Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire
Historical Description
Kibworth Beauchamp, a town in Leicestershire, 9 miles SE from Leicester, and 6 N by W of Market Harborough. It has a station on the main line of the M.R., and there is a post, money order, and telegraph office at the adjoining township of Kibworth Harcourt. Acreage, 1312; population of the civil parish, 1003; of the ecclesiastical, with Kibworth Harcourt, 1463. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough; net value,, £700 with residence. The church, dedicated to St Wilfrid, stands on a height, is a large stone edifice in the Decorated style, consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with an embattled western tower, and contains an ancient brass, sedilia, piscina, and a beautiful carved screen. There is an endowed Congregational chapel, and a Wesleyan chapel; also a commodious village hall and a public library maintained chiefly by voluntary subscriptions. A free grammar school was founded here by some person or persons unknown, has a valuable endowment, and was reorganised in 1877 under a scheme of the Charity Commissioners as a second-grade school for boys.
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 | Kibworth-Beauchamp St. Wilfrid | |
Hundred | Gartree | |
Poor Law union | Market-Harborough |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Cemeteries
A cemetery of 4 3/4 acres was formed in 1892, at a cost of £750.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1574, and is in good condition.
Findmypast, in association with the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland, have the following parish records online for Kibworth Beauchamp:
Baptisms | Banns | Marriages | Burials |
---|---|---|---|
1574-1916 | 1654-1939 | 1574-1931 | 1574-1949 |
Churches
Church of England
St. Wilfrid (parish church)
The church of St. Wilfrid, standing on a height, is a large building of stone in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, north and south porches and an embattled western tower with pinnacles, containing a clock and 8 bells, the tenor, dated 1732, weighing 15 cwt.; two others are dated 1618 and 1621; the six bells were rehung and a new frame for eight placed in 1904, at a cost of about £180, and two new bells were added in 1910: the tower was built in 1828, the old tower with a spire about 159 feet in height, having fallen down in 1825 while under repair: the chancel retains a piscina and three handsome sedilia and there is a piscina in each aisle: the stained east window is a memorial to William Morpott Marriott, d. 12 April, 1865, and there are eight others: in 1897 a new carved oak pulpit was presented as a memorial to the Rev. Canon Osborn, 33 years rector of the parish: in the chancel is an ancient brass inscribed to John Beridges S.T.P. Precentor of Lincoln Cathedral, and 30 years rector and patron here, d. at London, 12 May, 1632: there are two memorial tablets: a carved screen divides the chancel from the nave: over the porches are two niches with figures: the church was new-roofed in 1860-63, a new tower arch erected and other improvements made: a new organ was provided in 1895, and in 1902 new choir stalls were provided: the pinnacles of the tower of the church were repaired in 1920: the restoration of the church roofs was completed in 1924. In the churchyard is a memorial, erected in 1920, to the men of Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt who fell in the Great War, 1914-18.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Kibworth Beauchamp from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Kibworth-Beauchamp (St. Wilfrid))
Land and Property
A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Leicestershire is online.
Maps
Online maps of Kibworth Beauchamp 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: