Wigston Magna
Encyclopedia
Wigston Magna also historically referred to as Wigston Two Steeples or Great Wigston (see also Wigston Parva
), is a town within Leicestershire
, England
just to the south of Leicester
, on the A5199 road
which leads to Northampton
.
It runs directly into Oadby
to the east, with which it shares Oadby and Wigston
borough council, and Leicester
to the north. An area known as South Wigston
is actually to the west. The town is part of the Leicester Urban Area
.
where it is listed amongst the lands held by Hugh de Grandmesnil
for the King
.
In the Middle Ages it was known as Wigston Two Spires as, unusually, there were two mediaeval churches there, All Saints' and St Wistan's.
St Wistan's is known as that because it was one of the places where the body of St Wistan or Wigstan rested before burial. First, he was buried at Repton
and finally in Evesham
. Wigstan was a Mercian Prince who was assassinated but was regarded as a Martyr.
It was the birthplace of George Davenport, a notorious highwayman and Abigail Herrick, the mother of Jonathan Swift
, author of Gulliver's Travels
and former Leicester Sound
and BBC Radio Leicester presenter, Mark Hayman. Graham Chapman
, of Monty Python
fame, also did much of his growing up in Wigston. Author and journalist John Marquis was born in Wigston and educated at Abington and Guthlaxton schools. The Leicester City footballer Howard Riley was also Wigston born and bred. Composer and piano virtuoso Michael Garrett was educated at Guthlaxton school. The music hall star Gertie Gitana is buried in Wigston cemetery, having been married for many years to local theatrical impresario Don Ross. She died in the 1950s, having been a showbiz celebrity in the early years of the 20th century. Another Guthlaxton pupil was prominent policeman Geoffrey Barrett, who received a Governor's commendation as a member of the Hong Kong anti-corruption squad in the 1970s and ended his career as head of the Leicester murder squad.
Bushloe House, now the Council Offices of the Oadby and Wigston Borough Council, was originally a c1850 house which was extended in c1880. The interior decoration of the house and the design of most of the furniture (and possibly the design of the extension) was carried out by Christopher Dresser
for the owner, his solicitor, Hiram Abiff Owston (1830-1905).
Henry Davis Pochin
the manufacturing chemist who later owned the Bodnant Estate (now the National Trust's Bodnant Garden
) was born in Wigston, son of another notable householder William Pochin.
There is a Framework Knitting
Museum here, as it was an important occupation in this area from the 17th to 19th centuries. Hosiery manufacture continued to be an important industry in the town after the decline of hand process of framework knitting with manufacturing firms such as Two Steeples, Wigston Co-Operative Hosiers, A H Broughton and William Holmes. In neighbouring South Wigston
Henry Bates was the leading hosiery manufacturer.
Wigston was the subject of W. G. Hoskins
's pioneering historical study, The Midland Peasant (London: Macmillan, 1965), which traced the social history
of this village from earliest recorded history into the 19th century.
, Somerfield, then Kwik Save and Somerfield again, before becoming vacant for quite some time. The years where the site alternated between Kwik Save and Somerfield became known as the Wars of Wigston dividing the population. It has recently re-opened as a branch of Wilkinson
which has relocated from elsewhere in the town. There is a Sainsbury's
in the centre of the town, which opened up in 1980 and Tesco
on Blaby Road in neighbouring South Wigston. There are also branches of Iceland, Farmfoods and Superdrug. The Coop run the department store. There are also a number of charity shops, two car dealerships, fast food outlets and many a few public houses including a wacky warehouse style eaterie suitible for children to play in etc.
There is a concentration of companies on the industrial estate located on Chartwell Drive including the Cromwell Tools World Distribution Centre and Delifrance.
and South Leicestershire College (formerly Wigston College) are all very near each other on Station Road. The schools' results are average for Leicestershire, but below average for the UK. Close by, on the same road, are the headquarters of the Oadby and Wigston Borough Council known by many as the "Wiggy Piggy".
South Leicestershire College was rebuilt on Canal Street, South Wigston for 2010.
1461 (Wigston) Squadron of the Air Training Corps
is located in Tigers Road,South Wigston, and recruits many members from the schools in Wigston.
lies on the Birmingham to Peterborough Line
. Trains to Leicester run every hour and take five minutes. Connections are frequent from Leicester Railway Station
to London St Pancras, where Eurostar
international services have operated since November 2007.
Wigston Magna is served by Arriva
services 47, 48, 49, 49A and 49B and Centrebus Leicester
service 40 (Circle Line).
Wigston Parva
Wigston Parva is a hamlet and civil parish in the Blaby district of Leicestershire, England. The parish has a population of about 30. It is very near the county boundary with Warwickshire. Nearby places include Smockington, and Sharnford.-External links:...
), is a town within 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...
just to the south of Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, on the A5199 road
A5199 road
The A5199 road is the direct road from Leicester to Northampton in England. It was formerly part of the A50 trunk road that ran from Bedfordshire to Lancashire...
which leads to Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
.
It runs directly into Oadby
Oadby
Oadby is a town within the borough of Oadby and Wigston, in Leicestershire, England. It is to the east of Wigston Magna, and to the southeast of Leicester. Oadby forms part of the Leicester Urban Area, and is situated on the A6 road....
to the east, with which it shares Oadby and Wigston
Oadby and Wigston
Oadby and Wigston is a local government district and borough in the English county of Leicestershire.-Geography:It is composed of the areas of Oadby, Wigston Magna and South Wigston. It is predominantly urban, and runs directly into Leicester, to the north-west...
borough council, and Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
to the north. An area known as South Wigston
South Wigston
South Wigston is a suburb of Leicester, England. It is outside the city boundary, forming part of the Oadby and Wigston district of Leicestershire.-Geography and administration:...
is actually to the west. The town is part of the Leicester Urban Area
Leicester Urban Area
The Leicester Urban Area is a conurbation based around the city of Leicester in Leicestershire, England.While it has no formal definition as an administrative area, it is defined by the Office for National Statistics with a population of 441,213 at the time of the 2001 census...
.
History
One of the earliest mentions of this place is in the Domesday bookDomesday 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...
where it is listed amongst the lands held by Hugh de Grandmesnil
Hugh de Grandmesnil
Hugh de Grandmesnil , also known as Hugh or Hugo de Grentmesnil or Grentemesnil, is one of the very few proven Companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Subsequently he became a great landowner in England.He was the elder son of Robert of...
for the King
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
.
In the Middle Ages it was known as Wigston Two Spires as, unusually, there were two mediaeval churches there, All Saints' and St Wistan's.
St Wistan's is known as that because it was one of the places where the body of St Wistan or Wigstan rested before burial. First, he was buried at Repton
Repton
Repton is a village and civil parish on the edge of the River Trent floodplain in South Derbyshire, about north of Swadlincote. Repton is close to the county boundary with neighbouring Staffordshire and about northeast of Burton upon Trent.-History:...
and finally in Evesham
Evesham
Evesham is a market town and a civil parish in the Local Authority District of Wychavon in the county of Worcestershire, England with a population of 22,000. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon...
. Wigstan was a Mercian Prince who was assassinated but was regarded as a Martyr.
It was the birthplace of George Davenport, a notorious highwayman and Abigail Herrick, the mother of Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
, author of Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels , is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of...
and former Leicester Sound
Leicester Sound
Leicester Sound was an Independent Local Radio station which broadcast to Leicestershire. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Trent FM and Ram FM to form Capital FM East Midlands on Monday 3 January 2011.-Background:Leicester Sound was launched by the owners of Radio Trent on...
and BBC Radio Leicester presenter, Mark Hayman. Graham Chapman
Graham Chapman
Graham Arthur Chapman was a British comedian, physician, writer, actor, and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.-Early life and education:...
, of Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
fame, also did much of his growing up in Wigston. Author and journalist John Marquis was born in Wigston and educated at Abington and Guthlaxton schools. The Leicester City footballer Howard Riley was also Wigston born and bred. Composer and piano virtuoso Michael Garrett was educated at Guthlaxton school. The music hall star Gertie Gitana is buried in Wigston cemetery, having been married for many years to local theatrical impresario Don Ross. She died in the 1950s, having been a showbiz celebrity in the early years of the 20th century. Another Guthlaxton pupil was prominent policeman Geoffrey Barrett, who received a Governor's commendation as a member of the Hong Kong anti-corruption squad in the 1970s and ended his career as head of the Leicester murder squad.
Bushloe House, now the Council Offices of the Oadby and Wigston Borough Council, was originally a c1850 house which was extended in c1880. The interior decoration of the house and the design of most of the furniture (and possibly the design of the extension) was carried out by Christopher Dresser
Christopher Dresser
Christopher Dresser was an English designer and design theorist, now widely known as one of the first and most important, independent, designers and was a pivotal figure in the Aesthetic Movement, and a major contributor to the allied Anglo-Japanese branch of the Movement; both originated in...
for the owner, his solicitor, Hiram Abiff Owston (1830-1905).
Henry Davis Pochin
Henry Davis Pochin
Henry Davis Pochin was an English industrial chemist. He was the son of a yeoman farmer of Leicestershire who served an apprenticeship to James Woolley , a manufacturing chemist in Manchester, and in course of time became his partner. Woolley died in 1858 and Pochin kept a manuscript diary of...
the manufacturing chemist who later owned the Bodnant Estate (now the National Trust's Bodnant Garden
Bodnant Garden
Bodnant Garden is a National Trust property near Tal-y-Cafn, in the county borough of Conwy, Wales. Bodnant Garden is situated above the River Conwy and overlooks the Conwy valley towards the Carneddau range of mountains.- History :...
) was born in Wigston, son of another notable householder William Pochin.
There is a Framework Knitting
Stocking frame
A stocking frame was a mechanical knitting machine used in the textiles industry. It was invented by William Lee of Calverton near Nottingham in 1589...
Museum here, as it was an important occupation in this area from the 17th to 19th centuries. Hosiery manufacture continued to be an important industry in the town after the decline of hand process of framework knitting with manufacturing firms such as Two Steeples, Wigston Co-Operative Hosiers, A H Broughton and William Holmes. In neighbouring South Wigston
South Wigston
South Wigston is a suburb of Leicester, England. It is outside the city boundary, forming part of the Oadby and Wigston district of Leicestershire.-Geography and administration:...
Henry Bates was the leading hosiery manufacturer.
Wigston was the subject of W. G. Hoskins
W. G. Hoskins
William George Hoskins CBE FSA was a British local historian who founded the first university department of English Local History. His great contribution to the study of history was in the field of landscape history...
's pioneering historical study, The Midland Peasant (London: Macmillan, 1965), which traced the social history
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
of this village from earliest recorded history into the 19th century.
Local economy
MacFisheries' MacMarkets was the town's major supermarket for many years. It became a branch of International Stores in the late 1970s and was later successively a Gateway Foodmarket,Solo (a Gateway Foodmarket re-brand) Kwik SaveKwik Save
Kwik Save was a discount supermarket chain in the United Kingdom until 2007. Its stores were small to medium sized high street supermarkets, mainly located in areas with below average incomes...
, Somerfield, then Kwik Save and Somerfield again, before becoming vacant for quite some time. The years where the site alternated between Kwik Save and Somerfield became known as the Wars of Wigston dividing the population. It has recently re-opened as a branch of Wilkinson
Wilkinson (shop)
Wilkinson or Wilko is a British high-street discount chain with over 300 stores, selling primarily homewares and household goods.Founded in 1930 Wilkinson Cash Stores by James Kemsey Wilkinson, the company has remained largely in the hands of the founding family since...
which has relocated from elsewhere in the town. There is a Sainsbury's
J Sainsbury
J. Sainsbury plc is the parent company of Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd, commonly known as Sainsbury's, the third largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom with a share of the UK supermarket sector of 16.5%....
in the centre of the town, which opened up in 1980 and Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
on Blaby Road in neighbouring South Wigston. There are also branches of Iceland, Farmfoods and Superdrug. The Coop run the department store. There are also a number of charity shops, two car dealerships, fast food outlets and many a few public houses including a wacky warehouse style eaterie suitible for children to play in etc.
There is a concentration of companies on the industrial estate located on Chartwell Drive including the Cromwell Tools World Distribution Centre and Delifrance.
Education
Abington High School (built 1952, former secondary modern, ages 10–14); Bushloe High School (ages 10–14, completely rebuilt September 2006); Guthlaxton College (built late 1950s, ages 14–18, former grammar school), with recently updated, grant-aided, sports facilities;and South Leicestershire College (formerly Wigston College) are all very near each other on Station Road. The schools' results are average for Leicestershire, but below average for the UK. Close by, on the same road, are the headquarters of the Oadby and Wigston Borough Council known by many as the "Wiggy Piggy".
South Leicestershire College was rebuilt on Canal Street, South Wigston for 2010.
1461 (Wigston) Squadron of the Air Training Corps
Air Training Corps
The Air Training Corps , commonly known as the Air Cadets, is a cadet organisation based in the United Kingdom. It is a voluntary youth group which is part of the Air Cadet Organisation and the Royal Air Force . It is supported by the Ministry of Defence, with a regular RAF Officer, currently Air...
is located in Tigers Road,South Wigston, and recruits many members from the schools in Wigston.
Transport links
South Wigston railway stationSouth Wigston railway station
South Wigston railway station is a railway station serving the suburb of South Wigston, Leicester, England. The station is on the Birmingham to Peterborough Line about south of . South Wigston station is owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Trains Train Operating Company...
lies on the Birmingham to Peterborough Line
Birmingham to Peterborough Line
The Birmingham to Peterborough Line is a cross-country railway line in the United Kingdom, linking Birmingham to Peterborough, via Nuneaton and Leicester....
. Trains to Leicester run every hour and take five minutes. Connections are frequent from Leicester Railway Station
Leicester railway station
Leicester railway station serves the City of Leicester in Leicestershire, England.As of late 2009 Leicester is a Penalty fare station, a valid ticket or Permit to travel must be shown when requested.-Background:...
to London St Pancras, where Eurostar
Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....
international services have operated since November 2007.
Wigston Magna is served by Arriva
Arriva Fox County
Arriva Leicester is a bus company operating in Leicester and Leicestershire. It is part of Arriva Midlands.-History:Arriva Leicester was formed in 1981, as Midland Red East with the breakup of the old Midland Red bus company, and then became known as Midland Fox in 1984.In September 1996 the...
services 47, 48, 49, 49A and 49B and Centrebus Leicester
Centrebus
Centrebus is a privately owned company that operate a number of services around Leicester and Leicestershire, Grantham, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, mainly in areas where Arriva has scaled down its bus operations. Centrebus also competes with Arriva on some routes in Leicester, Luton and Stevenage...
service 40 (Circle Line).