Mountsorrel is a village in Leicestershire on the River Soar, just south of Loughborough with a population in 2001 of 6,662 inhabitants,[1][2] increasing to 8,223 at the 2011 census.

[3] The village is in the borough of Charnwood, surrounding a steep hill, once crowned by a castle, and is bordered to the east by the River Soar.

A castle was built in 1080 by Hugh Lupus, but there is evidence of an earlier Norman settlement in the area in the form of pottery fragments.

In 1151, Robert le Bossu, the Earl of Leicester and deputy to Henry II of England, who was the Justicar, or Chief Justice of the Peace for the area, acquired the tenancy of Mountsorrel castle.

The village was visited by Methodist preacher John Wesley, where he preached in a building which now belongs to Stonehurst Family Farm, a tourist attraction.

By an act of Parliament passed on 22 July 1782 Henry Walkery of Thurmaston and John Sultzer of Burton Overy were empowered to enclose the open fields and common grounds of Mountsorrel, some 300 acres (120 hectares).

Mountsorrel was the site for a hospital for the mentally ill, which had 91 beds in 1979,[9] but this has since closed and been converted to a housing estate.

The A6 dual-carriageway Quorn-Mountsorrel Bypass opened in October 1991, allowing quarry traffic to avoid travelling through the village centre.

The Stonehurst Family Farm and Motor Museum established in 1951 is located in the centre of the village and is home to many animals and offers tractor trailer rides.

A copy of this building was erected in 1790 in Liverpool, and in that house the politician and former Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) was born.

In 1292, Nicholas de Seagrave became Lord of the Manor and was granted by Edward I the right to hold a market in Mountsorrel each Monday.

In addition to the granting of the market, de Seagrave was permitted to hold an annual fair for the "eve and morrow of St John the Baptist and 5 days after".

The quarry is blasted at 12.30 pm most weekdays,[13] with a force that is felt throughout most of the village, as well as in some parts of Loughborough, Quorn, Swithland, and Rothley.

In a fire during a heatwave on 13 May 1959, the manufacturing area of the factory was heavily damaged although the design department was left undamaged.