Modern

Modern (40)

1730-1939

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…

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  • 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…

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  • 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

David Adams
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.…

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  • 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,…

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  • 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…

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  • 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…

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  • 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…

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  • 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.
Tuesday, 01 June 2021 10:08

The Railway Arms

The Railway Arms, 6 Station Street, Kibworth Beauchamp   The Railway Arms © The Bitterman and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence The Railway Arms Inn, also known as The Railway and the Railway Tavern was built in 1845 shortly before the Midland Railway Company obtained powers to build a line from Wigston to Market Harborough via Kibworth. The Inn’s location at 6 Station Street was close to the Kibworth Railway Station. (see Kibworth Railway Station-Modern) At the Market Harborough Petty Sessions on 3rd January 1846 the first licence for the Railway Tavern was granted to William Hall, butcher…

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  • 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.
Sunday, 27 December 2020 12:21

POYNTZ ADAMS 1789-1870 Part 2.

POYNTZ ADAMS 1789-1870 Part 2. POYNTZ ADAMS 1789-1870 Part 2. POYNTZ ADAMS 1789-1870 Part 2.
POYNTZ ADAMS 1789-1870 Part 2. May 1811 Dr Poyntz Adams left London to set up as a general practitioner in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire. His career as a country practitioner was ahead of him with a set of expensive instruments bought for him, by his uncle Rev.Thomas Thomas. In a letter from Poyntz Adams at 5, St Thomas’s Tents, Southwark to his uncle. ‘I go to church every Sunday and it is Mr Neve who does duty, his wife called to see me about a poor woman that I am attending. I have got already twenty -six patients on my books.I…

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  • Year 1811
  • Acknowledgement Northampton County Record Office
    Pembrokeshire County Record Office
    National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
Sunday, 27 December 2020 12:13

POYNTZ ADAMS 1789-1870 Part 1.

POYNTZ ADAMS 1789-1870 Part 1. POYNTZ ADAMS 1789-1870 Part 1. POYNTZ ADAMS 1789-1870 Part 1. POYNTZ ADAMS 1789-1870 Part 1.
Grandson of George Foxton of Kibworthcorrespondence with his uncle Rev.Thomas Thomas. ‘A youngest son who had to make his own way’ Whilst Poyntz Adams did not live in Kibworth except on visits his grandfather was George Foxton who lived in Manor Farmhouse, Main Street, Kibworth Harcourt and his aunt Elizabeth Thomas, nee Foxton. His mother Sarah was born, lived her early life and was married in Kibworth before moving to Essex. (see The Foxton Family of Kibworth-modern). From the Rev Thomas Thomas’s’ correspondence we see that Dr Poyntz Adams was educated and financed by him. The letters reveal the difficulties…

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  • Year 1789
  • Acknowledgement Northampton County Record Office
    Pembrokeshire County Record Office
    National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
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