Place:Whitwick, Leicestershire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Whitwick is a village in the North West Leicestershire District of Leicestershire, England with a population of 10,815 in 2001. It was also part of Coalville Urban District until the latter was abolished in 1974.

Whitwick lost its precedence to Coalville in two stages: in 1894 Coalville was created from an area originally in Whitwick. In 1936 Whitwick was abolished and split between Coalville and the adjoining parish of Charley with Coalville receiving two-thirds of the area.

Whitwick had been part of Derbyshire until 1897. It was an ancient parish which formerly included the equally historic villages of Thringstone and Swannington. As a manor in the Middle Ages it included Bardon and Markfield and parts of Hugglescote, Donington le Heath, Ratby, Bocheston and Whittington. As early as 1293, Whitwick had a weekly market and a four-day fair.

During the nineteenth century and much of the twentieth, coalmining was the main industry in Whitwick. There was also much employment in framework knitting (circular knitting as is used in hosiery) and in the production of bottled mineral waters.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Whitwick.

Research Tips

• The Ashby-de-la-Zouch Rural District page includes a map illustrating the civil parishes in the area including Whitwick before the changes of 1936.
• The alterations of 1936 are illustrated on the Ordnance Survey Map of 1944 provided by A History of Britain through Time.