Great Glen, Leicestershire

Great Glen (or Glenn), also known as Glen Magna, is a village in Leicestershire, England about seven miles south-east of Leicester.

Its name comes from the original Iron Age settlers who used the Celtic word "glennos", meaning valley and comes from the fact that Great Glen lies in part of the valley of the River Sence. The 'great' part is to distinguish the village from Glen Parva.

In 1751 a turnpike bridge was built over the River Sence as a part of the stagecoach route from Leicester to London. The pubs The Old Greyhound and The Crown were originally coaching inns built soon after the new road opened. This road later became the A6 road, and a bypass around the village was opened in 2003. The Midland Main Line runs to the south of the A6, and formerly had a station to serve the village at the closest point.

In the 16th century, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, father of the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey, became the lord of the manor. After his execution for treason, his lands were seized by the crown.

Following the Battle of Naseby in 1645, during the English Civil War, Great Glen played host to a band of Cromwellian soldiers who were pursuing some of the (defeated) Royalist Cavalry. They were later joined by the rest of the army who camped overnight before moving onto Leicester. Some of these soldiers made camp in the church where they caused much damage (such as breaking all the windows), of which some evidence can still be seen today. There are five road names in the village that mark these events: Cromwell Road, Naseby Way, Ruperts Way, Edgehill Close and Halford Close.

Stretton Hall was built in the 18th century. Leicestershire and Rutland Joint Board for the Mentally Defective bought the hall in 1932 for conversion to a hospital. Under the NHS it was a residential hospital for learning disabled children and had 157 beds in 1979 [http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/4_13_TA.htm] . The hospital closed in the 1990s and a housing development has been built on part of the site.

A new site for Leicester Grammar School is being constructed on the land of Mount Farm, Great Glen [http://www.leicestergrammar.org.uk/lgs.asp?s=about&ss=relocation&pg=latest] and is planned for occupation in Autumn 2008.

There are two other schools in the village, the C of E St Cuthbert's primary school, which feeds to the local state schools in the neighbouring village of Kibworth and the town of Market Harborough. The independent school, The Stoneygate School, also has its site at Great Glen. Its pupils recently won Best Junior Choir at BBC Songs of Praise 2005 School Choirs Contest [http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/03_march/20/choirs.shtml] .

At the centre of the village on the Stretton Road/Oaks Road T-junction is Great Glen Methodist Church. Built in 1827 it houses many activities including Sunday morning and evening services, a Sparklers mums and toddlers group on Mondays, Fusion children's group on Sunday mornings and Confusion alternate Friday evenings for teenagers. View the church at [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=great+glen+methodist+church&sll=52.579271,-1.035118&sspn=0.098262,0.230713&ie=UTF8&ll=52.575149,-1.032345&spn=0.000768,0.001802&t=h&z=19&iwloc=A ]

Great Glen has its own Accountants Practice - Grimsdales Accountants

The K6 Red telephone box on the village green is a listed building.

Trevor Benjamin used to live here and Engelbert Humperdinck (singer) and Dr Jeremy Stone have homes in the village.

The village is located at gbmapping|SP655975.

History

See [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22049]

Great Glen Methodist Church in the centre of the village is a typical Weslyan period Chapel which is a Grade 2* listed building which was built in 1827.