Freeby

Freeby
Freeby  Freeby shown within Leicestershire
Population	276 (2001)
OS grid reference	SK804201
District	Melton
Shire county	Leicestershire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Melton Mowbray
Dialling code	01664
Police	Leicestershire
Fire	Leicestershire
Ambulance	East Midlands
EU Parliament	East Midlands
UK Parliament	Melton
List of places UK England Leicestershire

Coordinates: 52°46′22″N 0°48′36″W / 52.7727°N 0.8099°W / 52.7727; -0.8099

Freeby is a village and civil parish in the Melton district of Leicestershire, England, about three miles east of Melton Mowbray. The parish has a population of about 300.^[1]

As well as the village of Freeby the parish includes the villages of Saxby, Wyfordby, Brentingby and Stapleford.

History

Freeby St Marys NE aspect

The village was once a part of Melton Mowbray parish. At the time of Edward the Confessor it was known as "Fretheby" and "Fredebi".^[2] It was referred to as "Frieby" as late as 1816.^[3] All the properties, except the United Reformed Church, still belong to the Freeby estate. It was granted as a manor to Hugh Despencer in the 13th century and is still a manor estate. The estate later passed to Lord de Ros, presumably at the demise of the Despensers. (Hugh the elder was hanged in Bristol in 1326 for his aid to Edward II who had fled the invasion of Isabella and Mortimer: Hugh Despenser the Younger was, after trial, hung, drawn and quartered later the same year). In 1568 the lord of the manor of Freeby was Edward, 3rd Earl of Rutland. Thirty years later the manor passed to Thomas Hartopp of that ancient family of Leicestershire. Sir John Hartopp, 3rd Baronet (1658) became M.P. for Leicestershire (1678-1681), employed the non-conformist Isaac Watts and left an endowment for the education of dissenting ministers.^[4]

The estate was sold by Sir J. W. Cradock Hartopp, Bart., to Mr. Daniel Thwaites (of the Lancashire Thwaites brewery) upon whose death in 1888 it passed to his only daughter, Elma Amy, the wife of Robert Yerburgh, M.P.^[3][5] The estate was part of many others owned by Mrs Yerburgh and under management of the Woodfold Estates Company Management. Mrs. Yerburgh died in 1946^[6] and from 1955 the estates and brewery were managed separately from adjacent offices at Eanam, Blackburn.^[7]

Today

Laburnum Cottage

Freeby North Aisle Crack.JPG

The buildings in the village show a certain similarity of age and construction commensurate with estate management. This can be seen in window frames and doors, the use of ironstone and brick building materials with limestone decoration. At the T junction to the west of the village, set upon a bank, is a terrace of six houses known as Sykes Row. The red brick and tiled roof construction with decorative window arches are striking. Ivy House Farm, the Old Barn and Woodbine Cottage are opposite and as the road dips down into the village the church can be glimpsed behind the mature trees that border its north and west walls. As the visitor proceeds along the road such cottages as Primrose, Highfield and Laburnum Cottage grace the sides with their unspoilt red brick and tile construction and well kept gardens. Further along Manor Farm and Glen Farm, working farms, display wonderful building features such as working sash windows. The Manor Farmhouse is Grade 2 listed. Since 1994 Freeby has been under the protection of the Freeby Conservation Area which covers 3.38 hectares sand was designated by Melton Borough Council. The settlement is relatively unspoilt as an agricultural village, certainly worthy of preservation and its buildings and rural nature are a credit to English heritage. Most of the village, other than some farm buildings, are encompassed in the conservation area.

Church

The church dates from the 14th Century and is a grade one listed building mostly in the Early English style. The Anglican register starts around 1604 but is fragmented until the beginning of the 19th century. It is dedicated to St Mary. Like so many medieval churches it has been repaired and altered many times, the last thorough restoration around 1894. As with many churches in this area its construction is of ironstone and limestone ashlar. The aisles were added some time later and the tower is of 16th century limestone construction. Ornamental medieval corbels adorn each south window and the church has a north door. The church is built on a prominence on the north side of the road through the village and that is apparently its downfall. That hill is not solid rock and, according BBC video is sand which has resulted to constant repairs throughout the last 700 years as the church settles.

The church would seat 200 except that it has been closed for some considerable time because of its small congregation and its state of repair. English Heritage, after a survey of churches say, "The church serves a small community, who have maintained it extremely well over the years, but some of the stonework needs urgent repairs. English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund is providing a scheme of repair grants to places of worship like St Mary's.” The church has been found unsafe and closed.^[8] Photographs in the gallery show the extent of the damage to some extent but the author has no access to the interior. At present the villagers use the chapel, built prior to 1881, which is a delightful small building with a double arched window and porch a short walk across the road from St Marys. There is a preservation order, 24th Aug 1999, Melton Borough Council, on a dozen trees on the north side of the church graveyard

Saxby

Saxby is a small village in the parish of Freeby. Saxby is one of the Thankful Villages - only 52 of which are known. These villages and parishes sent men to fight in the Great War, 1914-1918, and all of them came back alive.

Famous residents

• Isaac Watts, born in Southampton on 17 July 1674, he died on 25 November 1748 in Stoke Newington. An essayist, academic, author and the writer of over 700 hymns, some as well known as “When I survey the Wondrous Cross” and “Oh God our help in ages past”. As a non conformist Watts was denied entry into Oxford or Cambridge, yet his treatise on Logic became a popular teaching handbook. He became, in 1696, a minister to the Hartopp family of Stoke Newington and Freeby and preached in the United Reformed Church in the village until 1699.^[9]

Gallery

• 

  Church of St. Mary, Freeby

• 

  Freeby, Sykes Row

• 

  Freeby South Aisle Window

• 

  Laburnum Cottage

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  Freeby Church North Aisle Crack

• 

  Sun setting on St Marys Freeby

• 

  Freeby, Leicestershire, St Marys.JPG

References

External links

Media related to Freeby at Wikimedia Commons