Ravenstone

The Ashby de la Zouch Library will prove useful in your research.

Dave KELLY has a photograph of St. Michael & All Angels churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2006.

• The parish was in the the Whitwick subdistrict of the Ashby-de-la-Zouch 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:
   

• The Anglican parish church for Ravenstone is dedicated to Saint Michael and All Angels.
   
• The church building dates from 1325.
   
• This chancel was restored in 1884.
   
• Snibton had a very ancient Chapel of Ease which is now dedicated to Saint Mary and is the smallest church still in use for regular worship in England.
   
• Andrew TATLOW has a photograph of St. Mary's chapel on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2011.
   
• There was also a temporary wooden church at Highlands in Snibton which was dedicated to Saint Faith.
   

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1705 and is in very good condition.
   
• The church was in the rural deanery of Repton.
   
• The Weslyean Methodists had a chapels built here in 1806.
   

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

Ravenstone is a village and a parish 13 miles north-west of Leicester city and 4 miles south-east of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The parish lies 121 miles north of London within the National Forest of England and covers 1,731 acres, but had covered almost twice that, 2.413 acres, in 1891.

Snibton is a a former coal mining village that used to be a part of Coalville. According to Wikipedia, it is: "now dominated by the Snibston Discovery Museum, built on the site of the former colliery and consisting of an award-winning interactive museum..."

The village is in a fertile valley on a stream that feeds into the Soar River. If you are planning a visit:

• By automobile, pick up the A512 just east of Ashby-de-la-Zouch and head toward Loughborough. After you cross the A447, Ravenstone is just off to the left.
   

Cris SLOAN has a photograph of the elaborate Village Sign on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2007.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• The transcription of the section for Ravenstone from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin HINSON.
   
• You can also read John Marius WILSON's entry in Vision of Britain from his "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1870-72".
   
• John BARTHOLOMEW's, "Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887)." tells us:
  
  Ravenstone, vil., Leicestershire, and par., partly also in Derbyshire - par., 1130 ac., pop. 451; vil., 4 miles SE. of Ashby de la Zouch; P.O.; Ravenstone Hall is the seat of the Fosbrooke family.

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Ravenstone to another place.

Nigel ASPDIN has a photograph of the Parish Pinfold on Geo-graph, taken in October, 2009.

• An archeological excavation in 1981 found a Romano-Bristish settlement just south of the present village.
   
• 3rd century iron-smelting pits and kilns have also been found in the area.
   

• Ravenstone Hall stands on Ashby Road in Ravenstone.
   

• See our Maps page for additional resources.
   

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK404137 (Lat/Lon: 52.719138, -1.403847), Ravenstone which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

• There is a cross in the churchyard facing Main Street that was dedicated in late 1920. The cross bears 32 names.
   
• There are two Commonwealth War Graves in the churchyard. One for WWI and one for WWII.

In the churchyard of St. Michael's Church:

1. John WATSON, pte. Machine Gun Corps, died 30 November 1918, age 32, husband of Edith Emma WATSON.
    
2. George Thomas GOUGH, gunner Royal Artillery, died 6 August 1941.

• The name is derived from the Old Norse Hraefnes, the name of a Saxon invader, and the suffix tun, meaning "Hrafn's farm or village".
   

Jane TAYLOR in Redcar has this announcement from the Derby Mercury of 31 October, 1804: MARRIED: "On Monday se'nnight, Mr. Wm. QUINNEY, of Ravenstone, in this county, to Mrs H. GODDARDS, of Coventry."

• Theis place was an ancient chapelry in Glen Magna parish in Leicestershire.
   
• The parish was about half in Leicestershire and half in Derbyshire.
   
• The parish was in the ancient West Goscote Hundred in the western division of the county.
   
• The Derbyshire portion was in the ancient Repton and Gresley Hundred.
   
• Ravenstone was not established as a Civil Parish until December, 1866.
   
• In March, 1884, this parish was enlarged in size to merge Ravenstone parish with the hamlet of Snibston taken from Packington Civil Parish. The parish also received "Alton Grange" from Ashby de la Zouch Civil Parish. The parish name then became "Ravenstone with Snibston".
   
• In April, 1912, this parish was reduced by 34 acres to enlarge Coalville Civil Parish.
   
• In April, 1936, this parish was reduced by 514 acres to enlarge Coalville Civil Parish.
   
• You can visit the Parish Council web site to discuss civil or political issues, but they will NOT do family history lookups for you.
   
• District governance is provided by the North West Leicestershire Council.
   

• Around 1711, Rebecca and Francis WILKINS established almshouses (sometimes it was refered to as a hospital) for up to 32 poor females above the age of 50 from both Derby and Leicester. A chapel was added in 1784 and four additional buildings in 1860.
   
• The Common Lands were enclosed here in 1770.
   
• As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act reforms, the parish became part of the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Poorlaw Union.
   

Year	Inhabitants
1801	409
1841	394
1851	396
1871	409
1881	451

Woodstone Community Primary School was formed by combining two local primary schools in Snibston and Ravenstone. The school moved from separate sites to a completely new school site at the south edge of Ravenstone village just before Easter 2006.

Andrew TATLOW has a photograph of the new Woodstone Community School on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2006.