Wycomb is a small

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

in the district of Melton, which is approximately northeast of

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 ...

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 ...

, and is part of the civil parish of

Scalford Scalford is a village and civil parish in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England. It lies to the north of Melton Mowbray at the southern end of the Vale of Belvoir. In the 2011 census the parish (including Chadwell and Wycomb) had a ...

, which also includes the neighbouring village of Chadwell. Until 1 April 1936 it was in the parish of Wycomb and Chadwell. The settlement name (originally recorded as Wykeham) means 'wīc-hām (Old English) A settlement associated with a Roman '

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

'. Wycomb is half a mile west of Chadwell, and Wycomb has traditionally used Chadwell's church. The Church of St Mary 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.

History

Mentioned in the Domesday Book Survey of 1086, Wycomb was a settlement in the

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

Framland Framland was a hundred in north-east Leicestershire, England, roughly corresponding to today's borough of Melton. It was recorded in the ''Domesday Book'' as one of Leicestershire's four wapentakes. The name remains in use as a deanery of the Dio ...

, Leicestershire. It had an estimated population of 23 households in 1086. Not long after the Inclosure Act 1773, it was recorded that the 750 acres of land in and around "Caudwell and Wykeham" belonged to the "Parish of Rodeley". Among the parish landowners, influential figures included the lord of the manor, Thomas Babington, esq., the

Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with ...

and the Brethren of Wigston's Hospital. In 1795, the two settlements, and their surrounding 750 acres of farmland, were considered to be part of East-Goscote

, making it an outlier within the surrounding Hundred of Framland. By 1879, the Waltham branch of the Great Northern Railway ran between the two settlements, adding a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

on the eastern road out towards Chadwell. Listed buildings in Wycomb include: The Homestead – an 18th century Ironstone built cottage, and Stowleigh – a former farmhouse built in 1850. Both buildings are

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 ...

Geography

Wycomb is situated on two Middle Jurassic bedrock

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

Formations. Most of the settlement is on Marlstone Rock (Iron-grainstone, 174-191 million years old), and as you go down the valley towards the northeast, it gives way to Dyrham Formation (grey siltstone, 183-191 million years old) with bands of Sandrock.

Colluvial Colluvium (also colluvial material or colluvial soil) is a general name for loose, unconsolidated sediments that have been deposited at the base of hillslopes by either rainwash, sheetwash, slow continuous downslope creep, or a variable combina ...

and

alluvial Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

river deposits overlie the bedrock along ancient watercourses, as you head towards the stream.

References

External links

Scalford Parish Council: Serving the people of Scalford, Chadwell and Wycomb
{{authority control Hamlets in Leicestershire Borough of Melton