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Barrow upon Soar

Coordinates: 52°45′06″N 1°09′00″W / 52.75167°N 1.15000°W / 52.75167; -1.15000
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Bridge over the River Soar next to the Navigation
Barrow Upon Soar parish church
Interior view of the church of the Holy Trinity
The "Barrow Kipper" plesiosaur skeleton at the New Walk Museum

Barrow upon Soar is a large village in northern Leicestershire, in the Soar Valley between Leicester and Loughborough. It has a population of around 5,000 and is part of the Charnwood local government district. The population as measured at the 2011 census was 5,856.[1]

It lies on the east bank of the River Soar at its confluence with the Fishpool Brook, and is just opposite the A6 from Quorn. The village is on the Midland Main Line, and Ivanhoe Line trains stop at the Barrow-upon-Soar railway station. The Mountsorrel Railway, carrying granite from the Mountsorrel quarries, used to run here; the line from Mountsorrel is still followed by a mineral conveyor to Barrow, where quarry rock is sorted for distribution.

The village is famous for a plesiosaur excavated there in 1851, of the species Rhomaleosaurus megacephalus, nicknamed the "Barrow Kipper". The dinosaur was found in a lime pit outside the village, and a roundabout with a sign representing its skeleton lies at the centre of the village. The skeleton is on display at the New Walk Museum in Leicester, with a full-size replica on display at Charnwood Museum in Loughborough. The village's football club has the skeleton on its badge.

Notable people

Barrow was the birthplace in 1915 of the Second World War fighter ace Air Vice Marshal Johnnie Johnson. The editor of Current Biology, Geoffrey North, also hails from Barrow.

Peter Preston (1938-2018), editor of The Guardian from 1975 to 1995, was born there.[2]

Twinning

Barrow Upon Soar is twinned with Marans, Charente-Maritime in France.[3]

References

  1. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  2. ^ McKie, David (7 January 2018). "Peter Preston obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2018 – via www.theguardian.com.
  3. ^ "Leicestershire County Council - Serving the people of Leicestershire". www.leicestershirevillages.com. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
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52°45′06″N 1°09′00″W / 52.75167°N 1.15000°W / 52.75167; -1.15000


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