Editing Breedon on the Hill

{{short description|Village in Leicestershire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2015}}
{{infobox UK place
|official_name= Breedon on the Hill
|static_image_name= breedonchurch.jpg
|static_image_caption= Priory church of St. Mary & St. Hardulph
|coordinates = {{coord|52.802|-1.399|display=inline,title}}
|os_grid_reference= SK4022
|label_position= bottom
|population= 958
|population_ref= ([[United Kingdom Census 2001|2001 Census]])<ref name=ONS>{{cite web |url=http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=4&containerAreaId=790453 |title=Area selected: North West Leicestershire (Non-Metropolitan District) |work=Neighbourhood Statistics: Full Dataset View |publisher=[[Office for National Statistics]] |access-date=18 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924054520/http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=4&containerAreaId=790453 |archive-date=24 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|civil_parish= Breedon on the Hill
|shire_district= [[North West Leicestershire]]
|shire_county= [[Leicestershire]]
|region= East Midlands
|country= England
|post_town= [[Derby]]
|postcode_district= DE73
|postcode_area= DE
|dial_code= 01332
|constituency_westminster= [[North West Leicestershire (UK Parliament constituency)|North West Leicestershire]]
|website= [http://breedononthehill.leicestershireparishcouncils.org/ Breedon on the Hill parish council]
}}

'''Breedon on the Hill''' is a village and [[Civil parishes in England|civil parish]] about {{convert|5|mi|0}} north of [[Ashby-de-la-Zouch]] in [[North West Leicestershire]], England. The parish adjoins the [[Derbyshire]] county boundary and the village is only about {{convert|2|mi|0}} south of the Derbyshire town of [[Melbourne, Derbyshire|Melbourne]]. The [[United Kingdom Census 2001|2001 Census]] recorded a parish population (including Isley and Wilson) of 958 people in 404 households.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.leics.gov.uk/index/your_council/about_leicestershire/statistics/research_info_population/parish_profiles.htm |title=Leicestershire County Council: 2001 Census |access-date=17 January 2006 |archive-date=13 January 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060113054909/http://www.leics.gov.uk/index/your_council/about_leicestershire/statistics/research_info_population/parish_profiles.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The parish includes the [[Hamlet (place)|hamlets]] of Tonge {{convert|1|mi}} east of the village and [[Wilson, Leicestershire|Wilson]] {{convert|1.3|mi|0}} north of the village on the county boundary. The population at the 2011 census (including Isley cum Langley and Langley Priory) was  1,029 in 450 households.

==Geography==
[[File:BreedonHill.jpg|thumb|upright|Breedon's limestone hill rising above the village green and war memorial]]
[[File:Church of St Mary and St Hardulph, Breedon on the Hill, from the air.JPG|thumb|Aerial view, showing church and quarry]]
Breedon is notable for its [[Carboniferous limestone]] hill that rises {{convert|122|m}} above sea level in a generally low-lying landscape and affords distant views across several counties. A large portion of the hill has been cut away by an active quarry now operated by the [[Breedon Group]]. This currently produces limestone and gravel.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Richardson |first=Hannah |date=26 July 2022 |title=Quarry at Breedon on the Hill is given approval to carry on working the area for an extra 36 years |url=https://ashby.nub.news/news/local-news/quarry-at-breedon-on-the-hill-is-given-approval-to-carry-on-working-the-area-for-an-extra-36-years-143337 |access-date=12 September 2023 |website=Asnby Nub News}}</ref> It has also produced sand.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Breedon Quarry and Cloud Hill Quarry,11th July 2007 |url=http://www.lihs.org.uk/past_visits_breedon_quarry.html |website=Leicestershire Industrial History}}</ref>

On top of the hill is The Bulwarks [[British Iron Age|Iron Age]] [[hill fort]], within which is Breedon's historic [[Church of England parish church]]. A recent survey found considerable evidence of occupation within the southern part of the hillfort enclosure.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.11141/ia.52.6 | issue=52 | title=Breedon Hill, Leicestershire: new surveys and their implications | year=2019 | journal=Internet Archaeology | last1 = Whittaker | first1 = Chris | doi-access=free}}</ref>

Breedon is {{convert|3|mi|0}} from [[East Midlands Airport]] and {{convert|5|mi|0}} from the junction of the [[A42 road (England)|A42 road]] and [[M1 motorway]]. The village is {{convert|3|mi|0}} from the [[River Trent]], and {{convert|2|mi|0}} from [[Donington Park motor circuit]].

==History==
Excavation of The Bulwarks in 1946 identified occupation between about the 1st century BC and about 1st century AD.<ref name=Pevsner75>{{harvnb|Pevsner|1960|p=75.}}</ref>

The [[Toponymy_of_England|toponym]] is derived from the [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] word ''bre'' for hill and the [[Old English]] word ''dun'' for hill.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mills |first=A.D. |year=2003 |title=A Dictionary of British Place Names |location=London |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0-19-852758-6 }}{{page needed|date=August 2013}}</ref> Hence in its current form the name combines three forms of the word hill.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Leicestershire/Breedon+on+the+Hill|title=Key to English Place-names|website=kepn.nottingham.ac.uk|access-date=15 August 2021|archive-date=15 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815082547/http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Leicestershire/Breedon+on+the+Hill|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Briudun'', an early spelling, has been traced from AD 731.

Medieval hagiography manuscripts record four saints buried in Breedon on the Hill. They are Friduricus,<ref name=williams>{{cite web |url=http://www.benefice.org.uk/breedon_church/the_breedon_story/index.php |title=The Story of St. Mary and St. Hardulph Church: A Cradle of our Faith |first=Brian C. J. |last=Williams |year=1996 |orig-year=1975 |publisher=The United Benefice of Breedon and Worthington |access-date=9 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209171714/http://www.benefice.org.uk/breedon_church/the_breedon_story/index.php |archive-date=9 February 2006}}</ref> donor of [[Church of St Mary and St Hardulph, Breedon on the Hill#Holy Hill Monastery|the Mercian royal monastery]] built in Breedon during the seventh century, King [[Eardwulf of Northumbria]], and relatively unknown Anglo-Saxon Saints Beonna of Breedon and Cotta of Breedon.<ref>[https://archive.today/20140103065303/http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=stowe_ms_944_f029v Stowe MS 944], [[British Library]]</ref><ref>The [[Oxford Dictionary of Saints]], [[Oxford University Press]].</ref>

Breedon has a circular stone-built [[village lock-up]]<ref name=Pevsner75/> with an adjoining animal pound. The lock-up is 18th-century<ref name=NHLE1074127>{{NHLE |num=1074127 |desc=Lock Up and Pound |grade=II |fewer-links= |access-date=9 November 2024}}</ref> and similar to the one in the nearby [[Worthington, Leicestershire|Worthington]]. It was used for detaining local drunks, and the adjoining pound for straying livestock. The lock-up and pound together comprise a Grade II listed building.<ref name=NHLE1074127 />

[[Breedon Hall]] is an historic building which was the ancestral home of the Curzon family.

In 1874, a branch of the [[Midland Railway]] was built through the eastern part of the parish and [[Tonge and Breedon railway station]] was built at Tonge. In 1980 [[British Rail]] closed the line and later the track was dismantled. The trackbed through the parish is now part of [[National Cycle Route 6]].

==Breedon Priory Church==
{{main|Church of St Mary and St Hardulph}}
The Priory Church of [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|St Mary]] and [[Eardwulf of Northumbria|St Hardulph]] was originally a [[monastery]] founded in about AD 676 on the site of The Bulwarks, an Iron Age [[hill fort]]. It was re-founded as an [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] priory early in the 12th century.{{sfn|Hoskins|McKinley|1951|pp=8–10}} Before becoming a [[monastery]] it was a [[hermit]]age.<ref name=williams />

In 1498 members of the visiting Battenberg family took mass at the church on a number of occasions.{{cn|date=June 2020}}

What remains of the priory church includes a large number of [[Anglo-Saxon art|Anglo-Saxon sculptures]],{{sfn|Pevsner|1960|pp=73–74}} an ornate family [[box pew]] and notable [[Renaissance]] [[English church monuments|church monuments]].{{sfn|Pevsner|1960|p=73}}

==Amenities==
Breedon has two pubs: the Holly Bush and the Three Horseshoes. There was a third pub, The Lime Kiln, but this is now a private home.

The village has a small primary school and a post office. It did have a butcher's shop, but that closed in 2017.{{cn|date=June 2020}} The school, St Hardulph's Church of England Primary School, was built in 1962 and also housed community facilities. Relations between the school, [[Leicestershire County Council]] and the local community association subsequently broke down and the community association was unsuccessful in a high court application arguing that they had the right to use the facilities on the grounds that the community had contributed some of the funding for the construction of the building.<ref>England and Wales High Court (Chancery Division), [https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2010/1387.html Dore & Ors v Leicestershire County Council & Anor <nowiki>[</nowiki>2010<nowiki>]</nowiki> EWHC 1387 (Ch) (11 June 2010)], accessed 22 September 2023</ref>

Breedon has a football club, Breedon F.C.{{cn|date=June 2020}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{Cite book |editor-last1=Hoskins |editor-first1=W.G. |editor-link1=William George Hoskins |editor-last2=McKinley |editor-first2=R.A. |year=1951 |chapter=The Priory of Breedon |title=A History of the County of Leicestershire, Volume 2 |series=[[Victoria County History]] |pages=8–10 |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=38160 }}
*{{cite book |last=Pevsner |first=Nikolaus |author-link=Nikolaus Pevsner |series=[[Pevsner Architectural Guides#Buildings of England|The Buildings of England]] |title=Leicestershire and Rutland |year=1960 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |location=Harmondsworth |pages=71–75 }}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |last=Wacher |first=J.S. |year=1976–77 |title=Excavations at Breedon-on-the-Hill |journal=Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society |volume=52 |pages=1–35 |url= https://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/BreedonPagesfromvolumeLII-3.pdf }}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[https://www.breedonparishcouncil.org.uk/ Parish council website]

{{Towns and Villages of North West Leicestershire |state=expanded}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Civil parishes in Leicestershire]]
[[Category:North West Leicestershire District]]
[[Category:Villages in Leicestershire]]