Harby, Leicestershire
Historical Description
Harby, a village and a parish in Leicestershire. The village stands on the Grantham Canal, in the vale of Belvoir, near the boundary with Notts, and has a station called Harby and Stathern, 1½ mile SE from the village, on the G.N. and L. & N.W. Joint railways, and is 8½ miles N from Melton Mowbray. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Melton Mowbray. The parish comprises 2062 acres; population, 637. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough; gross yearly value, £560 with residence. Patron, the Duke of Rutland. The church is a neat edifice of stone, and has marks of Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular styles. There is a Wesleyan chapel.
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 | Harby St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Framland | |
| Poor Law union | Melton-Mowbray |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1700.
Findmypast, in association with the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland, have the following parish records online for Harby:
| Baptisms | Banns | Marriages | Burials |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1700-1916 | 1755-1940 | 1700-1931 | 1700-1991 |
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is a building of stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave of three bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles, containing a clock, presented by the Duke of St. Albans, and 5 bells, two dated 1610, one 1614, one 1701 and the fifth 1887: the chancel retains an aumbry and a piscina, and there is also a piscina in the south aisle: the font bears the date 1606: the church was restored and new roofed in 1870, and further restoration took place during 1874 and 1876: a new vestry and organ chamber were added in 1903: there are 220 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 Harby from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Harby (St. Mary))
Land and Property
A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Leicestershire is online.
Maps
Online maps of Harby 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: