Leckhampton
Encyclopedia
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, 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...
. The area constitutes a 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...
and is part of the district of Cheltenham.
History
Leckhampton is mentioned in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
(1086) as 'Lechametone' and 'Lechantone', meaning 'homestead where garlic or leeks are grown'. The earliest recorded mention comes from the 8th century, as the home farm of the royal manor of Cheltenham.
There are remnants of a moat at Church Farm that dates from Saxon times (SO 941 195 GB Grid)
The old village of Leckhampton stands at the foot of Leckhampton Hill, around the medieval parish church of St. Peter's
St. Peter's Church, Leckhampton
St Peter's Church, Leckhampton is the Church of England parish church in Leckhampton, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The church belongs to the Diocese of Gloucester, and is a member of the developing group of South Cheltenham Churches along with St Philip and St James Church, Leckhampton,...
. During the 19th and 20th centuries, there was residential development in the direction of Cheltenham.
Leckhampton Court is a mediaeval manor house dating from about 1320, built by the Giffard family of Brimpsfield
Brimpsfield
Brimpsfield is a village in Gloucestershire, England.The village is recorded in Domesday Book as "Brimesfelde". The manor of Brimpsfield was granted to Maurice de Berkeley in 1339 by King Edward III....
. It is now a Sue Ryder Care
Sue Ryder Care
Sue Ryder is a charity which was founded in 1953 by Sue Ryder, with the creation of a nursing home in Suffolk, UK....
hospice
Hospice
Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms.In the United States and Canada:*Gentiva Health Services, national provider of hospice and home health services...
.
Between 1881 and 1962, Leckhampton had its own railway station
Cheltenham South and Leckhampton railway station
Cheltenham South and Leckhampton railway station in Gloucestershire served the village of Leckhampton and the southern outskirts of Cheltenham Spa.-History:...
with services on both the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
line between Cheltenham and Banbury
Banbury
Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...
and on the north-south Midland and South Western Junction Railway
Midland and South Western Junction Railway
The Midland and South Western Junction Railway was, until the 1923 Grouping, an independent railway built to form a north-south link between the Midland and London and South Western Railways allowing the Midland and other companies' trains to reach the port of Southampton.-Formation:The M&SWJR...
.
On the hill still stands the ruins of the old quarry. You can still see the remains of the old lime kilns, and there are old railway tracks all over the hill.
The Leckhampton Riots
In 1894, Henry J Dale of the Leckhampton Quarry Company Limited bought 26 acres (105,218.4 m²) of land on Leckhampton hill. To the outrage of local people, he fenced off the area, closing footpaths and warning that anyone found on the land would be treated as trespassers. He also built Tramway Cottage on Daisybank Road, a site that had been used for a fun fair every Good FridayGood Friday
Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
.
In March 1902, about 10,000 protesters tore down the fences and converged on Daisybank Road where they destroyed the cottage. The ringleaders were arrested and sent to Gloucester Prison. Henry Dale rebuilt Tramway Cottage but in 1906 another large group of protesters demolished Dale's fences and gathered at Daisybank Road with the intention of demolishing it again. This time, they were met by the town magistrate (G. B. Witts) and a number of policemen. The magistrate read the Riot Act
Riot Act
The Riot Act was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain that authorised local authorities to declare any group of twelve or more people to be unlawfully assembled, and thus have to disperse or face punitive action...
and, once more, the ringleaders were sent to prison.
The protesters' leaders had met at the Malvern Inn (now a private house in Leckhampton Rd opposite the end of Church Rd), a fact commemorated by a plaque on the wall of the house. The Inn ceased trading in the 1990s. It had a sign portraying a view of the Malverns with the Devil's Chimney in the foreground.
In 1929, Cheltenham Town Council bought the land on the hillside, making it available once more for public access.
The Leckhampton community
Leckhampton Village Hall, formerly the Parish Hall of St. Peter's Church, is a grade 2 listed building in Church Road. It provides a base for community activities, amateur dramatics (Leckhampton PlayersLeckhampton Players
The Leckhampton Players is an amateur dramatics company based in Leckhampton, near Cheltenham. Founded in 1947, it performs regularly at Leckhampton Village Hall...
) and dance classes (Leckhampton Tappers). Following a major fundraising effort, the roof was replaced in 2009 at a cost of some £90,000.
The village has a playing field for cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, and football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
matches, with a play area and nursery nearby.
The main shopping area for Leckhampton residents is the Bath Road, a mile or so north of the old village centre.
The Wheatsheaf Pub was a favourite drinking spot of Brian Jones
Brian Jones
Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones , known as Brian Jones, was an English musician and a founding member of the Rolling Stones....
The Old Patesians R.F.C.
Old Patesians R.F.C.
Old Patesians Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The club is currently in National Three South West.-History:...
is based at the foot of the hill.
The Sue Ryder
Sue Ryder
Margaret Susan Cheshire, Baroness Ryder of Warsaw and Baroness Cheshire, CMG, OBE , best known as Sue Ryder, was a British volunteer with Special Operations Executive in the Second World War, who afterwards led many charitable organizations, notably the charity named in her honour.-Early...
organisation has a home in Leckhampton which was once used as a prisoner of war camp.
The Leckhampton sub-Post Office (on the corner of Church Rd and Leckhampton Rd) was closed around 2000 and reverted to a general store. The nearest offices are in Bath Rd (about 2km) and Charlton Kings (about 3km).
Churches
The oldest church in Leckhampton is St. Peter'sSt. Peter's Church, Leckhampton
St Peter's Church, Leckhampton is the Church of England parish church in Leckhampton, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The church belongs to the Diocese of Gloucester, and is a member of the developing group of South Cheltenham Churches along with St Philip and St James Church, Leckhampton,...
.
The expansion of Leckhampton towards Cheltenham resulted in the building of two more churches, the Victorian Gothic St. Philip and St. James and the mid-20th-century Emmanuel Church (founded in the late 19th Century as a mission from St Lukes Church). St Peter's, St Philip & St James and Emmanuel are linked with St Christopher's (Warden Hill) and St Stephen's (Tivoli) in the Anglican South Cheltenham Team - in the process of formation (2009). Leckhampton is also served by Bethesda Methodist Church, Leckhampton Baptist Church, Naunton Lane Chapel (Evangelical Presbyterian Church from 2010) and Providence Chapel.
School
The local primary schools are Leckhampton Church of England School and Naunton Park School (a little out of the area).Hospitals
The Delancey Rehabilitation and Assessment Hospital (originally a fever hospital, named after its benefactor) is located on Charlton Lane (closed 2009). The Charlton Lane centre is nearby, as well as a Leonard Cheshire home.Geography
Near the top of Leckhampton Hill stands a noted limestone rock formation known as the Devil's Chimney. It is believed that the chimney was created by limestone quarrymen.In the south of Leckhampton lies the small residential area of Pilley.