44 hanged and six blinded on Croft Hill

1) In a little village in the West Riding of Yorkshire, a child was born in 1324 who was to change the course of English history and eventually make Lutterworth one of the immortal places in the world.

His name was John Wycliffe, whose surname may have been taken from his birthplace.

John of Gaunt was the feudal overlord of that part of the country and later became Wycliffe’s patron. He went to Oxford when he was 16, first to Queen’s College and then to Merton and later became Master of Balliol.

He was the earliest champion of ecclesiastical reformation and was rector of Lutterworth from 1375 until his death in 1384. England had been struggling to gain its freedom from Rome, and this gave Wycliffe the opportunity to undermine its influence, as his views on the Papacy were well known.

In 1213, King John took off his crown and offered it to the Papal Legate putting England into the hands of the Pope.

The Barons said they would not submit to the Pope and consequently invited King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215.

A vast amount of money was leaving England for the Vatican and under the direction of the king, Wycliffe responded. He was sent with three other commissioners to Bruges in Flanders to meet delegates from the Vatican.

The king rewarded him for his conduct at Bruges by making him rector of Lutterworth. It was here that he accomplished his greatest work by translating the Bible into English, which was completed in 1382.

Alfred the Great had translated the 10 Commandments and in the reign of Edward III two English versions of the psalms had also been translated. He quietly continued his work until his death which came from a stroke while he was conducting a service.

He was buried at Lutterworth but 30 years later he was condemned as a heretic by the Council of Constance who ordered that his bones should be dug up and burned.

This was carried out by Richard Fleming, the Bishop of Lincoln, who cast his ashes into the waters of the River Swift. The goal of all his wok was to lead men back to the simple Gospel.

In the centre of the town stands a granite obelisk 30ft high in memory of the man who made the name of Lutterworth known throughout the world and laid the foundations stone of our common English speech.

2) A small part of Wellsborough called Temple Hall was extra-parochial as it had been given to the Knights Templar by one of the Earls of Leicester. The Knights Templar was a mil- itary order founded in 1118 after the capture of Jerusalem during the first crusade to defend it from the Muslims.

The Templars rose in influence and wealth until they had settlements in every county in Christendom. They built several castles which were both monasteries and barracks until the order was finally suppressed by Pope Clement V in 1312. At the present time, Temple Hall Farm is situated near this site. People associated with this cult usually adopted the surname of the Temple.

3) In 1931, Shenton narrowly missed a major disaster when the Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal burst its banks near to the aqueduct in the village. The aqueduct is one of a small number which still remain in the country.

The canal, which is 30 miles long, was purchased by the Midland Railway Company in 1846 at a cost of £110,000. After two nights and days of torrential rain, the rivers and streams were overflowing and the canal bank gave way.

Over eight miles of the canal in the direction of Measham was drained. A number of cottages in Shenton received food through their bedroom windows from people on horseback.

One couple were woken up by a banging sound in the kitchen and were horrified to discover that water had risen up to the ceiling and it was a floating kettle that was making the noise.

4) One Wykin resident, Edward Wightman, was for many years a notorious heretic and masqueraded as the Holy Ghost. He claimed he was different from God as he was a creature and God was an invisible spirit. He would not deviate from this damnable opinion and was totally against the Trinity. He became so objectionable that he was taken to court and in 1612 he was sentenced to death and was burnt at the sake at Lichfield.

5) It was at the foot of Croft hill in 836 that the first English King Egbert gathered with 11 bishops to witness a charter granting land to a Worcestershire Monastery.

Three hundred years later an alarming event took place on Croft Hill when Ralph Basset, who held land there, had 44 thieves hanged and six others blinded.

6) A most remarkable incident occurred on the railway line in the area in 1930 when an express train jumped off the tracks and careered along the sleepers for almost a mile and then for no reason at all, it jumped back on the rails as it reached Croft signal box.

7) Gopsall Hall was built by Charles Jennens, the son of a wealthy Birmingham steel magnate and was regarded as one of the most magnificent stately mansions in the Midlands. The hall was set in a beautiful park and gardens which were laid out at a cost of more than £100,000.

The main entrance to the hall was from Twycross through the Triumphal Gate which was designed by Sir Jeffrey Wyattville and was based on the Arch of Constantine.

A frequent visitor to the hall was George Friederic Handel, composer of Zadok the Priest and his Messiah to the tune referred to as Gopsall which were both written at Gopsall Hall. Handel wrote many oratorios which later became the favourite music of the Philippine Islands.

Royalty were frequent visitors during the shooting season and the Earl had the railway extended at Shackerstone to accommodate the royal train. King William IV was a frequent visitor and Edward VII always enjoyed the deer hunt when the stags were culled. The Earl was supposed to have been a particular close friend and confidante of Queen Alexandra.

8) A terrible tragedy occurred in Hinckley, in 1803, when the gallery in the town’s theatre collapsed and a number of people were severely injured.

9) In the reign of Queen Victoria, Hinckley possessed a very famous personality by the name of Joseph Aloysuis Han- som. He was renowned as an architect and his designs for the Birmingham Town Hall, Leicester Museum, Lutterworth Town Hall and the Baptist Chapel in Leicester were eventually to make him famous throughout the world.

Joseph Hansom is best remembered for his invention of the Hansom Cab. It was a novel design. The wheels being eight feet in diameter with a cranked axle which made it almost impossible to overturn.

The driver sat on a seat high up at the rear of the cab but unable to hear the conversation of the passengers.

The cab increased in popularity in the 1860s although it was resented by stagecoach owners. It became a common sight in most cities and large towns and eventually became very popular in America.

Joseph Hansom died in London in 1822.

10) A long time ago, a group of Christians came over from the continent to set up an organisation in Wolvey to be known as the Knights Templars, who quickly won recruits and were bestowed with gifts of money and land from the aristocracy. Wolvey was such a gift.

In 1312, the Templars were all arrested and their lands and accumulated wealth were seized by the King. The remains of their headquarters at Temple Farm can still be seen.