Blaby, Leicestershire
Historical Description
Blaby, a union town, a township, and a parish in Leicestershire, on a branch of the river Soar and on the Union Canal, 4½ miles S of Leicester, with a station on the L. & N.W.R., and a post and money order office under Leicester; telegraph office. South Wigston. Area, 1332 acres;, population, 1646. Shoemaking and framework knitting are the chief industries. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough; net yearly value, £400, derived chiefly from 327 acres of glebe with residence, in the gift of the Biphop of Peterborough. The church is a stone building in the Early Gothic style, and is believed to date from the 13th century. There is also a Baptist chapel. Blaby Hall is a fine country house in the Elizabethan style, standing in the midst of extensive pleasure grounds.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Leicestershire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Blaby All Saints | |
| Hundred | Guthlaxton | |
| Poor Law union | Blaby |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Findmypast, in association with the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland, have the following parish records online for Blaby:
| Baptisms | Banns | Marriages | Burials |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1560-1916 | 1754-1939 | 1568-1931 | 1565-1972 |
Churches
Church of England
All Saints (parish church)
The church of All Saints is a building of stone in an Early Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave, south aisle, south porch and a tower with lofty spire, ornamented with carved heads and containing 5 bells, dated 1611, 1634, 1807 and 1887: the font is reputed to be Saxon: the east window was filled with stained glass in memory of the men of Blaby who fell in the Great War, 1914-18; there is also a tablet on which are inscribed their names: in 1902 the church was completely restored and reseated at a cost of £1,000: there are 400 free sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Blaby from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Blaby (All Saints))
Land and Property
A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Leicestershire is online.
Maps
Online maps of Blaby are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Leicestershire newspapers online: