Long Clawson

Long Clawson is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Clawson, Hose and Harby, in the Melton district, in the county of Leicestershire, England. Situated in the Vale of Belvoir, the village is surrounded by farmland with rich soil ideal for pasture. Milk from local dairy farms is used for production of Stilton cheese, of which the Long Clawson dairy is one of the largest producers. In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 664.[1]

Long Clawson

Long Clawson Manor House
Long Clawson
Location within Leicestershire
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townMELTON MOWBRAY
Postcode districtLE14
PoliceLeicestershire
FireLeicestershire
AmbulanceEast Midlands
UK Parliament

Origin of the name

There is some debate about the origin of the village's name; one theory is that there were once two villages named Clawson and Claxton, which grew together and became Long Clawson.[2] The "Long" part of the name may have arisen from it being over 1 mile (1.6 km) in length, although the main road through the village has 14 sharp bends.

History

The village is featured in the 1086 Domesday Book as Clachestone, but there is evidence of much earlier settlements. Embedded into a tarmac footpath against the wall of the Manor House is an ancient megalith, the Long Clawson Stone. It is about 3 ft (91 cm) long and thought to be a fragment of a larger stone.[3] The Manor House itself has an ancient fish pond that is still stocked.[4] On 1 April 1936 it was merged with Harby and Hose to form "Clawson and Harby"[5] (now called "Clawson, Hose and Harby").

As with many larger villages, the number of businesses has declined in recent years. Once possessing five pubs, numerous small stores and traders and its own police presence, Long Clawson now has one pub, the Crown and Plough, and a few shops.[6] The community is strong and thriving, however, with a growing population. Some hundred new houses were built in the early part of the 21st century and the primary school has doubled its number of pupils.[7][8]

A traditional saying about Long Clawson and Hose claims "there are more whores in Hose than honest women in Long Clawson."; this also puns on items of clothing.[9]

Religion
Church of St Remigius

The places of worship are the Anglican church of St Remigius, a Methodist church,[10] and a Baptist church dating from 1845. The last two congregations now meet in 20th-century red brick buildings. The former Primitive Methodist chapel of 1868 has become a private residence.

The parish church of St Remigius dates from around the 14th century. Its walls, like those of the nearby manor house, are made of a rich red local stone. It contains a medieval effigy of the crusader William Bozon. The church was restored in 1893 and seats 300.

The present Methodist Church was opened in 1956. Methodism was introduced into the village by a Mrs Hind through her contact with the Wesleyan Society in 1797. After joining a small society at Nether Broughton, she formed one in Long Clawson, meetings being held in the kitchen of her home. Later a licence was obtained and William Parkes's home was registered for public worship. It became known as the Consecrated Barn. The first chapel was built in 1801 and in 1816 improved by adding a gallery. In 1840 a new chapel was built on the present site at a cost of £1100. A new schoolroom and a Minister's vestry were added in 1873, and a manse built alongside the chapel in 1887. In 1954 the chapel burnt down. A committee was formed to raise funds for a replacement and on 25 June 1955 the foundation stone for the new building was laid. The new chapel opened on 29 September 1956.

Long Clawson Dairy

One of only six in England where Stilton cheese is manufactured, Long Clawson Dairy was founded in 1911 by a dozen farmers from the Vale of Belvoir. The firm has prospered and is supplied today by over 40 farms, all within Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire, as the Protected Designation of Origin for Stilton requires.

The supplier farms range in production between 350,000 and over 4 million litres of milk per year. The dairy employs about 200 to make an annual 6,700 tonnes of cheese in 60 varieties. Exports account for about 20 per cent of its sales, which came to some £54 million in 2008.[11][12] The firm now makes about 65 per cent of the 9000 tonnes of Stilton cheese sold.[13]

The dairy continues to win several independent trophies and awards each year.[12]

Other landmarks
Long Clawson Windmill

The village has a recently restored windmill that dominates the skyline from the south. The mill, located at Mill Farm, has a characteristic Lincolnshire-style cap (white painted ogee-shaped)[14] and is a Grade II listed building.[15]

References
  1. "Population Statistics Long Clawson AP/CP through time". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  2. History of Long Clawson, Accessed 27 December 2009
  3. Long Clawson Stone - Standing Stone, 16 August 2004
  4. Long Clawson - Melton Online Archived 13 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed 27 December 2009
  5. "Relationships and changes Clawson and Harby CP through time". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  6. Crown and Plough site. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  7. Long Clawson Primary. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  8. Local demographic information showed a population of 970 in 2003.
  9. A. B. Evans, Leicestershire Words, Phrases, and Proverbs; enlarged edition, ed. Sebastian Evans. English Dialect Society, 1881, pp. 201–202.
  10. Long Clawson Methodist Church Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, 21 January 2009.
  11. "Cheese firm given £2.5m to create jobs and more Stilton". Leicester Mercury. 23 December 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  12. Own site. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  13. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  14. Lincolnshire Mills Group website Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  15. Historic England. "Long Clawson Windmill (1188259)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
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