Osgathorpe

Osgathorpe
Hallington House, Osgathorpe. A Grade II listed building.
Osgathorpe Location within Leicestershire
Population	411 (2011 Census)
District	North West Leicestershire
Shire county	Leicestershire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LOUGHBOROUGH
Postcode district	LE12
Police	Leicestershire
Fire	Leicestershire
Ambulance	East Midlands
UK Parliament	North West Leicestershire
List of places UK England Leicestershire 52°46′17″N 1°21′51″W / 52.77139°N 1.36408°W / 52.77139; -1.36408

Osgathorpe is a small village which lies in a fold of the hills in North West Leicestershire, England, and is about a quarter of a mile from the A512 Coalville to Loughborough Road. The civil parish population at the 2011 census was 411.^[1]

The parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary the Blessed Virgin and dates from the fourteenth century. It was heavily restored in the nineteenth century, with the addition of a polygonal apse to the chancel. A tower with a small pyramid turret was built at the south west corner of the church in around 1930 and contains two bells, which are rung using a clocking method. There are pleasing north and south windows to the nave and chancel, and in the south wall of the nave can be seen a very unusual hagioscope (or squint), which is set diagonally within the stonework, to allow a view of the altar.

Opposite the church is the village school, built in 1670, with almshouses of the same date. There is also a good example of a sixteenth-century yeoman farmer's house just southwest of the church, with a fine Swithland slate roof.^[2]

Remains of a stretch of the long-abandoned Charnwood Forest Canal can be seen alongside a footpath to the south of the village, running from Thringstone to an area known locally as 'The Snarrows'.^{[citation needed]}

The Storey Arms was a popular working class pub but now struggles to attract drinkers due to the clampdown on drink driving and the other pub the Royal Oak closed in 2000.^{[citation needed]}