Long Whatton
Long Whatton was recorded as being a "mile from
east to west" in the 18th century. The village is situated in a
shallow valley and stands near a rivulet running from Belton and
linking to a small brook flowing eastwards from Diseworth. These
watercourses provide the likely basis for the establishment of human
settlement in the area as early, in view of the archaeological
finds, as the Roman Period. The watercourses remained important to
the local agricultural economy into the twentieth century, being
used to power a series of mills, including one in the parish of Long
Whatton, before proceeding eastwards towards a confluence with the
River Soar.
The "Long" element of the village name was first used in the
fourteenth century and may have been added to differentiate the
settlement from a village in Nottinghamshire also named Whatton.
Whilst not specifically mentioned in the Domesday Book, the village
is mentioned in the Leicester Survey 1124 to 1129, as part of the Hundred of
Shepeshed : "In Shepeshed and in Wacthon (Long Whatton) and
Lockington and Amington (Hemington) the Earl of Leicester, 2 1/2 hides
and 2 carucates of land".
Read about former local resident Charles Townley and the origin of his coat of arms : a fascinating introduction to heraldry.
Find out more at the Long Whatton pages on the
Leicestershire Villages web site.
You can read a fascinating account of the people of Long Whatton in
the 1851 Census by Keith
Murphy.
There is also a new Long Whatton Village
Trail, details of which you can find
here (or contact Nikki Hening).