3 The Borough

Summary

Late-C18 house and shop, altered in the early-mid-C20.

Reasons for Designation

3 The Borough, Hinckley, a late-C18 house and shop, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a late-C18 house with ground floor shop, retaining architectural features including sash windows with flat arches and keystones and internal fittings including an original fireplace on the first floor.

Historic interest:

* constructed in the late-C18, the building was erected in a period of expansion for Hinckley and is an important part of the town’s development.

Group value:

* the building possesses group value with other listed buildings on The Borough of a similar date which further helps to demonstrate the rapid growth of the town during the period.

History

The market town of Hinckley was relatively small and rural in nature by the C17, with approximately 1,000 inhabitants recorded in 1640. The town has been dubbed the ‘home of the hosiery industry’ and it was this industry which saw the town’s rapid expansion, with a population of 4,500 by 1811 with 1,500 mechanical stocking frames installed. New streets were created and areas around Castle Street and The Borough developed, with former farm buildings adapted for industry or commerce and agricultural yards filled with cottages for workers. In the first half of the C19 the growth of Hinckley was stunted by the slowing of the development of the hosiery industry, and poverty in the town was severe. The arrival of the South Leicestershire Railway in 1862 allowed the stocking industry to continue to expand with steam-powered frames and large factories, and the corresponding prosperity resulted in the the town expanding significantly beyond its historic core.

The island area known as The Borough, also historically known as Round Hill, was under the ownership of the town itself and formed the civic centre of Hinckley for many years. It was the location of the town jail, schoolhouse, market house, Guild Hall and town hall. 3 The Borough is likely to have been constructed in the town’s period of expansion and prosperity in the late-C18 and was erected as one development with neighbouring number 5, with a moulded eaves cornice connecting the two. In the 1901-1902 Trade Directory for Hinckley a boot maker is recorded as inhabiting the ground-floor shop. The building was partly remodelled in the early to mid-C20 including the installation of a new stair. A single storey extension to the rear with large glazed lantern was also erected at this time.

Details

Late-C18 house and shop, altered in the early-mid-C20.

MATERIALS: constructed of brick in a Flemish bond with slate roof.

PLAN: the building is a single bay with its principal elevation facing west. A single storey C20 extension projects to the rear

EXTERIOR: the building is slender at only one bay wide and tall with three stories and basement. There is a single six-over-six sash with slender glazing bars on the first and second floors, just to the left of the centre of the building. The windows have stone sills and flat arches above with keystones. The shopfront is a later replacement.

INTERIOR: the ground floor shop extends beyond the original footprint of the building into the C20 single-storey extension with large lantern. The first-floor room is accessed via a dog-leg stair, which is a C20 replacement, and retains a late-C18 fireplace at its northern end. There is a further single cell room on the second floor.

The building has a brick-vaulted basement with a small section of inbuilt shelving for storage.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

188152

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Leicestershire and Rutland, (2003), 176

Websites
Hinckley Town Centre Conservation Area Appraisal, Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council, February 2013, accessed 19 May 2021 from https://www.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/downloads/file/3244/appraisal-february_2013
Hinckley Past and Present, ‘The Buildings of Hinckley’, accessed 19 May 2021 from http://www.hinckleypastpresent.org/hinckleybuildings-descriptions.html

Other
Bennett’s Business Directory for Leicestershire, 1901-2, p.16

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