East Leake

Infobox UK place
official_name= East Leake
country= England
region= East Midlands
shire_district= Rushcliffe
shire_county= Nottinghamshire
civil_parish= East Leake
static_

static_image_caption = St Marys church
population= 7000
population_density=
os_grid_reference= SK5501726086
latitude= 52.829167
longitude= -1.183333
post_town= LOUGHBOROUGH
postcode_area= LE
postcode_district= LE12
dial_code= 01509
constituency_westminster=
london_distance=

East Leake (pronEng|iːst liːk), 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", is a large village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district of Nottinghamshire, although its closest town and postal address is Loughborough across the border in Leicestershire. It has a population of around 7,000. 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 [cite web
url=http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/articles/tts/tts1902/spring/spring1902p3.htm
title=Nottinghamshire: history and archaeology | Miscellaneous articles: Thoroton Society excursion, Spring 1902: East Leake (1)
publisher=www.nottshistory.org.uk
accessdate=2008-05-03
last=
first=] which dates back to the 11th century.

Local amenities

*4 schools
**Arley House PNEU School
**Brookside primary school
**Lantern Lane primary school
**Harry Carlton Comprehensive (Secondary School)
*Leisure centre with swimming pool
*3 pubs (Nag's Head, Three Horseshoes and Bull's Head)
*Co-op supermarket
*Post office
*A variety of other small shops
*Police station
*Fire station
*Amateur theatre group (elaps)
*Cricket, rugby and Bowls clubs
*"Meadow Park", a local nature reserve used by dog-walkers and cyclists.

Transport

East Leake lies close to the A60 and A6006 major roads and within 5 miles of the M1 motorway. Nottingham City Transport operate a frequent (30mins at peak times) bus service (no. 1) between Nottingham and Loughborough under the "South Notts" brand. 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 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 and Rushcliffe Halt. 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.

Churches

There are five churches in the village:
* St. Mary's Parish Church (Church of England within the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham).
* Our Lady of the Angels Roman Catholic Church
* Methodist Church
* Baptist Church
* East Leake Evangelical Church (meets in the Village Hall)

Neighbouring villages

* West Leake
* Costock
* Gotham
* Sutton Bonington
* Normanton on Soar
* Rempstone
* Stanford on Soar
* Zouch

References

Publications

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

External links

* [http://www.stmarys-eastleake.org.uk/ St Mary`s Parish Church]
* [http://www.east-leake.co.uk/ East Leake community website]