Memorial unveiled to woman who gifted Argents Mead to Hinckley

She was also a driving force behind getting Hinckley’s war memorial created.

A Hinckley woman who gifted Argents Mead to the council so that residents across the borough could enjoy the open space has been honoured with two commemorative memorial plaques in her name.

Margery Payne bequeathed the land between St Mary’s Church and the castle mound when she died in 1946.

She was also a driving force behind getting Hinckley’s war memorial created.

Paul Gardner BEM talks about Margery's life here:

In her will, she said: “I devise to the Urban District Council of Hinckley, free of all duties, the close of land lying near to St. Mary’s Church, Hinckley and known as Argents Mead, which has been leased by me to the said council upon trust to maintain the same forever as an open space or recreation ground for the use of inhabitants of the town of Hinckley and neighbourhood.”

A plaque to commemorate Margery’s contribution to Hinckley, both past and present, has been laid in Argents Mead. Another has been installed close to Margery’s gravestone in Hinckley’s Ashby Road Cemetery.