Leicestershire county page

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Leicestershire Towns & Parishes

Nearby places

Medbourne

Description in 1871:
"MEDBOURNE, a village, a township, and a parish in the district of Uppingham and county of Leicester. The village stands on a rivulet near its influx to the river Welland at the boundary with Northamptonshire, and under a hill near the site of a Roman station on the Via Devana, 1 mile NNE of Medbourne-Bridge r. station, and 6¼ NE of Market-Harborough; and has a post office under Market-Harborough. The township extends beyond the village, over. the greater part of the parish. Real property, £3,517. Pop., 580. Houses, 119. The parish includes also the township of Holt. Pop. of the whole, 613. Houses, 128. The property is divided among a. few. The manor belongs to Cosmo Nevill, Esq. A Roman pavement, coins, pottery, and other relics have been found at Medenborough, the site of the Roman station. The living is a rectory, united with the chapelry of Holt, in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £630. Patron, St. John's College, Cambridge. The church is old but good; and consists of nave, S aisle, transepts, and chancel, with a tower. There are a Wesleyan chapel, a free school with £32 a year from endowment, and charities £56"
John Marius Wilson's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales", 1870-72

Census

• The parish was in the Great Easton subdistrict of the Uppingham 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.
  
  

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Church History

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Giles.
  
  
• The original construction date is the thirteenth century.
  
  
• The church chancel was rebuilt in 1875.
  
  
• Other portions of the church were restored or rebuilt in 1880.
  
  
• The church was restored again in 1912.
  
  
• The church seats 200.
  
  
• A Mission Hall was built in the village around 1875.
  
  

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Church Records

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1588.
  
  
• The church was in the rural deanery of Gartree (third portion).
  
  
• The Wesleyan Methodists had a chapel here before 1849.
  
  
• The Congregationalists built a chapel here in 1870.
  
  

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Civil Registration

• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
  
  
• The parish was in the Great Easton subdistrict of the Uppingham Registration District.
  
  

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Description and Travel.

Medbourne is a parish, a township and a village about 86 miles north of London, 7.5 miles southwest of Uppingham (in Rutland county) and 6.5 miles northeast of Market Harborough and 18 miles south-east of Leicester city. The parish is bounded on the south by the River Welland which is flowing east to The Wash. The parish covers 1,856 acres.

If you are planning a visit:

• By automobile, take the B664 arterial road south-west out of Uppingham or north-east out of Market Harborough.
  
  

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History

• Medbourne village sits on the north edge of the old Roman Road that runs to Leicester city.
  
  

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Maps

• The national grid reference is SP 7993.
  
  
• 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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Politics and Governance

• The parish was in the southern division of the county in the ancient Gartree Hundred (or Wapentake).
  
  
• The parish included the chapelry of Holt.
  
  
• The parish covered 2,560 acres in 1881, but was reduced to 1,856 acres by 1891.
  
  

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• After the Poor Law Amendment Act reforms of 1834, the parish became part of the Uppingham Poorlaw Union.
  
  
• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Market Harborough petty session hearings.
  
  

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Population

Year	Inhabitants
1841	534
1871	488
1881	556
1891	428
1901	427
1911	393
1921	380
1931	352
1951	398
1961	374

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Schools

• The Free School operated in the church in 1849.
  
  
• A new Public Elementary School was built and given to the parish by the Rev. L. P. BAKER in 1868. This school was enlarged in 1912 to hold 125 children.
  
  

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