The NAG'S HEAD Castle Street. Recorded in trades directories from 1809 until 1835.
NATIONAL SCHOOL 1820 Grimms Lane (New Buildings).
'In 1820 [the trustees of the Great Feoffment] erected a new building for the National school, having two large apartments, with separate entrances, one for boys, the other for girls. The school is open to all the children of the town, about 120 of whom attend' (The Parliamentary Gazeteer of England and Wales, II (1843)). The 120 or 130 boys and girls were to be the sons and daughters of stockingers working in their own homes on the domestic system.
Above: Oblique view of the old National School about 1914, with one of the feoffment cottages of 1852 in the foreground
The trustees of the ancient Feoffment charity chose the prominent Leicester architect, William Parsons (1796-1857) to design their new school. The following notice appeared in the Leicester Journal, 26 May 1820:
'To Builders. Persons who may be desirous of contracting for the erection of a school at Hinckley, may see a plan and specifications thereof at Mr Wm Parsons's office in the Town Hall Lane, Leicester which said plan and specification may be inspected from Saturday the 27th instant, to the 10th day of June next on which day all estimates are to be sent to the above office, sealed up and directed "The Trustees of the Feoffment, Hinckley". N.B. No expense will be allowed for making estimates'.
The facade, redbrick with stone dressings, was of three bays, divided by attached columns with pepperpot finials. The two flanking bays had large arched windows, with separate entrances for boys and girls. The initial cost was £400 raised by subscription, with a contribution from the National Society, an Anglican education charity. In the 1850s the National School moved to the newly-erected St. Mary's parochial school building in Station Road, the old Grammar School being accommodated in this building from 1877 until 1894, when a purpose-built school was erected on the Leicester Road. Subsequently the building was a drill hall, cinema and retail premises. (On 11th May 1995 celebrations were held at St. Mary's Primary School to mark 175th anniversary of primary education in the town.)
For more details of the building's history after 1877 see GRAMMAR SCHOOL 1877: PALLADIUM. For William Parsons see Bennett, Leicestershire Architects, 47, and Colvin, Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 737.
NATIONAL SCHOOL (TRINITY) 1847 - See TRINITY SCHOOLS
NATIONAL SCHOOL 1856 See ST. MARY'S PAROCHIAL (now C. of E.) SCHOOL
NATIONAL WESTMINSTER BANK See PARES LEICESTERSHIRE BANKING COMPANY PREMISES 1898.
The NAVIGATION Coventry Road, near the present Wharf public house.
The NEW BOROUGH THEATRE 1935 See HINCKLEY THEATRE
NEW BUILDINGS Formerly Grimms Lane, connecting upper Castle Street to Leicester Road and Derby Road.
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| New Buildings from Wood Street, c.1900. Right, foreground, is Argyle House, and further on the right can be seen the Greyhound public house. |
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| New Buildings looking towards the Stockwell Head junction. In the distance, to the right, is the imposing Wesleyan Methodist chapel of 1878. |
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| New Buildings from upper Castle Street, c.1930. Foreground, left, is the Wesleyan Methodist chapel (demolished in 1970). |
NEW BUILDINGS: DOMESTIC See GREAT FEOFFMENT COTTAGES
NEW BUILDINGS: INDUSTRIAL 1878 By Goddard and Paget of Leicester 1875 - large hosiery factory for Samuel Davis & Co. (late Samuel Davis & Sons Ltd.), dominating the junction of New Buildings and Leicester Road. Demolished 1988 (See Brandwood and Cherry, Men of Property, 110). 'Plans for the extension of Mr. Davis' factory in New Buildings' came before Hinckley Local Board April 1875 (Leicester Journal, Fri 16 Apr 1875).
Above, left: The factory, about 1940 , right: From an advertisement of 1911
The factory buildings included the Ebenezer Chapel, built in 1802 by William Gadsby and his congregation, Gadsby himself being a stockinger and hosier as well as a preacher (see BAPTIST CHAPEL (PARTICULAR) 1803; METHODIST CHAPEL (PRIMITIVE) 1854). Also situated in New Buildings was the boot and shoe factory of Harry Whitmore.
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| Factory buildings from Leicester Road. |
The NEW INN Castle Street. Recorded in trades directories from 1841 until 1973, when it was closed.
The NEW PLOUGH INN Leicester Road. Opened 1900 and recorded in the trades directories from 1901. One of a new breed of purpose-built public houses. It is still thriving.
The NEW THEATRE The Borough - see HINCKLEY THEATRE AND PICTURE HOUSE 1912.
[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]
