Glenfield (or Glenfields)
Description in 1871:
"GLENFIELD, a township and a parish in Blaby district, Leicestershire. The township lies on an affluent of the river Soar, and on the Leicester and Swannington railway, near Kirby-Muxloe station, 3½ miles WNW of Leicester; and has a post office under Leicester. Real property, £2,121. Pop., 522. Houses, 119. The parish contains also the chapelries of Braunstone and Kirby-Muxloe. Acres, 4, 890. Real property, £10,007. Pop., 1,034. Houses, 225. The property is not much divided. A number of the inhabitants are stocking-makers. The living is a rectory, united with the p. curacies of Braunstone and Kirby-Muxloe, in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £818. Patron, R. G. Pochin, Esq. The church is old but good, with a tower; and contains sedilia and a piscina. There are a Wesleyan chapel and a national school."
[John Marius Wilson's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales," 1870-72]
- The parish was in the Enderby subdistrict in the Blaby 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:
Census
Year |
Piece No. |
| 1841 |
H.O. 107 / 600 |
| 1861 |
R.G. 9 / 2258 |
| 1891 |
R.G. 12 / 2501 |
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to St. Peter.
- The church was built in 1877 of granite and replaced an older structure nearby.
- The original church was built in the 15th century but was in decay by 1911.
- The church seats 260.
- The Anglican parish register dates from 1597 and is in fair condition.
- The church was in the rural deanery of Guthlaxton (first portion).
- The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here in 1821.
- The parish was in the Enderby subdistrict in the Blaby Registration District.
Glenfield is a village, a township and a parish which are about 3.5 miles west-north-west of Leicester city, and 108 miles north of London. The village is part of the conurbation of Leicester city. The parish covers 772 acres. Glenfield Frith and Kirby Frith are both extraparocial liberties connected with the parish. Glenfield Frith became its own parish around 1870 as did Kirby Frith.
If you are planning a visit:
- By automobile, take the A50 arterial north-west out of the heart of Leicester. After about 2 miles, you will see signs to turn off for Glenfield.
- Glenfield used to have rail passenger service, but the station is now closed.
- The parish has its own Return to top of page
- The village is recorded in the 1066 Domesday Book, but was greatly enlarged in the 1920s-60s. Several large housing estates have been built in recent years, furthering the growth.
- The railways came to Glenfield in July, 1832, with a station built for the world's third steam railway, the Leicester and Swannington Railway.
- Frith Hall was the residence of Isaac HODGSON in 1849.
- Glenfield Frith Hall was the seat of Sir Samuel FAIRE in 1911. The web page author is not certain if this the same hall as mentioned above.
- The national grid reference is SK 5405.
- 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.
- Th village of Kirby Muxloe in this parish was considered "the most bombed village" in England during World War II. See hte Memoirs page for for more on this 1940 experience.
- In 1921 a military memorial cross was erected near the church to commemorate the men who died in the Great War. It would be nice to have a list of names from the monument.
- This place was an ancient parish of Leicestershire and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
- The parish was in the Sparkenhoe Hundred (Wapentake) in the southern division of the county.
- On 1 April, 1935, this parish was abolished to create Glenfields Civil Parish (note the trailing "s"). This was a merging of Glenfield with Glenfield Frith Civil Parishes.
- You can check out the Glenfield Parish Council page for local politics, but they do NOT do family history research for you. They have neither the staff nor the time.
- As a result of the Poor Law Amendment Act reforms of 1834, the parish became part of the Blaby Poorlaw Union.
- Bastardy cases would be heard in the Leicester petty sessional hearings.
| Year |
Inhabitants |
| 1841 |
511 |
| 1871 |
553 |
| 1881 |
632 |
| 1891 |
734 |
| 1901 |
997 |
| 1911 |
1,105 |
| 1921 |
1,121 |
| 1931 |
1,590 |
- A National School was built here in 1831 by Thomas H. PARES.
- The parish also had an infant school built before 1881. The infants' school was enlarged in 1895 to hold 80 children.
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[Last updated: 28-March-2012 - Louis R. Mills]
