Famous space rock lands green plaque honour
Women’s rights pioneer and jet engineer will also be recognised
THE BARWELL meteorite, jet engineer Sir Frank Whittle and women’s rights campaigner Lady Florence Dixie have all been chosen as winners in this year’s green plaque awards.
A record-breaking 5,000 votes were cast to choose six historic places and people from across the county to honour with the prestigious plaque award by Leicestershire County Council.
A green plaque will be installed in Chapel Street, Barwell, to celebrate the giant space rock crashing to earth some 50 years ago.
The meteorite is the largest ever to land in Britain and its arrival on Christmas Eve in 1965 was followed by a mighty sonic boom as the 4.5 millionyear-old rock exploded into thousands of pieces.
The largest known chunk is on display at the National Space Centre in Leicester.
The award follows a nomination by Barwell Parish Council.
Sir Frank Whittle was a pioneering aeronautical engineer whose jet engine revolutionised air travel.
He worked with Power Jets in Lutterworth from 1938 to 1948 to develop the first ever turbojet engine.
A replica statue of his Gloster E.28/39 aircraft has been in the centre of a town roundabout since 2003.
The engineer was nominated for the award by Geoff Smith of Broughton Astley.
Lady Florence Dixie was a renaissance author and women’s rights campaigner who lived at Bosworth Hall from 1875.
She was appointed war correspondent for the Morning Post in London to cover the Anglo-Zulu War and she wrote a feminist novel predicting that a woman would be leading the nation by 1999.
She also played a key role in the development of women’s football.
Her nomination came from the Market Bosworth Society.
Other winners included the Palitoy toy factory in Coalville; William Cotton, inventor and manufacturer of Cotton’s patent knitting machines from Loughborough; and Wicklow Lodge, a First World War military hospital in Melton Mowbray.
Councillor Peter Lewis, the county council’s deputy cabinet member for green plaques, said: “We received a record number of votes and I want to thank everyone who took the time to get behind their favourite and support the scheme.
“We’ll now work hard to get these next six plaques installed as we continue to celebrate the people and places of Leicestershire’s rich history.”
The green plaque awards scheme was set up by council leader Nick Rushton to recognise and celebrate people and plac- es which have made an important and enduring contribution to the county.
Previous winners of the award include Sunloch, a Grand National winner buried in Burbage, in 2015, and in 2014, a dambuster from Burbage, Flight Lieutenant Geoffrey Rice DFC RAF VC.
For more information on the winners visit www. l e i c e s t e r s hi re. g ov. uk/ greenplaques