Fleckney Church St Nicholas
The large village of Fleckney about 8 miles south-east of Leicester and 7 miles north of Market Harborough has a population of around 4,700 according to the 2001 census. It has grown rapidly during the last century and although most of the village is modern there are structures dating to the 18th-19th centuries. Fleckney was in fact a far smaller village during most of its history. In the Domesday Book it is recorded that the population was only 3, but it did reach 1,800 by the 19th century when industry arrived at Fleckney with its...
read moreShackerstone Church St Peter
Fourteen miles west of Leicester and some 3 miles north-west of Market Bosworth is the pretty village of Shackerstone. The village is renowned for its Battlefield Line Railway which runs trains from here to Bosworth Field where in 1485 Richard III was killed. The village also has the Ashby Canal running around the village to the north. In the first week of September the village hosts the Shackerstone Festival which brings the canal, railway and village together with vintage cars, stunt planes and other events during the two days of the...
read moreGreat Glen Church St Cuthbert
Some seven miles south-east of Leicester is the large village of Great Glen which has a population (in 2001) of around 3,200. The village lies in a valley (hence the name) of the River Sence with ground rising either side. After the Norman Conquest the manors of Great Glen passed through many hands and at one point was held by William de Zouche and then the Martell family. In 1140 Ralph Butler granted the church of Great Glen to Alcester Abbey which retained the patronage until the 15th century. Evesham Abbey exercised control over the church...
read moreBrooksby Church St Michael & All Angels
Nine miles north-east of Leicester is the church of St Michael set in the pretty grounds of Brooksby Hall. The area was settled by the Danes and much later Brooksby Hall became the home of the powerful Villiers family who are first mentioned at Brooksby in 1235 but are of Norman descent and probably arrived in 1066 with King William. There was a village around the church but it disappeared after the Black Death decimated the village probably in early 1349. This had a devastating effect on the country and population and many villages were...
read moreWigston Parva St Mary
This small hamlet of around 30 people is very near to the county boundary of Warwickshire. It is 12 miles south-east of Leicester and its nearest neighbour is Sharnford. Although it is a ‘Wigston’ it is not near its larger namesakes and the only way into the village is a single track road from the B4114 near Smockington Hollow very near to the Fosse Way. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book as ‘Wiceston’ and by the time of Henry VIII this had altered to ‘Wyggeston’. Earlier the manor and...
read moreCranoe Church St Michaels
Founded in the 12th century this is a real gem of a church which is situated 5 miles north of Market Harborough. Built on the side of a hill it gives pretty views south into the valley and farmland and over to Langton Caudle Hill. Cranoe is a very small village and perhaps should be classed as a hamlet, the population has always been small but in the last couple of century’s there have been many houses which have disappeared, and the population has dwindled, in 1951 this stood at 41 people. The church of St Michael stands above the...
read moreBlaby Church All Saints
Blaby lies 5 miles south of Leicester in the district of the same name. It is a large village of 6,500 people near to Whetstone and Countesthorpe with Wigston to the north and the suburbs of Leicester. It does have a ‘old village’ conservation area near the church which is attractive, there is the 15th century Bakers Arms which used to be a Yeoman’s house and the old village schools. Originally a Danish settlement, the first mention of the church was in 1140 when William de Lodbroke built the church in Blaby for the newly...
read moreStretton en le Field Church St Michael
This very small hamlet of around 36 people (according to the 2001 census) originally was in Derbyshire, when the county lines were redrawn in 1897 it then ended up in Leicestershire. It is approximately 7 miles south-west of Ashby de la Zouch and some 19 miles west of Leicester. Mentioned in the Domesday Book as ‘Stretone’ and belonging to Henry De Ferrers (we have met him before on our travels) the church is mentioned in about 1240 when a William de Stretton (brother of the lord of the manor) held the rectory. Not much of...
read moreGrace Dieu Priory Ruins
The priory of Grace Dieu was built around 1235-1241 for Augustinian canonesses and founded by Rose (Rohese) de Verdon. She endowed the priory with mills, parkland and the Manor of Kirby in Kesteven, Lincolnshire. Rose was buried in the priory chapel, and later records state that an annual sum of 12d was set aside to maintain a light shining on the tomb. The tomb and effigy were later removed, possibly at the Dissolution, to the nearby parish church of Belton, where it can still be seen today. In 1306, John Comyn, Lord of Whitwick added more...
read moreMelton Mowbray Church St Mary
Where do I start with one of the highlights of Leicestershire? This beautiful large church has much to admire from its cruciform layout to its grand central spire and the fine 48 windows of the clerestory that run around the nave and also unusually the trancepts. You can see at once why in 1927 this church was being seriously considered to be Leicestershires’s Cathedral in place of one in Leicester itself. However in the end they did choose the present ‘cathedral’ in Leicester, but that was perhaps more ‘political’ than it...
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