Museum

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Welcome to the Kibworth Village Online Museum. Here you will find a range of artefacts about Kibworth and its people from pre-history down to contemporary times.

 

Thursday, 21 September 2023 09:24

The City, Kibworth Harcourt

The City, Kibworth Harcourt The City is an unusually named small cluster of dwellings situated in a lane to the left off Albert Street just before the junction with Carlton Road. The origin of the name is unknown however there is the thought that places called ‘The City’ were because they were towards ‘London’ so effectively south of the community, whereas areas called ‘Scotland’ were to the north. Burton Overy has a Scotland area!  So maybe in Anglo Saxon or Roman times, the community stretched thinly from the Kibworths (south) to Burton Overy (north) resulting in the name ‘The City’.…

Additional Info

  • Acknowledgement The Kibworth Improvement Team thank and acknowledge the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford for permission to use images on this website of the college and archived material.
Christ Church is a grade ll listed building situated on Saddington Road, Smeeton Westerby. Prior to the building of Christ Church, residents of Smeeton Westerby attended the benefice church of St Wilfrid’s in Kibworth Beauchamp. The Laying of the Foundation Stone: The foundation stone was laid on 1st August 1848 with considerable ceremony. The following is a report of the proceedings published in the Leicester Advertiser: “They commenced with a divine Service at St Wilfrid’s Church, Kibworth Beauchamp, which was crowded with a respectable congregation including nearly 50 of the Clergy of the neighbourhood, amongst which (besides the Rector and…

Additional Info

  • Acknowledgement The Kibworth Improvement Team thank and acknowledge the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford for permission to use images on this website of the college and archived material.
Wednesday, 26 April 2023 09:19

Blondin

BLONDIN Who was Blondin? Jean-François Gravelet was born in 1824, changed his name to Charles Blondin and became a world famous French acrobat and tightrope walker. His fame and fortune followed his tightrope walk over the gorge below the Niagara Falls in 1859.   The Kibworth Connection. Rumour has it that Blondin visited Kibworth Beachamp for a demonstration of his skills. Myth or Fact? Francis P Woodford in his book, A History of Kibworth, adds some weight to the story that Blondin gave a performance in High Street, Kibworth Beauchamp. Woodford describes the event as follows: ‘The Royal Oak Public…

Additional Info

  • Acknowledgement The Kibworth Improvement Team thank and acknowledge the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford for permission to use images on this website of the college and archived material.
Saturday, 12 November 2022 08:50

Smeeton House, Smeeton Westerby

Smeeton House, 3 Main Street, Smeeton Westerby is a Grade ll listed building, first listed in 1989.    Smeeton House (front aspect) Smeeton House was originally two small cottages built in 1734. Around 1800/05 the cottages were converted into one with the addition of a three-storey front extension. The house is built of brick since rendered with plaster. It has a slate roof, a gabled chimney and a moulded cornice. There is a central four panel door with a glazed overlight. On each side of the door are single canted bay windows. Smeeton House is now partially obscured by trees.…

Additional Info

  • Acknowledgement The Kibworth Improvement Team thank and acknowledge the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford for permission to use images on this website of the college and archived material.
Approaching Kibworth Harcourt from Market Harborough along the A6 Harborough Road there is a lay-by on the left-hand side of the road nearly opposite Kibworth cemetery. Before this lay-by was built the road had a sharp double bend designed to assist the horse drawn coaches navigate the incline as the road approaches the village. The double bend was the scene of frequent accidents. A stream which flows from the vicinity of Carlton Curlieu to join the Langton Brook south of Kibworth Beauchamp passes under the Harborough Road and the lay-by at a point known as Rector’s Plantation. The land alongside,…

Additional Info

  • Acknowledgement The Kibworth Improvement Team thank and acknowledge the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford for permission to use images on this website of the college and archived material.
THE KIBWORTH CONGRGATIONAL CHAPEL Congregational Chapel on Leicester Road, Kibworth Harcourt The Kibworth Congregational Chapel is located on the A6 Leicester Road, Kibworth Harcourt near the Wistow Road junction. The Chapel is a Grade II listed building, first listed in December 1966. The two storey Chapel was built with red brick with a Welsh slate roof. The central entrance door to the west of the Chapel is dated 1759.  The Chapel was extended to the east in 1811 to include a vestibule, a vestry, and a schoolroom. In 1815 a gallery was constructed in the Chapel. An organ was donated in…

Additional Info

  • Acknowledgement The Kibworth Improvement Team thank and acknowledge the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford for permission to use images on this website of the college and archived material.
Friday, 04 March 2022 12:05

Kibworth Cemetery and Lychgate

The central cemetery pathway The Kibworth Cemetery is situated on the A6 Harborough Road, Kibworth Harcourt in Leicestershire. During 1891 an extension to the graveyard at St Wilfrid’s Church was discussed at Vestry Meetings. It was decided that an extension to the graveyard was not feasible and on 29th February 1892 a meeting of village residents was held in the Village Hall and a Burial Board was formed. The elected members of this first Burial Board were: Rev. Charles Henry Thomas Cruttwell (Chairman, Anglican Minister) Rev. Edmund Hipwood, (Congregation Minister) Mr. William Henry Ward Mr. George Reginald King Mr. William…

Additional Info

  • Acknowledgement The Kibworth Improvement Team thank and acknowledge the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford for permission to use images on this website of the college and archived material.
   The row of houses, we know as the Villas, on Church Road was originally called Beauchamp Cottages. The six houses were built in the late nineteenth century as a set of large identical semi-detached homes. They formed a unified and symmetrical architectural group, designed and built by John Mason, one of Kibworth’s most celebrated builders. The Masons, very much a family firm, became a local building dynasty. John Mason and his immediate family moved in to one of these houses as soon as it was completed. His son, Edward Woodford Mason, also a builder, lived nearby Edward later took…

Additional Info

  • Acknowledgement The Kibworth Improvement Team thank and acknowledge the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford for permission to use images on this website of the college and archived material.
THE GREAT KIBWORTH HAILSTORM JULY 2021 At about 5.45 pm on Tuesday 20th July 2021 a freak storm hit Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt without touching the surrounding area. The storm lasted for about one and a half hours and during that time 5 weeks’ amount of rain fell causing flash flooding in parts of the villages. Hailstones as big as golf balls rained down on the two villages resulting in smashed car windscreens and dents to the roofs and bonnets of vehicles. Conservatory roofs and greenhouse windows were smashed along with other damage to buildings. The hail also played…

Additional Info

  • Acknowledgement The Kibworth Improvement Team thank and acknowledge the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford for permission to use images on this website of the college and archived material.
THE GRAND UNION CANAL - LEICESTERSHIRE LINE The Leicestershire line of the Grand Union Canal meanders from Leicester to Market Harborough passing through the Parish of Smeeton Westerby from a point southwest of the Smeeton Road Bridge (No. 70) to Debdale Wharf. In 1793 an Act of Parliament was passed enabling the construction of the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal. This new section of canal was intended to link the Soar Navigation near Leicester to the River Nene in Northamptonshire. Construction of the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Canal commenced and by 1797 the canal had reached Debdale where the Debdale Wharf…

Additional Info

  • Acknowledgement The Kibworth Improvement Team thank and acknowledge the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford for permission to use images on this website of the college and archived material.
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