Burton Lazars is a small village two miles south-east of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. The name originates from Burton Saint Lazarus after Roger de Mowbray opened a leper hospital to take advantage of the natural spring water in the 12th century.
The village currently has a population of between 400 and 500.
The Order of Saint Lazarus established leper hospitals with the first being in Jerusalem in the year 530. The English branch of the order was based at Burton Lazars, Leicestershire in 1150. It was suppressed by Henry VIII in 1544.[1]