Lutterworth (St. Mary)

LUTTERWORTH (St. Mary), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Guthlaxton, S. division of the county of Leicester, 13 miles (S. by W.) from Leicester, and 89½ (N. W. by N.) from London, on the high road to Lichfield, Chester, and Liverpool; containing 2531 inhabitants. This place was formerly noted for the peculiar vassalage of the tenants of the manor, who were obliged to grind their corn at one particular mill of the lord, and their malt at another, so lately as the year 1758, when they obtained a decision at the Leicester assizes empowering them to grind where they pleased. The town is situated on the small river Swift, which falls into the Avon; and at Gills corner, not far distant, the Midland railway is carried through a tunnel 66 yards long, 25 feet wide, and 24 feet high. It is regularly built, and consists principally of one street, from which some minor ones diverge; the elevation of its site, and dry gravelly nature of the soil, render it peculiarly healthy. The town is lighted by subscription, and paved out of the proceeds of an ancient benefaction of land, producing about £200 per annum, under the management of two officers called "Town Masters," who are annually chosen at the manorial court leet. The cotton and tammy manufactures were formerly carried on to a considerable extent, but the latter was discontinued many years ago, and the former declined about 1816; the present staple article is coarse worsted hose, and a few ribbons are also made. The market is on Thursday; and fairs are held on the Thursday after Feb. 19th, on April 2nd, Holy-Thursday, and Sept. 16th, for horses, cattle, and sheep: the last is also for cheese. The powers of the county debt-court of Lutterworth, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Lutterworth.

The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £26, and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £585. The church is a spacious and handsome structure, with a tower surmounted by four lofty pinnacles; it was repaired and beautified about the year 1740, and the whole interior renovated, with the exception of the pulpit, which is a fine specimen of the early English style, and possesses great interest, being that from which the reformer Wycliffe first openly promulgated his doctrines. He was rector from 1375 to 1384, when he died, and was interred in the church; but in the year 1428, his bones were disinterred pursuant to a decree by the council of Constance, and publicly burnt, and the ashes thrown into the river. His portrait is preserved in the church, as well as the chair in which he died, also the purple-velvet communion-cloth used by him; and a handsome monument has been erected of late years in honour of the great reformer. The late Dr. Ryder, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, who was rector from 1801 to 1814, appropriated a library for the use of the parishioners, to be deposited in the church; where is a tablet to his memory. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans. A free school and some almshouses were founded and endowed by means of a bequest of £200 from the Rev. Edward Sherrier; a school for girls was endowed with £12 per annum, by the late bishop, and another, called "Mr. Pool's," is partly supported by endowment. Richard Elkington, of Shawell, by will dated May 29th, 1607, devised the sum of £50, afterwards vested in land which on sale produced £1000, now lent in sums of £50 to tradesmen. The union of Lutterworth comprises 36 parishes or places, 30 of which are in the county of Leicester, 5 in that of Warwick, and one in that of Northampton; the whole containing a population of 16,039. In the reign of John, an hospital for a master and brethren, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, was founded and endowed by Roise de Verdon, and Nicholas, her son: at the Dissolution it was valued at £26. 9. 5. per annum.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.