Heather, Leicestershire

History

The village's name means 'heathland'.

The parish church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, was "established" in the 12th century as a chapel for the Knights Hospitallers of the adjacent Heather Preceptory which was founded before 1199. The current church dates from the early 14th-century, and is a Grade II* Listed Building.

Coal mining and brickmaking

The coal mine at Heather opened in 1874 though some coal had been worked there even earlier. Brick making followed during the 20th century. In the 1970s and 1980s two huge open cast coal mines were opened up. The Coalville Farm opencast coal mine, between 1982 and 1996, extracted around eight million tons of coal. This area was subsequently restored to become the Sence Valley Country Park.

Following the refusal of a 1990 British Coal application for massive further open cast works, its successor, UK Coal applied for consent for a much smaller scheme. Following restoration, the 76 ha mine site was acquired by the Woodland Trust. With adjoining agricultural land this was promoted as the Flagship Diamond Wood of their campaign to create 60 new woods of 60 acres or more. It is a 186 ha new woodland called Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Wood, and celebrated the 2012 Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

Village life

Heather Parish Church is dedicated to St John Baptist. The Anglican parishes of Heather and Ibstock are now the responsibility of the same clergyman (Rector of Ibstock). The village is famous for its Scarecrow and Music Festivals, usually held around July/August.

Heather was for 63 years the home of David Taylor,

References

• Walker, Roy S. (1983) Heather Over the Years: based on the reminiscences of Ethel Gilliat, 1892–1983. Leicester: Leicestershire Museums, Art Galleries and Records Service

References

1. "Neighbourhood Statistics: 2001 Census: Key Statistics: Parish Headcounts: Heather CP". [[Office for National Statistics]].
2. "Civil Parish population 2011". Office for National Statistics.
3. Watts, Victor ''et al.,'' (2004) ''The Cambridge Dictionary of Place Names'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
4. [http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/ThorpevolumeLXVIIsmI.pdf The Iron Age settlement at Heather] {{Webarchive. link. (6 June 2011 Thorpe, R, Sharman, J & Clay, P (1994). Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, LXVIII, p.30)
5. "Key to English Place-names".
6. "BBC - Domesday Reloaded: Churches at Heather".
7. link. (8 May 2014 , ''English Heritage: PastScape'')
8. Stuff, Good. "Church of St John the Baptist, Heather, Leicestershire".
9. "Open-cast Mining (Leicestershire)".
10. To the north of the village, it was the called the Long Moor [[Open-pit mining. open cast coal mine]]. Over a three-year period from 2007 to 2010 they extracted 725,000 tons of coal.[http://www.hepworth-acoustics.co.uk/ukcoal.php UK Coal case study by Hepworth Acoustics] {{Webarchive. link. (4 August 2012 accessed 12 April 2012)
11. "Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Wood".