Cossington Gate railway station

Cossington is a village within the Soar Valley in Leicestershire, England. It lies between Sileby, Rothley, Ratcliffe-on-the-Wreake and Syston. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 598.The village's name means 'farm/settlement of Cusa/Cosa'.Although there is no railway service to Cossington, the Ivanhoe Line runs along the Midland Main Line between Leicester and Loughborough, passing close to the village. An hourly service is provided in both directions as part of East Midlands Railway Local service from Lincoln to Leicester via Nottingham. Many years ago there was a 'Cossington Gate railway station' which has long since gone, the only evidence remaining on old maps, The nearest stations now being at Syston and Sileby. Cossington was once home to Lady Isobel Barnett, a radio and television personality from the mid 20th century, where she committed suicide amidst shoplifting charges. A short new road, Barnett Close, has been named in her memory. The village is home to three small businesses; two garden centres (Derry's Nursery and Goscote Nursery) and a pub, The Royal Oak In the early 1990s there were plans to expand the village, which were strongly opposed by the residents at the time, who formed the protest group 'Cossington In Distress'. The residents were successful in bringing about the cessation of the work and the village remains a peaceful community to this day. Every alternate Easter the residents of Cossington open their gardens to the public for two days for the 'Secret Gardens of Cossington' in which the village's willing gardeners show off their talents, with all the proceeds of ticket sales going to charity. The event has been a massive success every time it has run. The church of All Saints dates from the 13th century. A ‘Grant of Arms’ of the Fisher family displayed on the tower wall above the arch. There are memorial tablets to the Fisher family of which Geoffrey Fisher became Archbishop of Canterbury in the 1950s.To the south of the village lies Platts Lane Recreation Ground (more simply known as just 'Platts Lane') which is owned by the Platts Lane Charitable Trust and run by a volunteer committee made up of mostly village residents. Platts Lane is basically a large playing field area and plays host to football, cricket and rugby matches - most notably being the home of Sileby Town Rugby Football Club who are also known as 'The Vikings' and play all their home fixtures at Platts Lane, which many locals enjoy watching. Nearby is Ratcliffe College. A notable native of Cossington was John Webster, governor of Connecticut Colony in 1656. John Webster's Great-great-great-grandson Noah Webster Jr Wrote what became the Merriam-Webster Dictionary around 1875 The Australian artist Grace Cossington Smith's mother (also Grace, née Fisher) was the daughter of a rector of Cossington from the Fisher family (see above). To the east of the village there is a footpath named "Polly Peggs Footpath". Local village legend says a distressed girl drowned herself after falling pregnant whilst courting. Her lover, father and even the church abandoned her and she committed suicide.

Sileby is a former industrial village and civil parish in the Soar Valley in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is located between Leicester and Loughborough. The village is close to Barrow upon Soar, Mountsorrel, Ratcliffe-on-the-Wreake, Seagrave and Cossington. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 7,835, rising to 8,959 at the 2021 census.The origins of the village date back to around 840 AD when the area was settled by the Danes - Leicestershire forming part of the Danelaw along with other counties in the vicinity. The name Sileby may in fact come from the Danish name 'Sighulf'. The village lies at the bottom of an ancient valley created by the nearby River Soar, meaning that surrounding farmland is particularly prone to flooding during persistent or heavy rain.

Sileby Wesleyan Methodist Church is a former Methodist church in Sileby, Leicestershire.

Sileby railway station serves the industrial village of Sileby in Leicestershire, England. The station is located on the Midland Main Line, 106 miles 50 chains (171.6 km) north of London St Pancras.

Sileby Primitive Methodist Church is a Methodist church in Sileby, Leicestershire.

Cossington Meadows is an 88.9 hectares (220 acres) nature reserve west of Cossington in Leicestershire. It is managed by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust.Flora on this wetland site include flowering rush, purple loosestrife and blue water-speedwell. There are several pools which attract wildfowl, such as gadwall and tufted duck, which breed on the site.There is access from Syston Road.

The Watermead Country Park is a network of artificial lakes in the valley of the River Soar and the old Grand Union Canal, in and to the north of Leicester and in and to the south of the Borough of Charnwood in Leicestershire. The southern part of the park, which includes the Hill and the Mammoth is located in Rushey Mead. It runs north to south along the path of the watercourses, with Birstall to the west and Thurmaston to the east. The parks provide bird watching, fishing and watersports facilities, and are managed by a partnership of Leicestershire County Council, Leicester City Council and Charnwood Borough Council.The park includes three Local Nature Reserves, Reedbed – Watermead Country Park (North), Watermead Country Park – South and Birstall Meadows.The northernmost lake is named John Merricks Lake, after the late John Merricks, a silver Olympic medallist who competed in sailing events on a nearby lake as a schoolboy. He died in a car accident in 1997. Further south is King Lear's Lake, a popular fishing lake which can be circumnavigated and is popular with people walking dogs and cyclists. A statue on the western side of the lake depicts the final scene of Shakespeare's play King Lear. The lake is also used for open water swim training by Leicester Triathlon Club, and for water training of Newfoundland Dogs. A 5km parkrun takes place at the Country Park each Saturday morning. There are several further artificial lakes continuing south following the course of the canal ending with the southernmost lake, often referred to as the Mammoth lake due to the presence of a large statue of a Mammoth atop a small hill aside the lake, from where one can see Leicester and the surrounding area for some distance in either direction. There was a previous woolly mammoth where the current one stands, although it was burned down in an arson attack several years ago. The Millennium Mammoth was built to commemorate the discovery of ice age mammoth remains found when Watermead was a quarry. In January 2010, two brothers died after falling into one of the frozen lakes. They had been plucked from the lake by a police officer, who was leaning out of a helicopter hovering above the frozen surface.

The River Wreake is a river in Leicestershire, England. It is a tributary of the River Soar. The river between Stapleford Park and Melton Mowbray is known as the River Eye and becomes the Wreake below Melton Mowbray. It flows southwest, passing through Melton Mowbray, Asfordby, Frisby on the Wreake, Brooksby, Thrussington and Ratcliffe on the Wreake, before meeting the Soar near Syston. In its upper reaches it is called the River Eye and it becomes the Wreake below Melton Mowbray, near Sysonby Lodge. The name Wreake was given by Danish invaders of Leicestershire, who are thought to have navigated the River Trent, then the River Soar and finally the Wreake as they entered the district. Their word Wreake indicated that the river followed a tortuous, twisting and turning course. The river was canalised in the late 18th century, though after the building of the Syston and Peterborough railway in the mid 19th Century, the canal was disused and fell into ruin. Many of the diversions made to the river in order to make the canal navigable are still visible, especially in the neighbourhood of Hoby with Rotherby, Frisby on the Wreake, Kirby Bellars and Asfordby. The Wreake is graded by the Environment Agency as "B" quality, which is excellent for a Midlands river. Biotic index surveys report mayfly and stonefly nymphs, caddis fly larvae, dragonfly and damselfly nymphs and crayfish. Among the fish are Perch, Chubb, Pike, Minnows, Miller's Thumb, and Trout. Otters are starting to repopulate the Wreake in its quieter stretches. Media related to River Wreake at Wikimedia Commons

Syston ( SY-stən) is a town and civil parish in the district of Charnwood in Leicestershire, England. The population was 11,508 at the 2001 census, rising to 12,804 at the 2011 census.

Ratcliffe College is a coeducational Catholic private boarding and day school near the village of Ratcliffe on the Wreake, Leicestershire, approximately 7 miles (11 km) from Leicester, England. The college, situated in 100 acres (0.40 km2) of parkland on the Fosse Way about six miles (10 km) north of Leicester, was founded on the instructions of Blessed Father Antonio Rosmini-Serbati in 1845 as a seminary. In 1847, the buildings were converted for use as a boarding school for upper-class boys. The college became coeducational under the presidency of Father Tony Baxter in the mid-1970s. As of the 2018–2019 academic years, there were 850 students on roll at Ratcliffe, from ages 3 to 18.The school buildings were designed by the Victorian Gothic revivalist Augustus Welby Pugin. Pugin, who is associated with Catholic architecture throughout the Midlands and north of England, is also noted for his collaboration with Charles Barry in the reconstruction of the Palace of Westminster. The Square was designed by Charles Francis Hansom, brother of Joseph Hansom, the designer of the Hansom cab. Various building works over the years have contributed to Pugin and Hansom's work, and modern buildings include a "new" gothic refectory (constructed in the early years of the twentieth century) and a Byzantine-style church.

Wanlip Hall was a large house in Wanlip near the English city of Leicester. It was the ancestral home of the Palmer family. The building was demolished before the Second World War.

Syston railway station ( SY-stən) is a railway station serving the town of Syston in Leicestershire, England. The station is on the Midland Main Line from Leicester to Loughborough, 103 miles 63 chains (167.0 km) down the line from London St Pancras.