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Wigston Magna
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wigston Magna | |
  Wigston Magna shown within Leicestershire |
|
| Population | 33,116 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| District | Oadby and Wigston |
| Shire county | Leicestershire |
| Region | East Midlands |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WIGSTON |
| Postcode district | LE18 |
| Dialling code | 0116 |
| Police | Leicestershire |
| Fire | Leicestershire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Harborough |
| European Parliament | East Midlands |
| List of places: UK • England • Leicestershire | |
Wigston (or more properly Wigston Magna to distinguish it from the nearby 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 district 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.
Contents |
One of the earliest mentions of this place is in the Domesday book where it is listed amongst the lands held by Hugh de Grandmesnil [1] 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. Wistans.
St Wistan's is known as that because it was one of the places where the body of St Wistan rested before burial. First, he was buried at Repton and finally in Evesham. St Wistan 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 Gullivers 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.
There is a Framework Knitting Museum here, as it was an important occupation in this area.
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.
MacFisheries' MacMarkets was the town's major supermarket for many years. It became a branch of International Stores in the late 70s and latterly a Gateway Foodmarket and Somerfield. There is a Sainsburys in the centre of the town, and Tesco on Blaby Road in South Wigston.
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), 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.
South Leicestershire College is set to be rebuilt on Canal Street, South Wigston and should be completed in 2009.
1461 (Wigston) Squadron of the Air Training Corps is located in South Wigston, and recruits many members from the schools in Wigston.
South Wigston railway station lies on the Birmingham to Peterborough Line. Trains to Leicester run every two hours and take five minutes. Connections are frequent from Leicester Railway Station to London St Pancras, where from November 2007 Eurostar international services will operate.
- ^ Domesday Book: A Complete Transliteration. London: Penguin, 2003. p. 652 ISBN 0-14-143994-7