Editing Whitwick (section)

===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>