Sewstern
Description in 1871:
"SEWSTERN, a chapelry in Buckminster parish, Leicester; 1 mile S S E of B. village, and 5¼ E N E of Saxby r. station. Post-town, Colsterworth, under Grantham. Real property, £2,424. Pop., 307. Houses, 67. The manor belongs to the Earl of Dysart. The living is annexed to Buckminster. The church was built in 1842; and there is a Wesleyan chapel."
John Marius Wilson's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales," 1870-72
- The parish was in the Waltham sub-district of the Melton Mowbray Registration District until 1935.
- In 1935, the parish was transfered to the Melton and Belvoir 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. |
| 1861 |
R.G. 9 / 2304 |
| 1891 |
R.G. 12 / 2546 |
- The Anglican parish church was built as a Chapel of Ease in 1842.
- An older chapel existed but was destroyed many years before 1842.
- The parishioners attended church at Buckminster while waiting for the new chapel to be built.
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
- The church seats 130.
- The church holds a feast on the Sunday after October 10th.
- The Anglican parish register dates from 1538.
- The church is in the rural deanery of Framland (second portion).
- The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here prior to 1849. A new chapel was built as a replacement in 1904.
- Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
- The parish was in the Waltham sub-district of the Melton Mowbray Registration District until 1935.
- In 1935, the parish was transfered to the Melton and Belvoir Registration District.
Sewstern is a village, a township, a chapelry and a parish 10 miles south of Grantham, 9 miles east-northeast of Melton Mowbray and 123 miles north of London. The parish is in the Wold Hills and is bordered by Gunby parish in Lincoln county to the east and Wymondham parish to the south. The parish covered about 1,200 acres.
If you are planning a visit:
- There is a village street scene at the Leicestershire Villages web site.
- By automobile, take the B676 arterial road east out of Melton Mobray toward Colsterworth (Lincolnshire). Turn south at Buckminster and go about 1 mile to find Sewstern village.
- There is bus service to Sewstern from Melton Mowbray.
- Most of the parish land was held in pasturage. Much of the remaining land was used for small farms.
- Small scale iron mining, in open pits, occurred here in the 1800s and early 1900s.
- The national grid reference is SK 8821.
- You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer map, which has 2.5 inches to the mile scale.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
- This place was an ancient Chapelry in the parish of Buckminster and became a modern Civil Parish in December, 1866.
- The parish was in the ancient Framland Hundred in the northern (or eastern) division of the county.
- On 24 March, 1884, the parish was reduced in size with parcels going to Buckminster Civil Parish.
- On 1 April, 1936, Sewstern Civil Parish was abolished and the remining 1,117 acres went to Buckminster Civil Parish.
- See Buckminster Civil Parish for local and district governance links.
| Year |
Inhabitants |
| 1841 |
202 |
| 1861 |
307 |
| 1871 |
232 |
| 1881 |
201 |
| 1891 |
203 |
| 1901 |
167 |
| 1911 |
189 |
| 1921 |
222 |
| 1931 |
241 |
- A Council School was built here around 1860, enlarged in 1873 and rebuilt in 1898. It could hold 120 children.
- The children of this chapelry/parish attended the National School at Buckminster.
- The school lies on the border between Sewstern and Buckminster.
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[Last updated: 19-November-2011 - Louis R. Mills]
