8 The Borough

Summary

Late-C18 or early-C19 house and shop, altered and extended in the C20.

History

The historic core of Hinckley centres around The Borough and its connecting streets, with St Mary’s Church to the south east. A settlement existed in Hinckley during Roman times, but the origins of today's town are a Saxon village called Hinca's Leah. In the C12 a priory and a Norman motte-and-bailey castle were built in the village, and by the C13 it had grown into a small market town, centred around The Borough, with Stockwell Head and Castle Street stretching to the east and Coventry Street or Duck Paddle Street (now Regent Street) to the south west. In 1640 the first stocking frame was brought to Hinckley, marking the beginning of the stocking weaving industry which was to dominate the town for over two hundred years. Hinckley prospered on the success of this industry, and many of the surviving buildings of the historic core date to the rebuilding and modernising of the town centre carried out in the C17 and C18. The arrival of the South Leicestershire Railway in 1862 allowed the stocking industry to expand with steam-powered frames and large factories, and the corresponding prosperity allowed the town to expand significantly beyond its historic core. The wider town is now characterised by the C19 houses and civic architecture erected during this time of expansion.

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, school house, market house, guild hall and old town hall. The old town hall and guild hall burned down in 1800. Number 8 The Borough was possibly constructed in the early-C19 after this fire, it shares many details, including stucco corbels and keystone design, with the former Town Hall which adjoins it to the left (Grade II) and was built at this date. On the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1889, 8 The Borough appears to have two projecting bays to north and south, with a small square building between these bays. By the 1924 OS map, the centre of the two projecting bays seems to have been infilled. By the 1960 OS map, the southern half of the rear elevation was further extended to the west. In 2012, the upper floors were converted from offices into self-contained flats.

Details

Late-C18 or early-C19 house and shop, altered and extended in the C20.

MATERIALS: constructed of brick with roughcast render and slate roof.

PLAN: rectangular on plan facing The Borough to the east.

EXTERIOR: the principal (east) elevation has stucco quoin detailing extending from ground to first floor level on the right-hand corner, but is absent from the left, where there is an historic iron downpipe. At ground-floor level are two shopfronts, separated by a recessed bay which has angled doors to the shops to left and right, and a central door to the apartments in the centre. The two shopfronts retain narrow glazing bars and a bulbous moulding below the glazing which are likely to date to the early-C20. Both have similar doors with panelling in the lower half and glazing in the upper half, and a glazed light over. The central door to the apartments is a late-C20 panelled door in imitation of a historic door and is arranged slightly left of centre. Below the right-hand shopfront is a window to a basement, painted over. Above both shopfronts is a wide C20 fascia which extends the full width of the façade. At first floor there are three, six-over-six sashes, arranged in four bays with the third bay blank. This is possibly the location of the internal stair. Each of the windows is topped with a stucco lintel detail of angled headers and a central slightly enlarged keystone with a moulded cap. There is an iron pattress plate between the headers of the second and third windows, indicating historic repairs. Four air vents with metal ornamental grilles have been punched into the facade at roughly lintel level, possibly in the early-C20. At second-floor level there are three small windows on a similar arrangement, with two to the left and one to the right of the blank bay. These are three-over-three and have no lintels. A moulded cornice, a little obscured by services and gutter supports, runs above these windows for the width of this façade.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

188154

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Other
Hinckley first edition OS of 1889, accessed March 25 2021 at [https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/442500/294500/12/100243]
OS 25” Leicestershire XLII.8 (Hinckley) (revised 1901, published 1903) accessed March 23 2021 at [https://maps.nls.uk/view/114595191]
OS 25” Leicestershire XLII.8 (Hinckley) (revised 1923, published 1924) accessed March 23 2021 at [https://maps.nls.uk/view/114595194] OS 1961, accessed March 24 2021 at [https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/442500/294500/12/100954] OS 1966-1976 1:1,250, accessed March 24 2021 at [https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/442500/294500/13/100765]
Hinckley Town Centre Conservation Area Appraisal, Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council, February 2013. Accessed on 5 March 2021 at [https://www.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/downloads/file/3244/appraisal-february_2013]
Leicestershire and Rutland Historic Environment Record MLE13006, accessed on 4 March 2021 at [https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?resourceID=1021&uid=MLE13006]
Hinckley Past and Present local history page: Town Hall. Accessed on 5 March 2021 at [http://www.hinckleypastpresent.org/hinckleybuildings-t.html#town%20hall]
Hinckley Past and Present local history page: The Borough. Accessed on 26 March 2021 at [http://www.hinckleypastpresent.org/hinckleybuildings-b.html] 1818 tithe allocation map, accessed March 25 2021 at [http://www.hinckleypastpresent.org/hinckleybuildings-mapstithe.html]
Hinckley & Bosworth planning application search, accessed on 26 March 2021 at [https://pa.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/online-applications/spatialDisplay.do?action=display&searchType=Application]

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