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Leicestershire Towns & Parishes

Nearby places

Blackfordby

Description in 1871:
"BLACKFORDBY, a chapelry in Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Seal parishes, Leicester; 2 miles NW of Ashby-de-la-Zouch r. station. Post Town, Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Acres, 1,117. Real property, £3,064. Pop., 645. Houses, 129. The church was recently rebuilt. There are a Wesleyan chapel and a national school."
[John Marius Wilson's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales", 1870-72]

Census

• The parish was in the Hartshorn subdistrict of the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Registration District.
  
  
• The 1851 census for Leicestershire has been indexed by the Leicestershire & Rutland Family History Society. The whole index is available on microfiche. The society has also published it in print.
  
  
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
  
  

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Church History

• The ecclesiastical parish was formed on 15 February, 1876, from Blackfordby chapelry and parts of Holy Trinity ecclesiastical parish of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and Woodville and Donisthorpe ecclesiastical parishes in Derbyshire. The ecclesiastical parish extended into Derbyshire.
  
  
• The Anglican parish church for Blackfordby is dedicated to Saint Margaret.
  
  
• The church was rebuilt in 1858 to replace a structure that had existed since the 11th century.
  
  
• A clock was added in 1920 to commemorate the 28 men who fell in World War I.
  
  
• The church seats 300.
  
  

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Church Records

• The earliest Anglican parish register dates from Febr., 1653 to Febr., 1790.
  
  
• The remaining Anglican parish register dates from 1854 for baptisms, 1813 for burials and 1876 for marriages.
  
  
• The church is in the rural deanery of West Akeley.
  
  
• The Wesleyan Methodists had a chapel here prior to 1912.
  
  

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Civil Registration

• The parish was in the Hartshorn subdistrict of the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Registration District.
  
  
• Civil Registration started in July, 1837.
  
  

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Description and Travel.

Blackfordby is a Civil Parish with two villages; Blackfordby and Boothorpe. It lies on the border with Derbyshire, about 120 miles north of London, 2 miles north-west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The parish covers over 1,230 acres.

Boothorpe is a hamlet or village which is three-quarters of a mile south-west of Blackfordby church. If you are planning a visit:

• By automobile, take the A50 west out of Leicester city to Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Blackfordby is just two miles beyond.
  
  
• Check the Leicester Villages site to see if anything is going on in the area.
  
  

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History

• in the 1800s and early 1900s the parish made bricks, sanitary pipe and pottery.
  
  
• The village had a station on the Midland railway in 1881.
  
  

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Manors

• Blackfordby Hall is mentioned in 19th and 20th century directories, but no description or past is given.
  
  

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Maps

• The national grid reference is SK 3217.
  
  
• You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer map, which has a scale of 2.5 inches to the mile.
  
  
• See our Maps page for additional resources.
  
  

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Politics and Governance

• For centuries, this place was a chapelry and a township in Ashby-de-la-Zouch parish.
  
  
• Blackfordby became a modern Civil Parish in late 1866 during a drive to extend civil government to all people.
  
  
• The parish was in the ancient West Goscote Hundred in the Loughborough (or Western) division of the county.
  
  
• On 24 March, 1884, a detached part of Over and Nether Seal was transferred to this parish.
  
  
• On 30 September, 1897, a portion of this parish was transferred to help create Woodville Civil Parish in Derbyshire.
  
  
• On 1 April, 1936, this Civil Parish was abolished and 775 acres returned to Ashby-de-la Zouch Civil Parish and the remaining 464 acres went to Ashby Woulds Civil Parish.
  
  

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• Due to historical reasons, the poor of this parish participated in the charities available to the poor of Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
  
  
• As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, Blackfordby became part of the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Poorlaw Union.
  
  

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Population

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Schools

• The parish built a Public Elementary School near the church in 1889 to hold up to 71 children and 46 infants.
  
  
• St. Margaret's Church of England Primary School has its own website, but no real history of the school is posted.
  
  

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[Last updated: 18-November-2011 - Louis R. Mills]