Editing Whitwick (section)

==History==
One of the earliest mentions of the place, as ''Witewic'', is in the [[Domesday Book]], the name of the settlement possibly meaning either ''guardhouse''<ref name="OED Online. Oxford University Press 2020">"wite, v.2." OED Online. Oxford University Press, December 2020. Web. 13 February 2021.</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">"wic, n.2." OED Online. Oxford University Press, December 2020. Web. 13 February 2021.</ref>''"The White Farm"'' or ''"Hwita's Farm"'' The last two appear to rely on later meanings for both particles Wite and Wik and may have been a reference to the outcrop of white sandstone found here.<ref>Watts, Victor ''et al.,'' (2004) ''The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-names'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. {{ISBN|0-521-36209-1}}</ref> It was listed amongst the lands given to [[Hugh de Grandmesnil]]<ref>''Domesday Book: a Complete Transliteration''. London: Penguin, 2003. p. 656 {{ISBN|0-14-143994-7}}</ref> by King [[William the Conqueror|William I]]. There was said to be land for half a plough and woodland which was a furlong by half a furlong. Its value was two [[shillings]].

===Castle===
Whitwick had a [[motte and bailey]] castle, although no remains are left. It was probably built originally during the spate of rapid castle building by William the Conqueror following the spate of rebellions leading up to the harrowing of the north. There appears to be evidence of a timber castle and later stone castle. The timber castle was more likely in place in the 11th century and to have been later held by 'Henricus de Bello Monte, Consanguineus Regis' (Henry Beaumont, blood-relative of the king). In 1320 he was granted a licence to crenellate the structure.<ref name="gatehouse">{{cite web |work=The Gatehouse Website |title=Whitwick Castle, Coalville |url=http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English%20sites/1790.html |date=25 March 2015 |access-date=1 April 2015}}</ref> The building work resulting from this licence may have provoked an attack by Sir John Talbot. Beaumont's claim to the land was from his wife's inheritance and, it seems, Talbot felt he had a claim to Whitwick. Twenty years later the capital message was worth nothing.<ref name="gatehouse"/> This stone castle was later held by the Earls of Leicester, though it was recorded as being ruinous by 1427. The foundations are said to have been visible at the end of the 18th century and a wall was still to be seen on the north side in 1893.

It is important to note that the word '[[gatehouse]]' is likely a corruption of '[[guardhouse]]'.  A gatehouse is usually an entrance to a walled city or a castle entrance.  In the case of Whitwic Castle, the castle is in the centre of the town and thus there is no 'gatehouse'.

The mound retains the title of Castle Hill and is surmounted by a 19th-century [[folly]], with a castellated roofline. This was built in 1846 by a local landowner, Joseph Almond Cropper, as almshouses for the poor.

=== Lead up to the [[harrying of the north]] ===
Between the defeat of Harold in 1066 and the creation of the doomsday book in 1086, William the Conqueror faced a number of rebellions which culminated in a "scorched earth" policy attack on the north of England destroying homes, food stores and farms. This attack resulted in the deaths of thousands by starvation and the elements. One such rebellion happened at Nottingham. Witewic Castle would appear to have been created in response to the threat from the north. There have been no signs of a pre-Norman occupation and it is known that the rapid creation of [[motte and bailey]] castles by William was in response to the rebellions.  It is, therefore, possible that the town grew around the castle and not the other way around. The middle-English proves difficult however when considering the 1000ad meaning of Wite as Guard (c1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 154 Þæt bið god swefen, wite þu þæt georne on þinre heortan.)<ref name="OED Online. Oxford University Press 2020"/> and Wic from roughly the same period meaning 'dwelling' (c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 8512 Iosæp..bærenn ure laferrd crist..Fra land to land. fra tun to tun. Fra wic to wic i tune.)<ref name="ReferenceB"/> It would appear that the castle was a "guard-house" and the town that sprouted up around it took its name.

===Market and fair===
From 1838 until the early 20th century, there was a thriving weekly market held in Whitwick Market Place. As well as the regular local stallholders a number of Leicester tradesmen attended and it is remembered that old ladies used to bring their butter and other farm produce and line up alongside the gutter.<ref name="ReferenceA">Introduction to Coalville, local publication, circa 1970</ref> In the years following the [[First World War]], competition from the larger and newer market at Coalville eventually resulted in its discontinuance.

The annual fair, or ''wakes'', was once a hugely popular event and coincided with the patronal festival of the [[parish church]]. At the height of its popularity in the early 20th century, it is remembered that the larger amusements stood in the opening in front of the White Horse [[public house]] and there were wild beast shows including seals swimming around in tanks. The local photographer would take snapshots (on glass) and deliver them while the customers waited. There was also once a 'Cabbage Street Wakes', of rather obscure origin, when cabbages were used to decorate the lampposts in Cademan Street.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

===Curious place names in Whitwick===
A popular affirmation is that the village of Whitwick contains three 'cities'. The City of Three Waters and the City of Dan are official postal addresses, situated respectively at the foot of Dumps Hill and Leicester Road. Over the years, there have been many contenders for the location of the 'third city', the most popular being The City of Hockley – an area located midway between the cities of Three Waters and Dan, close to the parish church, and alongside the watercourse passing through the village. However, older residents have always maintained that this area was known simply as The Hockley, the prefix 'city', they suggest, being a retrospective appendage. Even the place-name 'Hockley' would appear to be a mystery. (The nearby [[South Derbyshire]] village of [[Woodville, Derbyshire|Woodville]] has an old lane signposted as, simply, 'The City').

Equally obscure is the origin of the name 'Dumps Hill', a steep incline forming part of a staggered cross-roads at the northern end of the village. Many theories have been expounded to account for its origin, one being that the houses built on the righthand side after the old railway bridge were constructed on the site of the old 'Dumblies' pig farm. Sheila Smith, in her 1984 history of Whitwick suggests that the name may be linked to framework knitting as in 1845 one Joseph Sheffield, giving evidence before the [[Royal Commission|Commission]] into the plight of the framework knitters, makes reference to a type of stocking called 'dumps'. There are several surviving examples of framework knitters' cottages in the village, which can be recognised by elongated first storey windows, designed to allow greater inlet of light. A good example of such a cottage can be found at the foot of the Dumps.<ref name="Smith, Sheila 1984">Smith, Sheila, "A Brief History of Whitwick", published by Leicestershire Libraries and Information Service, Leicester, 1984.</ref>