South Wigston is a large village to the south of Leicester, England. It is outside the city boundary, forming part of the Oadby and Wigston district of Leicestershire. The population of the ward rose slightly from 7,471 at the 2001 census to 7,490 at the 2011 census. Geography and administration South Wigston is west of Wigston Magna, specifically west of the Midland Main Line. The Crow Mills area has been the site of a grain mill since the 13th century, though the present mill (now a private house) was built later on the original footings. The mill is on the north bank of the River Sence and backs onto the nearby Grand Union Canal, which generally forms the southern boundary of South Wigston. The first major development of the area came with the arrival of the Midland Counties Railway's station, the Midland Railway's Wigston Junction, goods yard and station and the South Leicestershire Railway's station. Industrial and residential buildings were built in the triangle of land between the then Wigston junction to Rugby line to the east, the Wigston to Nuneaton line (Leicester to Hinckley) to the north and Saffron Road to the west. Notable buildings in the area include the Wesleyan Methodist Church (1886), church of Saint Thomas the Apostle (1893), Congregational Church (1897), Primitive Methodist Church (1900, demolished, now Best Close), the Clarence Hotel (1890, now the Marquis of Queensbury Public House), and the Grand Hotel (circa 1880s, now converted into residential apartments having been unoccupied from 2011 to 2014, incorporates the former Venetia House). Much of the building work (including both hotels and his former home Venetia House) was commissioned by Orson Wright (circa 1880s). The land enclosed by the Grand Union Canal, Midland Main Line and former Wigston to Rugby line started to be developed around Lansdowne Grove at the start of the twentieth century with town houses becoming a conservation area in the late 1980s early 1990s, and later a sizeable council estate, industrial estate and in the 1990s another large housing estate. History Before the establishment of South Wigston in 1883, the area was largely open fields. The Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal, which runs south of the township, was built 1793–1809, and a house stood by the Countesthorpe Road near the bridges over the river and canal. In 1840 the Midland Counties Railway was built between and ; it ran to the east