Leicestershire county page

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Leicestershire Towns & Parishes

Nearby places

Orton on the Hill

Description in 1871:
"ORTON-ON-THE HILL, a village and a parish in Market-Bosworth district, Leicester. The village stands near the boundary with Warwickshire, 3 miles E of Polesworth r. station, and 4 N of Atherstone. The parish comprises 2, 290 acres. Post-town, Atherstone. Real property, £2,779. Pop., 334. Houses, 79. The property is divided. The manor, with Orton Hall, belongs to the Rev. D. S. Perkins. The parish is a meet for the Atherstone hounds. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £236.* Patron, the Bishop of Peterborough. The church is old and tolerable, and has a tower and spire."
John Marius Wilson's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales," 1870-72

Census

• The parish was in the Market Bosworth sub-district of the Market Bosworth 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 Edith.
  
  
• The church was built in the twelfth century.
  
  
• The church seats 250.
  
  

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Church Records

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1594 for baptisms and marriages and from 1554 for burials.
  
  
• The Bishop's Transcripts cover 1604 - 1887 with gaps.
  
  
• The church is in the rural deanery of Akeley (southern division).
  
  

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Civil Registration

• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
  
  
• The parish was in the Market Bosworth sub-district of the Market Bosworth Registration District.
  
  

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Description and Travel.

Orton on the Hill is a village and a parish which lie 106 miles north of London, 7 miles west of Market Bosworth and 4 miles north of Atherstone. The parish bordered Warwickshire to the west and covered about 2,033 acres.

If you are planning a visit:

• By automobile, take the A444 trunk road north out of Nuneaton and at Twycross, turn west onto the county road into Orton on the Hill.
  
  
• Visit the Leicester Village site for photographs.
  
  

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History

• Parliamentary troops visited the parish during the Civil War in 1643 and took several horses from the locals.
  
  

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Maps

• The national grid reference is SK 3003.
  
  
• 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

• This place was an ancient parish in Leicester county and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
  
  
• The parish was in the ancient Sparkenhoe Hundred in the southern division of the county.
  
  
• In March, 1855, this Civil Parish gained several acres from Merevale Civil Parish in Warwickshire.
  
  
• In April, 1935, this Civil Parish was abolished and all 2,033 acres were amalgamated with Twycross Civil Parish.
  
  
• You can contact the local Parish Council regarding civic or political matters, but they are NOT staffed to help with family hisotry searches.
  
  
• District governance is provided by the Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council.
  
  

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• The Coomon Land was enclosed here in 1786.
  
  
• As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act reforms, this parish became part of the Market Bosworth Poorlaw Union.
  
  

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Population

Year	Inhabitants
1801	303
1811	279
1821	370
1831	350
1841	348
1851	330
1861	334
1881	275
1921	208
1931	191

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Schools

• A National School (later a Public Elementary School) was built here in 1839.
  
  

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