Local Authority Publishing

This site was produced by: LOCAL AUTHORITY PUBLISHING
Publishers for local authorities throughout Great Britain. View more Official Guides at www.officialguides.co.uk

Lutterworth Town Council

Introducing Lutterworth
Some Historical Notes
Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin
John Wycliffe
Sir Frank Whittle
Lutterworth, the Town
General Information
Lutterworth Carnival
Our Advertisers

 

Lutterworth Contact Information

Lutterworth Town Council,
Swiftway Centre,
Central Avenue,
Lutterworth,
Leicestershire,
LE17 4NY

Tel: 01455 550225

Email: Lutterworth Council
Lutterworth Website mouse

 

The Town

TOWN HALL

The Town Hall was provided through public subscription for use as a meeting place for Lutterworth. It dates from 1836 and is administered as a charity by a separate body of Trustees. The Town Hall Charity Trustees are financially supported by the Town Estates Charity. The Town Hall is used for the monthly Town Council meetings and by various groups in the town. The Town Hall itself was built in 1836 in a classical style by the well known architect, Joseph Aloysius Hansom, who at the time was living in Hinckley. Born in 1803 architecture ran in the family with both his brother and his nephew being well established architects. Architecture was a skill Joseph picked up early in life and developed until he too was well known within his own right, designing such buildings as Birmingham Town Hall and inventing the Hansom Cab. Lutterworth Town Hall will always be a focal point of the Town as well as a reminder of Hansom’s talent.

RECREATION GROUNDS

Coventry Road Recreation Ground was donated by George Spencer and is held in trust and fully maintained by the Town Council. The recreation ground is situated off Coventry Road close to the town centre and is home of Lutterworth Bowls Club and Lutterworth Junior and Youth Football Club. Play Area

There is an under 7’s and under 14’s children’s play area plus the multi- court for football and basketball, skateboard park and youth shelter.

The Pavilion located on the Coventry Road recreation ground offers four excellent changing rooms with showers and a very well equipped club room. The club room is extensively used during the day for playgroups and senior citizen groups. This is a very popular venue for meetings, children’s birthday parties and family parties.

Crescent Road Recreation Ground. This recreation ground is now leased and maintained by the Town Council with the provision of under 7’s and “teen” play equipment.

There are other smaller recreation areas within the town that have been provided in conjunction with housing development. These play areas are maintained by the District Council.

Country Park

The Country Park situated off Brookfield Way is now becoming well established and is owned by Harborough District Council. It is set in beautiful countryside and provides the perfect opportunity for walks both by dog owners as well as Lutterworth Cricket Clubthose who enjoy walking. There is also a pond offering an opportunity for children to feed the ducks.

CRICKET

Lutterworth Cricket Ground is located in Coventry Road and is one of the oldest Cricket clubs in the Country being established in 1789. The picturesque ground is held in trust by the Town Estates Charity to ensure that it is used by the Lutterworth community as a cricket ground for all time and so the idyllic scene is unlikely to be disturbed which is all thanks to local benefactor George Spencer who donated the land for the ground. George Spencer did much for the Town and through his generosity left a legacy to be enjoyed by all, be it enthusiasts or passers-by.

RUGBY FOOTBAL

L Lutterworth Rugby Football Club, one of the oldest established clubs in Leicestershire now play on their own ground in Ashby Lane, Bitteswell, on the northern side of the town.

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

Lutterworth Town Associated Football Club who currently play in the Leicestershire Senior League’s Premier Division, have their own fine new ground in Hall Lane off Leicester Road, one mile north of the town.

GOLF

On the Rugby Road is the 18 hole PAR 70 course of the Lutterworth Golf Club. This is a picturesque undulating course, with practice ground and indoor academy. The Golf club welcomes visitors and is open all year.

SPORTS CENTRE

The new Sports Centre was opened in 2004 and is located off Coventry Road, adjacent to the Coventry Road recreation grounds. Facilities include a well-equipped gymnasium, swimming pool, sports hall and have proved a most popular amenity for people of all ages.

ENTERTAINMENT

Feast Week is an important annual event, which celebrates the Feast of St Mary and is traditionally held during August. A fair visits the town and sporting, social and recreational events are held during the week culminating in a Carnival and procession on the Saturday. This event always draws large crowds from within and outside of the town and is organised by Lutterworth Town Council.

The Town Council organises a Christmas Light Switch On, which usually takes place on the last Friday evening in November from 5.00pm-9.00pm. There is entertainment in the Town Hall Square from the local schools and colleges, a fair, visit from Santa and the local traders open for late night shopping to offer special Christmas promotions.

Lutterworth also has many activities that are organised by different groups throughout the rest of the year, with concerts and amateur dramatic productions punctuating the calendar. Such events are often held at local schools as well as the Community College and at other venues such as the Wycliffe Rooms.

THE MUSEUM

The history of the Town and local villages from Stone Age to World War II can be perceived through hundreds of items on display
A separate “Family History” search room is available including IGI, Census and local village microfiche.

Items from the Tripontium dig (a Roman bath house) to a lead model of St Mary’s Church from the 1800’s.

There are bi-monthly exhibitions, including displays from local village history groups.

Costumes, farm implements, tools and a large photographic archive including school photographs are part of the collection.

A very large Sir Frank Whittle memorabilia collection is available and a Lutterworth Railway working model.

There is a well stocked shop area with local gifts, cards and books.

Admission is free and the museum is open: Mon, Thurs, Fri, Sat 10.00 – 16.00

or by request. March to October. Closed Bank Holidays.

One-Stop Shop, Wycliffe House, Gilmorton Road, Lutterworth.

ONE STOP SHOP

The One-Stop Shop is the home of eleven community and voluntary projects offering services to Lutterworth and the surrounding area operating from one building; with exhibition space and room hire available. HRH The Princess Royal officially opened the building on 5 March 2004.

An Executive Committee manages the One-Stop Shop on a voluntary basis with a volunteer from each tenant organisation. Wycliffe House is home to the following: Lutterworth Citizens Advice Bureau, Crossroad – Caring for Carers, Lutterworth Museum, Lutterworth Volunteer Centre, Lutterworth Community Transport and Village Link, Lutterworth Improvement Partnership, Welland Enterprises, Systems & Education and the Community Computer Centre. The local MP Andrew Robathan holds a regular constituency surgery at the One Stop Shop.

LUTTERWORTH & DISTRICT TWINNING ASSOCIATION

In May 1999 the Town Mayors’ of Lutterworth and Chambourcy signed the Charter linking the two towns.

Chambourcy is a small county town adjacent to Paris and to-date numerous exchanges have taken place between the two towns, including sports, education, social, work placements and one-to-one family links.

The Town Mayor is the President of the Association, which is administered by a voluntary committee, which includes representatives of the Town Council.

New members are always welcome – contact Martin Willey for more information 01455 554802.

STANFORD HALL

Stanford Hall, five miles SE of Lutterworth, was rebuilt Stanford Hallin the 1690’s by the famous Smiths of Warwick for Sir Roger Cave. It is still owned by one of his descendants. The house, which stands in lovely park land through which flows the river Avon, contains a noteworthy collection of Stuart pictures and relics which belonged to Henry Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York, the last of the Royal line of Stuarts.

Percy Pilcher, the first man to fly in England, was killed in 1899 when his flying machine “The Hawk” crashed at Stanford. A fine replica of “The Hawk” is in the stable block.

There is a motorcycle museum containing 85 exhibits of unique racing and other cycles.

The Hall, museum and grounds are open from Easter until the end of September on Sundays, Bank Holiday Mondays (except August) from 1.30pm – 5.30pm.

FOXTON LOCKS

About 12 miles to the east of Lutterworth is the famous staircase of canal locks completed in 1814. The staircase consists of two sets of 5 locks with a central passing pool. The difference in the levels of the top and bottom locks is just over 75 feet, a quite spectacular rise.

This is also the site of the Foxton Inclined Plane, an amazing device built in 1900 in which barges were floated in steel tanks and carried up or down the 75 ft. incline. Its use was discontinued in 1911 but it is being restored by the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust.

BRUNTINGTHORPE AERODROME

The Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground site was constructed in 1942 as a World War 2 Airfield Town Estates buildingand was used by the USA Air Force as a strategic heavy bomber base until 1962. The site these days is home to a Cold War Aircraft Museum as well as a high performance testing ground. The museum is home to many jets including the Victor, Hunter, Seahawk and most notably the Vulcan XH558 which has been restored to airworthy condition. The first flight of the Vulcan took place at Bruntingthorpe on 18 October 2007. Bruntingthorpe offers a wonderful mix of old classics lovingly restored to their former glory and facilities to test new high performance vehicles for the future. There are many events and special days held at Bruntingthorpe offering fun for all the family.

Lutterworth Town Estates Charity

The history of the Lutterworth Town Estates Charity starts in medieval times. The poor begged for existence and were at the mercy of the Lord of the Manor and the Church, but being outside the manorial ground, yet within the town environs, people cared for their sick and aged. In the 16th Century a Statute was set up for funds given for charitable purposes and for the regulation of the administration of properties. This was managed by the Town Fathers and the Church at that time.

With Government Statutes in the 19thC (1834 Poor Laws) Charity Commissioners brought in schemes established by law and Lutterworth Town Estate Charity came into being.

In 1214 a Royal Charter was granted to allow streets for vending. The Trustees hold the rights to this Charter to hold a weekly market.

Lutterworth Town Estates Charity was set up many years ago “for any charitable purpose for the general benefit of the inhabitants of Lutterworth. To apply incomes of the Charity for the relief of need by relieving generally or individually, persons who are in conditions of need, hardship or distress.” The Charity still continues today.




Whilst every care has been taken in compiling this publication and the statements contained herein are believed to be correct, the publishers and promoters cannot accept responsibility for any inaccuracies. Reproduction of any part of this publication in any format, without permission, is strictly forbidden.