Kilby Church St Mary Magdalene
Kilby is 6 miles south-east of Leicester and is a small village of around 300 people. Kilby is in the Domesday Book as ‘Cilebi’ but the name of the village is probably Danish in origin as denoted by the ‘by’ at the end of name. The manor of Kilby may have belonged to nearby Wistow in earlier times, it is recorded that in the 19th century much of the village was part of the Wistow estate and many of the workers and servants lived in Kilby. The church of St Mary Magdalene replaces an earlier church which was built in...
read moreKibworth Church St Wilfrid
The two villages of Kibworth Harcourt and Kibworth Beauchamp are some 8 miles south-east of Leicester. The busy A6 separates the two villages which are so close together we may as well call them ‘Kibworth’ for the rest of this text. There is only one church and that is St Wilfrid’s although there are two parishes. Population in 2001 for both villages was around 4,800. There are plans to expand the village with large developments (some of which are already in progress) right the way through to 2012 with 610 houses. Although...
read moreKeyham Church & Ingarsby Deserted Village
Keyham in Leicestershire is a small village approximately 7 miles east of Leicester with a population of around 120. The church of All Saints dates from around the 13th century and consists of a nave, chancel and west tower. It is a small church but pleasantly proportioned. The nave and chancel probably date to the 13th & 14th centuries with the tower being added in the 15th century. The tower has a fleuron frieze below the battlements. The chancel east window is later probably circa 1600. The font dates to the 18th century. There is also...
read moreLaunde Abbey
Originally a Augustinian priory which was built between 1119 and 1125 by Richard Bassett, at the Dissolution it passed to Thomas Cromwell who built a mansion on the ruins. It passed through several hands and the house here today dates from the 17th century with some earlier fabric and some modernisation mostly from the 19th century. The house was donated to the Diocese in 1958 by a wealthy Leicester industrialist for the original intention of making it the Bishop of Leicester’s Palace although this did not occur. Today Launde Abbey is a...
read moreLeire Church St Peter
This entry is probably going to have to be ‘short & sweet’, my usual sources for information have little on Leire or the church of St Peters that sits in the middle of the village. Most of this information has come from the Leire.net site. The village has a population of around 500 and is 10 miles south-east of Leicester. The village name may derive from the old British name for the Soar, a tributary of which has its source to the south of the village. The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book when the number of...
read moreLaughton Church St Luke
Situated some 5 miles west of Market Harborough in the south-east of the county the small village of Laughton is recorded in 2001 as having a population of only 80. The Laughton Hills to the south of the village rise to over 550ft and there are some good walks around the area. Its nearest neighbours are Gumley and Moseley with also Foxton and Saddington Reservoir to the north nearby. The village was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 and by the start of the 13th century the manor was held by the Earl of Leicester. It passed through many...
read moreOadby St Peters
Oadby has two churches in the parish, one is the modern St Paul’s which is already on the website and St Peter’s is the original medieval building which has been here since the 1300’s and most likely replaced an earlier structure. The town of Oadby is split in two by the busy A6 and is a suburb of Leicester to the south-east. The population of around 23,000 has grown due to the large scale housing developments that constitute most of the town and have been built in the 20th century. There has been some evidence of Anglian...
read moreOadby St Pauls
Now this is going to be an usual entry as this is a modern church (27 years old) that lies to the north of the busy A6 in Oadby. It has no history as such, and it is sited in the middle of a large new housing estate. Some of you may be thinking why this is on the website? Well although St Paul’s is not the official Parish church (that is St Peter’s) it does play an important part in the parish. The busy A6 that splits Oadby is the main reason a church was built with St Paul’s becoming the church for the northern half of...
read moreKnaptoft Church St Nicholas
Today Knaptoft is a small hamlet of a few houses and farms in the Harborough district some ten miles south of Leicester. It was once a much larger village but most of it was deserted by the 17th century. The only visible remains from the original village are some farm buildings, the medieval fish ponds to the south (restored 1976-82 and now commercial fishing) and the ruined parish church. You can make out earthworks around the east of the church where perhaps the village originally stood. The village was recorded in the Domesday book as...
read moreSt Mary de Castro Walk Inside!
We have had some excellent publicity with the feature in the Leicester Mercury about our recent Google Business Photo tour for the St Mary de Castro church in Leicester. They need urgent repairs to the spire and it seemed an ideal opportunity to help with the new technology from Google. You can read more here – Leicester Mercury Link. If you would like to help with the Spire Appeal or make a donation please contact them on sosstmarydecastro@btinternet.com You can see the tour below and a link to their Google + Local page is here –...
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