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Hinckley is a town in southwest Leicestershire , England . It has a population of 43,246 (2001 census). It is administered by Hinckley And Bosworth Borough Council. HISTORY Hinckley has a history going back to Saxon times. The name originally referred to the "woodland clearing ( Old English ''leah'') of a man called Hynca". By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 , Hinckley was quite a large village, and grew over the course of the following 200 years into a small Market Town – a Market was first recorded there in 1311 . In the 17th Century the town developed a Hosiery industry, producing Stocking s and similar items. Hinckley played a prominent part in the English Civil War . Its proximity to several rival strongholds - the royalist garrisons at Ashby De La Zouch and Leicester, those of the Parliamentarians at Tamworth and Coventry , and the presence of parties of troops or brigands occupying several fortified houses in nearby Warwickshire – ensured frequent visits by the warring parties. The local townsfolk were forced to decide whether to declare their allegiances openly or attempt to remain neutral – with the risk of having to pay levies, ransoms, and fines to both sides. In March 1644 Hinckley was occupied by a group of Royalist troops, though they were soon driven out by a force of Parliamentarian s, who took many prisoners. The town was visited by both parliamentary and royalists troops from the rival garrisons, particularly parliamentary troops from Tamworth, Coventry, and Astley castle in Warwickshire. Troops from Coventry garrison were particularly active in the town, taking horses and "free quarter" and availing themselves of ‘dyett and Beere’, and taking some of the inhabitants hostage for ransom. Royalist troops raided the town to threaten those with parliamentary sympathies. The notorious Lord Hastings of Ashby de la Zouch is recorded to have "coursed about the country as far as Dunton and Lutterworth and took near upon a hundred of the clergymen and others, and carried them prisoners … threatening to hang all them that should take the Parliament’s Covenant". Parliamentary newsheets record that on the night of March 4th, 1644 Hastings’ men brought in "26 honest countrymen from several towns" intending to take them to Ashby de la Zouch, along with a huge herd of cattle, oxen and horses from the country people and a minister named Mr Warner. These prisoners were herded into Hinckley church and asked "in a jeering manner, ‘Where are the Round-heads your brethren at Leicester? Why come they not to redeem you?’". Castle Street in Hinckley is also the first known location of 'Ludditism' where disgruntled workers, replaced by machinery in their jobs took sledgehammers to the machines. Hinckley became an Urban District under the Local Government Act 1894 , covering the ancient parish of Hinckley. In 1934, under a County Review Order , Hinckley urban district expanded to cover the ancient parishes of Barwell , Burbage and Earl Shilton and most of Stoke Golding . In 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 the Hinckley urban district was abolished, becoming an Unparished Area in the borough of Hinckley And Bosworth . Since then, Civil Parish es of Stoke Golding, Earl Shilton and Burbage have been set up again. The core urban area remained unparished. Hinckley is currently the second largest town in the historic county of Leicestershire after Loughborough (Leicester itself being a city). INDUSTRY Hinckley is a traditional centre of the Hosiery industry. The first Framework Knitting machine was brought here by Joseph Iliffe in the 17th century and by the 19th century Hinckley was responsible for a large proportion of Britain's hosiery production. Since the Second World War the hosiery industry has steadily shrunk in size although several Textiles firms remain in the area. Hinckley & District Museum, which is housed in a range of former framework knitters' cottages, tells the story of the hosiery industry and contains some interesting examples of framework knitting machines. Hinckley also has a history of engineering and is home to the Triumph Motorcycle company. The town's central location and good links to the UK motorway network have made it a popular location for distribution warehouses. TRANSPORT LINKS Hinckley is served by the A5 and the M69 . The M69 links Hinckley to the nearest cities, Coventry and Leicester and the M1 and M6 motorways. By Rail , Hinckley is served by the Nuneaton - Leicester stretch of the Birmingham To Peterborough Line and has regular rail services between Birmingham and Leicester via Narborough , Hinckley, and Nuneaton . Journeys to London can be competed via the West Coast Main Line through Nuneaton, or the Midland Main Line via Leicester. The terminus of the Midland route is London St Pancras which will become the home of Eurostar international services in November 2007. The nearest airports are Coventry and East Midlands . The town is equidistant (19 km / 12 miles) from the cities of Coventry and Leicester and 8 km (5 miles) to the east of the larger neighbouring town of Nuneaton . The small town of Ibstock is 18 km (11 miles) to the north on the A447. SUBURBS Hollycroft, Middlefield, Wykin. Burbage is often mistaken for a suburb of Hinckley but is in fact separate. It is a large village, and merges with Hinckley to the south, separated by the railway line. Sketchley is another small villiage which has also merged into Burbage. MEDIA The local radio station, Fosseway Radio , serves the town and the surrounding area, as described by jingles such as " also publishes a Hinckley edition. The free (advertising-funded) Hinckley Herald & Journal is distributed to most houses. Hinckley has its own community website and online news resource www.hinckley-info.co.uk SPORT Hinckley has one football team, / 5 finished mid-table in the Football Conference North and competed in the Second Round of the FA Cup . Hinckley United was formed in 1997 from the amalgamation of Hinckley Town and Hinckley Athletic, and is known as ''the Knitters'' - a Nickname that comes from the town's history as a textile-producing centre. SCHOOLS Hinckley has many schools and three colleges: John Cleveland College, Adult Centre and North Warwickshire and Hinckley College. Hinckley Primary Schools are quite famous. Holliers Walk Primary School also features the hansom cab on its uniform. There are several Secondary Schools including: Mount Grace High School and Redmoor High School. EDUCATION Hinckley operates a three tier schooling system and has several schools ranging from primary schools to colleges. The main primary schools in the area are: Battling Brook CP, Holliers Walk, Richmond, St. Peters Catholic, St. Mary's Church of England and Westfield Infant/Junior. The high (secondary) schools include: Mount Grace and Redmoor. St. Martins is not in Hinckley (in Stoke Golding), nor is Hastings (in Burbage) but both are feeder schools for John Cleveland College , the main college in the town for school Years 10 and 11. JCC also includes a Sixth Form, as does North Warwickshire and Hinckley College, a further education college. The only other major college in the area is William Bradford (Earl Shilton), but most students (within Hinckley and the surrounding villages) transferring from Year 9 to Year 10 choose JCC. MISCELLANEOUS
:Davy: ''Now, sir, a new link to the bucket must need be had: and, sir, do you mean to stop any of William's wages, about the sack he lost the other day at Hinckley fair?''
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