Moira, Leicestershire

Moira's toponym is derived from the Irish earldom of Moira, one of the titles of the Hastings family, which held Ashby de la Zouch Castle. The former local colliery, Rawdon Colliery, also bore a Hastings family name.

The Midland Railway opened its Leicester to Burton upon Trent Line through Moira in 1845. Moira station served the village until British Railways closed it in 1964. The building survives and the line remains open as a freight route.

Rawdon Colliery was worked for about 150 years. Its seams extended 6 miles (10 km) from the shaft,and some had been worked twice, recovering lower grade coal. The pit survived Britain's pit closure programme in the mid-1980s that followed the miners' strike, but ran out of viable coal seams. Gases were rarely a hazard, but spontaneous combustion of coal dust was a potential problem.

The 120 acres (49 ha) National Forest Millennium Discovery Centre, now called 'Conkers', is on the site of Rawdon Colliery. Its visitor centre features a borehole-based heating and cooling system. Moira Junction Local Nature Reserve occupies 8.5 acres (3.4 ha) of former railway sidings nearby.[1]

Moira lime kilns

Moira Furnace is a restored 19th century blast furnace. A 1.5-mile (2.4 km) section of the Ashby Canal adjacent to the furnace has also been restored and rewatered, although it lacks a navigable link to the rest of the system due to the A42 road having been built across its line. The furnace site also has craft workshops and a small nature reserve.

Both the Youth Hostels Association's National Forest youth hostel and the Camping and Caravanning Club's National Forest campsite are in Moira and opened in 2008.

There is a Co-Operative supermarket on Shortheath Road, which was given a new frontage in 2016.

The Hicks Lodge nature reserve lies approximately 1 mile east of the village.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Moira, Leicestershire.

• Conkers Discovery Centre