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Introductory.
East Leake is a village pleasantly situated upon a rivulet, near to the Western extremity of the South Wolds district of Nottinghamshire, ten miles South by West of Nottingham. It is in the parliamentary division of Rushcliff, and gives its name to the County Council district of Leake. The parish contains an acreage of 2,540 acres, and a population of 876, according to the census of 1901, with a rateable value of £4,939.
Owing to its situation near to the gap in the Wolds, between Stocking and Hotchley Hills, it was for centuries on the high road from Nottingham to Loughborough. In 1739 the present high road was adopted instead of the former one, and the highway through East Leake became a byway. The position of the village has been to some extent regained, for the same gap, which suggested a highway in the days long past, dictated the route of the Great Central Railway from Nottingham to London.
This altered position promises great things for the village, and East Leake may yet justify its old alternate name of Great Leake.
This sketch, however, is not prophecy, but an outline of the history of a village which has been the dwelling place of many generations, and as such is regarded by the families connected with it with the affection which is associated with the word home.