NORTH-WEST LEICESTER
In 1956 the boundaries of Leicester included in the
north-western section of the city a number of areas
which were formerly extra-parochial. (fn. 1) The existence
of several small areas outside the usual parochial
organization was due to the inclusion of the district
in Leicester Forest (fn. 2) during the early Middle Ages.
An entry in Domesday Book states that the woodland
of the whole sheriffdom, (fn. 3) called 'Hereswode', (fn. 4) was
four leagues in length and one league in breadth, (fn. 5)
and this may refer either to Leicester Forest or to
Charnwood Forest. Domesday Book does not state
who held the forest, but in the late 11th century
Leicester Forest may have been in the hands of
Hugh de Grentemesnil. (fn. 6) At an inquest taken in 1253
it was stated that Robert de Beaumont, Count of
Meulan and Earl of Leicester (d. 1118), who had
acquired the rest of the Grentemesnil lands in
Leicestershire, (fn. 7) had regulated the rights of the men
of Leicester to collect wood in the forest; (fn. 8) certainly
from before 1168 it was in the possession of the
earls of Leicester, from whom it descended to the
earls and dukes of Lancaster, and in 1399 it passed
to the Crown as part of the Duchy of Lancaster. (fn. 9)
The districts which form the north-west of the. city
of Leicester were mostly in origin part of Leicester
Forest, but were divided from it at different times.
Until separation occurred, each district shared the
history of the whole forest, and very little is known
of the history of individual places before separation
took place. The account given here of each extraparochial place will therefore in general begin with
its separation from the rest of the forest.
Beaumont Leys
Beaumont Leys, formerly an extra-parochial place,
acquired the status of a civil parish under the Act of
1857. (fn. 10) It then had an area of 1,210 acres. In 1892
parts of the parishes of Belgrave and Leicester Abbey
were transferred to Beaumont Leys. (fn. 11) In 1935 almost
all Beaumont Leys was brought within the city of
Leicester, the remainder being added to the parishes
of Anstey and Thurcaston. (fn. 12) Beaumont Leys lay on
the boundary between the hundreds of West Goscote and Sparkenhoe, and there seems little doubt
that it was originally in Goscote hundred. (fn. 13) During
the 17th and 18th centuries it seems at times to have
been considered as being in Sparkenhoe. (fn. 14) Beaumont
Leys contains Leicester's main sewage works, which
occupy much of the area, but agriculture is still carried on. The soil is mostly Boulder Clay, with some
sand and gravel in the small valley near Beaumont
Leys Farm and on the slope leading to the Soar
valley in the east of the area. (fn. 15)
Beaumont Leys was granted by Simon de Montfort to the Hospitallers, (fn. 16) probably in 1240, when
Simon is known to have sold some forest land near
Leicester. (fn. 17) In 1274–5 the Hospitallers possessed 8
carucates of land at Beaumont, attached to their
preceptory at Dalby on the Wolds. (fn. 18) In the 13th century a small part of Beaumont Leys was transferred
to Leicester Abbey, (fn. 19) and was apparently absorbed
into the abbey's lands adjoining it to the south. (fn. 20)
The Hospitallers' lands at Beaumont were administered by a separate bailiff in the 14th century, and
seem to have consisted largely of meadow and
pasture. (fn. 21)
In 1482 Beaumont Leys was acquired in exchange
for the rectory of St. Botolph's, Boston, from the
Hospitallers by the Duchy of Lancaster, (fn. 22) which already possessed Leicester Forest. Shortly afterwards
Edward IV imparked Beaumont Leys, and it remained a royal deer park until Henry VIII removed
the deer and disparked it in 1526. (fn. 23) In the same year
much of Leicester Forest was inclosed, and the inhabitants of Leicester were given limited rights to
pasture livestock in Beaumont Leys, in compensation for pasture rights lost through the inclosure. (fn. 24)
This gave rise to a dispute between the town and
John Corbet, who had leased Beaumont Leys from
the duchy, and in 1551 Corbet was forced to agree
that the town could pasture cattle and horses in the
Leys. (fn. 25) More litigation followed, (fn. 26) and a further
agreement about pasture rights was made in 1561. (fn. 27)
How long these rights continued to be exercised is not
known. They may have ceased when Elizabeth I
granted Beaumont Leys to Sir Henry Skipwith,
whose son and grandson sold it to Sir Edward
Moseley, a Lancashire baronet, before 1639. (fn. 28)
Moseley devised it to his nephew, another Edward
Moseley, who in 1656 sold it to German Pole. (fn. 29)
After being in the hands of William Rawlinson, who
was in possession in 1686, Beaumont Leys was acquired early in the 18th century by William Aislabie,
M.P., whose descendants continued to hold it until
after 1832. (fn. 30) Aislabie's great-granddaughter, a Miss
Lawrence, devised it to Admiral Sir Cornwallis
Ricketts, Bt., who was the owner in 1846. (fn. 31) On
Admiral Ricketts's death, in 1885, the property
passed to Sir Robert Tempest. (fn. 32) In the same year
Sir Robert agreed to sell 100 acres at Beaumont Leys,
and to lease for 30 years about 1,260 acres (comprising
practically the whole of Beaumont Leys and some
land outside it) to Leicester Corporation, which required the land for sewage works. (fn. 33) From 1887 onwards very extensive works were carried out by the
corporation, though the pumping of sewage did not
begin until 1890. (fn. 34) The greater part of Beaumont
Leys remained in the ownership of the Tempest
family until it was bought by Leicester Corporation
in 1901. (fn. 35) In 1956 the corporation were still the
owners.
Beaumont Leys has always been agricultural, with
a small population. In the late 18th century the land,
though all owned by one person, was usually divided
between five or six occupiers, but there seem to have
been only two farm-houses. (fn. 36) In 1801 there were 20
persons living in Beaumont Leys, all engaged in
agriculture; there were only 2 houses. (fn. 37) In 1831 the
population was just under 30, and it remained at
about that level until in 1891 the boundaries of
Beaumont Leys were enlarged. (fn. 38)
For ecclesiastical purposes Beaumont Leys seems
always to have been an extra-parochial area, and in
1956 it still remained one. (fn. 39) Like all other lands
which had formed part of Leicester Forest in the
12th century, Beaumont Leys was liable to pay tithe
to the Norman Abbey of St. Evroul. (fn. 40) In 1338 the
Hospitallers were paying 26s. 8d. yearly in lieu of
tithes to the Prior of Ware (Herts.), an English cell
of St. Evroul. (fn. 41) At one time the tithes seem to have
been farmed from Ware by Leicester Abbey. (fn. 42)
In 1415 the possessions of Ware were granted to
the Carthusian Priory of Sheen (Surr.), and subsequently Sheen seems to have received the tithes of
Beaumont Leys. (fn. 43) There is no record of any tithes
having been paid after the Dissolution, when
Sheen's rights of tithe fell to the Crown, which was
already the owner of the property.
Beaumont Leys has at times been described as a
manor, (fn. 44) but there is no evidence that a manor court
was ever held. In the north-west of the area there
is a rectangular earthwork, known as Castle Hill,
about 200 yards long and about 130 yards wide. It
consists of a ditch and low bank, the distance between
the bottom of the ditch and the top of the bank varying from 3 to 8 feet. The origin and purpose of this
work are unknown. (fn. 45)
Braunstone Frith
Braunstone Frith is a small district on the western
fringe of Leicester. The district was formerly an
extra-parochial place in Sparkenhoe hundred, but
under an Act of 1857 it became a separate civil
parish. (fn. 46) Its area was 232 acres. (fn. 47) In 1935 the area
was absorbed into the city of Leicester. The soil is
nearly all Boulder Clay; in 1956 most of the district
was occupied by a housing estate belonging to
Leicester Corporation.
Braunstone Frith was first separated from Leicester
Forest in 1526, when the large district in the forest
known as the Frith was inclosed and divided into a
number of separate pastures. (fn. 48) After the inclosure
the Dean and Canons of the College of St. Mary in
the Newarke at Leicester, a foundation closely connected with the Duchy of Lancaster which owned
the forest, claimed compensation for the loss of certain common rights that they had previously enjoyed in the uninclosed Frith, and in consequence
Henry VIII allotted to the college certain rights in
Braunstone Frith. (fn. 49) As early as the reign of Elizabeth
I it was uncertain exactly what rights Henry VIII
had granted to the college. (fn. 50) After the inclosure of
1526 Braunstone Frith was leased out by the Duchy
of Lancaster. (fn. 51) Towards the end of Elizabeth I's
reign the corporation of Leicester, which was leasing
from the Crown the grange in the South Fields formerly owned by the dissolved College of St. Mary, (fn. 52)
claimed on the basis of Henry VIII's grant to
have the right to lease certain closes, containing
about 60 acres, as part of the grange. (fn. 53) The corporation succeeded for a time in making good its claim to
lease the closes, (fn. 54) but its possession of them as part
of the college grange was repeatedly challenged. In
1598 the corporation protested against the possibility
of the closes being leased to Robert Worship. (fn. 55) In
1600, after some litigation, the corporation decided
that it was necessary to place its claim to the closes
on a secure basis, (fn. 56) but that was not achieved, and
further litigation took place over the closes in 1609–
14. (fn. 57) Finally in 1613–14 the corporation, though
it succeeded in buying the whole grange, gave up
its claims in the closes in Braunstone Frith to
John Sherman, who then acquired the disputed
property. (fn. 58)
Meanwhile the Duchy of Lancaster presumably
remained the owner of the rest of Braunstone Frith.
It is not known when the duchy disposed of this
remaining part, but by 1705 the whole of Braunstone
Frith was being held in fee farm by William Inge. (fn. 59)
The property remained in the hands of his descendants, the Inges of Thorpe Constantine (Staffs.),
until 1795. (fn. 60) Braunstone Frith was then acquired by
John Kirk, who remained the owner for only three
years. (fn. 61) From 1799 to 1804 the owner was William
Hook, who had previously occupied the land as
Kirk's tenant. (fn. 62) The property then came into the
hands of Clement Winstanley, a large landowner in
the adjacent parishes of Braunstone and Kirby
Muxloe. (fn. 63) Braunstone Frith remained in the hands
of Winstanley's descendants until it was bought by
Leicester City Corporation in 1925. (fn. 64) The corporation was still the owner in 1956.
After its inclosure in 1526 Braunstone Frith was
used as pasture. (fn. 65) From the late 18th century until
after the purchase of the land by Leicester corporation in 1925 the parish formed a single farm. (fn. 66) In
1930 the corporation decided to use Braunstone
Frith as the site for an airfield, which was opened in
1935. (fn. 67) In 1950 it was decided to appropriate 125
acres at the Frith, including a large part of the airfield,
for a municipal golf course. Most of the remainder
of the parish was laid out shortly afterwards as a
housing estate. (fn. 68) Since 1945 much of the eastern part
of the parish has become a housing estate owned by
Leicester corporation.
For ecclesiastical purposes Braunstone Frith has
always been, and in 1954 still remained, extraparochial. (fn. 69)
Freak's Ground
Freak's Ground was until 1891 a separate civil
parish, immediately to the west of the borough of
Leicester. The status of Freak's Ground as an administrative unit is for a long period obscure. A small
and almost uninhabited area, it seems to have remained in an indeterminate position until the late
19th century. A map of 1828 marks Freak's Ground
as an extra-parochial liberty. (fn. 70) In the census of 1841
it was returned as part of the Augustine Friars
liberty, in the borough of Leicester. (fn. 71) In 1851 and
1861 Freak's Ground was listed as an extraparochial place outside the borough, (fn. 72) and in 1871
and 1881 as a separate civil parish. (fn. 73) It seems certain
that Freak's Ground was not included in the
borough until 1891, though as late as 1877 it was by
some oversight not assessed for the county rate at
all. (fn. 74) Under an Act of 1891 the whole of Freak's
Ground was brought within the borough of
Leicester, and included in Leicester Abbey parish. (fn. 75)
The area of the former civil parish was 49 acres. (fn. 76)
The southern part of the former parish is occupied
by several streets of 20th-century houses, but the
northern part is covered by allotments. The soil is
mostly Keuper Marl. Freak's Ground forms a
rough rectangle of 48 acres on the western slope of
the Soar valley and the land rises to some 230 ft.
above sea-level at the western boundary. The line of
the Leicester and Swannington Railway, built in
1830–2, (fn. 77) runs through Freak's Ground; the line
was in 1956 controlled by British Railways Eastern
Region, but was little used. The northern boundary
of the parish is formed by the road from Leicester to
Ashby de la Zouch. This road was placed under the
care of a turnpike trust in 1753, (fn. 78) and in 1810 some
land which formed part of Freak's Ground was sold
to the trustees for road improvement. (fn. 79) The eastern
boundary is formed by the medieval track known as
the Fosse Road. (fn. 80)
It is not known when Freak's Ground was first
separated from Leicester Forest, but it seems to have
been inclosed before 1526, when further large inclosures took place in the northern part of the forest. (fn. 81)
By 1577 Freak's Ground was owned by Henry, Earl
of Huntingdon, who in 1589 sold it to Philip Freake,
a prominent Leicester butcher. (fn. 82) Freake devised the
property to his son John, (fn. 83) who in 1625 sold it to
Leicester corporation. (fn. 84) In 1956 the corporation was
still the owner of almost the entire parish.
Philip Freake presumably used his land for grazing stock for his large butchering business, (fn. 85) though
when he acquired the property from the Earl of
Huntingdon it included some arable. (fn. 86) The parish
remained agricultural until well into the 19th century. (fn. 87) In 1871 a small fever hospital was built in
Freak's Ground by Leicester corporation. The
buildings were of corrugated iron and covered 2
acres. (fn. 88) The hospital was enlarged in 1893, but some
years later it was replaced by a new hospital at Gilroes, opened in 1900. (fn. 89) Most of the remaining land
was by the end of the 19th century laid out by the
corporation in garden plots, (fn. 90) which in 1956 still
occupied much of the parish. In the 1870's the corporation made use of Freak's Ground for loading the
borough's night soil upon the railway. This practice
led in 1878 to the prosecution of the corporation by
Blaby sanitary authority, and the county magistrates ordered the corporation to abate the nuisance
that had been caused. (fn. 91) In 1933 the corporation decided to build several streets of houses in the southern
half of Freak's Ground, to provide accommodation
for people displaced by street improvements and by
the clearance of unhealthy districts in other parts of
the city, mainly in St. Margaret's parish. (fn. 92)
A windmill in Freak's Ground is marked on maps
of 1828, (fn. 93) 1832, (fn. 94) and 1868. (fn. 95) The mill had disappeared by 1891. (fn. 96)
Freak's Ground was extra-parochial for ecclesiastical purposes until 1904, when it became part
of the newly established parish of St. Augustine,
Newfoundpool. (fn. 97) It still remained in that parish in
1956.
Gilroes, successively an extra-parochial place (fn. 99) and
a civil parish, lies to the north-west of Leicester. The
area became a civil parish under the Extra-Parochial
Places Act of 1857, and the civil parish was dissolved
in 1935 when Gilroes was transferred to Leicester
county borough. (fn. 100) Its area in 1885 was 185 acres. (fn. 101)
The soil is Boulder Clay, overlying gravel and red
marl.
Gilroes is first mentioned in 1322, when it was in
Leicester Forest. (fn. 102) The pasture between the roads
from Leicester to Groby and to Anstey, given to
Leicester Abbey by Robert FitzParnell, Earl of
Leicester, and recovered from the abbey by his successor, Simon de Montfort, (fn. 103) may have included
Gilroes. It is uncertain whether in 1322 the area was
fully inclosed, though it was then at least partly
hedged. (fn. 104) Gilroes appears then to have been partly
woodland, as timber from the coppice of Gilwro is
mentioned. (fn. 105) In 1354 Henry, Earl of Lancaster, the
Lord of Leicester Forest, allowed Henry Dowel to
inclose Gilroes, in return for a yearly rent of £4. (fn. 106)
It was probably as a result of this grant that the area
was finally cleared of timber and became permanent
pasture. In 1585–6 Gilroes was being leased out by
the Duchy of Lancaster. (fn. 107) It is not known when the
duchy disposed of the property, but by 1639 it had
come into the possession of Sir Edward Moseley, (fn. 108)
who possibly acquired Gilroes in 1628, when much
land in Leicester Forest was sold by the duchy. (fn. 109)
Moseley, at his death in 1639, devised Gilroes to
his nephew, also called Edward Moseley, who in
1656 sold a great deal of property, including some,
and probably all, of Gilroes, to German Pole. (fn. 110) By
1705 Gilroes was owned by Sir Nathaniel Curzon,
Bt., (fn. 111) and it remained in the hands of the Curzon
family until after 1795. (fn. 112) Subsequently Gilroes was
sold, and by 1811 it was in the hands of three owners,
of whom Henry Harrison, of Leicester, was much
the most important. (fn. 113) The Harrison family remained
in possession of most of Gilroes until 1896, when
nearly all of Gilroes was purchased by Leicester
corporation, (fn. 114) which in 1956 was still the principal
owner.
Gilroes was for long a purely rural area, despite
its nearness to Leicester. It seems unlikely that any
of the Curzon family lived there, and during the late
18th century the property was in occupation of one
or two tenants of theirs. (fn. 115) The Harrison family, too,
though they seem to have farmed the land themselves, and not let it to tenants, (fn. 116) did not live at Gilroes, but left the land to be occupied by their
labourers. (fn. 117) In 1811 the population was 4. In 1851
there were 8 inhabitants, and in 1871 10. (fn. 118) Leicester
corporation began to lay out a cemetery in the western part of Gilroes immediately after their purchase
of it in 1897, (fn. 119) and in 1956 much of the area was
occupied by this municipal cemetery. A hospital for
infectious diseases was opened by the corporation at
Gilroes in 1900, (fn. 120) and subsequently very extensive
hospital buildings have been erected. Originally the
property of Leicester corporation, the hospitals were
transferred to the Ministry of Health under the
National Health Act of 1946.
For ecclesiastical purposes Gilroes remained extraparochial in 1954. (fn. 121)
Leicester Abbey Parish
Leicester Abbey, an extra parochial place which
acquired the status of a civil parish under the ExtraParochial Places Act of 1857, lies on the west bank
of the Soar, to the north-west of the ancient borough
of Leicester. In 1892 a small part of the parish was
transferred to Beaumont Leys, and the rest was incorporated in Leicester county borough. (fn. 122) In 1896
the civil parish of Leicester Abbey was merged in the
civil parish of Leicester. (fn. 123) The area of the parish was
838 acres. (fn. 124) The site of the abbey itself, with some
adjacent land, is now a public park, but the rest of
the former parish had in 1956 nearly all been built
over. The district is largely residential, and includes
in the north Leicester corporation's Stocking Farm
housing estate which was begun after 1948 and where
large-scale building was still continuing in 1955. In
the eastern part of the former parish, however, there
are a number of factories, many of them concerned
in the preparation of foodstuffs. The only buildings
of historic interest in the parish are those on the
site of Leicester Abbey. (fn. 125) Of the abbey buildings
virtually nothing survives, owing to their destruction
shortly after the surrender of the abbey to the crown
in 1538. (fn. 126) In 1923 and 1928 the site of the abbey was
partially excavated, and some foundations were discovered. Subsequently a reconstruction of the
foundations of the chief abbey buildings has been
laid out. To some extent this reconstruction is based
on the extant remains, but for the rest it is conjectural. (fn. 127) A survey of the buildings, apparently
drawn up shortly after the Dissolution, has survived,
but it is difficult to reconcile the statements made in
it with the existing remains. (fn. 128) The medieval wall,
partly brick and partly stone, around the abbey precincts, still survives. The brick portion is known to
have been built by John Penny, abbot 1496–1509. (fn. 129)
Within the grounds of the abbey are the remains
of a large mansion, said to have been built by Henry,
Earl of Huntingdon (d. 1595), and usually called
Cavendish House. (fn. 130) In 1645 it was destroyed by the
royalists, shortly after Charles I's capture of Leicester. (fn. 131) Fairly extensive remains of the mansion still
exist, (fn. 132) and from them it is evident that the house
was partly constructed with stone from the abbey
buildings. (fn. 133)
In a close to the north-west of the abbey precincts
there formerly stood a stone, once about 7 ft. high,
known as St. John's stone. For a long time previously to the 19th century it was customary on St.
John's Day to pay visits to the stone, which was
vaguely supposed to have magical properties.
Presumably the beliefs connected with the stone
were survivals from the midsummer rites of pagan
antiquity. In the 19th century the stone was destroyed by the occupier of the close. (fn. 134)
Leicester Abbey was founded in 1143 by Robert
le Bossu, Earl of Leicester, who presumably gave to
the new monastery its site and the immediately
adjacent land. (fn. 135) In the 13th century, probably in
1240, (fn. 136) Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester,
granted to the canons of Leicester 320 acres of land
near the abbey. (fn. 137) The land thus granted was the
estate later known as Stocking Farm, which formed
the northern part of Leicester Abbey parish, (fn. 138) and
after this addition to its possessions the abbey held
most, if not all, of the land in the area of the later
civil parish. In 1484 the abbot was granted the right
to hold a weekly market, and a yearly fair for five
days, at the abbey. (fn. 139)
In 1538 Leicester Abbey was surrendered to the
king, (fn. 140) who in 1539 leased it to Francis Cave for 21
years. (fn. 141) In 1550 the site of the abbey, with other
nearby property which apparently included Stocking
Farm, and which probably included most if not all
of the area of the civil parish, was granted by the
Crown to William Parr, Marquess of Northampton. (fn. 142)
In 1553 the abbey property came into the Crown's
hands again through Northampton's attainder, (fn. 143) and
most of it was granted in the same year to Sir Edward
Hastings, later Lord Hastings of Loughborough. (fn. 144)
The change of ownership from Northampton to
Hastings reflected the political circumstances of the
age, for Northampton had been influential under
Edward VI, while Hastings was Queen Mary's
Master of the Horse and one of her Privy Council. (fn. 145)
In 1558 Hastings obtained from the Crown two
woods, which had not been granted to him in 1553,
though they had been included in Northampton's
grant of 1550. (fn. 146) One at least of the two, Stockinge
Wood, was probably within the area of the civil
parish, for it was presumably adjacent to Stocking
Farm. (fn. 147) In 1561 Hastings of Loughborough was imprisoned, and the site of Leicester Abbey, with the
adjacent lands, is said to have been granted in 1562
to his kinsman, Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, who in turn sold it back to Hastings of
Loughborough. (fn. 148) Early in 1572 Hastings of Loughborough returned the abbey lands to the queen, who
granted them to Sir Christopher Hatton; before the
end of the year he in turn granted them to the Earl
of Huntingdon. (fn. 149) The motives for this complex
series of transactions are not clear. The abbey
property remained in the hands of the earl and of
other members of the Hastings family until 1613,
when it was sold to William Cavendish, Earl of
Devon. (fn. 150) The Cavendish family owned the land until the 3rd Duke of Devonshire sold it to Lord
William Manners in 1733. (fn. 151) From Lord William the
land descended to his illegitimate son John Manners,
who married Louisa, later Countess of Dysart in her
own right. (fn. 152) John Manners was succeeded by his
son, Sir William Manners, Bt., and after Sir
William's death in 1833 the ownership passed to his
descendants, the earls of Dysart. (fn. 153) In 1815 Sir
William Manners's property at Leicester Abbey was
said to amount to 1,500 acres. (fn. 154) This must have included practically the whole parish, and it is probable
that the property had descended undivided to Sir
William from the Hastings and Cavendish families.
The property remained in the hands of the earls of
Dysart until after 1918. (fn. 155) About 1920 the last Earl of
Dysart (fn. 156) sold much of his property in the parish to
William Parker. (fn. 157) In 1919 the earl offered to give 32
acres in the parish, including the site of Leicester
Abbey, to the city corporation. This offer was
accepted, and the abbey precincts became a public
park. (fn. 158) In 1948 much land at Stocking Farm was
acquired by the corporation for housing purposes. (fn. 159)
It is not clear whether the abbey's site, when
originally granted by the Earl of Leicester, was
wooded, or whether it was meadow land, as is perhaps more probable from its proximity to the Soar.
The name of St. Mary in the Meadows which the
abbey acquired shows that at a later date the land
around it must have been meadow. The 320 acres
given to the abbey by Simon de Montfort were partly
woodland. (fn. 160) In 1352 the canons of Leicester imparked a wood near their monastery, (fn. 161) but it is not
certain exactly where this new park was situated.
Until the Dissolution much land close to the abbey
was retained in demesne by the canons, and used to
produce food for the monastery's needs. (fn. 162) At the
Dissolution, the demesne around the abbey included
56 acres of arable, 10 closes of pasture totalling 157½
acres, 103 acres of meadow, and a park totalling 180
acres. (fn. 163) Of this property the 56 acres of arable was in
two fields which lay outside the area of the later civil
parish, (fn. 164) while the park, which at the Dissolution was
being used as pasture and was stocked with deer, (fn. 165)
was no doubt that adjacent to the abbey buildings. (fn. 166)
Of the closes, one covering 3 acres lay within the
great wall surrounding the conventual buildings, (fn. 167)
and two others, Ashe Close and Pinders Close, with
Ashe Meadow, lay within the later parish, in its
south-east portion near the river Soar. (fn. 168) The location
of the other closes and meadow is unknown; some
at least of them may have been outside the parish
area. It seems, however, that by the 16th century
much land in the parish consisted of closes used as
pasture, and it is likely that the whole area was enclosed by the Dissolution. (fn. 169)
Until well into the 19th century Leicester Abbey
remained free from urban development. For many
years from the 18th to the early 20th centuries the
former abbey precincts were used as a nursery garden. (fn. 170) As late as 1891 the parish was almost entirely
agricultural land, and the population was only 76; (fn. 171)
a pumping station had been built near the Soar under
the Leicester Sewerage Act of 1851. (fn. 172) By 1920, how
ever, the south-eastern part of the parish had
largely become a residential area, and new streets
were being built along both sides of Abbey Lane
which runs from north to south through the parish. (fn. 173)
Further building followed, and by 1938 only the
north and north-west parts of the parish remained
open ground. (fn. 174) Since 1948 Leicester Corporation
have constructed a large housing estate in the
northern part of the parish.
Leicester Abbey Mill was almost certainly the
new mill between Leicester and Belgrave mentioned
in 1274. (fn. 175) There is no earlier record of the mill,
which was presumably only built shortly before
1274. The abbey mill was a watermill standing on
the west bank of the Soar, a little to the north of the
abbey buildings. (fn. 176) The mill was owned by Leicester
Abbey until the Dissolution, after which it was
granted away with the abbey site. (fn. 177) So far as is
known, the mill was in the possession of the owners
of the abbey site for the rest of its existence. In 1690
part of the mill was in use for fulling and scouring
cloth. (fn. 178) It is not known when the abbey mill fell into
disuse; it is not marked on the detailed and precise
map of Leicester published in 1828, (fn. 179) and it had
definitely ceased to exist by 1852. (fn. 180)
As an extra-parochial area with a small population
the administrative needs of Leicester Abbey were
insignificant. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the expenditure on poor relief seems to have
been negligible. (fn. 181)
Before the Dissolution the site of the abbey and
the other lands which later formed the civil parish
were not included in any parish, and after the Dissolution the precincts and the lands attached to
them formed an extra-parochial liberty. (fn. 182) In 1904 a
small part of Leicester Abbey was placed in the
newly created parish of St. Augustine, Newfoundpool, (fn. 183) but in 1954 the remainder was still extraparochial for ecclesiastical purposes; (fn. 184) the Church of
England then possessed on the Stocking Farm estate
a site, purchased from Leicester Corporation, for
the building of a church.
A Methodist chapel was erected in Fosse Road
North, in the southern part of Leicester Abbey civil
parish, in 1903. (fn. 185) The Baptist Archdeacon Lane
Memorial church in Buckminster Road was built in
1936, in place of the older chapel in Archdeacon
Lane. (fn. 186) In 1954 Leicester Corporation decided to
sell a site on the Stocking Farm estate for the building of a Baptist chapel.
Leicester Frith
The former extra-parochial place known as Leicester Frith was not co-extensive with the larger
area in Leicester Forest known by the same name up
to the 16th century. (fn. 187) The extra-parochial place was
known as Sherman's Lodge or Sherman's Grounds
in the 17th and 18th centuries after the principal
landowning family. It was also known as Markham's
Close. (fn. 188) For many years it lay in West Goscote hundred, having apparently been considered as extraparochial ever since it was separated from Leicester
Forest. (fn. 189) Under the Act of 1857 it acquired the status
of a civil parish. In 1935 nearly all of Leicester Frith
was absorbed into the city of Leicester, and the small
remaining part was placed in Glenfield parish. (fn. 190) For
ecclesiastical purposes Leicester Frith seems to have
been extra-parochial until it was placed in Glenfield
ecclesiastical parish in 1887. (fn. 191) The area of the parish
as it existed in 1935 was 256 acres. (fn. 192) The north-west
boundary of the parish is formed by the ancient road
between Leicester and Anstey known as Anstey
Gorse, which still remained in 1955 a broad track
with wide unenclosed verges. The southern boundary of the parish is formed by the road from
Leicester to Groby, which from 1753 onwards was
part of the turnpike between Leicester and Ashby
de la Zouch. (fn. 193) This road was, until the 19th century,
a broad open ride, similar to Anstey Gorse. (fn. 194) Both
these boundary roads were mentioned about 1200. (fn. 195)
The soil is chiefly Boulder Clay with small patches
of sand and gravel. Leicester Frith House is a brick
mansion, built for Thomas Taylor in 1873. (fn. 196) It is
now (1956) part of the premises of Glenfrith
Hospital.
An enclosure called 'le Marclose', which is mentioned in 1322, may perhaps have been the area
which later became Leicester Frith parish, (fn. 197) but this
is very uncertain. The first definite reference to the
later parish as a distinct unit occurs in 1610, when it
was an inclosure under lease from the Duchy of
Lancaster to John Sherman. (fn. 198) The property was held
by members of the Sherman family at fee farm from
the 17th century until the 19th. (fn. 199) In 1812 Leicester
Frith was held by Mrs. Elizabeth Sherman, but in
1812 or 1813 it was acquired by William Oldham,
the Leicester architect and builder, (fn. 200) whose family
retained it until it was sold in 1861 to Isaac Harrison. (fn. 201) By 1870 much of the property had been acquired by Thomas Swift Taylor, a Leicester cotton
manufacturer. (fn. 202) A large part of the parish remained in
the hands first of Taylor, and then after his death of
his trustees, for some 40 years. (fn. 203) Taylor's trustees were
still in possession in 1909, when 93 acres of Leicester
Frith were bought by Leicester Corporation. (fn. 204) Ten
years later the corporation bought a further 118
acres. (fn. 205) In 1956 the corporation was still the principal
owner, although that part of Leicester Frith which
was used for hospital purposes was vested in the
Ministry of Health.
Until after its acquisition by Leicester Corporation the area was purely agricultural. In 1811 it contained one house and seven inhabitants. (fn. 206) During the
19th century the population slowly increased: there
were 33 inhabitants in 1851, 47 in 1871, and 119 in
1921. (fn. 207)
During the First World War Leicester Frith
House was enlarged and converted into a hospital
for servicemen suffering from neurasthenia. It continued to be used for that purpose until in 1924 it
was handed back to Leicester corporation. The corporation used it for a short time as a convalescent
home attached to Leicester Royal Infirmary, and
then as a hospital for the mentally deficient. (fn. 208) It was
still being used for that purpose in 1956, when it was
known as Glenfrith Hospital. Under the National
Health Act of 1946 it was transferred from the corporation to the Ministry of Health, being administered by the Sheffield Regional Hospital Board. In
1956 the hospital and its grounds occupied a large
area in the southern part of Leicester Frith.
New Parks originally formed part of the large
section of Leicester Forest known as the Frith, in
which the population of Leicester had certain rights
of common. In the 14th century the area contained
a forester's lodge, known as Bird's Nest Lodge,
which was rebuilt in 1377–8. (fn. 210) In 1525–6 the lodge
was again extensively repaired; it was then a moated
building with a drawbridge. (fn. 211) By 1790 the house had
altogether disappeared; (fn. 212) it was still in existence in
1560, (fn. 213) but it was apparently allowed to decay after
New Parks had been inclosed in 1526. The moat
which surrounded the lodge survived until the area
was built over about 1950.
For civil purposes New Parks was for many years
after its creation an extra-parochial place. (fn. 214) From
1871 New Parks was referred to as a civil parish. (fn. 215) In
1935 nearly all of New Parks was absorbed into the
city of Leicester, and the remainder was placed in
the parish of Glenfields. (fn. 216) The area of the original
civil parish was 812 acres. (fn. 217)
New Parks was in 1956 almost entirely covered by
a large modern housing estate owned by Leicester
corporation. The estate consists predominantly of
two-storied houses, including some of the prefabricated type, but some large blocks of flats have
been built. In 1956 almost the whole parish had
been built over. Near the northern boundary of the
parish stands New Parks House, an undistinguished
brick mansion built by a Leicester hosiery manufacturer in 1845–6, (fn. 218) but now possessed by Leicester
Corporation and used as part of a school. In the
south-west of the parish there is a large public park.
New Parks stands on the plateau of Boulder Clay
that borders the Soar valley on the west. The eastern
boundary of the parish coincides very approximately
with the edge of the plateau. The surface soil is mostly
Boulder Clay, overlying gravel and limestone. The
area of New Parks, when it existed as a separate civil
parish, was 789 acres. (fn. 219)
In 1526 the Frith was inclosed, and New Parks was
then first separated from the rest of the forest, and
surrounded by a pale. (fn. 220) It was reported in 1526 that
New Parks would bring in a yearly rental of
£70 7s. 6d. (fn. 221) and presumably the intention was to
rent or lease out the estate, and to retain it as part of
the lands of the Duchy of Lancaster, to which with the
rest of Leicester Forest it then belonged. In 1550
New Parks was granted to William Parr, Marquess
of Northampton, (fn. 222) who obtained other grants of land
in the same district from the Crown. (fn. 223) Northampton
was attainted in 1553, (fn. 224) and all his property was forfeited to the Crown, which presumably then regained New Parks. Bird's Nest Lodge itself was
certainly in the Crown's hands in 1560, when it was
surveyed by a commission set up by the Duchy of
Lancaster. (fn. 225) By 1571 New Parks was in the hands of
William, Lord Cobham, (fn. 226) and it remained in the
ownership of his family until it was forfeited to the
king through the attainder of Henry, Lord Cobham,
in 1603. (fn. 227) In May 1604 New Parks was granted to
Sir William Woodhouse, (fn. 228) but in the following June
the same property was granted to Sir Thomas
Knyvet and to Edward, George, and Nathaniel
Bacon, (fn. 229) to whom Woodhouse may possibly have
transferred his rights. Neither of these grants can
have taken immediate effect, as in 1603 James I
granted a large part of the forfeited Cobham estates
to the wife of the attainted Lord Cobham, and she
was in possession of New Parks, for life, in 1606. (fn. 230)
For more than a century after 1606 the descent of
the property is obscure. (fn. 231) William Mitchell is said to
have died possessed of New Parks in 1745. (fn. 232) The
descent of the property becomes clear again in 1781,
when it was in the hands of a Mr. Clarke. (fn. 233) The
Clarke family remained the owners of New Parks
until 1843, (fn. 234) but subsequently it was divided between various owners. In 1843 a good deal of land
in the northern part of New Parks was acquired by
Thomas Stokes, a Leicester hosiery manufacturer,
and most of the remaining land went to another
hosier, J. O. Harris; (fn. 235) in 1863, though Stokes was an
important landowner, the largest single landlord in
the parish was John Mellor. (fn. 236) For many years the
greater part of New Parks continued to be owned
by Mellor and Stokes, and later by their trustees,
though there were a number of minor owners. (fn. 237)
Nearly all of New Parks was eventually acquired by
Leicester corporation. In 1897 the corporation purchased 183 acres in the south-west of the parish for
use as a public park, (fn. 238) and in 1933–7 it bought most
of the remainder. (fn. 239) In 1956 the corporation was still
the owner of almost all the land.
Presumably New Parks was until its inclosure in
1526 largely woodland. (fn. 240) After the inclosure the area
was evidently cleared, for a survey of 1606 reports
New Parks as consisting of rather less than 702 acres
of pasture, and just over 112 acres of meadow.
There was a small quarry of freestone, but it was
considered valueless. The stock then on the property
consisted of 1,000 sheep, and 40 milch cows, besides
some store cattle and horses. The annual value of
New Parks as a whole was estimated at over £400,
though it was then being rented for only £260 a
year. (fn. 241) New Parks remained purely agricultural until
the late 19th century. In 1801 the population was
only three, and there were only two houses. (fn. 242) In
1871 there was a population of 69, with 11 houses. (fn. 243)
In 1898 Leicester corporation bought a large area in
the south-west of New Parks to form a public park. (fn. 244)
In 1906 a home for incurable patients was established by the Dominican Order near the border of
the parish. (fn. 245) By 1938 the city of Leicester had begun
to spread into New Parks, and the south-east of the
parish had become a residential area. (fn. 246) Since 1945
most of the remainder has become a housing estate
owned by Leicester corporation.
For ecclesiastical purposes New Parks remained
extra-parochial until 1904, when it was included in
the newly created parish of St. Augustine, Newfoundpool. (fn. 247) In 1947 New Parks, with a small part
of Glenfields and part of the parish of St. Anne,
Letchworth Road, was formed into a new ecclesiastical district, St. Aidan's. (fn. 248) The church and
parish hall were begun in 1954 on a site in New
Parks.
Newfoundpool
The origins of the extra-parochial place of New- foundpool (fn. 249) are unknown, and the area does not
appear in any records until the 19th century. It first
appears on a map of 1828, (fn. 250) where it is marked as
an area of open land measuring about 650 yards from
east to west, and about 400 yards from north to
south, situated between Fosse Road North and the
borough boundary as it then existed. In the census
report of 1841 Newfoundpool was listed as part of
the Augustine Friars liberty in Leicester borough, (fn. 251)
and in early census returns its population may have
been included under Augustine Friars. In the reports
of 1851 and 1861 Newfoundpool was listed as a
separate extra-parochial place, (fn. 252) and in 1871 and
1881 as a civil parish. (fn. 253) Under the Leicester Extension Act of 1891 Newfoundpool became part of
Leicester county borough, and in 1896 with the
creation of a new civil parish which included the
whole borough Newfoundpool ceased to exist as a
separate unit. (fn. 254) Although Newfoundpool was part of
the administrative county of Leicester until it was
brought within the borough, as late as 1877 county
rates were not being levied in the area. (fn. 255)
By about 1830 Newfoundpool belonged to Isaac
Harrison, a member of a Leicester firm of market
gardeners, (fn. 256) who discovered and decided to exploit
a spring of medicinal water on the land. (fn. 257) He built
a large house as a hydropathic institution, with
houses for the doctor and his attendants, and for a
time the institution seems to have flourished. (fn. 258) It
failed, however, probably before 1835, (fn. 259) and in 1836
Harrison began to look for coal measures under the
site. He converted the house into one for himself,
and may have sold or leased some of the land to his
brother Henry, who seems to have owned it in 1845,
when some of it was surveyed by the Midland Railway with a view to the construction of a line. (fn. 260) After
the death of both the brothers the property descended to their nephew, Isaac Harrison, and then
to his daughter Beatrice, who about 1885 sold the
land to Orson Wright, a Leicester builder. (fn. 261) He laid
out the area in streets, building some small houses
himself and selling some of the land in building
plots. (fn. 262) The initials of the streets which join Pool
Road and Beatrice Road form an acrostic on the
name 'Isaac Harrison'. By 1891 the development of
the area was almost complete, and the population
had risen from 56 in 1881 to 2,160. (fn. 263)
In 1894 the ecclesiastical parish of St. Augustine,
Newfoundpool, was created. A temporary mission
church had been built in 1888. (fn. 264) A red brick church
was begun in 1901 and completed in 1912. The
architect was W. M. Cowdell. (fn. 265) The ecclesiastical
parish originally included Newfoundpool itself,
Freak's Ground, New Parks, and part of Leicester
Abbey parish. In 1947 a conventional district was
formed for New Parks. (fn. 266)
Newfoundpool had a separate school board, which
was responsible for the construction of the Ingle
Street board school in 1891. This came under the
Leicester school board when Newfoundpool was included in the borough. (fn. 267)