East Leake

East Leake (/liːk/) is a large village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district of Nottinghamshire, England, although its closest town and postal address is Loughborough in Leicestershire. It has a population of around 7,000, measured in the 2011 Census as 6,337.[1] The original village was located on the Sheepwash Brook. Kingston Brook also runs through the village. Near the centre of the village is the historic St. Mary's Church,[2] dating back to the 11th century, which Sheepwash Brook flows past, and an old ford, which provided access to the pinfold. The church has six bells.[3]

East Leake

St Mary's church
East Leake
Location within Nottinghamshire
Population6,337 (2011)
OS grid referenceSK 55440 26406
Civil parish
  • East Leake
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLOUGHBOROUGH
Postcode districtLE12
Dialling code01509
PoliceNottinghamshire
FireNottinghamshire
AmbulanceEast Midlands
UK Parliament

British Gypsum, a plasterboard manufacturer, has its headquarters in the village.[4] The manufacturing of plasterboard began in this area in about 1880.

Name

The origin of Leake appears to be Laeke (Old Norse – brook or stream), and is consistent with East Leake's position in the heart of the Danelaw, which had various forms over time before becoming "Leake". One of the earliest mentions of East Leake is in the Domesday Book (1086) recorded as 'Leche.' The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning wet land, since the village lies on the Kingston Brook, a tributary of the River Soar.

Local amenities
  • 3 schools
  • Leisure centre with swimming pool
  • Four pubs (Nag's Head, Three Horseshoes, Bull's Head and The Round RobINN)
  • Co-op supermarket
  • Post office
  • A variety of other small shops
  • Police station
  • Fire station
  • Amateur theatre group (ELAPS)[7]
  • Folk club (ELFS – East Leake FolkieS)
  • Cricket, football, rugby and bowls clubs
  • "Meadow Park", a local nature reserve used by dog-walkers and cyclists[8]
  • East Leake pre-school play group a registered charity which provides term time play group facilities
  • 2nd East Leake Scouts
  • Rushcliffe Golf Club[9]

Transport

East Leake lies close to the A60 and A6006 major roads and within five miles of the M1 motorway. Nottingham City Transport operate a frequent (15 minutes at peak times) bus service (No. 1) between Nottingham and Loughborough under the "South Notts" brand.[10] An East Leake railway station used to exist, on the Great Central Railway. That line was controversially broken up in the Beeching Axe of the 1960s. The stretch from the point where the Great Central crossed the Midland Main Line in Loughborough through East Leake to Ruddington was retained to allow freight trains to travel to British Gypsum's works and to the MoD ordnance depot at Ruddington, but later fell into disuse. More recently this stretch has been re-opened as a heritage line running steam and heritage diesel locos between Ruddington, Rushcliffe Halt (which is located next to the Gypsum works at the northern end of East Leake) and the South Loughborough Junction. In the long term, the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) hope to reinstate a passenger service from East Leake station, although the fact that the area alongside the station has been redeveloped for housing would preclude the provision of public car parking in the area of the station, and would require permission from the Secretary of State.

Churches

There are five churches in the village:

Geography and ecology

In 2017 European bee-eaters nested at CEMEX quarry, attracting thousands of bird-watchers.[15] The European bee-eater is a colourful bird usually found in southern Europe, and seldom nests in the United Kingdom.

  • Bluebells in Colonel's Covert
  • Kingston Brook at East Leake
  • Pinfold
  • School green

Neighbouring villages
gollark: I've heard it's a bit unpolished.
gollark: Nuclearcraft makes meltdowns just result in the reactor turning into a pile of corium, so it's nicer but not too easy.
gollark: Anyway, I'll assemble a modpack and hopefully have it up by this evening.
gollark: There are many things in GTCE for which you need one weird rare metal/gem once then never again, from my JEI checking.
gollark: "Why do I have tetrahedrite? What *is* tetrahedrite? I'll just check JEI... it's copper ore, but I need 5000 GTCE machines to use it."

References
  1. "Civil Parish population 2011: East Leake". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  2. "Transactions of the Thoroton Society: East Leake". Nottinghamshire History. 11 November 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  3. "East Leake: St Mary". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  4. "About us". British Gypsum. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  5. "Home". Brookside Primary School. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  6. "Home". Lantern Lane Primary & Nursery School. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  7. "Home". East Leake Amateur Players. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  8. "Meadow Park". East Leake.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  9. "Home". The Rushcliffe Golf Club. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  10. "Navy Line". Nottingham City Transport Ltd. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  11. "Home". Parishes of Our Lady and the Angels, East Leake and St Margaret Clitherow. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  12. "Home". East Leake Methodist Church. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  13. "Home". East Leake Baptist Church. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  14. "Home". East Leake Evangelical Church. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  15. BBC News

Publications
  • Sidney Pell Potter, A History of East Leake, published in 1903. Potter was the rector at the time.

Media related to East Leake at Wikimedia Commons

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