Newtown Linford

Newtown Linford Church

Newtown Linford is a linear village in Leicestershire (England).

It is located in a valley in the Charnwood Forest area, and has four access roads. The first is from Anstey, then there are roads which lead to the A50 at Groby and at Markfield (the former passing Groby Pool). There is another road that leads out to the North, which splits towards Ulverscroft, or Loughborough, Woodhouse, Woodhouse Eaves, Swithland etc.

The village is famous for Bradgate Park, a large country park which was home to Lady Jane Grey, Queen for nine days. There are a few shops (mainly aimed at the day-trippers who come to Bradgate Park) but the garden centre which used to dominate the centre of the village closed in 2004 and is now being built on for housing. All of the properties in the village belonged to the Grey Estate until 1925 when it was sold off. There are approximately 54 listed buildings in the village which include the old style red telephone box.

There is one pub in the village called The Bradgate and one club The Linford. The Bradgate is a modern gastropub which serves a range of French/Italian inspired cuisine. It was refurbished in 2005. The club has private membership. There is a primary school which celebrated it's centenary in 2007, and various restaurants (including Gibson's Grey Lady). In 2008 the Louis Scott Restaurant opposite the Park gates changed ownership and became the Village Restaurant putting it in the same family ownership as Gibson's Grey Lady Restaurant. There is a B&B called "Wondai", but the Johnscliffe Hotel was demolished a few years ago to make way for housing.

Bradgate Park attracts walkers and cyclists, and in the summer the village is often full of day-trippers from all around Leicestershire. There are three cafes, the Jade Tea Rooms, the Post Office Cafe and the Marion Cafe which was named after Marion Richardson who used to live there. The Post Office itself was closed in 2008 but remains a newsagents as well as a cafe. There is also a cafe in the Deer Barn in the centre of Bradgate Park.

The River Lin runs through the village, before flowing through Bradgate Park and joining the reservoir at Cropston.

Newtown Linford boasts a large number of old cottages with a lot of character - especially between Groby Lane and Markfield Lane. At the end of Groby Lane is the village cricket pitch. There is a church next to the cricket pitch, but the village cemetery lies at the top of the hill on Groby Lane. Newtown Linford is also home to one of britains surviving Police boxes. This box is a listed building and is still used by the local Police beat team today.

The village's name originates from the relocation of people when Earl Grey turned Bradgate into a deer park. The people who lived within the estate were moved to the "New Town" - or hamlet as it would have been then, at the ford of the river Lin. The village was first documented in 1293 and was previously known as "Lyndynford".

Newtown Linford is twinned with Plateau Est de Rouen in France, and Bradgate, Iowa in the United States.

External links

• Newtown Linford Parish Church in the Bradgate Team Parish.