Mountsorrel
| Mountsorrel | |
|---|---|
 The Butter Market |
|
 Mountsorrel
|
|
| Mountsorrel shown within Leicestershire | |
| Population | 8,223 (2011 Census) |
| • London | 95 miles (153 km) SSE |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LOUGHBOROUGH |
| Postcode district | LE12 |
| Dialling code | 0116 |
| Police | Leicestershire |
| Fire | Leicestershire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
Mountsorrel is a village in Leicestershire on the River Soar, just south of Loughborough with a population in 2001 of 6,662 inhabitants, increasing to 8,223 at the 2011 census.
The village is in the borough of Charnwood, surrounding a steep hill, once crowned by a castle, and is bordered to the east by the River Soar.
The village is renowned for the Buttercross Market in the village centre as well as its granite quarry, the largest in Europe. The Leicester arm of the Grand Union Canal runs through Mountsorrel.
The civil parish meets with Rothley to the south, and some houses are actually in Rothley parish near the southern A6 junction. To the west of the parish is a nature reserve. North of here the Leicestershire Round passes east-west through the north of the village. The parish boundary meets Quorndon where it first meets the quarry near Buddon Wood. North of there it crosses the former A6 500 metres towards Quorn from the roundabout for the A6 roundabout. Close to the bypass the River Soar becomes the parish boundary and south of the A6 northern junction it meets Sileby at the point where it crosses the A6 bypass. 500 metres south of there the boundary leaves the river to the west, with the river becoming the Sileby-Rothley boundary.
The local area is built on granite. Leicester's Humberstone came from this granite (igneous rock), and was originally known as Hunbeort's Stan. Another piece of Mountsorrel granite is at an RAF memorial at Screveton in Nottinghamshire near the A46.
A castle was built in 1080 by Hugh Lupus, but there is evidence of an earlier Norman settlement in the area in the form of pottery fragments. A Roman villa is supposed to have existed on Broad Hill during the 4th century AD, the site of today's quarry, as quarrying during the late 1800s revealed many artefacts including a preserved wooden bucket. However, the first recording of the village was in 1377, when it had a population of 156.
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Wikipedia