Mowsley

Mowsley
Mowsley  Mowsley shown within Leicestershire
Population	212 (2001)
OS grid reference	SP648891
Civil parish	Mowsley CP
District	Harborough
Shire county	Leicestershire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LUTTERWORTH
Postcode district	LE17
Dialling code	0116
Police	Leicestershire
Fire	Leicestershire
Ambulance	East Midlands
EU Parliament	East Midlands
UK Parliament	Harborough
List of places UK England Leicestershire

Mowsley, pronounced "mouseley" (from Muslai - mouse infested field) is a small Đvillage in the south part of Leicestershire. The modern village has just under 100 dwellings.

Entries in Domesday

According to the Domesday Book, Mowsley had two manors in 1086. This was a chapelry in the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Knaptoft with the chapel being built c1250AD. The chapel, which was sensitively restored at the end of the 19th century has a perfect cruciform plan and contains three piscina, a large carved altar stone and a font which has the original bowl.

Modern village

Most of the dwellings are of 18th- or 20th-century origin. The oldest property is the thatched Millstone House which may have been one of the manor houses.^[1] A restored 17th-century timber framed house with mud lower panel and wattle and daub upper panel infills exists.

Unusually, the medieval village boundary can be clearly traced. Virtually the whole village sits within this boundary, with the village "footprint" differing little from that of 500 years ago.

The village has a pub but no shops, the village school closed in 2010.

Families of note

The Brabazon family were lords of the manor in the 13th/14th centuries - eventually to become the Earls of Meath. Earthworks in the vicinity of the village represent fishponds and the remains of the Brabazon manor house.

Former England Rugby Union Captain Martin Johnson lives in the village with his family.

References

External links

Media related to Mowsley at Wikimedia Commons