Breedon on the Hill#History

File:BreedonHill.jpg

File:Church of St Mary and St Hardulph, Breedon on the Hill, from the air.JPG

Breedon is notable for its Carboniferous limestone hill that rises {{convert|122|m}} above sea level in a generally low-lying landscape and affords distant views across several counties. A large portion of the hill has been cut away by an active quarry now operated by the Breedon Group. This currently produces limestone and gravel.{{Cite web |last=Richardson |first=Hannah |date=26 July 2022 |title=Quarry at Breedon on the Hill is given approval to carry on working the area for an extra 36 years |url=https://ashby.nub.news/news/local-news/quarry-at-breedon-on-the-hill-is-given-approval-to-carry-on-working-the-area-for-an-extra-36-years-143337 |access-date=12 September 2023 |website=Asnby Nub News}} It has also produced sand.{{Cite web |title=Breedon Quarry and Cloud Hill Quarry,11th July 2007 |url=http://www.lihs.org.uk/past_visits_breedon_quarry.html |website=Leicestershire Industrial History}}

On top of the hill is The Bulwarks Iron Age hill fort, within which is Breedon's historic Church of England parish church. A recent survey found considerable evidence of occupation within the southern part of the hillfort enclosure.{{cite journal|doi=10.11141/ia.52.6 | issue=52 | title=Breedon Hill, Leicestershire: new surveys and their implications | year=2019 | journal=Internet Archaeology | last1 = Whittaker | first1 = Chris | doi-access=free}}

Breedon is {{convert|3|mi|0}} from East Midlands Airport and {{convert|5|mi|0}} from the junction of the A42 road and M1 motorway. The village is {{convert|3|mi|0}} from the River Trent, and {{convert|2|mi|0}} from Donington Park motor circuit.

Excavation of The Bulwarks in 1946 identified occupation between about the 1st century BC and about 1st century AD.{{harvnb|Pevsner|1960|p=75.}}

The toponym is derived from the Celtic word bre for hill and the Old English word dun for hill.{{cite book |last=Mills |first=A.D. |year=2003 |title=A Dictionary of British Place Names |location=London |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-852758-6 }}{{page needed|date=August 2013}} Hence in its current form the name combines three forms of the word hill.{{Cite web|url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Leicestershire/Breedon+on+the+Hill|title=Key to English Place-names|website=kepn.nottingham.ac.uk|access-date=15 August 2021|archive-date=15 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815082547/http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Leicestershire/Breedon+on+the+Hill|url-status=live}} Briudun, an early spelling, has been traced from AD 731.

Medieval hagiography manuscripts record four saints buried in Breedon on the Hill. They are Friduricus,{{cite web |url=http://www.benefice.org.uk/breedon_church/the_breedon_story/index.php |title=The Story of St. Mary and St. Hardulph Church: A Cradle of our Faith |first=Brian C. J. |last=Williams |year=1996 |orig-year=1975 |publisher=The United Benefice of Breedon and Worthington |access-date=9 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209171714/http://www.benefice.org.uk/breedon_church/the_breedon_story/index.php |archive-date=9 February 2006}} donor of the Mercian royal monastery built in Breedon during the seventh century, King Eardwulf of Northumbria, and relatively unknown Anglo-Saxon Saints Beonna of Breedon and Cotta of Breedon.[https://archive.today/20140103065303/http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=stowe_ms_944_f029v Stowe MS 944], British LibraryThe Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford University Press.

Breedon has a circular stone-built village lock-up with an adjoining animal pound. The lock-up is 18th-century{{NHLE |num=1074127 |desc=Lock Up and Pound |grade=II |fewer-links= |access-date=9 November 2024}} and similar to the one in the nearby Worthington. It was used for detaining local drunks, and the adjoining pound for straying livestock. The lock-up and pound together comprise a Grade II listed building.

Breedon Hall is an historic building which was the ancestral home of the Curzon family.

In 1874, a branch of the Midland Railway was built through the eastern part of the parish and Tonge and Breedon railway station was built at Tonge. In 1980 British Rail closed the line and later the track was dismantled. The trackbed through the parish is now part of National Cycle Route 6.

{{main|Church of St Mary and St Hardulph}}

The Priory Church of St Mary and St Hardulph was originally a monastery founded in about AD 676 on the site of The Bulwarks, an Iron Age hill fort. It was re-founded as an Augustinian priory early in the 12th century.{{sfn|Hoskins|McKinley|1951|pp=8–10}} Before becoming a monastery it was a hermitage.

In 1498 members of the visiting Battenberg family took mass at the church on a number of occasions.{{cn|date=June 2020}}

What remains of the priory church includes a large number of Anglo-Saxon sculptures,{{sfn|Pevsner|1960|pp=73–74}} an ornate family box pew and notable Renaissance church monuments.{{sfn|Pevsner|1960|p=73}}

Breedon has two pubs: the Holly Bush and the Three Horseshoes. There was a third pub, The Lime Kiln, but this is now a private home.

The village has a small primary school and a post office. It did have a butcher's shop, but that closed in 2017.{{cn|date=June 2020}} The school, St Hardulph's Church of England Primary School, was built in 1962 and also housed community facilities. Relations between the school, Leicestershire County Council and the local community association subsequently broke down and the community association was unsuccessful in a high court application arguing that they had the right to use the facilities on the grounds that the community had contributed some of the funding for the construction of the building.England and Wales High Court (Chancery Division), [https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2010/1387.html Dore & Ors v Leicestershire County Council & Anor [2010] EWHC 1387 (Ch) (11 June 2010)], accessed 22 September 2023

Breedon has a football club, Breedon F.C.{{cn|date=June 2020}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite book |editor-last1=Hoskins |editor-first1=W.G. |editor-link1=William George Hoskins |editor-last2=McKinley |editor-first2=R.A. |year=1951 |chapter=The Priory of Breedon |title=A History of the County of Leicestershire, Volume 2 |series=Victoria County History |pages=8–10 |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=38160 }}
• {{cite book |last=Pevsner |first=Nikolaus |author-link=Nikolaus Pevsner |series=The Buildings of England |title=Leicestershire and Rutland |year=1960 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Harmondsworth |pages=71–75 }}

• {{cite journal |last=Wacher |first=J.S. |year=1976–77 |title=Excavations at Breedon-on-the-Hill |journal=Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society |volume=52 |pages=1–35 |url= https://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/BreedonPagesfromvolumeLII-3.pdf }}

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• [https://www.breedonparishcouncil.org.uk/ Parish council website]

{{Towns and Villages of North West Leicestershire |state=expanded}}

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Category:Civil parishes in Leicestershire

Category:North West Leicestershire District

Category:Villages in Leicestershire