Cliffe Hill Quarry

The Cliffe Hill Mineral Railway was a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge industrial railway that connected the Cliffe Hill granite quarry to the nearby London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) between Leicester and Coalville. The line opened in 1896 and operated until 1948.

South Charnwood High School is a mixed secondary school located between the villages of Markfield and Thornton in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire. The school was established in 1935 thus various additions to the school have been made since. The current headmaster is Mr Simon Andrews. In 1975, the school began enrolling pupils at the school one year prior than the usual transfer system. Pupils transfer from locations situated in the catchment area, such as; Markfield, Thornton Many pupils are also from Bagworth, Stanton-under-Bardon, and Leicester Forest East. However, the school admits youngsters from areas outside catchment. Students used to leave when aged 14, and usually transferred to Bosworth Academy or Groby Community College. An inspection early in 2005 described the school to be good as of gathering the idea that the school has high standards and achievement, as well as student support. In 2010, the school was rated 'outstanding' overall by Ofsted. From September 2014, the school changed to become an 11-16 secondary school. Morris' predecessor - James Etchingham - is the father of ITV News at Ten newsreader Julie Etchingham.

Billa Barra Hill is a 20.7 hectares (51 acres) Local Nature Reserve north of Stanton under Bardon in Leicestershire. It is owned and managed by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council.The top of the hill is a former quarry, leaving exposed rocks which provide a habitat for a variety of mosses and lichens. Lower down there are areas of acid grassland, and locally sourced trees have been planted on the lower slopes.There is access from Billa Barra Lane.

Stanton-under-Bardon is a village and civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Coalville, in the Hinckley and Bosworth district, in Leicestershire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 634.Most of the houses are red brick, and many on Main Street are terraced and have long, thin gardens. The village is set in farmland and open fields and is near Junction 22 of the M1 motorway. The village is near Markfield, with which it shares a local newspaper, the Markfield and Stanton Under Bardon Herald. The village has a thatched pub, two churches and a primary school. Bardon Quarry is nearby.

Altar Stones is a 3.7-hectare (9.1-acre) nature reserve in Markfield in Leicestershire. It is owned and managed by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust.This site has outcrops of Precambrian volcanic rocks, which have uncommon lichens growing on them. The main habitat is heath grassland, and there are the remains of drystone walls and an old mill.There is access from Altar Stones Lane.

Markfield is a large village in both the National Forest and Charnwood Forest and in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. The settlement dates back to at least the time of the Norman conquest and is mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name Merchenefeld. A variant of this is still used as the name for the village primary school, Mercenfeld. It is to the south-east of Junction 22 of the M1, and to the south of the A50. The highest point in Markfield is shown on OS sheet 129 at 222 metres above sea level. Nearby places are Newtown Linford, Groby, Field Head, and Stanton under Bardon. In the 1841 census its population was recorded at 1,203. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 5681. In 2012 Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council published an overview of Markfield conservation area.

Copt Oak is a hamlet in Leicestershire, England. It is located in the North West Leicestershire district near the large village of Markfield and the rural hamlets of Abbots Oak, Charley, Ulverscroft, and Nanpantan. In its name, cop is an old English word for head, i.e. "pollarded oak" (literally "[be]headed oak").

Bardon Park Chapel is a 300-year-old Christian meeting house at Bardon, Leicestershire, England. It stands back from the A511 road (Shaw Lane), between Coalville and Markfield, about 1.3 miles (2.1 km) west of M1 junction 22. At the time of its construction, the meeting house was set within a medieval deer park.The chapel is a Grade II Listed building. It may be the oldest non-conformist place of worship in Leicestershire and indeed across a wide area of the East Midlands.For details of how to find the chapel, see Section 6 (Location) below.

Thornton Reservoir is a small reservoir situated in the National Forest near the village of Thornton in Leicestershire. It has a surface area of 75 acres (300,000 m2) and a perimeter of 2.45 miles (3.94 km). It was originally built in 1854 when it had its own treatment works which were situated to the south of the current dam. It is now owned by Severn Trent and the water is treated a few miles away at Cropston Reservoir to which it runs via Rothley Brook. The reservoir is fed by two small streams which enter from the north via two weirs. Rothley Brook takes water away from the south. Since 1997 the reservoir and the surrounding land has been open to the public. Facilities include a small visitor centre, a sculpture trail, a woodland walk and a game fishery. Within the visitor centre is a small cafe and a bait shop which opens at 7.30am daily. Boats can be hired from 8.30am and the most common species of fish are trout. The National Cycle Network also runs around the reservoir.Planning for the reservoir began in 1847. The design included a dam where Locky Bridge had previously stood, the reservoir fed by Carr Brook and Thornton Brook. Behind the dam were two filtration tanks, and from there the water was carried via gravitation to a storage reservoir in Oadby. Supply from the reservoir began in 1853, with Thomas Cook's Temperance Hall the first building to receive water from it. The reservoir was thought sufficient to serve Leicester's population of 58,000 at the time, delivering 1.6 million gallons per day, and was the main source of water for the city until the opening of Bradgate Reservoir in 1871. The surface area was originally calculated at 55 acres with the capacity 229 million gallons. The estimated cost of building the reservoir was £80,000.The reservoir was taken out of use in 1982, but was opened up to the public in 1997, with paths around the edge and a trout fishery on the west bank.

Ulverscroft is a 56-hectare (140-acre) nature reserve north of Markfield in Leicestershire, England. It is managed by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, which shares its ownership with the National Trust. The site is partly in Ulverscroft Valley, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.The site's diverse habitats include woodland, heath, wet grassland, a pond, a meadow, marshes and sphagnum bog. The meadow has a rich flora, including fragrant orchid, devil's-bit scabious and bitter vetch.There is access from Whitcrofts Lane.

Rocky Plantation is a 3.4-hectare (8.4-acre) nature reserve north of Markfield in Leicestershire. It is owned by the National Trust and managed by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust.This site has mixed woodland, including some mature sessile oaks, and rocky outcrops. There is a variety of fungi and birds, including great spotted woodpeckers and nuthatches.Admission is restricted to National and Wildlife trust members. There is access from Priory Lane.

Bardon Hill is the highest Hill in Leicestershire and on a clear day the Malvern and Shropshire Hills (approx. 50–60 miles), summits in Derbyshire (approx. 30–40 miles) and Lincoln Cathedral (almost 50 miles away) can be seen. However, the Sugar Loaf in South Wales, sometimes cited as visible from Bardon, cannot be seen, being over 90 miles (140 km) away. Near the top of the hill are two radio masts; the smaller of the two was built for the BBC as a link for Outside broadcast linking into the Sutton Coldfield Transmitter. This was then moved to the now larger mast which was originally built by an electricity supply company, it is now owned by Cellnex after Arqiva sold its UK wireless business in October 2019 and provides the NOW Leicester DAB radio service.The landscape was already attracting visitors before John Curtis wrote in the 1830s: he suggests that the view extends to over 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2) or one-twelfth of England and Wales. Potter also notes of the view from Bardon Hill that "it probably commands a greater extent of surface than any other point of view on the island" and that "An outline, described from the extremity of this view, would include nearly one-fourth of England and Wales. It may be deemed one of the most extraordinary points of view in Nature." This has attracted telecommunication companies, and large transmitters and radio masts have replaced both the Summer House and Queen Adelaide's Bower. Bardon Hill is also a 13.1-hectare (32-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the civil parish of Bardon, east of Coalville in Leicestershire, England.Bardon Hill is part of the eroded remains of a volcano. It is the highest point in Leicestershire and the National Forest, 278 m (912 ft) above sea level. Due to its prominence, it is visible for many kilometres around. It adjoins Bardon Hill Quarry, a geological SSSI. At its summit are a trigonometrical point and a radio mast. The second highest hill in Leicestershire is the nearby Beacon Hill. "Bardon" or "Bardon Hill" was also the name of a village south-west of the hill. Most of the village has been demolished but the toponym "Bardon Hill" remains in use as the postal address of the remaining local properties.