Leicestershire county page

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Leicestershire Towns & Parishes

Nearby places

Willoughby Waterleys (Waterless)

Description in 1871:
"WILLOUGHBY-WATERLESS, a parish, with a village, in Lutterworth district, Leicester; 1¾ mile ESE of Broughton-Astley r. station, and 6 NNE of Lutterworth. Post town, Lutterworth. Acres, 1,151. Real property, £2,408. Pop., 372. Houses, 78. The living is a rectory, united with Peatling-Magna, in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £347. Patron, the Rev. W. Strong. The church is chiefly decorated English. There is a national school."
John Marius Wilson's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales," 1870-72

Cemeteries

• The parish purchased a 1/2 acre lot for use as a cemetery in 1904 and placed it under the Parish Council's control.
  
  

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Census

• The parish was in the Lutterworth sub-district of the Lutterworth 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 was dedicated to St. Mary.
  
  
• St. Mary's church was built in the Norman period.
  
  
• The church was thoroughly restored in 1875.
  
  
• The church seats 300.
  
  

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Church Records

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1559.
  
  
• The church was in the rural Guthlaxton deanery (third portion).
  
  
• The Baptists built a chapel here in 1877.
  
  

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Civil Registration

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

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Description and Travel.

Willoughby Waterleys is a parish and a village 8.5 miles south of Leicester city, 6 miles north-east of Lutterworth and about 2.5 miles south of Countesthorpe. Ashby Magna parish lies to the south-west. The parish covers just 1,166 acres.

If you are planning a visit:

• By automobile, take the A426 arterial road south out of Leicester city and through Blaby. After you cross the M1 motorway, the village will be off to the left (east) about 1 mile.
  
  

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History

• The land around the village has been mostly pasture for centuries.
  
  
• In the 1800s and early 1900s many of the workers in the parish were graziers and/or farmers.
  
  

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Manors

• The web page author has been unable to find any discription of a manor house or hall at Willoughby Waterleys.
  
  

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Maps

• The national grid reference is SP 5794.
  
  
• You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer map, which has 2.5 inches to the mile scale.
  
  
• You can view an online map at the Axcis site.
  
  
• See our Maps page for additional resources.
  
  

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Names, Geographical

• The name "Willoughby" is common throughout England and normally derives from "hamlet or village where willows grow".
  
  
• The origin of the name "Waterleys" or "Waterless" is unknown.
  
  
• "Willoughby Waterless" is the official name of the parish, but "Willoughby Waterleys" is the preferred usage.
  
  

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Politics and Governance

• The parish lies in the Guthlaxton Hundred in the southern division of the county.
  
  
• This place is an ancient parish of Leicestershire.
  
  

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, this parish became part of the Lutterworth Poorlaw Union.
  
  

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Population

Year	Inhabitants
1841	348
1871	377
1881	316
1891	279
1901	244
1911	207
1921	210
1931	206
1951	213
1961	191

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Schools

• A National School was built here in 1846 to hold 51 children.
  
  

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