Kibworth is an area of the Harborough district of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, England, that contains two

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

es: the villages of Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt . At the 2011 census, Kibworth Beauchamp had a population of 5,433 and Kibworth Harcourt 990. The villages are roughly divided by the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line (MML), sometimes also spelt Midland Mainline, is a major Rail transport in Great Britain, railway line from London to Sheffield in Yorkshire via the East Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras railway ...

. Kibworth is close to Foxton Locks,

Market Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough District, Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, close to the border with Northamptonshire. The population was 24,779 at the United Kingdom census, 2021, 2021 census. It is the ad ...

, and

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

History

Kibworth Beauchamp High Street - geograph

In 1270 Walter de Merton, the founder of

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

, bought a large part of the parish of Kibworth Harcourt from Saer de Harcourt, who had been forced to sell the estate after giving his support to the unsuccessful "

Second Barons' War The Second Barons' War (1264–1267) was a civil war in Kingdom of England, England between the forces of barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montfort against the royalist forces of Henry III of England, King Hen ...

" led by Simon de Montfort. Much of the parish has remained the property of

to the present day. There is a

stained-glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

window depicting Walter de Merton in the bell tower of the parish church, St Wilfrid's, of which the warden and scholars of the college are joint patrons with the

Bishop of Leicester The Bishop of Leicester is the Ordinary of the Diocese of Leicester in the Province of Canterbury of the Church of England. Through reorganisation within the Church of England, the Diocese of Leicester was refounded in 1927, and St Martin's ...

. The church is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

building. A village school was founded in 1709, and endowed by Sir Nathaniel Edwards. Kibworth Harcourt was the birthplace of the writer/reformer

Anna Laetitia Barbauld Anna Laetitia Barbauld (, by herself possibly , as in French, Aikin; 20 June 1743 – 9 March 1825) was a prominent English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and author of children's literature. A prominent member of the Blue Stockings ...

(1743–1825) and her brother

John Aikin John Aikin (15 January 1747 – 7 December 1822) was an English medical doctor and surgeon. Later in life he devoted himself wholly to biography and writing in periodicals. Life He was born at Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, England, son of ...

. Their father,

(1713–1780), kept a dissenting academy there and served as minister of a nearby

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

chapel. The family moved in 1757 to

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

. On 23 July 1825 the ancient tower and spire of St Wilfrid's collapsed.

Michael Wood's ''Story of England''

In September 2010, Kibworth was the central feature of '' Michael Wood's Story of England'', a documentary aired on both

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

, and repeated on the

UKTV UKTV Media Limited, trading as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through a join ...

channel Yesterday, and PBS America, presented by Michael Wood about the

history of England The territory today known as England became inhabited more than 800,000 years ago, as the discovery of stone tools and footprints at Happisburgh in Norfolk have indicated.; "Earliest footprints outside Africa discovered in Norfolk" (2014). BB ...

framed through Kibworth. A book of the same name was published by

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

. The series was likened to '' Who Do You Think You Are?'' for a whole community. Villagers (Kibworth Improvement Team - KiT) have created a new website and successfully requested a grant of £48,200 from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

to continue the legacy of the TV series by creating a Kibworth Guide Booklet (heritage trails for Kibworth Harcourt, Kibworth Beauchamp and Smeeton Westerby), several interpretation panels around the three villages, ongoing study materials for the three tiers of local schools, and an Archive (Virtual Museum).

Facilities

Kibworth has a number of shops including 2 charity shops, a community newspaper (''The Kibworth & District Chronicle''),Sheridan Gilley, "Knox, Ronald Arbuthnott (1888–1957)", ODNB, Oxford University Press, 200
Retrieved 8 September 2014, pay-walled.
/ref> and since 2002 new shops, including a branch of the

Co-Op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

. New housing continues to be built on the edge of the village, causing periodic controversy. The Bookshop, which opened in the High Street in 2009, won a regional award for Independent Bookseller of The Year in 2012. Kibworth is home to a secondary school named Kibworth Mead Academy. On the 8th of September 2024, a new skatepark was opened in Kibworth after being constructed over the course of the year. The skatepark joined a recently opened zipwire as one of the latest public leisure facilities in Kibworth.

Transport

Arriva Midlands operates Sapphire route X3 between Leicester and Market Harborough and Stagecoach Midlands route X7 between Leicester and Northampton, both via the village. The

runs through the area, but Kibworth railway station, which served both villages, closed in 1968.

Sport and Leisure

Cricket

It's not clear when Kibworth Cricket Club was founded, but evidence of cricket being played in the villages dates back to 1846. The club moved to their new ground in 2006. Kibworth CC has a significant success record, with 13

County A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

championship titles to their name and two ECB National Club Cricket Championship wins, in 2004 and 2008. Kibworth field four senior teams in the Leicestershire and Rutland Cricket League (a designated ECB Premier League) and a Women's team in the East Midlands Women's Cricket League. They also have an established junior training section that play competitive cricket in the Leicestershire Youth League.

Football

The association football club, previously known as Kibworth and Smeeton, was renamed in 2018 as Kibworth Town, merging the younger and senior teams together.

Rugby union

Founded in 1923, Kibworth was the home of Kibworth RUFC until a move to

in 1957. During their time in Kibworth, the club played at three separate grounds, one next to the Old Swan pub, one located on the recreation ground, and one in a field on Fleckney Road. The club retained the name "Kibworth RUFC" right up until 2006, when its name was changed to "Market Harborough RUFC". Keeping up the rugby tradition, Kibworth CE Primary School is host to Kibworth Rugby Stars, a children's rugby club serving ages 18 months to 6 years.

Other clubs

The village also has clubs for snooker, tennis, golf, bowls and dance.

Kibworth Harcourt Mill

The mill, a Grade 2*

listed structure In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, last worked in the 1930s and until 1936 was owned by

, then ownership and responsibility was transferred to the

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) (also known as Anti-Scrape) is an amenity society founded by William Morris, Philip Webb, and others in 1877 to oppose the Victorian restoration, destructive 'restoration' of ancient bu ...

(SPAB). Restoration costing £350,000 was undertaken from 2020 to 2021. With parts dating from "at least 1711", it is the last surviving

post mill The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single central vertical post. The vertical post is supported by four quarter bars. These ar ...

in Leicestershire county.

Notable residents

In birth order: *

(1713–1780), Unitarian preacher, schoolteacher and father of Anna Laetitia Barbauld, lived and taught in Kibworth in 1730–58. *

(née Aikin, 1743–1823), poet, essayist, children's author and daughter of John Aikin, was born in Kibworth Harcourt. *

(1747–1822), physician, biographer and brother of Anna Laetitia Barbauld, was born in Kibworth Harcourt. * James Beresford (1764–1840),

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

cleric and humorist, was rector of Kibworth from 1812 until his death in 1840. *Colonel John Worthy Chaplin (1840–1920), awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

for gallantry in 1860 in the Second China War, was buried in Kibworth New Cemetery. * Edmund Knox (1847–1937), Anglican bishop, Evangelical writer and father of

Ronald Knox Ronald Arbuthnott Knox (17 February 1888 – 24 August 1957) was an English Catholic priest, theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an ...

, was rector of Kibworth in 1884–1891. * Samuel Perkins Pick (1858–1919), architect, was educated at Kibworth Grammar School. * T. E. R. Phillips (1868–1942), Anglican cleric and astronomer specializing in planets, was born in Kibworth. * Wilfred Knox (1886–1950), Anglican theologian and brother of Ronald Knox, was born in Kibworth. *

(1888–1957),

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

monsignor and religious writer, was born in Kibworth. * Sir Nicholas Harold Lloyd Ridley (1906–2001), inventor of the

Intraocular lens An intraocular lens (IOL) is a lens (optics), lens implanted in the human eye, eye usually as part of a treatment for cataracts or for correcting other vision problems such as myopia, near-sightedness (myopia) and farsightedness, far-sightednes ...

, was born in Kibworth. * Stu Williamson (born 1956), photographer, inventor of the Tri-flector, and drummer for the Scottish group

The Marmalade Marmalade are a Scottish pop rock band originating from the east end of Glasgow, originally formed in 1961 as The Gaylords, and then later billed as Dean Ford and the Gaylords, recording four singles for Columbia Graphophone Company, Columbia ( ...

, is based in Kibworth.

References

External links

A History of Kibworth
{{Authority control Villages in Leicestershire Harborough District