HINCKLEY, a parish comprising the market-town
of Hinckley, the chapelries of Dadlington and Stoke-
Golding, and the hamlet of Wykiii, in the hundred of
SPARKENHOE, county of LEICESTER, and the hamlet of
Hydes-Pastures in the southern division of the hundred
of KNIGHTLOW, county of WARWICK, and containing,
exclusively of Hydes-Pastures, 6706 inhabitants,
of which number, 5835 are in the town of Hinckley,
13 miles (S.W. by W.) from Leicester, and 100 (N.W.
by N.) from London. This place was created a barony
soon after the Conquest, and held by Hugh de Grentismenil,
seneschal of England in the reigns of William Rufus
and Henry I., who erected a stately castle and a church,
and founded a small priory of Benedictine monks,
which, prior to 1173, was given as a cell to the abbey
of Lyra, in Normandy, by Robert Blanchmaines, Earl
of Leicester: having fallen into the hands of the crown,-
Richard II. gave it to the Carthusian priory of Montgrace,
in Yorkshire, to which it was finally annexed by
Henry V., and, on the dissolution of that priory, it wasgranted
to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster.
Under its ancient lords this town had all the privileges
of a borough; but the inhabitants taking part with the
house of Lancaster in the civil war of the fifteenth
century, their privileges were annulled by Edward IV.
Leland mentions the ruins of the castle (which in the
time of Henry VIII., the period at which he wrote, belonged
to the crown, but which had previously belonged
to the Earl of Leicester), as being situated two miles
from the town of Leicester, on the borders of the forest,
and as being spacious and celebrated. The assizes for
the county were formerly held here. The town stands
close to the border of Warwickshire, from which county
it is separated by the Roman Watling-street; and so
elevated is its situation, that it commands a view of
fifty churches. It comprises the Borough, within the.
limits of the ancient town, and the Bond, without those
limits. The houses are indifferently built, the town
is paved but not lighted, and is well supplied with
water: the walks and views are pleasant and extensive.
A permanent subscription library, including a news
room, has lately been established. The waste lands
were enclosed in 1760, and one-seventh of the lordship
allotted to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. The
town has derived great benefit from the introduction of
the stocking manufacture, which is now so extensive that
a greater quantity of cotton and worsted hose, particularly
the former, of the coarser kind, is supposed to be
made here than in any other town of equal size in the
kingdom: the number of frames in the town and villages
adjacent is computed at two thousand five hundred, affording
employment to nearly three thousand persons.
It possesses a commercial communication with all parts
of the kingdom by means of the Ashby canal, which
traverses the south-western part of the parish. The
market is on Monday; and fairs are held annually on
the 1st, 2d, and 3rd Mondays after January 6th, Easter-
Monday, the Monday before Whitsuntide, and also on
Whit-Monday, on August 26th, and the Monday after
October 28th: the last is a cheese fair, and the rest are
for horses, cattle, and sheep. The town is under the
government of a mayor, or bailiff, a constable, and two
headboroughs, chosen at the annual court leet of the lord
of the manor; the Bond, or Bound, is under that of a
constable and three headboroughs. There is also a townmaster,
chosen at the church on the Tuesday in Easter
week, who is empowered, in conjunction with his predecessor
in the office, to audit annually the accounts of
the trustees of the feoffment. In 1764, Shuckburgh
Ashby, Esq. gave up to the town the tolls on corn
and hogs, in order that they might be abolished. The
town-hall was rebuilt in 1803, by means of funds
arising from what is called the Feoffment benefaction.
A bridewell was erected in 1768, the magistrates at the
sessions allowing £25 towards the expense, and the remainder
being paid by the overseers of the poor.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Leicester,
and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books
at £9. 9. 9., and in the patronage of the Dean and
Chapter of Westminster. The church, dedicated to St.
Mary, is a spacious edifice, erected chiefly in the thirteenth
century, with a tower and finely-proportioned
spire, the latter built in 1788: this church underwent
a thorough repair, and had new windows inserted,
and an organ erected, in 1808, at an expense
of £500, raised by subscription, and it has recently received
an addition of three hundred and forty free sittings,
towards defraying the expense of which, the Incorporated
Society for enlarging churches and chapels
contributed £200. Of the several chapels of ease which ,
formerly belonged to the church, only that of Dadlington
remains, the chapelry having a distinct parochial
rate. There are places of worship for General
Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyan
Methodists, and Unitarians, and a Roman Catholic
chapel. On the dissolution of the Catholic college
at Douay, in Flanders, some years ago, the institution
was re-established here; it has a library, and there are
tunds for the support of two clergymen as tutors, several
foreign students being now on the establishment. A National
school was established in 1821, and is supported
from the funds belonging to the Feoffment benefaction;
and an infant school has been recently established, which
is supported by subscription. At a short distance from
Hinckley, on the road to Lutterworth, is a spring called
Holy Well, and in the neighbourhood are good mineral
waters, at Cogg's well, Christopher's spa, and the Priest
hills.