Wigston Magna: Leicestershire's Framework Knitting Town South of Leicester
Wigston Magna (usually just called Wigston) sits about four miles south of Leicester city centre, within the Oadby and Wigston borough. The population is around 32,000. The town's industrial history is rooted in framework knitting and hosiery manufacture. The Framework Knitters Museum on Bushloe End occupies a rare surviving group of framework knitters' cottages and workshops, showing the domestic production system that preceded factory manufacturing. Two Steeples, a hosiery company named after the town's churches, was a major employer into the twentieth century.
Wigston has two medieval churches: All Saints and St Wistan's, the latter named after a ninth-century Mercian prince martyred nearby. South Wigston, originally a separate railway village built by the Midland Railway in the 1880s, is now contiguous. Wigston railway station is on the Midland Main Line, though it is a minor stop; Leicester station, with fast services to London St Pancras (about an hour), is more practical. The A5199 runs through the town toward Market Harborough. For adult companionship, English law applies throughout Leicestershire.
Show more
Wigston Magna (usually just called Wigston) sits about four miles south of Leicester city centre, within the Oadby and Wigston borough. The population is around 32,000. The town's industrial history is rooted in framework knitting and hosiery manufacture. The Framework Knitters Museum on Bushloe End occupies a rare surviving group of framework knitters' cottages and workshops, showing the domestic production system that preceded factory manufacturing. Two Steeples, a hosiery company named after the town's churches, was a major employer into the twentieth century.
Wigston has two medieval churches: All Saints and St Wistan's, the latter named after a ninth-century Mercian prince martyred nearby. South Wigston, originally a separate railway village built by the Midland Railway in the 1880s, is now contiguous. Wigston railway station is on the Midland Main Line, though it is a minor stop; Leicester station, with fast services to London St Pancras (about an hour), is more practical. The A5199 runs through the town toward Market Harborough. For adult companionship, English law applies throughout Leicestershire.
Country selected
Region selected
City selected
