Worthington, Leicestershire

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 52.7797
longitude= -1.3943
official_name= Worthington
population= 675 (estimate)
shire_district= North West Leicestershire
shire_county = Leicestershire
region= East Midlands
post_town= ASHBY DE LA ZOUCH
postcode_district = LE65
postcode_area= LE
dial_code= 01530
os_grid_reference= SK408204
constituency_westminster= North West Leicestershire

Worthington is a village in North West Leicestershire, England. It lies 5 miles from the market town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch and has a population of approximately 675 people.Ref|Output

Surrounding villages include Newbold, Griffydam, Breedon on the Hill, Lount, and Osgathorpe. The country houses of Staunton Harold and Calke Abbey are also nearby.

The village has major transport links being 5 miles from East Midlands Airport and 7 miles from where the A42 converges with the M1 motorway.

Brief history

The village is recorded in the Domesday Book (1086) as "Werditone" and probably derives from the family name of "Werden",ref|Werden or a man called "Weorth",ref|Oxford and is most likely to have been an Anglo Saxon settlement. The Domesday entry also lists Henry de Ferrers as owning 4 carucates of land in the area.

The village history is mostly that of a rural farming community. During the 20th century however it rapidly expanded to house workers for nearby collieries. This created a new road in the centre of the village (St Matthews Avenue).

By the 1990s many of the local collieries had ceased operating and the village began to shed its mining identity. Despite the collapse of coalmining another road (Chapel Rise) was added in the 1980s.

Local nicknames for Worthington have included 'Paraffin City', due to its late adoption of electricity, and 'Yawney Box' (which is an obsolete Derbyshire word for 'Donkey').ref|Wright

Present day Worthington

Today the village has a typically mixed community of families, retired people, working professionals, and farmers. According to the 2001 census the parish of Worthington has a mean age of 40.48 years old and has a 'household reference' ethnicity of 99.1% white.Ref|Age

Worthington boasts a post office shop, [http://www.worthington.leics.sch.uk/index.asp primary school] , church, and chapel. It did have two public houses, the Swan and Malt Shovel, but only the latter remains.

Worthington also features a Cloud Trail which is the name for a section of dismantled railway line that now forms part of the National Cycle Network (operated by Sustrans). Part of the trail runs alongside an active quarry owned by Ennstone plc and leads out towards Breedon and the Swarkestone causeway.

Annual events include a family fun-run from the Malt Shovel car park, up Bull Hill, along the Cloud Trail and returning to the pub. A village yard sale also takes place (usually in June) that raises funds for [http://www.worthington.leics.sch.uk/index.asp Worthington Primary School] and youth club.

The village is popular with hunting enthusiasts, sitting as it does in the hunting country of the famous Quorn hunt.

Historic buildings include St Mathews church and an 18th century lock-up (or blind house), similar to the one in nearby Breedon that would have been used for detaining local drunks.

The bottom half of the village (from Chapel Rise to the Malt Shovel) occasionally suffers from power cuts. In May 2006 a generator was temporarily installed to supply electricity for several days. The power cuts only effect one side of the village because it is served by two different transformers.

There is no gas supply in the area and households rely on electric heaters, solid fuel appliances, or oil burners, for their heating.

Earl of Worthington

The current 13th Earl of Worthington is Andrew Charles Horacio Cuthbert Clay, who still lives in the village.

Clay's early life started in splendour being born to the local Manor house. In his late teens he decided to travel the world, during this time he formed his reputation as a formidable sportsman.

Clay currently works as an entrepeneur designing an ever growing range of toupee's from animal hair. He has also devoted much of his time to running a care home for abandoned cats.

Notes

# This population estimate is based on the 2001 Census Output Area 31UHGT0012 that lies within Super Output Area Lower Layer 005C (North West Leicestershire). The figure provided is 346 people but the SOA does not include White Horse Farm, Manor Farm, Manor Drive, part of Church Street and half of Main Street. The parish Output Area (Worthington CP) lists 1350 people but this area also includes the village of Newbold. As both villages are similar in size the population of Worthington is likely to be between 500 and 750 people.
# [http://www.benefice.org.uk/worthington_church/a_short_guide.php Essay on history of St Matthews Church] Reverend H.A. Dane suggests the Werden family as a source name and posits the village is Saxon in origin.
# Mills, A.D., A Dictionary of British Place Names, Oxford University Press, 2003, ISBN-10: 0-19-852758-6.
# [http://books.google.com/books?id=WhiZJCZQtoMC&pg=RA1-PA1035&lpg=RA1-PA1035&dq=%22Yawney+Box%22&source=web&ots=1ADUvAqAWt&sig=IOO_St8uQaTOem_oXa5amQtwHrg#PRA1-PA1037,M1 Link to Google PDF page of this book] Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English: Containing words from the English writers previous to the Nineteenth Century which are no longer in use, or are not used in the same sense. And words which are now used only in the provincial dialects.
# [http://www.benefice.org.uk/the_parish_times/worthington_remembered.php Worthington Remembered] Essay on 1920s Worthington by a local resident.
# 2001 Census, output figures for Worthington parish.

External links

* [http://www.benefice.org.uk/the_parish_times/index.php Local church website]
* [http://www.leics.gov.uk/research_info_census_2001#electoral_division Leicestershire Census 2001]
* [http://www.leicestershireparishcouncils.org/worthington/21282.html Worthington Parish Council]
* [http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination National Statistics & ONS]
* [http://www.worthington.leics.sch.uk/index.asp Worthington Primary School]

Further reading

* Hand-one-down Hearsays of the Parish of Breedon, Griffydam, Isley Walton, Langley, Lount, Newbold, Scotland, Staunton Harold, Tonge, Wilson and Worthington 1870-1970. John Dawson. Breedon: available form the author 2003. 188pp