Great Glen

Great Glen (or Glenn), also known as Glen Magna, is a village in Leicestershire,it is about seven miles south-east of Leicester.

Great Glen, which lies some seven miles to the south-east of Leicester, boasts one of the oldest place names in the county. The name, from the British glennos, meaning valley, was given to the area by the Corieltauvi, a British tribe which was settled here at the time of the Roman invasion. It is believed to have originally referred to the Sence valley in general, before being adopted by the Romans who gave the name to the two British settlements that they found already established here - the present Glen Magna and Glen Parva.

The first written reference to Glen is found in a charter of 849 which is dated from Atte Glenne. The Domesday Book refers to the community simply as Glen, but in the 13th and 14th centuries the village was also known as Glen Martel, after the name of the Lords of the Manor. The village is now known as Great Glen (Glen Magna) to distinguish it from Glen Parva (Little Glen), a village some six miles distant.