Launde is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

in the

Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, in the far southeast of the county, forming part of the border with Northamptonshire. Market Harborough's population was 25,143 in 2020. It is the a ...

district of Leicestershire, bordering

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest l ...

. The parish is the site of Launde Abbey. It gives its name to an

electoral division An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

of Leicestershire that stretches all the way from

Scraptoft Scraptoft is a village in Leicestershire, England. It has a population of about 1,500, measured at the 2011 census as 1,804. It lies north of the A47 road east of Leicester, and runs directly into the built up area of Thurnby and Bushby to ...

Thurnby Thurnby is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Thurnby and Bushby, in the Harborough district, in the county of Leicestershire, England. It is just east of Leicester's city boundaries. Thurnby village proper is set to ...

and Stoughton, near Leicester, to the border with Rutland. The civil parish population is included in the civil parish of Loddington. Launde Park lies in the valley of the

River Chater The River Chater is a river in the East Midlands of England. It is a tributary of the River Welland, and is about long. Course It rises near Whatborough Hill in Leicestershire, and then flows east, past Sauvey Castle and Launde Abbey, be ...

. The Elizabethan house embodies the relics of the old priory and is an E-shaped building of two storeys. The private chapel is from the Perpendicular period and contains some good stained glass. There are numerous memorials of the Simpson family who bought Launde in 1763 and enlarged the house and laid out the plantations. The estate was later owned by the Dawson family.Firth, J. B. (1926) ''Highways and Byways in Leicestershire''. London: Macmillan; pp. 240-41

Launde Woods Launde Woods is a nature reserve north of Launde in Leicestershire. It is owned by the Leicester Diocesan Board of Finance and leased to the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust. The site is in two areas, Launde Big Wood, which is a Site o ...

is a nature reserve managed by the

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust The Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust (LRWT) is one of 46 wildlife trusts across the United Kingdom. It manages nature reserves in Leicestershire and Rutland, and was founded in 1956 as the Leicestershire and Rutland Trust for Nature C ...

, and part of it is

Launde Big Wood Launde Big Wood is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of Leicester. It is part of Launde Woods nature reserve, which is owned by the Leicester Diocesan Board of Finance and managed by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trus ...

, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

References

External links

Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Harborough District {{Leicestershire-geo-stub