West Leake

Village in Nottinghamshire, England

West Leake (/l//iː//k/) is a small conservation village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district of Nottinghamshire.

The parish of West Leake is in total. The neighbouring parishes include Gotham, to the north; East Leake, to the east; Normanton on Soar and Sutton Bonington, to the south; and Kingston on Soar, to the west. The Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan for West Leake, created by Rushcliffe Borough Council, describes the setting of the village as follows:West Leake sits on the winding country road from East Leake to Sutton Bonington and has a very simple plan of one main street. It enjoys a unity of form and has a rural feel to it. The village is surrounded by agricultural land, with the village of Sutton Bonington further to the west and East Leake to the East. Further to the south is the A6006 which links the village to the main arterial routes the A60 and the A6. West Leake stands on relatively flat ground, gently sloping down to the east of the village, at between 40 and 50 metres above sea level. The main rock type below the village is Branscombe Mudstone formation within the Mercia Mudstone Group, which gives the topsoil a clay nature. White's Directory of Nottinghamshire, written in 1853, describes West Leake as follows:Leake (West) is a small village and parish, one mile west of East leake, and ten miles south south west of Nottingham. It has 190 inhabitants and 1,380 acres of land, all belonging to Lord Middleton, except the rectory house, with ten acres of glebe. John Throsby, writing during 1790 in his new edition of Robert Thoroton's Antiquities of Nottinghamshire, describes West Leake as:THE Lordship of the former contains 2000 acres of land, old inclosure. The principal proprietors are Lord Middleton, and — Bird, Esq. The former I believe is lord of the manor. The village consists of about 34 dwellings, one of which is the remains of an old manor house, a part of it only is inhabited by a villager. The last family, I am told, who lived in it, was that of Chadwick.

From around the mid 18th century until the early 20th century basket making took place in the village. Many of the baskets were sold in London, with some being sold to Parliament. The village, in the late 19th century, had a "blacksmith, butcher, joiner and stone mason". The village has also historically had two post offices; the first opened in 1891, but later closed. The second post office was opened in 1896, but closed in 1977. There was a priest and a church at Leake in 1086. At that time there was no distinction between West or Little Leake and East or Great Leake. By c.1200 there were two churches. The one at West Leake was dedicated to St Helena and the one at East Leake to St Leonard. The latter was later changed to St Mary. During the 14th century West Leake, a closed village, became less important while East Leake, an open village, grew. However, the two churches belonged to the same benefice and were not divided until 1876. Henry Balfour Hamilton became the first rector of West Leake in 1882 after the death of the previous incumbent. When the benefice was separated into two in 1876, Lord Belper purchased the advowson of West Leake. In 1933 West Leake was united with Kingston on Soar and Ratcliffe on Soar. For some time the rector of Gotham was also priest in charge of the combined benefice. In 1992 West Leake became part of the East Leake benefice, which consists of East Leake, West Leake, Stanford on Soar, Costock and Rempstone. The patronage of the united benefice, at the time of writing, is held jointly by the bishop, the Southwell & Nottingham Diocesan Board of Patronage, Lord Belper and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

The Victoria County History in Nottinghamshire describes West Leake's other church denominations as follows: The church was designated Grade II* on 13 October 1966. A church has been located on the site of St. Helena's since Saxon times. The nave is noted for being unusually long. White's Directory of Nottinghamshire, written in 1853, describes St. Helena's Church as follows:

The lych gate at the entrance to the churchyard of St. Helena's church dates back to 1919 and serves as a World War I memorial; it is a timber construction with a roof of Swithland slate. The school still operated in 1895, but by 1904 children in the village attended schools outside the village. In 1966 the school was donated to the village, by Lord Belper, for use as a village hall.

The village has historically had two post offices. The first post office, located at the junction of Main Street and Dark Lane, was opened in 1891, but soon closed. A second post office, located next to the school in a thatched building, was opened in 1896, but later closed in 1977. The Victoria County History for Sutton Bonington states that "[i]t was also known as Pit House because it was used by miners from the gypsum ‘pits’."

A dew pond is situated on the hill above the village towards West Leake hills.

The Member of Parliament for the parliamentary constituency of Rushcliffe is Kenneth Clarke, of the Conservative party, who has held the seat since 1970. Ken Clarke stood for reelection at the 2017 General Election and was reelected with a reduced majority of 8,010. The voter turnout for Rushcliffe was 78%, which was the ninth highest in the country. which has two council seats. The most recent election was in May 2017, when Andy Brown and Reg Adair, both of the Conservative party, won the two available seats.

For the election of a councillor to Rushcliffe Borough Council, the parish forms part of the Leake ward, which has three council seats. The most recent election was on 7 May 2015 when Ronald Hetherington, Margaret Males and John Thurman, all of the Conservative party, won the three available seats. The next Borough election will be on 2 May 2019.

West Leake does not have a parish council, but instead has a parish meeting. Meetings take place "Annually in May".

The Village Hall is located on Main Street and serves as a social amenity. There is 6:00pm Book of Common Prayer Evensong service at St. Helena's Church every second and fourth Sunday of the month; there is also a 6:00pm service of Holy Communion on the third Sunday. The nearest pub is The Star, known locally as The Pit House, which is just located in the neighbouring civil parish of Sutton Bonington. West Leake has one postbox, located on Main Street.