| Ashby Magna | |
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Ashby Magna
Ashby Magna shown within Leicestershire |
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| Population | 294 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SP5690 |
| Shire county | Leicestershire |
| Region | East Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Lutterworth |
| Dialling code | 44 1455 |
| Police | Leicestershire |
| Fire | Leicestershire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
| List of places: UK • England • Leicestershire | |
Ashby Magna is a small English village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire. The parish had a population of 294 at the 2001 UK census. It is in the south of the county, and lies midway between junctions 20 and 21 of the M1. Nearby places are Willoughby Waterleys, Gilmorton, Peatling Parva and Dunton Bassett.
The village is of Danish origin and recorded in the Domesday Book as 'Essebi' or 'Asseby'. Its name derives from the 'ash' tree, from 'by', Old Danish for a farmstead or settlement, and from 'Magna', Latin for great. It was large by medieval standards but the population has remained static at around 300-400.
The Manor of Ashby Magna was sold to Thomas Pares, along with the manor of Cotes-de-Val, by Shukbrugh Ashby (a Fellow of the Royal Society) in 1760.
The Great Central main railway line, the last main line to be built from the north of England to London, was opened on 15 March 1899 and ran just to the west of Ashby Magna, separating it from the village of Dunton Bassett, and a station was provided bearing Ashby Magna's name although it was much the smaller village of the two. Dunton Bassett gave its name to a short (92 yard) tunnel just south of the station. The line closed on 5 May 1969. In its latter years it had been joined by the M1 motorway which parallelled it on the east side.
According to the National Archive
Welcome to Ashby Magna
Ashby Magna is a typical small English village set in fertile undulating farmland in the Midlands. It lays mid-way between junctions 20 and 21 on the M1 and mid-way between Leicester and Rugby.
It also lies almost as far from the sea as possible in Britain, near the North Sea / Bristol Channel watershed, near the crossing of two of Britain’s longest Roman Roads (Watling Street & Fosse Way), near the junction of two of its longest motorways, beside one of Britain’s finest former railways, and near the ‘Leicestershire Round’ footpath.
But why think of travel when you can linger instead and discover a very ordinary village whose buildings and memories tell extraordinary tales at every turn?
The village is of Danish origin and recorded in the Domesday Book as 'Essebi’ or ‘Asseby'. Its name derives from the 'ash' tree, from 'by', Old Danish for a farmstead or settlement, and from 'Magna', Latin for great. It was large by medieval standards but its population has remained at around 300-400 and so many of the fascinating clues to its past have not been eradicated by development
The Trail starts here at the Church.
Church and Moated Manor
Looking eastwards, the view is typical of the local mixed rolling farmland used for crops, animals, and woodland. Ahead slightly right in the copse of trees is the site of a moated manor house [3]. Recent field-walking by members of the village discovered fragments of 13th century pottery close to the moat suggesting that there might have been a mediaeval village here using the manor’s defences in times of attack.
Retracing your steps, the church [4] is substantially 13th century with chancel, nave, and north aisle. The tower was added in the 15th century when bell-casting developed; the bells would summon weary workers home from the fields as well as to services. The clock commemorates the 1937 coronation of Queen Elizabeth’s father, King George VI.
The churchyard contains a number of possibly unique 19th century iron crosses which might have been cast in the village. Please let us know if you have seen any elsewhere. A headstone on the far side of the church records the death in 1802 of James Kilpack, 'fchoolmafter and Clerk of this Parifh' and of the sad life of his daughter of whom it says, ‘fhe was deprived of fpeech’. The Church’s Baptism Register records occupations and you can date the first railway worker, motor vehicle driver and motorway construction worker.
Four Vicarages and a Farm
The house beyond the church [5] was built as the vicarage in the 1950s and is now a private home. The present vicar lives nearby and his deeds forbid him complaining about the church bells!
Across the road is Church Farm [6]. Villages in this region were farming communities spaced regularly 3 km apart each farming a radius of 1.5 km around. The farmhouse is dated 1836 with a variety of outbuildings around a courtyard including timber-framed and mud-walled barns beside the road.
On the village side of the church is a very fine former vicarage built in 1866 [7] It must have replaced an earlier vicarage in which a sporting vicar constructed the first grass tennis court in Leicestershire in 1846.
The former vicarage coach-house and stables [8] housed servants and stable-hands. The attractive building with a double gable-front was used as the parish rooms and by a scout group.
Return to the junction [1] and turn right. The remainder of the Trail makes an anti-clockwise circuit of the village.
You are now in Peveril Road. It was formerly 'Main Street’ but as every village had a Main Street, it was renamed after William Peveril (also known as William Peverel) who was Lord of the Manor during the Norman Conquest.
Food, drink and spirits
The 18th century brick cottage [9] was one of the village bakeries and is still thatched beneath corrugated iron. In 1871, it was home to Benjamin Howkins, a brewer, whose potent ales helped a local farmer dip more than his sheep. He stood in a barrel in the middle of a pool to dip his sheep; access to the barrel was by gangplank and one day after imbibing Howkin's ale
At the end of the cul-de-sac is The Hall Farm [10] probably 18th century with an early-19th-century front and originally of brick on a granite plinth. It contains evidence of a dairy, cheese room, bake house and possibly a bacon-curing chamber.
Following Peveril Road around, two farmhouses [11] face the village with outbuildings around courtyards, both now converted to homes. Follies Farm has a timber frame partly replaced by brick in the early 19th century. The adjacent Ivy House Farm is possibly 18th century, re-roofed in the late 19th century.
Pegasus Cottage [12] thatched, early 17th century, timber-framed with low eyebrow windows, is an artists’ favourite. Timber details suggest that it once had more wooden bays.
Fantam House [13] was the village shop run by Mrs Fantam until she was over 90 and, appropriately, she was licensed to sell spirits!
The Trail turns left along Old Forge Road
Craft and Industry
Old Forge Road was formerly 'Back Lane'. It was also renamed and is now the main through route.
Hubbards Farm [14] is an 18th-century redbrick building with a portico. It was named after its first owner and became Leicestershire’s first Youth Training Farm in the 1980s. The farmhouse has been renovated and the outbuildings demolished and replaced by five new homes reflecting some of the original details. ‘Essebi House’ revives the village’s original name. Part of the land was purchased recently by the Parish Council for recreation and conservation. The lane to the left of the new houses was once the way to Leicester.
Number 20 [15] stands on the site of a former tailor's premises. Later, a dentist lived there and false teeth are sometimes found in the garden! On a fine day, there are excellent views north to Leicester and the Charnwood Hills.
This long narrow house [16] was the village smithy and villagers can remember the heavy leather bellows used to heat the fire; perhaps the churchyard crosses were cast here.
The Trail turns left into Peveril Road.
Manor Farm
Looking westwards towards the spire of Dunton Bassett Church, the bumps in the field in the foreground [17] are known as ‘The Banks'. They appear to be platforms on either side of a sunken extension of Peveril Road and may have been floors of homes of an earlier village.
To the west is the M1 Motorway and just beyond that, the former route of the Great Central Railway. It was built in 1898 to European standards anticipating, with impressive foresight, a cross-Channel link-up. Closed in the 1960s, there are plans to re-open the route to the Channel Tunnel. Ashby Magna had its own station and the Merrie Monk public house just across the M1 was the Station Hotel.
The farmhouse on the corner ahead is Manor Farm [18]. The main building built in 1840 is two-storied with three gables and elegant bargeboards. The original farmhouse to the left is 17th century; initially of one-and-a-half storeys, it has remnants of three timber bays and arch bracing. It was raised in the 19th and 20th centuries and windows inserted.
Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 was celebrated in one of the barns with a village party that lasted four nights! Most of the barns have now been converted to homes and Lavender Barn on the corner has splendid views west.
Law and Order
The Old Stable Yard [19] is dated 1815 in the gable brickwork and is converted from a former barn and courtyard known as Lawyer's Yard. Rocliffe House across the road [20] was formerly the home of the blacksmith and then of the village policeman. In 1840, William Skerritt was transported to Tasmania for 7 years for stealing 7 chickens!
A self-contained community
Holly Farm [21] is another traditional village farmhouse of the late Victorian era. Like Church Farm, Follies Farm, Ivy House Farm, Hubbards Farm, and Manor Farm, it is adjacent to the road with its outbuildings around a courtyard. It also had easy access to its fields across the former Back Lane when that was just a quiet track.
Old Thatch [22] is thought to date from the late 17th or early 18th century. Initials inscribed in the brickwork suggest a date of around 1750. The lower half is of smaller bricks than the upper part hinting that it might be older.
Nurse Claypole lived in Cardles Cottage [23] she was a village character remembered with affection. She was District Nurse in the 1930s and had a power-assisted bicycle to help her to arrive before the babies she delivered!
Outside Well House [24] is a rare survivor of many pumps and wells. It is a lead pump with wooden casing and would have been covered with straw during the winter to prevent freezing.
The traditional red telephone kiosk [25] was saved after parishioners objected to its replacement by a modern box and stands outside the former village Post Office (and is owned by the council).
The Village School [26] opened in 1868 but records suggest that it replaced an earlier school, probably on Gilmorton Road. It closed in 1964 and children now travel by bus to Gilmorton. This is now used as the communal Village Hall & holds the Memorials to the villages war heroes.
A century ago, Ashby Magna had a church, school, railway station, hosiery factory at the top of Gilmorton Road, post office, shop, inn, butcher, two bakers, blacksmith, district nurse, dentist and policeman. Today, the school has become the village hall and, with the pub temporarily closed, only the church survives.
The village that bought itself
Immense as these changes have been, a more radical change was narrowly averted. Between the Wars when most villagers were tenants, the properties were to be sold by auction. However, on representations from the village, the sale was postponed at the last minute to give the occupiers first option to buy. Oral tradition recounts that by community effort, everybody bought their home. Had they not done so, Ashby Magna today would be a very different community.
Food, drink, and farewell
The butcher, Fred Hall, lived in Spring Cottage [27] He despatched his animals around the corner and you might like to finish off the Trail there.
Turning the corner, you will find Fred's abattoir [28] is now the lounge restaurant of the former Chequers Pub. Sadly this closed some years ago and would have been a great way to end this Trail.
If you are visiting, we wish you a safe journey home and perhaps you will see your own community through fresh eyes.
Acknowledgements
Ashby Magna Parish Council thanks all those who have contributed to this Trail and the Village History Group that has compiled it over two years. It has been prepared from observation, documents and interviews with long-time residents. The illustrations are by village members and Harborough District Council.
The Trail around the village was a ‘snapshot’ compiled to commemorate the Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 3 June 2002.
Ashby Magna is now one of the first Wind Turbine Sites in Leicestershire, it is at Low Spinney Farm (Broadview Energy) & consists of 4 x 120m high turbines. These were opposed to (prior to planning) by the anti wind farm group AWFALS. It is expected to start producing by the middle of 2011.
National Archives Domesday Book