Thurcaston Shops

The earliest small shops were set up by various villagers in their houses, as indicated by entries in Leicestershire Directories.

During the mid 1800s the village blacksmith, John Lygo, who lived in Latimer House, Anstey Lane had a shop in his house. This would have supplied basic foodstuff, sugar, tea etc.
William Reynolds, the butcher, sold meat from the slaughterhouse at his home on Primrose Hill/Morn Gap
Benjamin Graves supplied the villagers with boots and shoes from the William IV Inn nearby
Mrs Elizabeth Ballard began trading in the 1870s, but there are no clues to her merchandise
In 1900 James L Payne at the Mill supplied coal for the villagers' fires

Around 1935 the Rothley Co-operative Society built a shop on the corner of Leicester Road and Anstey Lane. It had large picture windows with smart tiles below and was an immediate hit with the village ladies. I remember catching a Midland Red bus to visit my Grandmother during her stay at the Cripples' Guild Home at Cropston and seeing a group of ladies in headscarves, carrying shopping bags and baskets, talking animatedly in groups outside the shop.

By the time I had moved to Thurcaston in 1973, the Co-op had closed and the shop was now “County Corner” selling ladies' clothes. This business closed in the late 70’s and suggestions were made by the villagers for the building to become a sorely needed Doctor’s Surgery. Unfortunately, this failed and a lady from Cropston opened a frozen food outlet. Sales were poor and the shop closed after just a few weeks.

Villagers were still requesting a Surgery, but Tebbatts Electrical had moved into the premises in 1983. The Parish Council agreed to press for a Doctor’s Surgery if this business failed as well.

It is 2020 and the business thrives, the building extended in a sympathetic manner. In front are large plant troughs provided by the Parish Council.

Memories of our Villages

There is no mention of this bridge in Thurcaston’s early records. Perhaps it had been a ford in earlier times. Village people remember being taken to the bridge as small children by their parents to feed the ducks. When they were older they swung across the brook and back on a thick rope which had been attached to a large over-hanging tree branch.

"Duck Bridge"Unknown date (1940s ?). The first houses at Cropston Top can just be seen on the horizon

The bridge was originally built with blue bricks and was known as the Blue Bridge. Like all the other roads in Thurcaston this one flooded regularly each year, and in 1900

‘the District Council was asked if a wooden bridge at each end of the bridge near the mill’ could be provided. A footpath was also requested to be made ‘from the bridge to the Railway Station. (Thurcaston Parish Meeting Minutes, March 23, 1900.)

This wooden walkway provided a handy meeting place for the boys in the village in 1960-70s who would gather there in their wellingtons and watch out for cars when Mill Road was flooded. Unwary drivers, seeing the boys standing in just a few inches of water assumed that it was safe to drive through it. Alas, they soon realised their mistake. When the car spluttered to a halt, the boys would offer to push the car out of the water --- for a fee of course!

The Blue Bridge was replaced, possibly in the 1950s. The licensee of the William IV organised a party to unofficially open the newly built bridge.

Brenda Hooper

Several generations of the Wright family ran the Wheatsheaf at Thurcaston. Afterwards, some remained in Thurcaston.

Arthur Wright and his wife Gladys lived on Leicester Road, Albert Wright and his wife Lily lived on Anstey Lane. Their spinster sister Elsie Wright lived on Rectory Lane.

For many years Gladys was the Booking Clerk for the Memorial Hall and Lily was the caretaker. If you wanted to rebook the Hall you took care to leave the premises in pristine condition! Lily also led the Sunday School for the chapel in Mill Road.

Elsie, or Little Elsie as she was known, was a tiny lady. She liked to use the public telephone outside the Old Post Office on Leicester Road. When the lamp failed, she could be seen making her calls by candlelight.

George remembered seeing the cattle being driven from Cropston and beyond, along on the ‘green road’ (Brooky Lane) across the fields to the cattle market at Leicester.

Brenda Hooper

Tales from WWII

Prisoners of War

The Wheatsheaf

Drunk in Charge

Fracas at the Wheatsheaf

Non-intoxicating Ginger Wine?

The mynah bird

" I can well remember visiting this pub with my dad, many years ago, and both of us being greatly amused by the antics of the resident mynah bird which lived high up in a cage behind the bar.

The bird would mimic the noise made by the entrance door’s squeaky hinges with uncanny accuracy. This, in turn, would attract the attention of the pub’s dog that would seem bemused that no one had actually come in and start barking.

The bird would then start calling the dog’s name, impersonating the pub landlord’s voice, which stimulated the stupid canine to bark even louder giving much entertainment and causing laughter from the pub’s patrons.

The dog never seemed to learn it was the bird that was winding him up. "

Jim Reay writing in the
Leicester CAMRA Newsletter in 2016.
Read the full article (in a new tab) here .

Thurcaston Mill and Oven Cottage

Thurcaston has enjoyed the benefits of a mill to grind the locally grown corn since Saxon times. It was recorded in The Domesday Book of 1086, valued at 3 shillings.

The mill, driven by the Rothley Brook (known as "Our Brook") was an undershot type with the water running below the wheel.

In 1869 it had 3 pairs of millstones. Later, a steam engine and chimney were added.

The mill ceased operation around the end of the First World War. It then stood unused until it was destroyed by a fire, thought to have been caused accidentally by village youths. It was demolished in the 1920s.

The mill race, pond and the cobbled path to the mill can still be identified if sought before the grass and weeds have grown too high in the year.

Site of Oven Cottage

At the time of the Thurcaston Enclosure in 1798 there was an ongoing dispute between the owner of the mill, Augustus Richard Butler Danvers, and other nearby landowners. The height of the banks and flood gates by the mill had been raised, resulting in land upstream being flooded. The Thurcaston Enclosure Act directed the Commissioners to include a resolution of this dispute with their other work.

The Commissioners instructed Butler Danvers to maintain the level of the brook at a lower level by reducing the height of the floodgates and by creating a weir to divert any surplus water into the original course of the brook.

The part of the weir which crossed the brook has since been demolished. Today, the brook follows its original winding course at its natural level. Water flows from the mill pool below the mill at times of flooding.

The first named water miller was Richard Corbett of Cropston in 1600, found in the Bradgate Estate Archives, 1600 – 1699. An entry in the Burial Register records Ellin, his widow, died in 1633 and his son, Thomas died in 1639.

Also included in Thurcaston’s Burial Records is an entry in 1715 for Thomas Porter, Miller.

John Dexter was the next miller to be recorded in 1841, followed by a sale of goods at the mill in 1844. In 1846 John Blackwell is identified as the miller, then Henry Johnson in 1855 and Charles Harding in 1861. Harding lived in Leicester and advertised for

‘a stout active man, as Miller’s carter, to manage two horses… a good character required’. ¹

Richard Gaut was listed in the Census Return for 1861 as the miller. He employed a carter named Samuel Wagstaff. In 1864 F.G. Turpin, whose marriage was announced in the Leicester Chronicle in 1865, was the tenant.

Robert Scott took over the business soon after, but after two dry seasons he gave up the tenancy which was then taken up by James Pollard. Pollard soon discovered that Scott had failed to pay his Tythe Rent of £15.0s. 3d., and had paid it himself. He now sued for its recovery from Scott ‘who was a person who had been frequently before the court’.²The Magistrate ordered an immediate payment.

October 1869 saw two advertisements in various newspapers. The first was ‘as instructed by R. E. Scott of Thurcaston Mill (who is under notice to quit) to sell by auction……)’ ³There follows a list of livestock dated Friday October 22^nd 1869. The second advert stated

‘To Let, a Water Mill driving three pairs of stones in first rate working order, and on a good stream. Apply Mrs. R. E. Scott, Thurcaston Mills, Loughborough.’⁴

A further item published in ‘The Economist’ newspaper in 1869 stated that R.E.Scott, Thurcaston Mills Leicester, Miller, was registered as a company on December 1869.

A more settled period began with the arrival of L. Hopkinson in 1870.There seems to be some doubt over his first name which is variously recorded as Lenford, Denford, Leonard and Linford.

Problems with Weights

Hopkinson fell foul of the law in 1874 when he was

‘charged with having six weights on his premises, which were unjust. Defendant said he did not use the weights. Supt. John Moore spoke of finding the weights on the defendant’s premises at Thurcaston. One 56lb weight was an ounce and a half light. Nine other weights were produced, and six of them were light. Defendant said the weights were simply old iron and had not been used for two years. Fined 5s. inc. costs or 3 days imprisonment.’⁵

Various bakers in the surrounding villages supplied bread to the Union Workhouse at Rothley where, in 1875, it was noted in that the scales and weights at Thurcaston, used for weighing the bread were ‘out of repair’, and asking that they might be sent to Loughborough to be made correct.

As well as milling, Mr. Hopkinson had also worked as a farmer and grazier before selling off his livestock and agricultural implements in 1886.

The Water Mill was acquired by John Payne in 1888. He was also a farmer.

Steam engine added

The business was taken over by his son, James Leonard Payne in 1900. He was identified in a Trade Directory as a corn and coal merchant. This might be an indication of the date of the installation of a steam engine in the mill. James remained in charge of the mill until 1916 when he was listed in Trade Directories only as a farmer.

Thurcaston Mill, derelict

Thurcaston Methodist Chapel

John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of Methodism, made frequent visits to the Charnwood area. It is said that people from Thurcaston travelled to hear him and were inspired to meet together, probably in their own homes.

A cottage on Mill Road was bought and opened as a Wesleyan Chapel in 1824. The Chapel (the left-hand part of the building) could only accommodate 30 and was claimed to be the smallest place of worship in the county.

At the time of the photo (2008), the board outside the chapel advertised services at 10:30am on the 3rd Sunday of the month and a Ladies' Bright Hour at 2:30pm on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays.

The Chapel closed in 2012 and has since been converted to a 2-storey private house.

Inside the Chapel, set out for a heritage exhibition in 2010

From Thurcaston to Trafalgar

A sailor of the early 1800s

John and Elizabeth Clarke were the parents of Richard Clarke. Their son was born in Thurcaston in 1779. His baptism was entered in the parish records on May 3^rd of that year. He may have attended the Richard Hill School before leaving the village to join the Royal Navy.

His name appears as an ordinary seaman in the crew list of HMS Britannia in 1807 when the ship was part of the fleet commanded by Horatio Nelson. This was one of the ships that fought that year in the Battle of Trafalgar.

Richard survived the experience but never resided in the village again.

Thurcaston is proud to acknowledge that one of its sons played a part in one of this country’s historic events.

Brenda Hooper 2018

Thurcaston Enclosure

(What was enclosure?)

The Thurcaston Enclosure Act was passed by Parliament in 1798. About a third of the village had already been enclosed by a private agreement in 1600 (giving rise to a dispute in the Court of Chancery some years later) but the Enclosure Act said that all of the lands should be “thrown into hotchpot” and re-allocated by the commissioners who were appointed to oversee the process.

The Thurcaston and Swithland enclosures were carried out together by the same commissioners. They were:

Thomas Paget of Scraptoft, a pioneering breeder of farm animals and a founding partner in Leicester’s first bank. He was appointed by Sir Charles Hudson of Wanlip Hall.
Samuel Wyatt of Burton upon Trent, member of a leading family of architects, appointed by the Hon. A.R. Butler Danvers of Swithland Hall.
John Davis of Bloxham in Oxfordshire, son of the enclosure commissioner for Cropston of the same name. John Davis Snr was involved in at least 114 enclosure commissions nationwide and his son also followed him into what was evidently a very profitable family business.

The Thurcaston commissioners’ minute book is a rare survival held at the Record Office. From it we know that they met 12 times between July 1798 and July 1799, mostly at the Griffin Inn in Swithland, though John Davis did not attend his first meeting until March. Notices of the meetings were published in Leicester newspapers and on the door of All Saints’ Church. The commissioners heard petitions from those claiming rights in the land and they carried out their own inspections, though on Boxing Day 1798 the snow lay too heavily for them to proceed. The Act directed the commissioners to pay due regard to the quantity, quality and situation of the land and to make the allotments as near as convenient to existing dwellings of the proprietors.

The allotments of land ranged from 523 acres for Mr Butler Danvers of Swithland Hall to just 2 perches (about 60 sq. yds) for Samuel Simpkin, being the plot of his cottage on Mill Road. The Surveyor of Highways for Thurcaston was allotted a 1 acre field (opposite what is now North’s Delicatessen) for obtaining sand and gravel to repair the roads.

As well as allocating the land, the commissioners were asked to settle a dispute over the level of water at the mill; they ordered that the level should be reduced to prevent flooding and that a new weir should be constructed.

Despite being appointed by the largest landowners, the enclosure commissioners seem to have been as fair as they could to owners of all sizes. However, the payments made by the Thurcaston Overseers of the Poor show a big increase in about 1800 and the enclosure of the previous year was surely a contributory factor. This was probably the result of agricultural labourers losing their employment when the arable fields were converted to pasture and it is likely that many of them eventually moved away from the village to find alternative work in Leicester or other cities.

The King William IV

King William IV, Thurcaston

Various historic lists of the residents of Thurcaston contain the name of only one beerhouse keeper, presumably for The Wheatsheaf Inn, until 1841, when Benjamin Graves is identified as the publican of the King William IV Public House. As many pubs were named after the reigning monarch, it may be surmised that this hostelry was built between 1830 and 1837.

The William boasted a smoke room, tap room, snug and dart room all sharing one bar. The barmaid was expected to deliver the orders to all the rooms.

Both the King William IV and The Wheatsheaf were used to hold inquests on unexpected deaths in the village in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. The body was displayed in an open coffin in the bar and the jury of twelve men heard evidence of the cause of death before agreeing on a verdict. Afterwards, no doubt, they partook of a pint!

Landlords

Joseph Harris outside the pub in 1915. The sign on the left reads "Teas and Refreshments Provided. Accommodation for cyclists"

Benjamin Graves brewed his own beer. He was also a boot and shoemaker. He left all the brewing equipment to his wife in his will. The Graves Family remained in the premises for the next fifty-four years.

The tenancy was then taken up by Joseph Harris, and changed hands again in 1938 when Leonard Wernham and family moved here from Leicester. His son Frank took on the tenancy when his father retired to live in the end-of-barn cottage next to Mill House Farm. Frank did not stay long in Thurcaston. His wife was a Londoner and couldn’t settle in a house which had no piped hot water, no central heating, and an outside toilet.

Breweries

The earliest brewery to supply the William was the Leicester Brewing and Malting Company. It started life in Northampton Square as a small brewhouse run by members of the Hannam family in the mid 1820s. The firm grew steadily and the Eagle Brewery as it was known, moved to larger premises in Charnwood Street, then on the outskirts of the city, in 1870.

Room for expansion and a go-ahead management allowed the company to survive World War One and thrive in the 1920s and 30s. Its ‘Eagle’ symbol was a common sight on many Leicester pubs, the malting house being in Gresham Street.

However, in 1952 Ansells of Birmingham took over the firm and its 140 public houses. The Brewery survived only as a bottling plant and store until the early 60s. Ansells then merged with Tetley Walker and Ind Coope to form Allied Breweries in 1961. This company then merged with Carlsberg, the Danish lager giant in 1992 and is now known as Carlsberg-Tetley.

Interestingly when the householders on Leicester Road whose gardens backed on to the strip of land behind offered to buy it, the sale was arranged between them and the Leicester Brewery.

Coronation Party outside King William IV 1953

Thurcaston – a Brief History

The village is listed in the Domesday Book as Turchitelestone. The name suggests Danish occupation of an existing Saxon settlement: “Thorketil” is a Danish name, and “tun” an Anglo-Saxon term for a settlement.

From the Domesday entry we learn that in 1066 the Lord of the Manor was Leofwin. By 1086 the Lordship had passed to Hugh de Grandmesnil (who had come over with William the Conqueror and been rewarded for his service with large swathes of land, much of it in Leicestershire). The value of the demesne was 30 shillings in 1066 and £4 in 1086.

Ploughland, woodland and a mill are also listed, but no meadow or livestock.

All 30 households listed were unfree peasants. They had to work for the Lord of the Manor and were not free to leave. Their (very limited) rights depended upon their status.

Thurcaston’s first stone church (which was probably preceded by a wooden one) was built soon after 1066. Only the south doorway of this church still exists.

The oldest signs of settlement are situated in the area immediately around the Church. To the northwest of the church there are remains of two embanked fishponds. There are traces of old village houses to the north and south of the church. These may have been abandoned after the Black Death in the mid 14^th Century.

The village expanded along what is now Anstey Lane and Mill Road.

Hugh Latimer was born in Thurcaston at the end of the 15^th century. He was a prominent Catholic who converted to Protestantism. He was in and out of favour with Henry VIII: becoming Bishop of Worcester, but later imprisoned twice in the Tower. In 1555, during Mary’s reign, he was tried and burned on the stake for his beliefs. He was one of the Oxford Martyrs (with Ridley and Cramner).

The central part of the house now known as “Latimer’s House” was built at this time. There is no evidence that this was the house in which Latimer actually lived.

In 1564, Queen Elizabeth granted property in Thurcaston and the advowson (the right to appoint the Rector) to Richard Robson of London who sold these to a member of the Grosvenor/Gravenor family in Cheshire. In turn, a Nicholas Gravenor sold the advowson to Sir Francis Walsingham in 1583/4. Sir Francis immediately gifted the advowson to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. The college, which had been founded that year, trained ministers in the Puritan ideology. The Rectors appointed were distinguished men from the College. Emmanuel still has a share in the appointment of Thurcaston Rectors.

Meanwhile, in 1568, Nicholas Gravenor built a Manor House in the village. John Flowers, known as “The Leicester Artist”, included a picture of it in “Views of Ancient Buildings in the Town and County of Leicester”, published in 1826 (see picture). He described a carved beam over one of the windows with the inscription:

“This hows was boylded anno D.M.1568, and in ye. 1 yer of ye. rang of owre Soverain-Ladye, Queen Elizabeth, by me Nycholas Graune”. The beam was included in today's Manor House, built in the 19^th century.

Acknowledgements

This page is based on research by Margaret Greiff and Brenda Hooper.

The pictures were sourced as follows:

Domesday entry for Thurcaston:

From opendomesday.org, a site created by Anna Powell-Smith. Domesday data created by Professor J.J.N. Palmer, University of Hull. Used under creative commons licence.

Wallis' Farm, Schoolmaster's House, Top Lane Cottages, Leicester Road c.1947

Courtesy of Monica Gilham

Latimer's House, Thurcaston Church, Methodist Chapel, 1875 schoolroom, Village Hall

Thurcaston and Cropston Local History Society

Category Archives: Thurcaston

Thurcaston Shops

Early Shops

Vine House Farm

Thurcaston's Last Shop

Memories of our Villages

The Bridge on Mill Road, Thurcaston

The Wright Family

Thurcaston in WWII

The Wheatsheaf

Beginnings

The Dexter / Wright Family

Memories

The Canary

The Building

Today

Memories

The mynah bird

Thurcaston Mill and Oven Cottage

Thurcaston Mill in the 1890s

Problems with Weights

Steam engine added

Acknowlegements and Sources

Thurcaston Methodist Chapel

From Thurcaston to Trafalgar

Thurcaston Enclosure

The King William IV

The First Building

Landlords

Breweries

The New Pub

Thurcaston – a Brief History

First Written Records

11th - 14th Centuries

15th -17th Centuries

18th Century

19th Century

The 20th Century

Acknowledgements