The HALF MOON 43, Stockwell Head, on the site now occupied by the Britannia Centre. It is first recorded in the trades directories in 1850 and continuted to be so until 1941. It is visible in a 1930 photograph of Stockwell Head (F. Shaw, Hinckley in Old Picture Postcards, vol. 2, no. 57). There is also a good photograph, taken in March 1960, in Images of Hinckley, 115 (below), and another at the county record office. It was demolished later in the same year.
The HALL, c.1790 Spring Gardens (now Holliers Walk). Built c.1790 by one of the Shipmans, possibly Benjamin who was recorded as a hosier and dissenter living at Spring Gardens in 1791.
In 1818 Michael Shipman was incarcerated for a year in Leicester Gaol and fined £100 for attempting to drug his children's governess (see pamphlet on the case in the British Library and account in the Leicester Journal, 7 Aug 1818).
According to Edward Phillips' map of 1818 the house was then occupied by the hosiery manufacturer, Robert Milligan, Esq. From the 1880s until at least 1902 it was the residence of John Atkins (1902 coronation booklet). The house was commonly known as Shipman's Hall, and Spring Gardens (between the hall and Stockwell Head) as Shipman's Gardens. Phillip's map (bottom, left) shows the hall, with the Baptist Meeting House on one side and the old workhouse on the other. The 1885-6 OS map shows the spacious gardens running down to Stockwell Head (bottom, right). In 1911 (below, left) the hall was still a private residence, but it became, before the 1920s, the premises of the Hinckley Working Men's Club.
Top, left: The Hall in 1911. Top, right: In 2000. Above, left: As shown on Edward Phillip's map of 1818. Above, right: 1885-86 Ordnance Survey.
In October 1927 there appeared, in the Hinckley Times, a detailed account of the enlargement and improvement of Hinckley Working Men's Club. 'The extensions, which include a spacious billiard room with four full-sized tables and seating accommodation for 120 persons, two rink skittles alleys, lounge bar, card room, and usual outhouses, have been erected by Mr A. Russell, under the supervision of Mr G. B. Perkins, architect. The rooms are admirably lighted, suitably decorated, and the wood block floors give a pleasing effect throughout. The outstanding feature of the club is the centrally situated bar which enables the steward to serve all rooms direct' (Hinckley Times, 14 Oct 1927). The formal opening ceremony took place in November 1928. 'The lounge is now equal to any either in Leicester or Leicestershire, both in point of size and with regard to comfort and convenience... The scheme above referred to, combined with he extensive additions and alterations completed only last year, has added considerably to the attractiveness of the club' (Hinckley Times, 30 Nov 1928). The total cost of the work was £500.
Over the past half century the building has been much altered, almost wholly for the worse. Apart from the various extentions, the exterior has been rendered with heavy brown stucco in a most unattractive and unsympathetic manner and ugly new window casements have been inserted. The former gardens are obliterated and occupied by car parks.
['The old Working Men's Club premises in Stockwell Head, now in the occupation of Messrs W. Pickering and Sons, box manufacturers, on a 99 years lease, were among the lots offered for sale by Mr Thomas Aucott, under instructions from Messrs. Marston, Thompson and Evershed, Ltd. They were eventually knocked down to the occupiers at £250… the Working Men's Club premises… have interesting associations. They formed the home of the Club after its early days in Castle Street. It was from here that the Club transferred to its present spacious premises at the top of Stockwell Head' (Hinckley Times, 11 Nov 1927). It is unclear to which building this account refers, unless Wesley House. The 'present spacious premises' are presumably those of the Hall, although 'top of Stockwell Head' is an oddly inaccurate location.]
NMR- 2 photos of Working Men's Club taken 1957.
HALL HOUSE - see PRIORY HOUSE
The HARROW INN Stood on the Watling Street (A5), close to where the Harrow Brook crosses the road. Its sale by auction was advertised in the Leicester Journal, 27 Feb 1801. It was orginally a drovers' inn, in which drovers were actually staying at the taking of the 1851 census (info - D. Knight). It appears in the trades directories between 1840 and 1862. (See H. J. Francis, History of Hinckley, for sporting activities here.)
HAWLEY ROAD:INDUSTRIAL Hosiery Factory c.1910 (below, left and right). Most of upper windows renewed. [NMR- 1 photo (c.1962).] There are a number of factories situated on this road near to the railway station, most of which have now ceased operation and been converted into office units etc.
HEALTH CENTRE Hill Street. Opened 2 Oct 1978.
HEMING & NEEDHAM'S BANK c.1834 - see LEICESTERSHIRE & WARWICKSHIRE BANKING COMPANY PREMISES.
HIGH CROSS HOSIERY - see REGENT STREET: FACTORIES
HIGHFIELD HOUSE Derby Road. Large Victorian house in extensive gardens, at the junction of Derby Road and Ashby Road. Built (c.1888/9) by Samuel Davis, hosiery manufacturer, whose factory stood at the junction of New Buildings and Leicester Road. Demolished. Its site, together with that of another large residence, The Limes, is now occupied by The Limes retirement home. Shown in Illustrated Guide to Hinckley (1911) (below, right). Below, left: 1903 OS Map.
HILL STREET: INDUSTRIAL Factory (See Bill Partridge's 'Hosiery Trail'). This relatively small building was reputedly the first hosiery manufactory in the town (although, see below) and probably dates from the 1860s, when framework knitting migrated from the home into such purpose-built premises. 'In 1853, Mr Thomas Payne introduced and applied steam power in the manufacture of hosiery etc, and there are now several factories here in which the frames are worked by steam...' (William White, History, Gazeteer and Directory of Leicestershire, 1863).
'A factory with three main blocks of building, two ranges fronting onto Hill Street and the third running north-east from the south end of the others alongside "The Narrows", a lane that links Hill Street and The Lawns. The first block is probably late C19, the other two (which both figure on the 1887 OS as a 'shoe manufactory') a little earlier' The older, northern block, pictured above, has two storeys and nine bays in brown brick with olive brick surrounds to openings and a dark brick plinth. Bay seven (above, left) has a raised and corniced panel holding a segmental-headed doorway in a double-chamfered surround. The windows have triangular heads, projecting dark brick sills and stop-chamfered jambs and chamfer heads, holding metal small-paned casements' (Peter Ryder, Hinckley... Historic Buildings Appraisal (2000)).
HILL STREET One of the smarter residential streets in the town, constructed in the late nineteenth century and running from Upper Castle Street to Mount Road. Once a handsome, leafy thoroughfare, now dominated by ugly health centres built in the 1980s and 1990s.
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| Hill Street, about 1905 |
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| Hill Street, about 1905 |
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| Hill Street, about 1934 |
HINCKLEIENSIS House on Coventry Road. Sold 8 May 1930 - sale catalogue at the county record office (DE 451/1012): 'The attractive residential estate known as "Hinckleiensis", Coventry Road, comprising a moderate sized family residence, stabling, garage and out premises, garden and paddock'. Appears in late 19th century directories.
HINCKLEY AND BOSWORTH BOROUGH COUNCIL - see COUNCIL OFFICES.
HINCKLEY AND DISTRICT MUSEUM - see LOWER BOND STREET: DOMESTIC
HINCKLEY CLUB - see METHODIST CHAPEL (WESLEY HOUSE) 1782
HINCKLEY DYE WORKS - see ASHBY ROAD: FACTORIES.
HINCKLEY KNIGHT HOTEL 1932 Watling Street. Opened October 1932 as a 'most attractive and up-to-date building, which is within a stone's throw of the "Three Pots"…' (Hinckley Times, 14 Oct). It was the second in a projected series of 'wayside hostelries' built by the Knights of the Road Ltd founded and chaired by C. G. Knight.
Above: The newly-opened Hinckley Knight in 1932
The first was opened in August 1932 at Coventry, when reference was made to 'the pleasing architecture of the building and the very distinctive modern note that had been struck'. This was maintained at Hinckley where the guest speaker, Leslie Goodwin, noted 'the complete contrast it represented as compared with many of the comfortless old-fashioned early Victorian hotels in which many of [the company] had previously been accommodated'. 'In Las Palmas… there were enormous numbers of houses of similar type to the Hinckley Knight, and… during a recent tour [he] had been struck with the resemblance between the Spanish better class houses and the Knights which were now being erected. As far as building was concerned this country was behind the Spaniard, who was perhaps the most brilliant builder in the world. These houses should do much to improve the architecture of the British house of accommodation'. Tribute was paid 'to the genius of the architect, who was the son of the chairman of the company. Both outside and in it... the Hinckley Knight was a really fine building'.
Above, left and right: The Hinckley Knight in 2003
The original Modernist hotel has now been virtually buried under later accretions with just a few of the original features still visible.
HINCKLEY THEATRE AND PICTURE HOUSE 1912 The Borough. On 24 August 1912 an announcement appeared, in the Hinckley Times of the purchase of properties in The Borough in order to build 'a high-class picture house for Hinckley… equal to any in the Midland counties' which was to seat 1200 people and would be 'the last word in picture palaces'. The old properties to be demolished were the residence of Mr. J. Harrold and the shop of Mr. A. Brown. Plans approved by the HUDC September 1912.
Constructed in part of 'Ferro Concrete', the architect was J. R. Wilkins of Oxford and the builder, Andrew Jeffcote of Hinckley (the plastering was by C. W. Summers of Hinckley and the marble flooring by the Empire Stone Company of Narborough).
A grand opening of the Hinckley Theatre and Kinema too place on 7 April 1913 (full account, Hinckley Times, 12 April 1913). The facade was classical in style, of three bays and two storeys with an attached Doric order. Stage ready for use by June, and variety shows interspersed films, eventually becoming the mainstay of the theatre (with the Palladium mainly showing films). By 1928 the Hinckley and Dursley Theatre Company Ltd were building another new cinema - The Regent, at the corner of Regent Street and Lancaster Road - and the Hinckley Theatre closed in March 1929 for refurbishment. It re-opened eleven months later as The Borough Theatre.
Above, left: the New Borough Cinema in 1935. Above, right: The Odeon in the 1950s.
In 1934 the buildings at the rear were demolished and a new Super Cinema erected there. In 1935 the cinema was closed, the interior demolished, and the old section connected to the new auditorium, the old auditorium becoming the foyer. The New Borough Cinema could accommodate 1000. In 1935 it was sold to the Odeon circuit, becoming the Odeon Cinema in January 1936.
It closed 3 June 1961 after 48 years, and the building was demolished in 1962 (photograph of demolition in Images of Hinckley, 122). The Nationwide Building Society (previously the Leicestershire Building Society) built its present premises on the site.
See Brian Hornsey, Ninety Years of Cinema in Hinckley. Photograph of facade in F. Shaw, Hinckley in Old Picture Postcards, vol. 1, no. 40 and vol.2, no.28, taken in 1929.
HINCKLEY WHARF - See WHARF.
The HOLLYBUSH 1 Upper Bond Street, opposite junction with Hollycroft Hill. It appears in the trades directories from 1874, but may have existed as early as the 1840s. Striking façade, in present form with decidedly Art Deco exterior features, but in poor condition (below). The remodelling of the 1930s was the work of Heaton & Walker (info Stella Hughes, corres.). The Hollybush finally closed its doors for the last time in 2005.
HOLLYCROFT HOUSE, 1874. Plans for Hollycroft House (described as 'Mr Atkins' house') were discussed by Hinckley Local Board in September 1873 (Leicester Journal, 19 Sept 1873). It was to be the residence of the the town's most prominent hosiery manufacturer Thomas Atkins, his estate including the present Hollycroft Park.
Above: Hollycroft House as shown on the 1889 Ordnance Survey.
The handsome late victorian mansion was depicted in the Illustrated Guide to Hinckley (1911). In October 1929, on the death of Thomas Atkins, both house and estate were purchased by Messrs Atkins Bros for £9,000 (account of sale in the Hinckley Times, 25 October 1929). See also Atkins of Hinckley 1722-1972.
Above: Hollycroft House about 1910 with three views taken shortly before demolition
A large portion of the estate was subsequently sold to the Hinckley UDC in 1930 for £2,700, creating Hollycroft Park, which was opened to the public in 1935. The house itself, with later additions, became the 'The Spinning Wheel' (1982) and, more recently, 'The Manor'.
After a fierce campaign to save the building, involving considerable correspondence in the Hinckley Times, the house was demolished in 2002 and a private housing development built on the site. Only the attractive mock-Tudor lodge house remains on Hollycroft. See also HOLLYCROFT PARK.
HOLLYCROFT PARK 1935 In February 1930 Hinckley UDC purchased a field of about twelve acres at the top of Hollycroft Hill for the sum of £2,700 (Hinckley Times, 21 Feb 1930). A road was constructed along the southern portion of the land, now known as Shakespeare Drive, to connect with Canning Street, and the remainder of the land, some 10 acres, was laid out as a public park, with facilities for bowls, tennis and a miniature golf course.
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| The rock gardens, Hollycroft Park, about 1935 |
There is a fine bandstand with large amphitheatre, and before the war many well-known bands visited to play here. The Art Deco railings and gates are dated 1934.
Top, left: Victorian villas on Hollycroft Hill, c.1903. Top, right: The park in its heyday, about 1940. Above, left: Park gates on Shakespeare Drive, inscribed 'HUDC - 1934'. Above, right: Bandstand, 2002.
Hollycroft Park was opened by Mr. & Mrs. Shirley Atkins in May 1935, as part of the local celebrations for the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary (see full account in the Hinckley Times, 10 May 1935). The park was designed and laid out by the U.D.C. surveyor, J. S. Featherston. 'They had laid the foundation of what in future years would be considered one of the most beautiful public parks in this district, if not in the Midlands' (Hinckley Times, 10 May 1935).
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| Bandstand, 1960s, prior to the construction of the Hollycroft housing estate |
HOLY TRINITY CHURCH 1837-9 Corner of Coventry Road/Trinity Lane.
A declaration of 1836 by the Leicester architect, William Parsons, stated the lack of accommodation then available in St. Mary's church andthe necessity of creating a new parish with its own church (LRO DE1224/73).
The new church was built by Eleanor Frewen Turner of Cold Overton Hall, who employed the young London architect, Sydney Smirke (brother and former pupil of Sir Robert Smirke, designer of the British Museum). In 1836 Smirke noted that 'considering the nearness of Birmingham [where] the cost of building is reduced very low by competition, and considering that Hinckley has the advantage of water carriage, I am confident that unless the ground presents circumstances of a very unfavourable description, a building large enough to afford sittings to from 5 to 600 persons might be built at a cost within a thousand pounds, and I think that if it were made to hold 800 persons the building need not cost more than £1300. I of course calculate an extreme simplicity of appearance and on the adoption of the most economical course in the erection of the work'. He recommended contracting with 'some respectable general builder of Birmingham' and requested referral 'to some person resident at Hinckley who can point out the spot selected. I will either go there myself or send someone on whom I can rely to obtain the requisite information as to the site and levels of the ground, the nature and depth of the soil, the most available materials etc' (East Sussex Record Office: FRE/2895; 10 Mar 1836).
Above, left: Artist's impression of day school, master's house and church, 1840s. Above, right: The building as Trinity Hall (NMR)
The resultant building was 'theatre-like; a gallery, entered by outside stairs, filled three sides of the interior; there was a three-decker pulpit' (1970 anniversary souvenir publication, which also contains sketch elevation of church, day school and master's house, 1839; above, left).
It was consecrated on 29 June 1839 as a chapel-of-ease to St Mary's. By December 1908 the Bishop of Peterborough was observing that the church was 'unsuitable for its purpose, being neither cheerful nor commodious, and having no architectural merits' (Lambeth Palace Library: ICBS file 10832). In a fund-raising notice for its replacement published in the local press in the same year it was alleged that 'the present church, by reason of its unpretentious dimensions and structure, is unknown even to a great many Hinckley people. It was built in the year 1837, a time when Church Architecture was almost at its very worst, with the result that an utterly impossible building was erected'.
'Although the congregation of the Old Church of Holy Trinity were very happy and contented with their surroundings the building never failed to excite comments (not always favourable) from strangers. Its interior resembled much more a Non-conformist Chapel than a Church. A gallery occupied three sides of the wall space and a three-decker pulpit rose to the same height' ( A. J. Pickering, The History of the Parish of Holy Trinity, Hinckley 1839-1939).
In 1883, when an appeal was being made for its restoration, a contributor to the Hinckley Parish Magazine expressed the hope 'that after the contemplated alterations had been carried out, it would present a more ecclesiastical appearance. It has been stated and we believe there is some foundation for the statement, that the architect when engaged upon the plan for the building of this Church had also in hand the plans for a theatre in some other town, and that these plans were forwarded to Hinckley by mistake. It was not until too late that the mistake was discovered. The exterior of the Church was quite as unusual in it architectural details as the interior. There was no attempt at orientation, the East end being West by North-west. Access to the gallery was given by an outside flight of steps. The plain square stone facade [was] pierced by three semi-circular windows...'
1839 - barrel organ given by the the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, later replaced by a single manual organ.
1841 - bell turret added to west end, with bell weighing 3cwt. Paid for by public subscription.
1842 - font and gas lighting installed.
1843 - new parish of Holy Trinity created with Trinity Chapel as the parish church.
1868 - front of church re-stuccoed, woodwork painted and varnished and gas standards installed. Cost about £250 (LRO: DE1224/30; DE3511/26). 16 Feb 1870 - bill from Messrs Dain and Smith., Architects and Surveyors, to Thomas Frewen for work done, mainly in connection with alterations to the church and adjoining land, Sep 1864 - Mar 1869 (East Sussex Record Office: FRE/8861).
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| Interior of the Holy Trinity Church looking east, Harvest-tide, 1904 |
About 1880 a project was launched to modernise and beautify the Church both inside and out. A sale of work was held in the Town Hall in July 1883, the proceeds of which were to be devoted to a Fund for 'altering and repairing the church'. W. Basset Smith of London, who had some few years earlier carried out a very extensive restoration of St. Mary's, was engaged for the work. The building contractor was Thos Smith of Chilvers Coton. Attleborough stone was used, which unfortunately had rather unsatisfactory wearing qualities. Amongst other alterations, the three large windows at the West end of the Church were taken out and refixed in the side walls of the building, and a larger window of a more ornamental character inserted at the East end of the Church. Large tablets of slate containing 'the Belief', the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments were substituted for the remaining window spaces. There were later removed to the New Church. The side portions of the gallery were taken down, the pulpit and reading desk removed and altered, and a new sedilia and reading desk provided. The floor at the west end of the Church was raised, a portion of it laid with encaustic tiles and enclosed with Communion Rails. The seating was also altered from the old-fashioned benches to more comfortable ones of an improved appearance. The front of the building also underwent some alteration by the removal of the stone steps and palisading leading up to the gallery and entrance porches constructed on ground level.'
It was re-opened 2 August 1883. 'The church by the alteration is much improved by the appearance, especially in the interior. The only alteration at the front is the taking down of the flight of stone steps leading to the central door, which has been removed, and a window has been inserted. The two side wings of the gallery have been taken down, the seats have been altered from the old-fashioned benches, and replaced with more comfortable ones of an improved appearance. The old unsightly pulpit and reading desk have been removed, the communion table, which formerly stood in front of the pulpit and desk, has now been put back to the wall, and new communion rails have been put down, the floor being laid with encaustic tiles' (Hinckley News, 11 August 1883). Above: east end after alterations.
1886 - new organ with two manuals and a pedal organ bought for £180 ( A. J. Pickering, The History of the Parish of Holy Trinity, Hinckley 1839-1939, 5-6).
6 Feb 1910 - Used for worship for last time. Subsequently became the parish hall: At LRO (DE 1496/111-113) plans (ground plan, site plan, two elevations and section) for 'proposed additions to Holy Trinity Parish Hall', 1913, by Alexander R. Ellis, 24 Bennetts Hill, Birmingham. Additions included two classrooms and lavatories.
1913 - bell turret pronounced dangerous and dismantled.
1973 - building demolished after serving for four years as chapel-of-ease, sixty-seven as parish church and sixty-three as parish hall.
See photograph of demolition underway in Images of Hinckley, 148. . There is a photograph of the interior looking east in ICBS file 10832, Lambeth Palace Library.
HOLY TRINITY CHURCH 1909-10 Designed by Alexander R. Ellis of 24 Bennett's Hill, Birmingham (formerly of Edge and Ellis). Included chancel, nave, north aisle and vestries (south aisle, morning chapel and tower intended to be added later). The contractors were John Dallow & Sons of West Bromwich. The estimated original cost was £6325.
New Church Committee formed 1894. The committee chose a site on the edge of the town with 'exceptional natural advantages'. By 1903 £1,770 raised (there is a printed subscription leaflet at LRO: DE 1224/89). Pickering (10-16) provides a detailed account of the fund-raising process, plans, building progress etc. The Hinckley Times, 3 Oct 1908 published the architect's plans of the proposed new church.
The first sod was cut on 23 Feb 1909 (Hinckley Times, 27 Feb 1909); the corner stone was laid (on the south side of the sanctuary) 13 May 1909 by Lady Mary Glyn, wife of the Bishop of Peterborough. The church was consecrated on 10 Feb 1910 by the Bishop of Peterborough (Hinckley Times, 12 Feb 1910). There are photographs of the laying of the foundation stone at LRO (DE1225/242. The complete set of plans is at the Leics Record Office (DE 1224/101-104) and includes the main architectural drawings (9), and a large number of detailed working plans and tracings.
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| Holy Trinity Church, Hinckley |
'Random rubble with ashlar dressings and plain tile roofs with stone coped verges. Five-bay nave with apsidal west baptistery, north-west and south-west porches and a south aisle; two-bay chancel with south vestry and organ chamber. It was intended to build a north aisle and tower but the church was never completed. The bay divisions of the south aisle are marked by buttresses surmounted by cast iron rainwater heads. Each bay is under a gable and has a pointed three-light window with Decorated tracery and a trefoil opening in the gable. The clerestory has pointed two-light windows, a cyma reversa moulded cornice and pinnacles at the corners. The south porch is gabled and has a pointed arch on cylindrical shafts. It is matched on the north side by an identical porch, and hard up against this is the stub of the west wall of the intended north aisle. Also on this side, at the east end of the nave, is a buttress surmounted by a small timber framed bell cote containing a single bell.
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| Holy Trinity Church, Hinckley |
The west end is finished with an apsidal baptistery with small lancet windows. Like that of the nave the north wall of the chancel is blind and it was evidently intended that there should be an attached building here. The pointed east window has five lights and Decorated tracery, and there is a trefoil opening in the gable above. The vestry and organ chamber on the south side are gabled to the east and south and the porch within the re-entrant angle of this L-shaped plan, has an openwork parapet and a doorway with Caernarvon arch. Interior: Five-bay nave arcades of pointed arches on cylindrical columns, each with four banded shafts and moulded base. The capitals of the south arcade are very richly carved with naturalistic foliage; each one is different and the models used include grapes and ears of corn together with a serpent and birds. The capitals of the blind north arcade are left uncarved but were clearly intended to be treated as their counterparts to the south. At the west end of the nave is a lower three-bay arcade, also with naturalistic foliage. To each side of the chancel are two-bay arcades like those of the nave but on a smaller scale; again the north arcade is blind. Wooden barrel-vaults over the nave and chancel on a series of thin transverse ribs which spring from shafted corbels with naturalistic foliage in the chancel but left uncarved in the nave. The window rear-arches spring from shafts and have returned hood-moulds.
Fixtures and fittings: Font with octagonal basin on cylindrical shaft with octagonal steps in the baptistery. Simple bench pews in the nave, and choir stalls with openwork poppyheads. Octagonal stone pulpit on a cylindrical base with multiple shafting; the sides have Decorated tracery. Brass lectern with cylindrical shaft on inverted funnel-shaped base with clawed feet; the shaft is inscribed with Romanesque patterns; foliage brackets to an openwork book rest. Altar rail on wrought iron legs. Two sedilia with cinquefoil heads on cylindrical shafts with carved capitals. Piscina in the same style, and common hood mould over both. Simple wooden reredos with cinquefoil arcading. Stained glass: High quality throughout. East window of after 1931 with Jesus the Good Shepherd in the centre and Saint Peter and Dorcas to the right and Saints John and Paul to the left. In the south aisle, second from the east of after 1901, possibly by Kempe and Co.; third from the east of after 1957. The westernmost window of the aisle is a First World War memorial. In the baptistery small windows of (from north to south); 1946, 1936, 1936, 1936, 1942, by A. J. Davies of Bromsgrove , Worcs' (Dept of Culture, Media and Sport - listed building details).
'Few churches built in the early part of this century excel in design and construction our present church. Although not completed to its original design, the tower and south aisle being omitted, it is a building of which those connected with it, both past and present, can be proud. It may be of interest to know that there is a church of similar design in completed form at Fishponds, Bristol. The design is Gothic in character, a pure Early English style being followed, with a more up-to-date influence to permit increased light and air space. The walls are of granite rubble with Alton (Staffs.) stone quoins. The same stone is used in the piers and columns, with capitals of oölitic limestone carved au naturel to designs of J. Smith of Bristol. The carving is of great beauty and is worth a closer inspection; each capital follows a different motif. The windows are of pointed arches with stone mullions of the Decorated period, many being filled with stained glass. The pulpit, carved from a block of Clipsham stone, was the gift of the Sunday School children. The choir stalls, vestry screen and reredos panelling are of polished oak. The pew seating, also of oak, was given by the late Mrs. Ann Harris and replaced the original chairs in use until 1928. The brass lectern, a memorial to a former vicar, came from the old church' ([Various contributors], Holy Trinity with St. John's Hinckley. Diamond Jubilee 1910-1970 (Ferry Pickering Sales Ltd., Hinckley, 1970)).
'An interesting design, especially the five bays of the N aisle, each under a separate gable. Piers with a central column ringed by four slender shafts with shaft-rings. Capitals with masses of foliage. The S arcade capitals remain uncarved and the arches blocked...' (The Buildings of England: Leicestershire and Rutland (2nd edition 1984), 177).
1908 - Detailed working plans and drawings for new church - LRO: DE1224/103-104 1908-10 - Proposed building of new church - LRO: DE1496/71/1-26 1908-10 - Correspondence from architect to vicar about building the new church - LRO: DE1496/72/1-51 c.1909 - Architectural plans and drawings for the new church by Ellis - LRO: DE1224/101-102 At LRO (DE/3511/27-29) Interior photographs to W and NE, and of architect's perspective of proposed church from NE.
The Incorporated Church Building Society [Lambeth Palace Library] refused to make a grant towards the new church. Ellis submitted 10 plans and a specification to the Society's Committee of Architects in 1908. On 2 December 1908 they reported: 'The architectural design of this church, especially the exterior, is not such as can possibly be approved of by the Society. The objections raised are firstly matters of taste. Externally the architecture is as bad as it can be. It resembles churches built some 70 years ago when architects possessed no knowledge of Gothic architecture'. (Signed by Joseph Clarke, John Dando Sedding and Charles Hodgson Fowler). See also architects' technical report. The plans were altered and resubmitted, and the Committee reported again on 6 January 1909: 'The design as such is in the opinion of the Committee extremely poor for reasons named in previous reports. But putting aside altogether the question of style and artistic taste - if economy is an object as seems to be the case, the design is so extravagant and shows a lot of useless and expensive features for ornamentals that would be better omitted.'
'The design of the church includes a tower, a baptistry, and a south aisle, but the erection of these is left to a later day… The building is mainly composed of rubble stone from the Stanton (Leicestershire) quarries, presented by Mr. R. F. Martin. The dressed stone is chiefly from Alton (Staffs.). The design is of a Gothic character, and the only alteration that has been made from the particulars of the building previously published is that a permanent porch has been erected at the north-west door instead of the temporary one included in the original design. The interior of the church has a most striking and pleasing appearance. The columns and arches are of beautiful design, the circular columns being of Alton stone and the capitals of Bath stone. Several of the latter have been beautifully carved to the design of Mr. J. Smith of Bristol. They are really a work of art, and a decided ornament to the church. Several portions of the old church have been taken down and transferred to the new. The east window, with three lights, one of which is a memorial to the Rev. A. Strand, a former vicar, is one of these, and the stone font, which has been cleaned and rebuilt, and appears to suit the new building beautifully, is another. On the north side of the church there is a very handsome stained glass memorial window with three lights, dedicated to the memory of Mary Pickering, John Garner and William Flavell, and executed by Messrs. Martin Dann, of West Bromwich. Cathedral glass has been mostly used in the glazing of the windows, and the work has been satisfactorily carried out by Mr. William Pearce of Birmingham. The handsome pulpit of stone has been given by the children of the Sunday schools, and cost £43. The organ, though it has gone through a process of restoration and enlargement, has not yet been erected in the new church, for fear of dampness from the new building causing inconvenience and injury. It will, however, be erected in the course of the next few weeks. The brass lectern has been removed from the old church to the newly consecrated building, and the seating accommodation of the north aisle has also previously done service in the old building. The choir stalls are of polished oak, and the seats in the nave consist of chairs with knee rests and book boxes. The nave accommodates some 300 persons, and the north aisle another 150, so that altogether the church has accommodation for something like 450 people' (Hinckley Times, 12 Feb 1910, with photographic illustration of church exterior taken on day of consecration). The planned South arcade, South-East tower and South chapel never built.
'Holy Trinity church, built in 1910, is in a very pure form of the Early English style, one of the finest modern churches in the Midlands' (The Official Guide of the Hinckley & District Chamber of Trade (1951)).
1921 - Stained glass war memorial window installed on north side. Dedicated 3 Oct 1921. - LRO: DE1224/107, 108. By Rupert H. Corbauld FBSMGP, of A. O. Hemming and Co, 2 Nottingham Terrace, London NW1. The cost was £220. 'The window depicts on the left-hand side a dying soldier in khaki, supported by an angel, to whom appears, in the centre light, our Lord enrobed as King, Who holds out towards him a crown of glory. On the right-hand side kneels another angel looking at the soldier, and bearing the palm and laurel wreath of victory. The background behind the figures is treated pictorially but partly symbolically, the left-hand side above the soldier suggesting war, with a shell-torn tree and ruins in the distance changing behind our Lord to the sun rising over the sea, and so on to right to green trees and a quiet landscape suggesting Paradise. In the sky above our Lord's head appears the red cross of martyrdom surrounded by cherubim, and the whole picture is surmounted by rich architectural canopies in harmony with the building. The geometrical pieces of tracery above are fitted in with decorative foliage work across which appears the text "Well done thou good and faithful servant". At the bottom of the window are ornamented bases in harmony with the canopies, and running through them across the three lights is a wide scroll held by three angels in which appears the following inscription: "To the glory of God, and in thankful remembrance of the men from this parish who died for their King and country in the great war, 1914-19"' (Hinckley Times, 8 October 1921).
1930 - Apsidal baptistery and SW porch added at a cost of £864: south west porch £285 - LRO: DE1224/32. Full account of consecration [dedication?], 22 Feb 1930, in the Hinckley Times, Fri 28 Feb 1930. Designed by Ellis & Bunting, 3 Newhall Street, Birmingham; J. Paul & Sons, contractors. Drawings of Feb 1929 at LRO (DE2315/14).
1932 - Stained glass E window installed at a cost of £422 (LRO: DE1224/112). By A. J. Davies of the Bromsgrove Guild, Worcs. (He had undertaken windows at Hereford and Johannesburg cathedrals) (Hinckley Times, 25 Nov 1932).
1946 - Reredos panelling installed: Baines, Provis & Cope, architects (LRO DE 1224/124).
1949 - Five stained glass windows by A. J. Davies of Bromsgrove (LRO: DE1224/126).
1958 - Stained glass window - The Annunciation - LRO: DE1244/129. By F. S. Baldwin AMGP, of John Hall & Sons (Bristol & London) Ltd, 1-5 St. Pancras Way, London NW1.
1964 - site plans for proposed new halls, situated to E of vicarage. Brenda P. Darling ARIBA, 32 Leicester Road, Hinckley. Deposited HUDC 22 June 1964 (LRO:DE1496/135).
NMR - 5 photos (1972). See A.J. Pickering , History of the Parish of Holy Trinity, Hinckley 1839-1939 (Hinckley 1939). See also: Willett, Revd. G. T., 'Anniversaries at Holy Trinity, Hinckley', Hinckley Historian, 8 (Autumn 1980), 15-19.
HOLY TRINITY DAY SCHOOLS 1912 At LRO (DE 1496/15/1-2) plans for new day schools at junction of Lancaster Road and Rugby Road by Alexander R. Ellis, 10 Oct 1912 and 29 Jan 1913. Included five classrooms, drill room and cloakroom. Plans comprise elevations, sections, plans, 'finished plans' and tracings. The school was not built, presumably due to the intervention of the Great War. The site is now occupied by the old Regent Cinema. See also TRINITY SCHOOLS c.1847
HOLY TRINITY PARISH HALL - see HOLY TRINITY CHURCH 1837-9
HOLY TRINITY SCHOOLS - see TRINITY SCHOOLS c.1847
HOLY TRINITY VICARAGE 1879-1882 Trinity Lane. The architect, Ewan Christian, visiting Hinckley on behalf of Thomas Frewen, wrote 2 February 1849 that 'nothing is now wanted for the completion of the group [of church, school and schoolmaster's house] but a nice parsonage in the corner of the garden'. The eventual cost was about £1,200.
HOLY WELL The Holy Well (or Our Lady's Well) was at SP433940. Recorded 1755. Rebuilt 1757. Pump removed c.1895.
'On the road to Lutterworth, within a few yards of Hinckley Town, is a spring called The Holy Well, originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and once known by the name of Our Lady's Well, the water of which is exquisitely clear and good.' (Nichols, Leicestershire (1811), p.705)
'There are several Mineral Springs in the neighbourhood, viz. Cogg's Well, Christopher Stevenson's Spa, and the Priest Hills, and on the entrance into the town, on the London Road, is the celebrated "Holy Well", the water of which is exquisitely clear and good' (Curtis, Topographical History of Leicestershire (1831), 75).
'The Holy Well having been dried up by digging for gravel, a new one was opened on the opposite side of the road, over which was placed a neat brick pillar inscribed "Rebuilt 1757"'. (Nichols, Leicestershire (1811), p.705n)
The HOLYWELL INN London Road. Listed in the trades directories from 1835 (as in Burbage Road) although the present building dates from 1927. Photograph of that year in F. Shaw, Hinckley in Old Picture Postcards, vol.2, no. 70 (below). The architects were Heaton & Walker of Hinckley (info Stella Hughes).
The HORSE & JOCKEY Stockwell Head. Listed in a trades directory of 1848.
HOSPITAL - see COTTAGE HOSPITAL.
HOUSE OF CORRECTION (BRIDEWELL) 1768 Stockwell Head (formerly Stocken Head, 'the place of the stocks'), next to the old workhouse. The Bridewell 'was built in 1768; the sessions allowing £25 towards the expense and the remainder paid by the overseers of the poor. The keeper has a yearly salary of £4 paid him by the treasurer of the County; besides the maintenance of prisoners, repairs etc' (Nichols, Leicestershire, 679).
'The prison has a work-room; a vaulted lodging-room for men; another for women (10 feet by 8); mats upon bedsteads; no water. Keeper's salary £4; fees 2s 6d; no table. He was also master of the workhouse adjoining; in which the poor then looked healthy, were cheerful, clean, and at work; but at my last visit it was far otherwise' (John Howard, The State of the Prisons in England and Wales… 3rd edition (Warrington, 1784), 315)).
After 1838 (when the new Workhouse was built) the buildings were converted into two dwellings for working class families. '...when a boy Mr T. Harrold related having seen the staples fixed in the walls to which the arms and legs of the maniacs were fastened' (Francis, History of Hinckley, 136).
HSBC BANK - see LEICESTERSHIRE BANKING COMPANY PREMISES.
HUMPHREY'S COTTAGES - see JOHN STREET.
HUNTER'S ROW A terrace of brick cottages which once stood on the South side of St. Mary's church.Hunter's Row was the first row of terraced housing in the town.
'Adjoining the church yard an old building, called the Hall House, formerly the residence of the Priors of Hinckley, was pulled down in 1827, and fifteen small houses erected very near the spot' (Samuel Curtis, Topographical History of Leicestershire (1831)).
In the first decade of the twentieth century the Hinckley builder, Andrew Jeffcote, carried out work for the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who owned the property and surrounding land. 'He remembered [writing in about 1930] receiving instructions from the commissioners to pull down and remove a number of cottages known as Hunter's Row adjacent to the church yard standing on the site of the old hall. The old hall stood on the site of a small Norman priory. The cottages were for the most part constructed of brick, but in the back wall nearest the church yard wall there was about 5 feet of stone work, doubtless part of the old hall and possibly part of the old priory' (The Hinckley Chronicles, 41).
An engraving published by Thomas Short in 1832 depicts the church, the old stables, the Globe Inn and, indistinctly, Hunter's Row (reproduced in the Hinckley Times, 5 Feb 1932). Hunter's Row is shown on the first 1:2500 Ordnance Survey, which was mapped in 1885-6 (below), as well as on the revised version of 1901.
See also: PRIORY.
[Abbreviations: AAS - Associated Architectural Societies reports. HUDC - Hinckley Urban District Council. LRO - Leicestershire Record Office. NMR - National Monuments Record (Swindon). NRO - Northamptonshire Record Office. RCHM - Royal Commission on Historical Monuments for England. TLAS - Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological Society. VCH - Victoria County History]
