Harborough Magna

Harborough Magna
The Old Lion at Harborough Magna
Harborough Magna is located in Warwickshire
Harborough Magna
Harborough Magna
Location within Warwickshire
Population481 (2021 census)
OS grid referenceSP4779
Civil parish
  • Harborough Magna
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townRUGBY
Postcode districtCV23
Dialling code01788
PoliceWarwickshire
FireWarwickshire
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Warwickshire
52°24′32″N 1°17′53″W / 52.408975°N 1.298104°W / 52.408975; -1.298104

Harborough Magna is a village and civil parish in the Rugby district, in the county of Warwickshire, England. The civil parish which also contains the nearby hamlets of Harborough Parva and Cathiron, had a population of 502 at the 2011 Census, decreasing to 481 at the 2021 Census.[1]

Harborough Magna is located around four miles northwest of Rugby on the B4112 road. The M6 motorway lies about one mile north of the village, and the Oxford Canal about one mile south. Harborough Magna was to be the site of a motorway service station, first planned in 1975, on the M6 (the partially constructed slip roads are visible between the B4112 and Montilo Lane bridges), but the allocated site was too small,[citation needed] and the plans were scrapped in 1980.[citation needed]

Harborough Magna was mentioned in the Domesday Book as Herdeberge. For many years the main source of employment in the village were sawmills near the canal at Cathiron.[2] The village has a mixture of old and modern housing. There are a number of old houses in the village, some dating to the 17th century, and a pub known as the Old Lion (formerly known as the Golden Lion) which dates from the 18th century, and which was rebuilt following a fire in 1986. There is a village church dedicated to All Saints.[2][3]

The hamlet of Harborough Parva, a short distance to the south of Harborough Magna, was historically a separate settlement, which was within the parish of Newbold-on-Avon until 1931. The two Harboroughs are now adjoined, and practically form a single entity.[4][3]

Around one mile north-east of the village, within the parish is the St Mary's nursing home for the elderly. It was originally built in 1912 as an isolation hospital.[5] Despite its remote location, between 1949 and 1983 it was a maternity hospital, and served as the only one in the Rugby area until this service was moved to St Cross Hospital.[2]

  1. ^ "HARBOROUGH MAGNA Parish in West Midlands". City Population. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  2. ^ a b c The Warwickshire Village Book. Countryside Books. 2000. pp. 86–87. ISBN 1-85306-652-4.
  3. ^ a b Allen, Geoff. (2000). Warwickshire Towns and Villages, Sigma Leisure. ISBN 1-85058-642-X, Pages 60-61
  4. ^ "Parishes: Harborough Magna". British History Online. 1951. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  5. ^ "HARBOROUGH MAGNA. ST MARY'S HOSPITAL". Our Warwickshire. Retrieved 1 December 2018.