 In the 17th century, the town developed a hosiery industry, producing stockings and similar items.Hinckley played a prominent part in the English Civil War.Its proximity to several rival strongholds—the royalist garrisons at Caldicote, Ashby de la Zouch and Leicester, those of the Parliamentarians at Tamworth and Coventry, and the presence of parties of troops or brigands occupying several fortified houses in nearby Warwickshire—ensured frequent visits by the warring parties.