Ratby railway station

Ratby is a commuter village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. It is situated to the west of Leicester, and just south of the M1 motorway. (Groby is on the northern side of the M1.) The population of the civil parish was measured in the 2011 census as 4,468. Other nearby places include Field Head, Kirby Muxloe, Glenfield and Markfield. The proximity of Ratby to Leicester causes it to form part of the Leicester Urban Area.

Kirby Muxloe Football Club is a football club based in Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire, England. They are currently members of the United Counties League Division One and play at Ratby Lane.

Kirby Muxloe is a large village and civil parish that forms part of the Blaby district of Leicestershire, England. Located to the west of Leicester, its proximity to the city has resulted in its inclusion in the Leicester Urban Area. The Leicester Forest East parish border runs along the Hinckley Road A47. According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 4,523, which had increased to 4,667 at the 2011 census.

Kirby Muxloe Castle, also known historically as Kirby Castle, is a ruined, fortified manor house in Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire, England. William, Lord Hastings, began work on the castle in 1480, founding it on the site of a pre-existing manor house. William was a favourite of King Edward IV and had prospered considerably during the Wars of the Roses. Work continued quickly until 1483, when William was executed during Richard, Duke of Gloucester's, seizure of the throne. His widow briefly continued the project after his death but efforts then ceased, with the castle remaining largely incomplete. Parts of the castle were inhabited for a period, before falling into ruin during the course of the 17th century. In 1912, the Commissioners of Work took over management of the site, repairing the brickwork and carrying out an archaeological survey. In the 21st century, the castle is controlled by English Heritage and open to visitors. The castle was rectangular in design, 245 by 175 feet (75 by 53 m) across, and would have comprised four corner towers, three side towers and a large gatehouse, all protected by a water-filled moat; the centre of the castle would have formed a courtyard. Of these buildings, only the gatehouse and the west tower survive today, partially intact. They are constructed with decorative brickwork and stone detailing, in a fashionable late 15th-century style, and have various symbols built into their walls using darker bricks. Twelve gunports for early gunpowder artillery were built into the walls of these two buildings, although historians are uncertain whether these defences were intended to be practical or symbolic. The government body Historic England considers the castle to be a "spectacular example of a late medieval quadrangular castle of the highest status".

Brookvale High School, opened 1976, was a mixed middle school in the village of Groby in Leicestershire, England, providing education for students aged 11–14. It shared a large campus with Groby Community College which takes pupils from 14–19. Its main intake came from partner schools in Groby and the nearby villages of Ratby, Kirby Muxloe and Newtown Linford though it accepted other pupils subject to availability of places. Its name was derived from a small group of cottages, named Brooke Vale Cottages, that formerly occupied the site where the school was built. The school specialised in languages and taught French, Spanish and German to its pupils. In July 2012 both Brookvale and Groby Community College jointly became an academy. In September of that year the combined school rebranded itself as Brookvale Groby Learning Campus and changed its age range to 11 to 19.

Brookvale Groby Learning Campus is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Groby in the English county of Leicestershire.The school was created in September 2012 from Groby Community College and Brookvale High School. Previously they were both community schools administered by Leicestershire County Council. Both schools converted to academy status in partnership in July 2012. As the former schools were sited next to each other, the combined school teaches across an amalgamated campus. Brookvale Groby Learning Campus offers GCSEs and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils, while students in the sixth form have the option to study from a range of A Levels and further BTECs.

Groby (pronounced "GROO-bee" ) is a village in the Hinckley and Bosworth borough Leicestershire, England. It is to the north west of Leicester. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 6,796.The village saw a huge expansion during the 1970s along with the village of Glenfield. The historic village centre retains some of its historic buildings, cobbled lanes and thatched cottages. The church of St Philip and St James, built in the lancet style by George Harry Booth-Grey, the sixth Earl of Stamford, dates from 1840 and stands in the grounds of Groby Castle. The architect was William Railton. Additionally the village was also home to the former Groby Old Hall, the stone-built parts of which are thought to have been part of the castle's outer buildings.

Kirby Muxloe railway station was a station on the Midland Railway line between Leicester and Desford that bypassed part of the Leicester and Swannington Railway in Leicestershire, England. The Midland opened line through Kirby Muxloe in 1849, though Kirby Muxloe station did not open until 1859. The following year the Midland opened its line from Coalville Town to Burton-on-Trent, making the line through Kirby Muxloe part of its through route between Leicester and Burton-on-Trent. British Railways closed Kirby Muxloe station in 1964. It was one of numerous railway stations closed at that time that Flanders and Swann included in their song Slow Train released that year. In the 1990s BR planned to restore passenger services between Leicester and Burton as the second phase of its Ivanhoe Line project. However, after the privatisation of British Rail in 1995 this phase of the project was discontinued. In 2009 the Association of Train Operating Companies published a £49 million proposal (Connecting Communities: Expanding Access to the Rail Network) to restore passenger services to the line that would include reopening a station at Kirby Muxloe.

Groby Old Hall is partly a 15th-century brick-built manor house and grade II* listed building located very near the site of Groby Castle in the village of Groby in Leicestershire.

Groby Castle is situated in the large village of Groby to the north-west of the city of Leicester, England.

Leicester Forest was a Royal Forest that existed to the West of Leicester.

Leicester Forest East (LFE) is a large suburban village in Leicestershire, England, west of Leicester, straddling the M1 motorway. It is part of the Blaby district. Leicester Forest East is a popular location among commuters and young families. It was developed primarily between 1920 and 1985, seeing major developments constructed along the Hinckley Road (A47) and to the south-east of the M1 throughout the 1930s. Large-scale housing developments took place in the 1960s, to the north-east and west of the M1 motorway. In the 1980s, a large housing project was constructed at the western edge of the settlement. The village takes its name from the ancient Leicester Forest. The streets through the housing developments to the north-east of the M1 take their names from Ann Packer and Robbie Brightwell, Olympic medalists in the 1964 Tokyo games.