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East Leake (/liːk/) is a large village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district of Nottinghamshire, England, although its closest town and postal address is Loughborough in Leicestershire. It has a population of around 7,000, measured in the 2011 Census as 6,337.[1] The original village was located on the Sheepwash Brook. Kingston Brook also runs through the village. Near the centre of the village is the historic St. Mary's Church,[2] dating back to the 11th century, which Sheepwash Brook flows past, and an old ford, which provided access to the pinfold. The church has six bells.[3]

East Leake
St Mary's Church
East Leake Location within Nottinghamshire
Population	6,337 (2011)
OS grid reference	SK 55440 26406
Civil parish	East Leake
District	Rushcliffe
Shire county	Nottinghamshire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LOUGHBOROUGH
Postcode district	LE12
Dialling code	01509
Police	Nottinghamshire
Fire	Nottinghamshire
Ambulance	East Midlands
UK Parliament	Rushcliffe
List of places UK England Nottinghamshire 52.832°N 1.177°W / 52.832; -1.177

The Treaty of Leake was signed in 1318 by King Edward II and his baronial opponents.^{[citation needed]}

British Gypsum, a plasterboard manufacturer, has its headquarters in the village.[4] The manufacturing of plasterboard began in this area in about 1880^{[citation needed]}.

Name

The origin of Leake appears to be Laeke (Old Norse – brook or stream), and is consistent with East Leake's position in the heart of the Danelaw, which had various forms over time before becoming "Leake". One of the earliest mentions of East Leake is in the Domesday Book (1086) recorded as 'Leche.' The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning wet land, since the village lies on the Kingston Brook, a tributary of the River Soar.

Local amenities

• Four schools
  • Brookside primary school[5]
  • Lantern Lane primary school[6]
  • Millside Spencer Academy primary school[7]
  • East Leake Academy (secondary school)
• Leisure centre with swimming pool
• Three pubs (Nag's Head, Three Horseshoes, and The Round RobINN)
• Co-op supermarket
• Post office
• A variety of other small shops, e.g., florist, green grocer, hardware
• Police station
• Fire station
• Amateur theatre group (ELAPS)[8]
• Folk club (ELFS – East Leake FolkieS)
• Cricket, football, rugby and bowls clubs
• "Meadow Park", a local nature reserve[9]
• East Leake pre-school play group a registered charity which provides term time play group facilities
• 2nd East Leake Scouts
• Rushcliffe Golf Club[10]

Transport

East Leake lies close to the A60 and A6006 major roads and within five miles of the M1 motorway. Nottingham City Transport operate a frequent (15 minutes at peak times) bus service (No. 1) between Nottingham and Loughborough under the "South Notts" brand.[11] An East Leake railway station used to exist, on the Great Central Railway. That line was controversially broken up in the Beeching Axe of the 1960s. The stretch from the point where the Great Central crossed the Midland Main Line in Loughborough through East Leake to Ruddington was retained to allow freight trains to travel to British Gypsum's works and to the MoD ordnance depot at Ruddington, but later fell into disuse. More recently this stretch has been re-opened as a heritage line running steam and heritage diesel locos between Ruddington, Rushcliffe Halt (which is located next to the Gypsum works at the northern end of East Leake) and the South Loughborough Junction. In the long term, the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) hope to reinstate a passenger service from East Leake station, although the fact that the area alongside the station has been redeveloped for housing would preclude the provision of public car parking in the area of the station, and would require permission from the Secretary of State.

Churches

There are five churches in the village:

• St. Mary's Parish Church (Church of England within the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham).
• Our Lady of the Angels Roman Catholic Church[12]
• East Leake Methodist Church[13]
• East Leake Baptist Church[14]
• East Leake Evangelical Church (meets in the Village Hall)[15]

Geography and ecology

In 2017 European bee-eaters nested at CEMEX quarry, attracting thousands of bird-watchers.[16] The European bee-eater is a colourful bird usually found in southern Europe, and seldom nests in the United Kingdom.

Gallery

• 
  Bluebells in Colonel's Covert
• 
  Kingston Brook at East Leake
• 
  Pinfold
• 
  School green

Neighbouring villages

• West Leake
• Costock
• Gotham
• Sutton Bonington
• Normanton on Soar
• Rempstone
• Stanford on Soar
• Zouch

References

Publications

• Sidney Pell Potter, A History of East Leake, published in 1903. Potter was the rector at the time.

External links

Media related to East Leake at Wikimedia Commons

• Meadow Park
• A Potted History of East Leake
• St Mary's Parish Church
• East Leake community website
• 2nd East Leake Scout Group

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