Leicestershire county page

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Leicestershire Towns & Parishes

Nearby places

Burton Lazars

Description in 1871:
"BURTON-LAZARS, a chapelry in Melton-Mowbray parish, Leicester; adjacent to the Melton-Mowbray and Oakham canal, and to the Syston and Peterborough railway, 1¾ mile SE by S of Melton-Mowbray. Post Town, Melton-Mowbray. Acres, 2,060. Real property, £4,506. Pop., 233. Houses, 52. The property is divided among a few. A lepers' hospital was founded here in the time of Stephen, partly by a general collection throughout England, but chiefly by the Mowbrays; and was the chief lazar-house in England. The living is a p. curacy, annexed to the vicarage of Melton-Mowbray, in the diocese of Peterborough. The church is good."
John Marius Wilson's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1870-1872"

Census

• The parish was in the Somerby sub-district of the Melton Mowbray Registration District until 1935.
  
  
• In 1935, the parish was transfered to the Melton and Belvoir 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 Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint James.
  
  
• The church was built of ironstone.
  
  
• The church was restored in 1850 when a new chancel was built.
  
  
• The church was restored again in 1887.
  
  
• The church seats 200.
  
  
• There is a photograph of St. James Church on the Wikipedia site.
  
  
• There is another photograph of St. James Church on the Leicestershire Villages site.
  
  

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Church Records

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1778 (another source gives 1762).
  
  
• The church is in the rural deanery of Framland (third portion).
  
  
• The Wesleyan Methodists built a church here around 1895.
  
  

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Civil Registration

• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
  
  
• The parish was in the Somerby sub-district of the Melton Mowbray Registration District until 1935.
  
  
• In 1935, the parish was transfered to the Melton and Belvoir Registration District.
  
  

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Description and Travel.

Burton Lazars is a village, a township and a parish 2 miles southeast of Melton Mowbray and 120 miles north of London. Stapleford parish lies to the west. The parish is in the Wold Hills and is just a few miles from the border with Lincoln county to the east. The parish covered about 2,780 acres.

If you are planning a visit:

• By automobile, take the A606 arterial road south out of Melton Mobray toward Oakham. Take the first left (north) to Burton Lazars village.
  
  
• There is a photo of Lag Lane leading to Burton Lazars at the Geograph web site.
  
  
• Should you need a meeting hall for all your living relatives, use the Burton Lazars Village Hall.
  
  

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History

• The religious ("crusading") Order of Saint Lazarus established leper hospitals with the first being in Jerusalem in 530 A.D. The English branch of the order was based at Burton Lazars, Leicestershire in 1150. Lord Roger de Mowbray opened a leper hospital, the Hospital of St Mary and St Lazarus of Jerusalem, to take advantage of the natural spring water in the 12th century. It was suppressed by Henry VIII in 1544 and demolished about 100 years later. Extensive earthworks on the south-west side of the village mark its site.
  
  
• You may find books and maps available at the Francis Frith web site.
  
  
• Burton Lazars was famous in the early 1900s for its steeplechase racecourse, with grandstand, just east of the village. Here is a view from the end of the racecourse at Geograph.
  
  
• In 1760, water from the sulphurous spring was piped to a small bath-house built by the side of the Oakham to Melton road. The venture failed and the bath-house was pulled down.
  
  
• In the 1800s, the land around the village was mostly pasturage.
  
  

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Manors

• Burton Hall was the residence of George COATS in 1912.
  
  
• A large mansion was under construction in 1881 and slated to be the home of Captain Ashton.
  
  

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Maps

• The national grid reference is SK 7616.
  
  
• You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer map, which has 2.5 inches to the mile scale.
  
  
• See our Maps page for additional resources.
  
  

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Names, Geographical

• The name originates from Burton Saint Lazarus.
  
  

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Politics and Governance

• This place was an ancient township in the county and became a modern Civil Parish in late 1866.
  
  
• The parish was in the ancient Framland Hundred in the northern division of the county.
  
  
• On 1 April, 1936, this parish was abolished and 552 acres given over to Melton Mowbray Civil Parish and the remaining 2,228 acres went to Burton and Dalby Civil Parish.
  
  

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, this parish became part of the Melton Mowbray Poorlaw Union.
  
  

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Population

Year	Inhabitants
1841	262
1861	233
1871	260
1881	244
1891	311
1901	240
1911	238
1921	192
1931	197

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Schools

• A Public Elementary School was built in 1835 for 45 children.
  
  

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