In 2000, archaeologists from Northampton Archaeology discovered evidence of Iron Age and Romano-British settlement[2] on land near Coventry Road and Watling Street.

[7] Its proximity to several rival strongholds—the royalist garrisons at Caldicote, Ashby de la Zouch and Leicester, and those of the Parliamentarians at Tamworth and Coventry—and the presence of parties of troops or brigands occupying several fortified houses in nearby Warwickshire, led to frequent visits by the warring parties.

The local townsfolk were forced to decide whether to declare their allegiances openly or attempt to remain neutral—with the risk of having to pay levies, ransoms, and fines to both sides.

In March 1644, Hinckley was occupied by a group of Royalist troops, though they were soon driven out by a force of Parliamentarians, who took many prisoners.

Parsons with parliamentary leanings like Thomas Cleveland, the vicar of Hinckley, suffered sequestration by the Leicester County Committee, like some of his "malignant" neighbours accused of visiting royalist garrisons or preaching against Parliament.

The notorious Lord Hastings of Ashby de la Zouch is recorded to have "coursed about the country as far as Dunton and Lutterworth and took near upon a hundred of the clergymen and others, and carried them prisoners … threatening to hang all them that should take the Parliament's Covenant".

Parliamentary newssheets record that on the night of 4 March 1644, Hastings's men brought in "26 honest countrymen from several towns" intending to take them to Ashby de la Zouch, along with a huge herd of cattle, oxen and horses from the country people and a minister named Warner.

These prisoners were herded into Hinckley church and asked "in a jeering manner, 'Where are the Round-heads your brethren at Leicester?

Colonel Grey with 120 foot-soldiers and 30 troopers from Bagworth House rushed to Hinckley and retook the town, routed the Royalists, rescued the cattle and released their imprisoned countrymen.

No doubt the inhabitants of the town were as relieved as any when Ashby finally surrendered, as Vicars records, "a great mercy and mighty preservation of the peace and tranquility of all those adjacent parts about it.

"[citation needed] At the time of the first national census in 1801, Hinckley had a population of 5,158: twenty years later it had increased by about a thousand.

[citation needed] This hospital was central to the people of Hinckley and supported by local workers who donated one penny a week for its upkeep until it was adopted by the NHS in 1948.

The hospital now appears dilapidated in some areas and is threatened with closure, sale and demolition by West Leicestershire Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS Properties Ltd.[citation needed] On 16 May 1941 eleven people were killed, which was the worst attack in the county, outside Leicester.

The suburbs of Burbage, Sketchley and Lash Hill are separated from the rest of Hinckley by the railway line.

In 1934, under a County Review Order, Hinckley urban district expanded to include the ancient parishes of Barwell, Burbage and Earl Shilton and most of Stoke Golding.

Hinckley power station was built in Nutts Lane adjacent to the railway and the Ashby Canal.

[28] Hinckley is home to a well-established creative and technology community with designers, illustrators, artists and photographers taking up residence in the town, particularly in converted buildings such as the renovated Atkins Building (formerly Atkins Hosiery, also home to the Hinckley Times newspaper) and Graphic House on Druid Street, also a former factory converted to modern office and studio use.

They claim to have set the fastest roadcar lap around the Top Gear test track with their GTR720 model, although it has never appeared on the programme.

[citation needed] The town is equidistant (19 km/12 miles) from Coventry and Leicester and 8 km (5 mi) to the east of Nuneaton.

[37][38] The Hinckley Times regularly publish news stories on their own section of the Leicester Mercury's website, LeicestershireLive.

[43] Hinckley Basketball Club was founded in 1974, and included staff, ex-students and students of John Cleveland College.

Hollycroft Park, in the centre of Hinckley, contains two tennis courts, a golf pitch'n'putt and a lawn bowls green with pavilion.

[52] The Simon Pegg and Nick Frost comedy horror series Truth Seekers has a major plot line centered around Hinckley.

It is reputed that, many years ago, one of the itinerant sheep drovers bragged that he could drink a hat full of ale.

A tin hat can be seen on top of the flag pole which sits on the roof of the Coral branch at the corner of Castle Street and Market Place.