Leicestershire county page

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Leicestershire Towns & Parishes

Nearby places

Bottesford

Description in 1877:
"Bottesford, a large and well-built village and parish in Framland Hundred, Grantham Union and County Court District, in 1871 had 1315 inhabitants, living in 300 houses, on 5010 acres of land. The rateable value of the parish is £9285. It is situated on the banks of the small river Devon in the Vale of Belvoir, and lies in the north-eastern apex of the county 4 miles N of Belvoir Castle, W. by N. of Grantham and 16 E of Nottingham, having a station on the Grantham and Nottingham Railway.....The manor anciently called Bottles ford or Bocklesford, has been held by the owner of Belvoir since the time of the Norman Conquest. The church,(St. Mary's) is a large and handsome cruciform structure of fourteenth and fifteenth century work, with alterations made after the Reformation, and consists of a nave, spacious chancel, having aclerestory windows, two aisles, south porch, and north and south transept, with a square tower at the west end, and surmounted by a handsome octagonal crocketed spire, rising to the height of 222 feet, of which the tower measures 87 feet. The tower contains a fine peal of six bells, re-hung in 1869."
[White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of the Counties of Leicester and Rutland. 3rd Edition 1877]

Note: There is a Bottesford parish in Lincolnshire, often confused with this one.

Bibliography.

• Holyoak, V (1995),"On the Wings of the Morning: RAF Bottesford 1941-1945", Vincent Holyoak, Leicester.
  
  
• Honeybone, M (1989), "The Book of Bottesford", Barracuda Books, Buckingham, England
  
  

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Census

• The parish was in the Denton sub-district of the Grantham 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. Volume 7 includes Bottesford.
  
  
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
  
  

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Church History.

• The Anglican parish church was dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin.
  
  
• The church dates back to 1170.
  
  
• A picture of the church can be found on the MeltonWeb site.
  
  
• Several monuments in the church, including some removed from Belvoir Priory are dedicated to the Earls and Dukes of Rutland prior to 1828.
  
  

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Church Records

Registers held at The Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland include:-(DE829/DE4411/DE5016/DE5119)

• Baptisms 1563 - 1941
• Banns 1871 - 1977
• Marriages 1563 - 1912
• Burials 1563 - 1995

• The Society of Genealogists holds details of marriages at St. Mary The Virgin Parish Church for the period from 1563 - 1812 which can be studied at their library in London.
  
  
• Guy Etchells has the Bottesford Parish Marriages, 1745 to 1772 online.
  
  

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Civil Registration

• Bottesford is served by Melton and Rutland.
  
  

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Description and Travel.

Bottesford is both a parish and a village about 100 miles north of London and they lie in the Vale of Belvoir. The county boundary of Lincolnshire lies to the east. The town of Grantham is 5 and a half miles to the east, Melton Mobray is 17 miles to the south and Newark is 11 miles to the north. The River Devon runs through the west side of the parish. The parish covers about 1,500 acres.

If you are planning a visit:

• The MeltonWeb site includes details of villages within the Borough of Melton Mowbray. This includes a brief description of Bottesford.
  
  
• By automobile, take the A52 westward out of Granthm toward Nottingham. The village is just north of the road after passing Sedgebrook.
  
  

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Emigration and Immigration

• In the 1830s Bottesford families were encouraged to emigrate to save their being chargeable to the parish and were offered £1 plus their fare to emigrate. Village labourers had pay cuts and many local farmers agreed only to employ local men.
  
  

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History

• For a little local colour, check out the Bottesford Friendly Society.
  
  

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Maps

• The national grid reference is SK 8139.
  
  
• Multi Media Mapping have provided a map showing the location of Bottesford.
  
  
• See our Maps page for additional resources.
  
  

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Military Records

• Leicestershire Records Office holds a list of parishioners who served in the armed forces in WW1 (DE4867).
  
  

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Politics and Governance

• The parish was in the ancient Framland Hundred.
  
  
• The civil parish was merged with Muston in 1936. The villages share a parish council.
  
  

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• The Common Lands were enclosed here in 1771.
  
  
• After the Poor Law Amendment Act reforms of 1834, the parish became part of the Grantham Poor Law Union.
  
  

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Population

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This parish page was developed by Tim Arguile with research assistance from Guy Etchells.

Follow this link to find help, report problems or contribute information.

[Last updated: 9-May-2009 - Louis R. Mills]