  ashby de la zouch (), often shortened to ashby, is a small market town and civil parish in north west leicestershire, england, within the national forest. it is a sister city with pithiviers in north-central france and lies close to the derbyshire border. ashby de la zouch castle was of importance from the 15th to the 17th centuries. in the 19th century the town became a spa town and before the growth of coalville it was the chief town in northwest leicestershire. in the 19th century its main industries were ribbon manufacture, coal mining and brickmaking. the town was served by the leicester to burton upon trent line of the midland railway from 1849. the civil parish includes the hamlet of shellbrook west of the town. nearby villages include normanton le heath, packington, donisthorpe, oakthorpe, measham, coleorton and moira. ==history==  "ashby" is a word of anglo-danish origin, meaning "ash-tree farm" or "ash-tree settlement".{{cite book |editor1-last=watts |editor1-first=victor |editor2-last=insley |editor2-first=john |editor3-last=gelling |editor3-first=margaret |editor3-link=margaret gelling |title=the cambridge dictionary o
Civil_parishes_in_Leicestershire Market_towns_in_Leicestershire Post_towns_in_the_LE_postcode_area Towns_in_Leicestershire