Scraptoft

Church of All Saints, Scraptoft

Scraptoft is a village in Leicestershire, England, that is effectively a suburb of Leicester. It has a population of about 1,500. It lies north of the A47 road east of Leicester, and runs directly into the built up area of Thurnby and Bushby to the south. For local government the village forms part of the district of Harborough, and constitutes a civil parish.

Rail transport

The Thurnby and Scraptoft railway station (which connected to the Great Northern Railway) closed to passenger traffic in the mid-1950s. Seaside excursions and freight continued to use the line until around 1964, and in the early part of 1965 the track was lifted and the bridge across the road on Station Road was demolished.

Road transport

Services through, to or from Scraptoft were run by Ernest Jordan of Halstead near Tilton-on-the-Hill in the early years of the 20th century. Hincks of Hungarton also ran services until c1930 when the company was taken over by the "Birmingham & Midland Motor Omnibus Co. Ltd." (B.M.M.O.), known as Midland Red. The 'BMMO' ran a service for many years through to Hungarton numbered 599/598, and for a period was extended on to Twyford and John 'O Gaunt Station as an X64. This replaced the discontinued train service which had run previously, known as the workers' service, but this extension had ceased by 1965. The Hungarton service was maintained until around 1980. A school service numbered S23 was operated for a few years in the later 1960s as a mornings only Scraptoft Green - Somerby Road School run. Oddly, no return afternoon facility ever existed. BMMO also ran its more regular services into Leicester numbered L29, later 93, also until the early 1970s a Service L15 to Oadby, Wigston and Enderby.

Other operators known to have run services were Nesbit Bros. Coaches of Somerby which ran a Tuesdays only service to Melton Mowbray commenced in 1976 for approx. 10 years, Fosse Travel a Market Harborough weekly shopper. Since the 1980s a variety of infrequent services from the Rutland area to Leicester have passed through Scraptoft operated by Blands of Cottesmore, Paul James Coaches, Skinners of Saltby, Kinchbus, Barton Transport, Abu & Sons, Arriva Fox County and Mark Bland Travel. More recently, since the spring of 2006 the 'Rural Rider' network now covers Scraptoft and much of the sparsely populated East Leicestershire area.

Since the closure of the De-Montfort University campus and student residences, the bus service has declined and there is now no evening or Sunday service in the village.

Facilities

Shops

The current newsagents on Main Street (2010) was once an inn, called the "Pear Tree". The village has a small Co-operative food store, and adjacent Post office. These shops serve the passing traffic of the outlying villages to the east and north-east, most of which lack shops although a few still have public houses. During the mid-1970s there was a short-lived cafe on Main Street, called 'The Bambi Cafe'. The premises later became a greengrocers/florists, and then a private dwelling. A garage/filling station and a hairdressing salon were also located on Main Street, both of which are now gone and replaced by private dwellings.

A public house called 'The White House' is located on Scraptoft Lane and is constructed of Ketton stone from Normanton Hall in Rutland, demolished around 1926. The property was bought by the Northampton Brewery Company and became a hotel in 1950.^[1] It was bought by the JD Wetherspoon group in 2010.^[2]

Community facilities

Much of the village is a conservation area. The village has a Green, which at one time had the traditional red telephone box and adjacent pillar box. Over the years, with safety improvements due to increased traffic, the area has altered to become little more than a road junction. The Village Institute, or Village hall, is located by this junction and is used for community events. An open space recreation area, known as the Edith Cole memorial park, is located opposite All Saints Church on Church Hill. About a mile to the north-east of the village, on the road to Keyham, is the newly established 'Scraptoft natural burial ground'.

Quorn Hunt

The Quorn Hunt at one time met regularly throughout the fox hunting season on Fridays in the village, at the Nether Hall, built in 1709. The Hunt would move off and hunt fox coverts along Covert Lane to the east of the village towards Ingarsby.

History

Scraptoft Hall

Scraptoft was recorded in the Domesday Book as Scrapentot, part of Gartree wapentake. It was held by Coventry Abbey, and had increased in value from 2 shillings at the time of the Norman Conquest to 40 shillings in 1086.

The village is the site of various historic buildings including Scraptoft Hall, which is a listed building.^[3] The Hall and its grounds were for many years used as a campus of De Montfort University and its predecessors, but this facility was closed in 2003. The grounds of the house have been proposed for development as a brown field housing site.

Sport

The village is host to the Scraptoft golf course,^[4] and is also host to a number of sports teams at Covert Lane, including Jimmies Rugby Club. It is also home to Aylestone St James RFC.^[5] There is also a beginners running/jogging club, Scraptoft Joggers.^[6]

Education

Fernvale Primary School

Scraptoft does not have a school. Village children attended Thurnby St. Lukes School until the late 1960s when Thurnby Somerby Road (Fernvale) School was opened, from there they went onto Manor High School (Oadby) or Gartree High School and Beauchamp College at Oadby.

References

External links

Media related to Scraptoft at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 52°38′46″N 1°02′42″W / 52.646°N 1.045°W / 52.646; -1.045