Wyfordby (or Wyverby)
Description in 1871:
"WYFORDBY, a parish in Melton-Mowbray district, Leicester; on the Syston and Peterborough railway, 2¼ miles E of Melton-Mowbray. Post town, Melton-Mowbray. Acres, 1,350. Real property, £2,034. Pop., 144. Houses, 26. The manor belongs to Sir W. E.Hartopp, Bart. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough. Value £193. Patron, Sir W. E.Hartopp, Bart. The church is of the 13th century. There is a national school."
John Marius Wilson's, "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales," 1870-72
- The parish was in the Melton Mowbray sub-district of the Melton Mowbray Registration District.
- In 1935 the parish was reassigned 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 is dedicated to Saint Mary.
- The church was probably built in the 13th century.
- The church plate was presented in the reign of Charles II and bears the date of 1677.
- The church seats about 100.
- For a picture of the church, visit the Leicester Villages page.
- For times of services or to contact the church, visit A Church Near You page.
- Brentingby is a chapelry in the parish.
- The Anglican parish register dates from 1557.
- The church is in the rural deanery of Framland (second portion, later third portion).
- A General Baptist chapel was founded here in 1793 and was rebuilt in 1807.
- A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built here before 1848 and a new chapel built in 1912.
- Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
- The parish was in the Melton Mowbray sub-district of the Melton Mowbray Registration District.
- In 1935 the parish was reassigned to the Melton and Belvoir Registration District.
Wyfordby is a parish, a township and a village in Leicestershire. It is about 108 miles north of London and 3 miles east of Melton Mowbray. The parish covers almost 1,400 acres. Brentingby is a hamlet in the parish.
The village is small and partly abandoned. It sits along the River Eye, just east of Melton Mowbray, If you are planning a visit:
- By automobile, it is probably easiest to take the B676 arterial east out of Melton Mowbray into Wyfordby. Wyfordby should be on your right about 2.5 miles out of Melton. If you reach Saxby, you've gone too far!
- The railway still runs past the heart of the village, but it is not clear to the web page author if passenger service is still available.
- The parish was largely used for grazing land.
- The medieval village of Wyfordby was apparently abandoned in the 14th century due to Plague. The new village of Wyfordby was built just to the north of the old one.
- Review the recent Archaeology Report on Wyfordby by Leicester University (this is a Portable Document file).
- There is no mention of a Manor Hall, house or farm.
- The national grid reference is SK 7914.
- You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer map, which has 2.5 inches to the mile scale.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
- For an aerial map of the countryside, visit the Leicester Villages page.
- This place was an ancient parish in Leicester county and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
- The parish is in the ancient Framland Hundred in the eastern division of the county.
- On 1 April, 1936, this parish was abolished and the area amalgamated into the Freeby Civil Parish.
| Year |
Inhabitants |
| 1841 |
75 |
| 1871 |
103 |
| 1881 |
104 |
| 1891 |
141 |
| 1901 |
115 |
| 1911 |
105 |
| 1921 |
102 |
| 1931 |
86 |
- The parish had a National School built here in 1841. (It may have actually been built in Freeby parish.)
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Last updated: 18-November-2011 - Louis R. Mills
