Leicestershire county page

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Leicestershire Towns & Parishes

Nearby places

Normanton le Heath

Description in 1871:
"NORMANTON-LE-HEATH, a chapelry in Nailstone parish, Leicester; 1¾ mile E of the boundary with Warwick, and 2½ S E by S of Ashby-de-la-Zouch r. station. Post-town, Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Acres, 1, 320. Real property, £2,680. Pop., 178. Houses, 36. The property belongs to Lord Belper. The chapelry is a meet for the Atherstone hounds. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £210. Patron, the Crown. The church is ancient; was restored in 1853; and has a tower and spire, beautiful windows, and an old carved screen. There are a Wesleyan chapel and a national school."
[John Marius Wilson's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales", 1870-72]

Caution: Normanton is a common village name in the Danelaw region of England. There is even a second one in Leicestershire.

Census

• The parish was in the Measham 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 and Volume 7 covers the Measham subdistrict.
  
  
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
  
  

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Church History

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to The Holy Trinity.
  
  
• The church is considered "an old building" and has a spire with 2 bells. The church was built during the reign of Edward III and is about 700 years old.
  
  
• The church was restored about 1853.
  
  
• The church was renovated in 1895.
  
  
• The church spire was restored in 1898.
  
  
• The church seats 150.
  
  
• The church is a Grade II listed English Heritage building considered "at risk".
  
  

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Church Records

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1695 but the early years have been defaced.
  
  
• The church is in the rural deanery of South Akeley.
  
  
• The Wesleyan Methodists had a chapel here prior to 1849.
  
  

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Civil Registration

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

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Description and Travel.

Normanton le Heath is a small village, a township and a parish about 116 miles north of London, 16 miles west-northwest of Leicester city, and just 1.5 miles northwest of Ibstock. The parish covers about 1,366 acres and borders Derbyshire.

A small beck (stream) exits the south side of the village heading for the River Sence. If you are planning a visit:

• By automobile, take the A447 to Ibstock and turn west onto the B591. At Heather, continue past the north side of the village and on about 1.5 miles to Normanton le Heath.
  
  
• You can visit the village electronically at Leicestershire Villages web site.
  
  
• There are two Parish Walks in Normanton le Heath. Both start near the church.
  
  

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History

• An Iron Age settlement has been unearthed near the boundary with Heather and Ravenstone.
  
  
• The Roman road between Leicester and Chester has been found to run directly through Normanton. The Salt Way which ran through Measham can also be traced to Normanton.
  
  
• This place was not mentioned in the Domesday Book survey of 1056, but is first mentioned in 1209.
  
  
• By the mid-1850s, the local coal mines had been worked out. Most of the inhabitants of this parish were farmers in the latter half of the 1800s.
  
  

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Manors

• The web page author could find no description of a Manor House or Hall in Normanton le Heath.
  
  

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Maps

• The national grid reference is SK 3810.
  
  
• 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

• This place was a Chapelry in Nailstone parish for centuries, but was incorporated as a Civil Parish in 1852.
  
  
• The parish was in the ancient Sparkenhoe Hundred in the western division of the county.
  
  
• It appears that the parish has elected to have "Parish Meetings" rather than have a "Parish Council." They meet in a parish forum each quarter to decide issues affecting the village and 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 Ashby-de-la-Zouch Poorlaw Union.
  
  

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Population

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Schools

• The parish built a Public Elementary School (National School) in 1846 to hold up to 40 children.
  
  

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