Lutterworth

Lutterworth was originally an Anglo Saxon settlement, its name is probably derived from the Old English Hlutre Worth: Lutterworth was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.[3]

Lutterworth was granted its market charter in 1214 by King John and became a small but busy market town.[3]

St Mary's Church, Lutterworth

In the 14th century, the religious reformer John Wycliffe was rector in St Mary's Church, Lutterworth between 1374 and 1384, and it was here that he is traditionally believed to have produced the first translation of the Bible from Latin into English.[4] The church was restored in the 19th century and a large tower replaced the original spire. The church still contains some 15th-century wall paintings.[5]

The Irish statesman Robert le Poer was parish priest here c.1318.

Lutterworth Grammar School was founded in 1630, by 1676 the population of Lutterworth had reached 644.[3]

In the days of the stagecoach, Lutterworth was an important stopping-place on the road from Leicester to Oxford and London, and many former coaching inns remain in the town.[3] The town also contains a number of well preserved half-timbered buildings.[5]

The Whittle Roundabout

Frank Whittle, inventor of the jet engine, developed some of the world's first jet engines at the British Thomson-Houston works in Lutterworth, and in nearby Rugby, during the late 1930s and the 1940s, with his company Power Jets. A replica of his first jet aircraft the Gloster E.28/39 stands in the middle of a roundabout just south of the town as a memorial and a number of papers and documents relating to Whittle's development of the jet engine are displayed at the town's museum.[6]

The M1 motorway was built just to the east of Lutterworth in 1964, and the M6 motorway was built a few miles to the south in 1971.[7]

At the time of the first national census in 1801, Lutterworth had a population of 1,652, this had nearly doubled to 3,197 by 1901.[3] By 2001 it had reached 8,294. Further population growth in the 21st century has brought the population up to nearly 10,000 by 2017.[1]

To the west of the town [2.5 mi (4.0 km)] is a large logistics and distribution centre called Magna Park, which is the main source of employment in the Lutterworth area. Magna Park is built upon the site of the old Bitteswell aerodrome. Also near Lutterworth is Stanford Hall.

A controversial issue in the town is how to manage the traffic flows emanating from Magna Park and the nearby M1 and A5 trunk roads. Approximately 3,000 heavy goods vehicles pass through the town every day and pollution levels are reported as being high.[12]

The Census 2011 Summary also indicates an overall growth in residents' vehicles, which is likely to add to traffic and pollution concerns according to the Census summary.[13]

There is a Morrisons Food Store (formerly Safeway) on Bitteswell Road, as well as a Subway on High Street. Waitrose opened on 11 March 2010 on a site previously occupied by Netto.[14] Aldi opened a new store on Rugby Road on 12 Aug 2021.

On the Greenacres Housing estate in the town there was an estate public house, recently called 'The Sir Frank Whittle' and previously called 'The Balloon'. This building was sold by the brewery to the Co-op who changed the use and structure of the premises to be the new Co-op store in the town. The Co-op Food Store previously located on George Street closed in June 2014 coinciding with the opening of the new store.

Lutterworth also houses the headquarters of the free Bible distributors 'Good News for everyone'.[15] This organisation, formerly known as British Gideons, has been headquartered in Lutterworth since 1974.[16]

Lutterworth lies on the A426 Leicester–Rugby road, adjacent to the M1 motorway at junction 20. It is also located within a few miles of the M6 motorway and A5 trunk road. A southern bypass, the A4303, was opened in 1999, providing a route for traffic from the M1 to the A5 to avoid Lutterworth town centre.

The nearest railway station to Lutterworth is Rugby railway station about six miles to the south. The town formerly had its own railway station on the former Great Central Main Line which opened in 1899, and closed in 1969.[3]

Historically there were another two railway stations close to Lutterworth: The first was Ullesthorpe & Lutterworth, about 3 mi (4.8 km) to the north west, on the former Midland Railway (later part of the LMS) line from Rugby to Leicester, closed on 1 January 1962. The second was Welford & Kilworth at one time known as Welford & Lutterworth, some 5 mi (8.0 km) east on the London & North Western Railway (also later LMS) line from Rugby to Market Harborough and Peterborough, closed on 6 June 1966.

Arriva Midlands and Centrebus are the main operators of bus services around Lutterworth with services into Leicester, Market Harborough, Rugby, Warwickshire and Hinckley.

The town supports two individual local football teams : Lutterworth Athletic F.C. and Lutterworth Town A.F.C. who both play in the United Counties League[17] There is also a tennis club – Lutterworth Tennis Club – located just outside Lutterworth on Hall Lane. Banger Racing was once staged in the town on farmland adjacent to the Coventry Road on the A4303. Racing ceased in the late 1990s.

Feilding Palmer Hospital, run by Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust is situated in the town. It has a ward which provides general rehabilitation and palliative and end of life care.[19] Under the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Sustainability and transformation plan it is proposed to close.[20]

Mark Corrigan of the British television series Peep Show describes a trip to Lutterworth by public transport as taking so long that it feels like going to Mordor, a reference to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The 1973 sitcom Me, myself and Nigel Wright was set in an ostrich farm near the town.[21]

• Bitteswell

• Lutterworth Town Council