Coleorton
Encyclopedia
Coleorton is a village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 and civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in North West Leicestershire
North West Leicestershire
North West Leicestershire is a local government district in Leicestershire, England. Its main towns are Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Coalville.The district contains East Midlands Airport, which operates flights to the rest of Britain and to various places in Europe...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is situated on the A512 road
A512 road
The A512 is an A road entirely in Leicestershire, UK. It links the primary destination of Loughborough with the M1, A42 road, and the town of Ashby de la Zouch....

 approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Ashby de la Zouch. Nearby villages include Newbold, to the north, Thringstone
Thringstone
Thringstone is a village in north-west Leicestershire, England about north of Coalville. It lies within the area of the English National Forest and is part of the East Midlands region....

 to the east, and Swannington
Swannington, Leicestershire
Swannington is a former mining village in Leicestershire, England. It was a terminus of the early Leicester and Swannington Railway that was built to carry away its pits' output...

 to the south-east.

In the 2001 census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....

, the population of the parish was 1,016.

Formerly an ancient parish in West Goscote
West Goscote
West Goscote was a hundred of Leicestershire, that arose from the division of the ancient Goscote hundred into two. It covers the north west of the county, an area broadly corresponding to the western part of Charnwood district along with North West Leicestershire.The hundred's main town was...

 hundred, Coleorton became part of Ashby de la Zouch Rural District
Ashby de la Zouch Rural District
Ashby de la Zouch Rural District was a rural district in England, near Ashby de la Zouch . It was formed in 1894 along with most other rural districts. In 1974 it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, to form the non-metropolitan district of North West Leicestershire.The district...

 which was created in 1894.

Coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...

 was an important industry in the area since the 15th century. Coleorton Colliery, which was between Coleorton and Swannington, has now been closed, and a woodland Coleorton Wood
Coleorton Wood
Coleorton Wood is near to Coalville in North West Leicestershire, England.It is a six-hectare mixed woodland that was planted during the early days of the National Forest. The site was formerly Coleorton Pit, or colliery, which opened in 1875, and closed in the 1930s...

 was planted in 1991-2 on the colliery site as part of the National Forest
National Forest, England
The National Forest is one of England’s most ambitious environmental projects. Across parts of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire, are being transformed, blending ancient woodland with new planting to create a new national forest...

. Opencast mining was operated between 1985 and 1995.

Coleorton was the birthplace of William Stenson
William Stenson
William Stenson was a mining engineer born in Coleorton, Leicestershire.BackgroundLittle is currently known about Stenson's background. Detail of his parentage remains unknown and neither is it known where he would have received his training as an engineer...

 (1771–1861), founder of Whitwick
Whitwick
Whitwick is a village in Leicestershire, England and is an ancient parish which formerly included the equally historic villages of Thringstone and Swannington. It was an important manor in the Middle Ages, which once included Bardon and Markfield, parts of Hugglescote, Donington le Heath, Ratby,...

 Colliery and 'Father of Coalville
Coalville
Coalville is a town in North West Leicestershire, England, with a population estimated in 2003 to be almost 33,000. It is situated on the A511 trunk road between Leicester and Burton upon Trent, close to junction 22 of the M1 motorway where the A511 meets the A50 between Ashby-de-la-Zouch and...

'

The Grade II* listed Coleorton Hall
Coleorton Hall
Coleorton Hall is a 19th century country mansion, formerly the seat of the Beaumont Baronets of Staughton Grange. Situated at Coleorton, Leicestershire, it is a Grade II* listed building now converted into residential apartments....

, in the west of the parish, was built in 1804-8 for the art patron Sir George Beaumont
Sir George Beaumont, 7th Baronet
Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet was a British art patron and amateur painter. He played a crucial part in the creation of London's National Gallery by making the first bequest of paintings to that institution....

. William Wordsworth was a regular and frequent guest of Sir George Beaumont at the Hall. Between 1948 and 1997 the house was owned by the National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...

and used as offices, and it has now been converted into apartments.

Coleorton has a post office and is served by three public bus services:

9 (Arriva) Leicester-Coalville-Ashby-Burton (Runs hourly from top of Lower Moor Road)http://www.arrivabus.co.uk/serviceInformation.aspx?id=6441

155 (Arriva) Coalville-East Midlands Airport- Castle Donnington (runs hourly from anywhere on Lower Moor Road)http://www.skylink.co.uk/coalville/timetable.php

129 (Creswells) Loughborough-Ashby (Irregular journeys and runs from Zion Hill)http://www.leics.gov.uk/30789_publ01_service_129_tt.pdf

External links

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