Great 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...
Brooksby 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...
Wigston 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...
Cranoe 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,...
Blaby 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,...
Stretton 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...
Grace 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...
Melton 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...
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