A42 road (England)

Ashby de la Zouch Rural District was a rural district in England, near Ashby de la Zouch (which was an urban district). It was formed in 1894 along with most other rural districts. In 1974 it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, to form the non-metropolitan district of North West Leicestershire. The district originally consisted of three detached fragments. The larger part was between Ashby and Coalville. The parish of Blackfordby, west of Ashby, was split between the urban districts of Ashby de la Zouch and Ashby Woulds in 1936, whilst the parish of Bardon, east of Coalville, remained a detached portion.

Lount Meadows is a 8.5 hectares (21 acres) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Lount in Leicestershire, England.This slightly acidic grassland site has hay meadows with diverse grass species. There are also areas of species-rich rough pasture, scrub and marsh, which is dominated by plicate sweet-grass and water horsetail.The site is private land with no public access.

Lount is a hamlet near Ashby de la Zouch in north-west Leicestershire, England. It has a population of 50 (approx). At the 2011 census the population remained less than 100 and is included in the civil parish of Staunton Harold. It has no local amenities apart from a public house. The village straddles the B587 road between Ashby and Melbourne and is situated near to the A42 road. The village was traditionally linked to the Staunton Harold Hall estate, and made up of 17th–19th century cottages. Lount was the scene in 1760, of the death of Earl Ferrers' steward, who had been shot by Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, at the neighbouring village of Staunton Harold. The steward returned to his house in Lount, where he died; Earl Ferrers was found guilty of murder, for which he was the last peer to be hanged. The last 25 years has seen several modern houses erected there.

Ashby School, formerly known as Ashby Grammar School, is a co-educational day secondary school and sixth form in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England. The school is situated in the centre of Ashby on two sites.

New Lount is a 21.3 hectares (53 acres) Local Nature Reserve north-east of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire. It is owned and managed by Leicestershire County Council.This site has a diverse bird population, such as green woodpeckers, chiffchaffs, blackcaps, willow warblers and goldcrests. Soprano and common pipistrelles catch insects over the site's four ponds.There is access from Melbourne Road.

Ashby de la Zouch Castle is a ruined fortification in the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England. The castle was built by William, Lord Hastings, a favourite of Edward IV, after 1473, accompanied by the creation of a 3,000-acre (1,200 ha) park. Constructed on the site of an older manor house, two large towers and various smaller buildings had been constructed by 1483, when Hastings was executed by Richard, Duke of Gloucester. The Hastings family used the castle as their seat for several generations, improving the gardens and hosting royal visitors. During the English Civil War of the 1640s, Henry, a younger son in the Hastings family, became a Royalist commander in the Midlands. He based himself at the castle until he was forced to surrender it after a long siege. A fresh rebellion occurred in 1648, leading Parliament to slight the castle in order to prevent it being used militarily: the two towers were badly damaged with gunpowder and undermining. Parts of the remaining castle were turned into a new house and continued to be used by members of the Hastings family for many years, although they moved their main residence to Donington Hall. The castle became famous after it featured in Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe in 1819, and its owner, Francis Rawdon, opened the ruins to visitors. Restoration work was carried out over the course of the next century, but by 1932 the Rawdon family could no longer afford to maintain the castle. It passed into the guardianship of the Ministry of Works, who carried out extensive repairs and opened the castle gardens. In the 21st century, the castle is managed by English Heritage as a tourist attraction, receiving 15,164 visitors in 2015. The historian John Goodall considers the site to be an "outstanding example of a late medieval castle", with its grounds forming "one of the best-preserved and most important" examples of an early Tudor garden.

St Helen's Church is the Anglican parish church of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in the deanery of North West Leicestershire and the Diocese of Leicester. There was a church in the town in the 11th century, but the core of the present building mainly dates from work started in 1474, when the church was rebuilt by William Hastings at the same time that he converted his neighbouring manor house into a castle. The church was refurbished in about 1670 to create more space, but the large and increasing size of the congregation led to further work in 1829, and a major rebuild in 1878–80, including the widening of the nave by the addition of two outer aisles. The sandstone church has a tower at the west end, and its nave is wider than it is long due to the extra Victorian aisles. St Helen's Church has some ancient stained glass at the east end, and the Victorian windows on the nave and towers form a coherent narrative of the life of Jesus. Other fixtures include some important funereal monuments, and a font, pulpit and carved heads by Thomas Earp. The finger pillory is a rare item, once seen as a humane form of punishment. The church has a long association with the Hastings family, its patrons for four centuries, and became a centre for Puritanism under Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon. The "Puritan Earl" brought a series of radical figures to the town, including Anthony Gilby and Arthur Hildersham. St Helen's Church is a nationally important building, with a Grade I listing for its exceptional architectural interest.

Ivanhoe School (formerly Ivanhoe College) is a coeducational secondary school located in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England.The school was established in 1954 and named after the historical novel Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, part of which was set at Ashby de la Zouch Castle.It was previously a community middle school with specialist technology college status. In July 2012 Ivanhoe College converted to academy status. In September 2022 the school expanded its age range to 16, becoming a secondary school.

Staunton Harold is a civil parish in North West Leicestershire about 3 miles (5 km) north of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The parish is on the county boundary with Derbyshire and about 9 miles (14 km) south of Derby. The 2011 Census (including Lount) recorded the parish's population as 141.A brook flows from the south through the parish, heading for the River Trent which it joins about 4 miles (6.4 km) to the north. In the parish the brook is dammed to form a pair of small lakes. Nikolaus Pevsner (later Sir Nikolaus) described the view westwards across the lakes to Staunton Harold Hall and Holy Trinity parish church as "unsurpassed in the country – certainly as far as Englishness is concerned".Downstream from Staunton Harold, just over 1 mile (1.6 km) over the boundary in Derbyshire, the brook is dammed again to form Staunton Harold Reservoir. Most of the reservoir is in the Derbyshire parish of Melbourne, but part of the upper reach of one arm of the reservoir is in Staunton Harold parish.

Staunton Harold Hall is a large 18th-century Grade I listed country house built by the Earls Ferrers, situated within the 2,000-acre (810 ha) Staunton Harold Park in Staunton Harold, Leicestershire, England, which includes the 17th-century Grade I listed Holy Trinity Chapel (Staunton Harold church).

Alton is a deserted medieval village between Coalville and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in North West Leicestershire, England. The earliest documentation of the village is found in the Domesday Book where it appears as Heletone. The land was rented out to someone by Hugh de Grandmesnil, and had a total value of 60 shillings. There were 25 villagers, 1 being a man at arms and 4 smallholders. There were 8 ploughs, 1 mill, 4 acres of meadow, woodland 1 league long. The name is probably derived from ald, and the suffix tūn, meaning "old settlement".It is one of only four villages in Leicestershire that seems to have been deserted as a result of grange formation, the others being Dishley, Ringlethorp and Weston. The most important possessor of granges in Leicestershire was the Cistercian Garendon Abbey whose economy was largely based on sheep farming. Nothing remains of the village other than a few vague topographical features.

The Ashby-de-la-Zouch Museum is a museum in the Leicestershire town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The primary aim of the museum is to educate the public about the history of the town. The museum also has a number of temporary exhibitions. The museum opened its doors in 1982, with the museum relocating to its present location on North Street in Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The museum is run by a group of approximately 70 volunteers.