Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, northeast of Leicester, and southeast of Nottingham. The town is on the River Eye and the River Wreake and has a population of 25,554. The town is best known for its culinary speciality, the Melton Mowbray pork pie, and it is one of the six homes of Stilton cheese. Melton Mowbray is promoted as the "Rural Capital of Food". The name comes from the early English word Medeltone – meaning "Middletown surrounded by small hamlets" (and therefore has the same origin as Milton and Middleton). Mowbray is a Norman
Melton Mowbray Navigation Melton Mowbray Navigation The Melton Mowbray Navigation was formed when the River Wreake in Leicestershire, England, was made navigable upstream from its junction with the River Soar and the Leicester Navigation near Syston to Melton Mowbray, opening in 1797. Largely river navigation, there were numerous lock cuts, to accommodate the 12 broad locks built along its length, many of which were built at sites where it was necessary to maintain the water levels for an adjacent mill. With railway competition, and the closure of the Oakham Canal, to which it was connected, decline was rapid, and the canal closed in