Appleby Magna - <>

Appleby Magna is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England. The civil parish, as well as Appleby Magna, includes the small hamlets of Appleby Parva and Little Wigston, and the villages of Norton-Juxta-Twycross, Snarestone and Swepstone. The parish collectively has a total population of 1,084 (2011), with Appleby being the largest settlement. Historically Appleby was one of the largest and wealthiest parishes in Leicestershire, as the large church is testament to; the village and its population, however, have always remained fairly small.The village lies on the edge of the ancient boundary between the kingdom of Mercia and the Danelaw but the land has been inhabited from the early Neolithic period. The village developed in the pre-Saxon era.The name Appleby is often mistakenly believed to refer to Apple Trees; it is in fact derived from Apa, meaning water or stream, and by(r), meaning settlement.The village sits on the outskirts of the National Forest and is bordered by the Gopsall Park Estate.The Ashby-De-La-Zouch Canal passes within a mile of the village, as do the M42 and A444.HistoryPre-historic timesThere is evidence of human settlement in Appleby from the early Neolithic period, 6,000 years ago. There was no single settlement, but a scattering of round houses, whose inhabitants farmed the land south of the River Mease. In the same area there is an oval ditch of a 6-acre enclosure, which was revealed by crop marks. An archaeological dig in 1966 on this site found prehistoric pottery.

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