Bitteswell

Bitteswell is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bitteswell with Bittesby, in the Harborough district of Leicestershire in England. It is situated just north of the town of Lutterworth, and in the 2001 census had a population of 454 (including Magna Park). The population had increased to 554 at the 2011 census. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Betmeswelle. The village's name means 'the spring/stream in the broad valley'.

==History== The village contains two thatched houses and a number of Georgian dwellings alongside modern houses. Population figures have not altered much since records began in 1801 with a population of 398 was recorded as against around 380 today. In 1841 there was a big increase caused by the building of Bitteswell Hall, north of the village. This brought employment and new families as it had its own farms, gas installation etc., but in the 1920s it was demolished, the land and buildings split up. The village also had its own airfield; a RAF station called RAF Bitteswell. The construction of the grass airfield started in March 1940 and by August 1941 night flight training was able to commence using Vickers Wellington bombers. By 1943, three concrete runways were completed with connecting perimeter track and hard standings. After World War II, Hawker Siddeley built a factory next to the airfield, where Vulcan bombers (and many other aircraft) were built and maintained.