| Castle Donington | |
|---|---|
 Parish church of St Edward, King and Martyr | |
  Castle Donington Location withinLeicestershire | |
| Population | 7,346 (2021 census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SK446272 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | DERBY |
| Postcode district | DE74 |
| Dialling code | 01332 |
| Police | Leicestershire |
| Fire | Leicestershire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
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Castle Donington is a market village andcivil parish inLeicestershire, England, on the edge of theNational Forest and close toEast Midlands Airport.
The name 'Donington' means 'farm/settlement connected with Dunna'. Another suggestion is that it could mean 'farm/settlement at the hill place'.[2]
King's Mill, the nearby crossing on theRiver Trent, is mentioned in a charter issued byÆthelred the Unready in 1009 regarding the boundaries ofWeston-on-Trent.[3]Dunintune orDunitone is mentioned twice in theDomesday Book of 1086 as having land belonging toCountess Ælfgifu and land assigned toEarl Hugh.[4] It is calledCastoldonyngtoin in aduchy of Lancaster warrant of 1484.
In 1278,King Edward I granted a charter for a weekly market and an annual Wakes Fair. The Fair continues in Borough Street for three days each October.
Lace-making was an important industry up until the 1850s, when a sharp decline in the population is recorded. The population did not recover to the same level until a century later when in 1950 over 3,000 people are recorded as living in the village.
Bondgate, Borough Street, and Clapgun Street formed the nucleus of the historic village, with the Castle formerly standing at the eastern end of Borough Street on Castle Hill. It was abandoned and its stone used to buildDonington Hall within Donington Park.
In the early 1960s local councils fromDerby,Nottingham, andLeicester were seeking a suitable site to build an airport for the region. The formerRAF Castle Donington, to the south of the village, was chosen and land purchased in the parishes ofKegworth,Hemington andLockington to form an enclosed site now formingEast Midlands Airport. The airport opened in 1965 and is now the tenth largest airport in the UK, the second-largest in terms of freight and cargo. The airport site is now an important economic center and a major employer in the area.
Castle Donington Power Station was built in 1958 as one of the largestcoal-fired power stations in Europe. It was closed in September 1994 and demolished in 1996.
Castle Donington has three primary schools, St Edwards, Foxbridge, and Orchard, the latter serving the majority of the children of the town. Castle Donington College, which welcomed KS4 for the first time in 2017, takes students from ages 11–16 and is the village's only secondary school.
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC East Midlands andITV Central. Television signals are received from theWaltham TV transmitter.[5] The town is served by bothBBC Radio Leicester on 104.9 FM andBBC Radio Derby on 104.5 FM. Other radio stations includingCapital East Midlands on 102.8 FM,Smooth East Midlands on 101.4 FM,Greatest Hits Radio Midlands on 106.0 FM, and Hermitage FM, a community based station which broadcast on 99.2 FM.[6] The town is served by the local newspapers,Leicester Mercury andDerby Telegraph (formerlyCastle Donington Messenger).[7]Castle Donington Life is an independently owned local community magazine serving Castle Donington and surrounding areas.[8]
Castle Donington stands on the formerNottingham toBirmingham trunk road. The town is a mix of the old and new, with modern shops mixed with dignifiedGeorgian andRegency houses. Several timber-framed houses dating from the 17th century and earlier survive along the main road.
The town has no rail station, butEast Midlands Parkway opened early in 2008 atRatcliffe-on-Soar providing links on theMidland Main Line.
In 1868 theMidland Railway opened theCastle Donington Line, which included Castle Donington and Shardlow railway station, on the northern edge of the town. The station was closed to regular passenger traffic in 1930, and closed completely and demolished in 1968. The access driveway still exists but for pedestrians only, and is the start of a footpath to Hemington, running past the site of the old goods yard, now a scrap yard. The railway remains open for substantial flows of freight traffic as an alternative to the route via Derby.
East Midlands Airport is served by several airlines includingRyanair,Jet2.Com,Thomson Airways andThomas Cook Airlines. The express parcels companyDHL has a base at the airport.[citation needed] The now-defunct airlineflybmi formerly had its head office at Pegasus Business Park on the airport grounds.[9]
Donington Park motor racing circuit is located to the south west of the village.
The site of the former power station has been redeveloped in to a major retail distribution hub and warehousing area. The principal tenant isMarks and Spencer.
Since 2013Norton Motorcycles has its head office inDonington Hall.[10]BMI (British Midland), an airline, was headquartered in Donington Hall.[11] The airline moved its headquarters to Donington Hall in 1982.[12] The subsidiarybmibaby also had its head office in Donington Hall.[13]
The annual May Bank Holiday Medieval Market takes place in Borough Street and includes local stalls selling various kinds of produce and goods accompanied by dancing and music.
Donington Park was the original venue for theMonsters of Rock festivals through the 1980s and 1990s, and is now the home of the annualDownload Festival. It also hosted aFormula One Grand Prix – TheEuropean Grand Prix – in April 1993, which was won byAyrton Senna. It was also set to be the home of theBritish Grand Prix from 2010 for at least 10 years,[14] but the agreement was cancelled due to financial problems.[15]The circuit formerly hosted theDonington Grand Prix Collection, at the time the world's largest collection of Formula One andGrand Prix vehicles.Brian Henton, an F1 driver, was born in Castle Donington.
Castle Donington Town Football Club, who won the Leicestershire County Cup in the 2005–06 season.
Castle Donington Cobras Football Club were winners of the Derbyshire FA Sunday Junior Cup in the 2014–15 season, and 2015–16 season.
Castle Donington Football Club (Charter Standard) Runners up in the North Leicestershire League, Division 1 2014–15 season. Currently playing in The Mel Williams Premier Division.
Castle Donington Town Cricket Club anEnglish amateurcricket club, situated on the Moira Dale Recreation Ground, east of the town. The history of the club dates back to the late 1800s. They have a 1st XI senior side that compete on Saturdays in theDerbyshire County Cricket League, and a Sunday XI team 'The Dons' that play friendly matches in and around the region.[16]
Castle Donington Rugby Union Football Club
Professional Kickboxing Association – Castle Donington aKickboxing club throughKickboxUK. There are several classes broken down into various age groups that take place at Castle Donington Village Hall every week on Wednesday, there are 4 different classes which run, Reception 4-5 years, Cadets 6-9 years, Juniors 10-13 years, and finally an Adults Class for ages 14+.
Donington Park is a site near Castle Donington in North West Leicestershire, England.Originally part of the Donington Hall estate, the circuit business is now owned byJonathan Palmer'sMotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, owned by the Wheatcroft family, is currently under lease by MotorSport Vision until 2038. Used as a motor racing track, it is also the venue for theDownload Festival.Donington Park had a contract to stage the Formula OneBritish Grand Prix for a period of 10 years from 2010 but this was later cancelled due to Donington Park's failure to secure the finances required to upgrade the track.[15]
Where else in the world can one tour an 18th century Gothic Revival mansion, view a Norton Motorcycle being built, watch a World Superbike race and attend an Iron Maiden concert all in the same place?
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