Sharnford
As described in 1871:
"SHARNFORD, a parish, with a village, in Hinckley district, Leicester; on the river Soar and the Fosse way, 3 miles N N W of Ullesthorpe r. station, and 4 E S E of Hinckley. Post-town, Hinckley. Acres, 740. Real property, £3,629. Pop., 589. Houses, 130. The property is much subdivided. Frame-work knitting is carried on. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £450. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church was restored in 1866. There are a Wesleyan chapel, a national school, and charities £9."
[John Marius Wilson's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales," 1870-72]
- The parish was in the Burbage sub-district of the Hinckley 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 6 covers the Burbage and Earl Shilton sub-district which includes Sharnford.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
Census
Year |
Piece No. |
| 1861 |
R.G. 9 / 2259 |
| 1891 |
R.G. 12 / 2502 |
- The Anglican parish church was dedicated to Saint Helen.
- The church was built in the Gothic style and contains a square tower.
- The church was repaired in 1846.
- The church was restored in 1866.
- The church seats 200.
- The Anglican parish register dates from 1593. Some sources give 1566.
- The church was in the rural deanery of Guthlaxton (second portion).
- The Wesleyan Methodists had a chapel built here in 1827.
- Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
- The parish was in the Burbage sub-district of the Hinckley Registration District.
Sharnford is a village and a parish 93 miles north of London, 4 miles east of Hinckley and 8 miles north-west of Lutterworth. The River Soar passes through the parish, but it is here much reduced in flow most of the year. The parish covers 1,439 acres.
If you are planning a visit:
- By automobile, the village is just off the Old Foss Way, now the B114 arterial road, south out of Leicester city. If you reach Whatling Street, you've gone too far.
- The village has two public houses; The Sharnford Arms and the Countryman.
- At last check, there was no petrol service in the village.
- During the English Civil War soldiers from the garrisons around Coventry came to this village in search of horses and "provinder".
- The land around the village has been mostly pasture for centuries, with the rest of it in oats, wheat and root crops.
- In the 1800s, most of the people here were either framework knitters or farmers.
- Immediately south of the village is "High Cross", presumably a good place to cross the River Soar.
- "High Cross" may be the location, or near it, of the Roman station of Venonis. Venonis stood at the intersection of the Fosse Way and Watling Street.
- The parish has no lord of the manor.
- The national grid reference is SP 4891.
- You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer map, which has 2.5 inches to the mile scale.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
- The name Sharnford is in the 1086 Domesday Book as Scerneford.
- A "sceane" is a muddy crossing or ford over the River Soar.
- This place was an ancient parish of Leicestershire and became a Civil Parish when those were established.
- The parish lies in the Sparkenhoe Hundred in the southern division of the county.
- In April, 1935, this parish gained 8 acres from Copston Magna Civil Parish in Warwickshire as the boundary was aligned.
- As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, this parish became part of the Hinckley Poorlaw Union.
- Bastardy cases would be heard in the Market Bosworth petty sessional hearings.
| Year |
Inhabitants |
| 1841 |
624 |
| 1871 |
472 |
| 1881 |
459 |
| 1891 |
361 |
| 1901 |
418 |
| 1911 |
373 |
| 1921 |
399 |
| 1931 |
469 |
- There was a Free School here by 1849. In 1871 it was enlarged and entitled as a National School. By 1912 it was a Public Elementary School.
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Last revised: 16-November-2011 - Louis R. Mills]
