(1)The first British soldier to die on home soil during the first world war was the former Thringstone headmaster, Theophilus Jones:
In 1914, Mr Jones gave up his job as headmaster of the village school to volunteer for war service and enlisted as a private soldier in the
Durham Light Infantry. On Wednesday, December 16th of that year, he was killed
whilst guarding a gun in his home town during the German bombardment of the
Hartlepools and gained the unfortunate distinction of becoming the first
soldier on active service to die on home soil for nearly two centuries.
(2)The most distinguished soldier ever to have lived in Thringstone must have
been
Thomas Elsdon Ashford, the village postman, who'd won the Victoria Cross
during the Afghan War in 1880. On returning to civilian life he lived for some
time on Brook Lane and was married in Thringstone Church to Betsy Ann Sisson on
January 29th 1891.
(3)Thringstone was recorded in the 'Domesday Book' as 'Trangesbi'. This was not known right up until the middle of the twentieth century, when scholars identified the village as being listed under Derbyshire.
(4)The youngest victim of the 1898 Whitwick Colliery Disaster was John Albert
Gee of Thringstone. He was aged just thirteen years.
(5)Twenty seven men from Thringstone lost their lives on active service during the first world war. Ongoing research by Ron Goacher has revealed that there are at least twenty three men and boys buried in the church yard who lost their lives as a result of colliery accidents. Of course, it is impossible to calculate how many other men buried here died as a result of lung diseases related to the coal-mining industry.
(6)Thringstone House is thought to be the oldest Community Centre of its kind
in the UK, having been established by Charles Booth in 1901 and handed over to Leicestershire County Council in 1950.
(7)The Charnwood Forest Canal was opened between Thringstone and Nanpantan in
1794, but was abandoned just five years later after the feeder reservoir at
Blackbrook burst its banks. In a field behind Glebe Road can be found a cutting, dug for a horsedrawn tram road, which would once have connected coal pits with the canal - reputed to have been the first standard gauge railway in the world.
(8)The Right Honourable Charles Booth, pioneer of Old Age Pensions, is buried
in Thringstone Churchyard. He lived at Gracedieu Manor from 1886 until his
death in 1916. You might like to visit his grave to read his beautiful epitaph,
or visit Saint Pauls Cathedral, London to see his memorial tablet in the crypt.
(9)Gracedieu was the birthplace of the great Elizabethan dramatist, Francis Beaumont. He collaborated with Fletcher, their most famous work being, "Knight of the Burning Pestle".
(10)The site of Gracedieu Priory is reputed to be haunted by a woman in white and has become renowned as one of the most prolific centres of paranormal activity in Leicestershire. This may be linked to the fact that the Priory stands on top of the Thringstone Fault, since researchers claim that paranormal hotspots are closely linked to electro-magnetic anomalies. Fault areas are also often marked by standing stones, suggesting that our prehistoric forbears were somehow tuned in to the natural forces of the earth and close to the Priory is such an example.