South Croxton
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South Croxton (traditionally pronounced "crow-sun" ˆkroÊŠsÉ™n is a village and
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 ...
in the Charnwood 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. It had a population of 261 in the 2011 census. It is north-east of
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 ...
city centre. Nearby villages include Beeby, Barsby and Twyford.


Governance and facilities

The Parish Council holds open meetings on the first Monday of each month in the Village Hall. The Village Hall Committee meets there on the second Thursday of the month. A programme of improvements to the hall begun in 2007 continues. The ''Golden Fleece'' relaunched in 2008 as a pub/restaurant but closed in August 2023. Villagers are currently working towards saving the pub as an "Asset of Community Value" and reopening it as a facility for all. The village also has riding stables in Three Turns Lane, a Women's Institute that meets monthly, and a Wednesday Luncheon Club meeting every other month. The village is served on Monday to Saturday by the daytime bus service No. 100 between Syston and
Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a market town in the Borough of Melton, Melton district in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, Leicestershire, River Eye, known below Melton as the Rive ...
, (https://www.centrebus.info/bus-services/leicester-city-and-leicestershire/100/) both of which have railway stations. The local school closed in July 1972, and became the village hall. The nearest primary school today is at Gaddesby, 2 1/2 miles or 4 km away. There have been no shops since 1995, but there is a playing field with a slide and a single football goal.Village website. The highest point is the church, at 120 m above mean sea level. The lowest altitude is 85 m by the Queniborough Brook.


Heritage

The recorded population of South Croxton in the last two centuries varied between a high of 324 in 1851 and to a low of 153 in 1951. It was 234 at the time of the 2001 census and 261 ten years later. The moated area to the north of the church formed part of a medieval manor enclosure and has yielded Saxon remains. Signs of medieval ridge-and-furrow field patterns can be seen to the north of the moated area. The Grade II* listed Church of St John's and four farmhouses in the parish (Bell Dip, Hill Top, North Manor, South Manor) are listed historic buildings. The village was designated as a Conservation Area in 1975 for its special architectural and historic interest. It has 90 houses, a 14th-century church, a pub (the ''Golden Fleece'') and a village hall, formerly the local school. A considerable number of unlisted buildings are also of architectural interest, having "survived relatively unchanged over the last hundred years." Some are still roofed in slate quarried at nearby Swithland, some later ones in Welsh slate.South Croxton Conservation Appraisal, November 2005
Retrieved 25 July 2011.
/ref> As a community South Croxton antedates
Domesday Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
(where it is referred to as Crochestone) and probably the coming of the
Danes Danes (, ), or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. History Early history Denmark ...
. It appears as "Sudcroxtun" in the Coroner’s Rolls (county records) of 1212. There were two manors known as Nether End and Upper End, divided by the Queniborough brook. These were enclosed in 1757 and 1794 respectively. A frame-knitting industry had become established in the village by the first quarter of the 18th century. The group of older houses down School Lane once formed a separate hamlet called West Thorpe. Since the 1960s, the character of South Croxton has largely changed from a farming community into a dormitory suburb for Leicester. In 2000, a grant was obtained to clean up the Queniborough Brook at the bridge and to provide seating there and at the top of the hill. Halfway up the hill, a little
obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...
made of tiles produced by local children was placed to mark the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2002. There is a public footpath from Lowesby past the deserted medieval village of Baggrave to South Croxton. This passes the mid-18th century Baggrave Hall, which was badly damaged by developers in 1988–89 and then abandoned. There is also a public footpath following the brook to the village of Queniborough. The
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 ...
church of St John the Baptist is the only place of worship in the village, although there was at one time a
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
congregation. The Anglican parish is united with All Saints', Beeby. It forms part of the South West Framland Cluster of Parishes. The church is built in the late Decorated style, of local honey-coloured Waltham ironstone and dates mainly from the early 14th century, when it replaced an earlier stone building probably from the Saxon period. However, the Romanesque font of the earlier church remains. The south aisle and the roof were built a hundred years later. The bells, cast in 1636, remain in the tower, but unhung. Extensive repairs had to be made in 1925 due to subsidence. A 15th-century oak roof corbel from the church is displayed at the Charnwood Museum in
Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...
.


Notable people

* Ambrose Lisle March Phillipps De Lisle (1809–1878), founder of Mount St. Bernard Abbey, attended a private school here in 1818. * Bob Gerard, the
racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...
, died here in 1990.


Croxton of old

"CROXTON (South), a parish in Barrow-upon-Soar district, Leicester; on an affluent of the river Wreak, 4 miles SSE of Brooksby r. station, and 7 SW of Melton-Mowbray. It has a post office, of the name of Croxton, under Leicester. Acres, 1,760. Real property, £2,535. Pop., 311. Houses, 68. The property is subdivided. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £130. Patron, the
Duke of Rutland Duke of Rutland is a title in the Peerage of England, named after Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. Earldoms named after Rutland have been created three times; the ninth earl of the third creation was made duke in 1703, in whos ...
. The church is old but good; and comprises nave, aisles, chancel, and steeple. Charities, £32 and four cottages." ohn Marius Wilson's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales." 1870-72 A book of descriptive and oral history, ''South Croxton: The Village on the Hill'' by Philip Snelders, was published in 2007 and reprinted in 2008..


References


External links

*Photo gallery
Retrieved 24 June 2011.
See als

*South Croxton Conservation Area Appraisal (November 2005)
Retrieved 24 June 2011.
*More detail on the early history of South Croxton: {{authority control Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Leicestershire Borough of Charnwood