would expand the life of Bardon for another 40 years.

In 2009, a private contractor filed for permission to build a brand new housing estate by London Road. A petition to prevent such housing being built took place, arguing that the local primary school, public transport and other services could not cope with the large influx of new residents. The petition to prevent the housing development failed, and the contractors have moved into the next stage of planning the estate.
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