Great Glen, United Kingdom
Great Glen is a town of 2,977 people in England, United Kingdom.
Why visit Great Glen
Townapedia lists 6 museums and landmarks, 7 parks and trails, 10 places to eat and 1 place to stay in and around town.
Highlights include Stretton Hall, Knighton Spinney and Lucas Marsh.
Weather in Great Glen
Forecast from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0). Full forecast
About Great Glen
Great Glen (historically known as Great Glenn or Glenn Magna) is a village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. It is 2 miles south of Oadby and about seven miles south-east of Leicester. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 3,662. Its name comes from the original Iron Age settlers who used the Celtic word glennos, meaning "valley", and comes from the fact that Great Glen lies in part of the valley of the River Sence.
From the Wikipedia article Great Glen, Leicestershire (this version), under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Museums and landmarks6
Parks, trails and playgrounds7
Restaurants and cafes10
Grange Farm
Bar and pub · 1.6 mi
Florence Wragg Way, Leicester
Mo-We 11:30-22:30; Th-Sa 11:30-23:00; Su 11:30-22:30
Where to stay1
History
Great Glen was the central place of an early Anglo-Saxon multiple estate. The settlements that comprised this estate are: Great and Little Stretton, Wistow, Newton Harcourt, Fleckney and Kilby. These parishes comprise the minimal extent of the estate which broadly follow the River Sence, Glen itself possibly taking its name from an earlier British river-name Glen or from Glennos meaning valley. It is possible that the estate extended further west along the river to Glen Parva where it joins the River Soar. It has not been possible to establish this securely. Glen (as at glenne, not Great Glen) enters the record for the first time in AD 849, when Alhhun, bishop of Worcester tarried there with nine of his clerics to issue a charter granting lands in Worcestershire to King Beorhtwulf of Mercia.
The medieval manorial history of Glen is outlined by John Nichols in his History of Leicestershire. In the 16th century, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, father of Lady Jane Grey, became the lord of the manor. After his execution for treason, his lands were seized by the crown.
Read more of the history
Following the Battle of Naseby in 1645, during the English Civil War, Great Glen played host to a band of Cromwellian soldiers who were pursuing some of the (defeated) Royalist Cavalry. They were later joined by the rest of the army who camped overnight before moving onto Leicester. Some of these soldiers made camp in the church where they caused much damage (such as breaking all the windows), of which some evidence can still be seen today. There are five road names in the village that mark these events: Cromwell Road, Naseby Way, Ruperts Way, Edgehill Close and Halford Close.
In 1760 two elderly ladies of the village accused one another of witchcraft and were subjected to the ducking stool, which one passed and the other failed. A number of women were accused as locals grew increasingly concerned and mass hysteria spread. The only court proceedings to arise were fines for rioting as the crime of witchcraft had been removed from the statue books in the 1730s. It is generally considered to be the last of the counties witch hunts.
The old public house, The Fox and Goose, is still visible on Church Lane but has been converted to a private residence.
From the History section of Great Glen, Leicestershire on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Churches and places of worship6
Shopping3
Gas and EV charging2
Schools, colleges and libraries8
Map of Great Glen
43 places. The map loads OpenStreetMap tiles when you open it.
Getting there and nearby towns
Sywell Aerodrome (ORM) is the nearest airport with scheduled flights listed in OpenStreetMap, 21 miles away.
- Evington 2 mi northwest, about 3 min by car
- Wigston Magna 2 mi west, about 4 min by car
- Oadby 3 mi northwest, about 5 min by car
- Aylestone 5 mi northwest, about 8 min by car
- Leicester 6 mi northwest, about 10 min by car
- Glen Parva 6 mi west, about 9 min by car
- Belgrave 6 mi northwest, about 10 min by car
- Braunstone 7 mi northwest, about 11 min by car
- Birstall 7 mi northwest, about 12 min by car
- Syston 8 mi north, about 12 min by car
Drive times are estimates from straight-line distance, not routes.
Towns near Great Glen
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Sources and licences
- GeoNames (CC BY 4.0): population, coordinates, regions and time zone
- Mapillary (see each image): photos
- OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0): places, airports, map data
- Wikidata (CC0 1.0): elevation, founding date, time zone, website, landmarks and historic places
- Wikimedia Commons (see each image): photos
- Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0): overview and history text
Photo credits
- Knighton Spinney 4, Dudley Miles, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Lucas Marsh 2, Dudley Miles, CC BY-SA 4.0
- St Wistan's church, Wistow, Matt Neale from UK, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Dicyrtomina violacea - 46821115032, AJC1, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Springtail Selection Box (39913525703), AJC1 from UK, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Dicyrtomina violacea, AJC1, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Street-level photo, adam2, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, brianh, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Street-level photo, adam2, CC BY-SA 4.0
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