Langton, Church (St. Peter)
LANGTON, CHURCH (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Market-Harborough, hundred of Gartree, S. division of the county of Leicester, 4 miles (N. by W.) from Market-Harborough; containing 869 inhabitants. It comprises by computation 4000 acres, and includes the townships of East and West Langton, and the chapelries of Thorp-Langton and Tur-Langton. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £48. 13. 4.; present net income, £989; patrons, the Hanbury family. The church is an ancient and stately structure in the decorated English style, of remarkably light and elegant design. There are chapels at Thorp and Tur Langton, and a place of worship for Independents. A school, endowed with £60 per annum, has lately been opened; and there is also a school for the townships of East and West Langton, supported by a rent-charge on land bequeathed by three ladies. The Rev. William Hanbury, for many years incumbent of the parish, and remarkable for his benevolence, and his taste for the cultivation of trees, of which he had extensive plantations, in 1767 bequeathed the profits arising from his nurseries at different periods, to trustees, for the erection of a splendid church in the parish, and for the endowment of colleges, schools, hospitals, and literary and charitable institutions of every description; it being expressly ordered that the funds should be suffered to accumulate till they amounted to £10,000 or £12,000 per annum. In 1837, the funds had realized £6421. 10. 10., and the annual income was £574. Previously to the foundation of the school above noticed, the only branch of the bequest that had come into operation, was, a gift of beef to the parish, which has been continued since the year 1773, and is distributed annually among the poor of the several townships. The accumulation is still in progress.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.