The Gartree II Deanery (Wigston) of the Diocese of Leicester currently consists of 9 churches and is situated to the south and south-east of Leicester. It adjoins Gartree I Deanery (Market Harborough) to the east and south.
Rural Dean for
Gartree II Deanery
Rev.
Michael Rusk, The Rectory, 1 Leicester Road, Oadby.
Tel: 0116 271 2135
The Benefice of Kibworth with Smeeton Westerby and Saddington lies within Gartree
II Deanery. The following articles have been submitted by officers or clergy of
Gartree II churches during 1999 and 2000.
Last updated on Saturday, 03 December 2005 by Kevin Feltham (Webmaster)
St. Peter’s Church stands in the centre of Oadby on the junction of three main roads. The first record of the church is dated 1087, although there could have been a Saxon church on the site before this, but no evidence has ever been found. The Tower and Spire were completed in 1275 and followed five years later, allowing the Tower to settle on its foundations, by the Nave and Chancel. The present Nave and Chancel were rebuilt in the 14th century and are good examples of the Perpendicular period. The Aisles were added shortly after. In 1517 the church was called the Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul.
St. Peter’s Church was formerly appropriated to Launde Abbey, and in 1877 was described as a handsome structure, with a tower containing four bells and a clock, and surmounted by a broach spire. The aisles and clerestory have battlemented parapets and the nave is of four bays and has a number of grotesque corbel heads. It is recorded that the south porch was rebuilt in l874
Structural damaged to the tower called for drastic repairs in 1927. Sir Francis Cox, an engineer, advised a strengthening method by forcing concrete into the wall cavities by compressed air. Two ring beams carrying the six bells and a concrete floor below the ring were also built. These measures have stood the test of time and the tower remains unyielding to the vibrations of modern traffic. In 1986 new ring beams were installed and the ring was increased to eight bells.
In 1987 the old Victorian pews were removed, a new floor laid and padded chairs installed. The Chancel’s stained glass window was restored and various other alterations were made which included the pulpit and the altar rail. During the refurbishment an old stone was found in the tower with the inscription, "Valentine Jackson 1632" carved on it. This was given a prominent place in the Chancel by the Stonemasons.
The Chancel window was presented by Thomas Merritt Evans in memory of his wife Anne in 1887. The window facing east in the South Aisle is in memory of the wife of William W. Howard who died in 1886, and also of his child. His wife was the daughter of A. R. Donnisthorpe. Of the two windows either side of the South Door, one is in memory of Julia, the wife of George Hodges who died in 1910. The other is to the memory of George Hodges, 1924, given by his second wife, Mary Jane, in 1928. The Eagle Bible stand was given by George Hodges on his second marriage in 1913.
In 1920 there was a tablet in the Chancel recording that the Chancel and the North Aisle were restored and the Vestry built in 1887/88. A plate by the organ states that it was a gift of J.A. Corah, of Oadby Hill House, in memory of the marriage of his daughter, Gladys, on August 10th. 1916. Nearby another records the death of John Arthur Corah in that same year.
Although most of the gravestones in the churchyard are now unreadable, in 1920 it was recorded the oldest stones were to Robert Ludlam, 1721; J. Bates, 1729 and to Annie Hudson, 1729. Twenty-six of the gravestones were dated from 1721 to 1791. Since then the churchyard has been re-organised and the gravestones re-positioned. In the early 1800s the east side of the churchyard was cleared to allow the construction of the continuation of London Road so it could join up with the Leicester Road. This saved the horse-drawn traffic a detour through the village, but this caused many of the oldest gravestones to be lost.
Oadby covers a large area, so it was decided that St. Peter’s would have two satellite churches; St. Paul’s in Hamble Road on the post war housing estate, and The Grange who hold services in a local Junior School on the new Grange Estate. In September a new Rector, the Revd. Michael Rusk, will be installed. The Team Vicar is the Revd. Brian Robertson and the Honorary Curate is Revd. Geoffrey Turnock. At the present time the post of Team Curate is vacant.
All Saints Church, Wigston Magna Janice Broughton, from All Saints Church in Wigston Magna, continues our articles about other churches in the Gartree II Deanery.
Early History
The church stands on a slight rise of ground and occupies what was probably an ancient pagan sacred site suggested by the present name BUSHLOE, in the vicinity of the church, which is a corruption of two Anglo-Saxon words BYSCE and HLAEW, meaning a grave barrow within a thicket.The church was constructed from locally quarried Enderby granite and has a fine dominating West tower faced with square-hewn ashlor which is surmounted by an octagonal parapet spire of grey limestone. It was built between the years 1280 – 1320 and almost certainly replaced at least one earlier church building on the same site, because the Domesday Survey of 1086 records a priest established on the manor which had formerly belonged to the Saxon Earl Ralf.
After the Conquest the manor and the church passed into the ownership of Hugh de Glentmaisnil, although neither he nor Earl Ralf had been permanent residents of the manor. During the 12th century the church was presented to the Cluniac Priory of Lenton in Nottinghamshire as a gift by Robert de Meulen, Earl of Leicester and the latest lord of the manor.
The church was rebuilt by its new owners, the liturgically motivated and enormously wealthy Cluniac community, in the late Gothic or Decorated style of architecture and features the symmetrical ground plan, spacious wide aisles and side chapels typical of that period. The North aisle chapel built about 1300 was dedicated to the Virgin Mary while the South aisle chapel was a chantry chapel where prayers and masses for the deliverance of the souls of the dead from purgatory were chanted daily.
Decorated Period
The Decorated period during which All Saints was built featured new symbolic architecture harmonising with the more elaborate liturgy which had developed since 1215. Utilising new Continental building technology architects designed churches with graceful pointed arches which reached ‘upwards’ towards Heaven, and built large evenly-spaced windows which allowed the ‘Light of the World’ to flood their interiors. The glass of these windows was supported by complex bar-tracery with cusped circles, quatre-foils and trefoils, making flowing geometrical patterns. Window arches and the windows themselves were equilateral in shape, their radii equal to their span to express the three equal persons of the Trinity, while octagonal pieces, (and in All Saints they support the South aisle) represented the Resurrection and New Life. The delicate naturalistic oak leaf and figure carvings on the capitals of those piers, together with the ballflower motif, also demonstrate the symbolic nature of the Decorated period.
For the next 300 years All Saints suffered under its distant monastic owners. The priory demanded large sums of money from the parish in lieu of its annual harvested produce while systematically neglecting the fabric of the church in its care. During the early 16th century the large east window finally disintegrated and the chancel fell into a state of disrepair.
When the Reformation was completed, bringing its far-reaching changes, the ownership of the church passed from monastic to lay patronage, and in 1622 the Worshipful company of Haberdashers in the City of London purchased the sectarial title. The new patrons received the sum of £45 per annum from the local population in lieu of their tithes while at the same time paying the vicar a stipend of £13 13s 4d. It seemed that the new lay owners were every bit as rapacious as the monasteries had been!
| In 1634 church accounts record a visit by the King, Charles I, and his Queen, Henrietta Maria, and in 1636 they show that new rails had been erected around the Communion table in accordance with the new dictates of the King and Archbishop Laud. Ten years later, during the Civil War, the church was badly damaged by Cromwellian soldiers who had been billeted in the village. |
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In the late 19th and early 20th century the church building was heavily restored and refurbished, with new flooring, pews, doors, restoration of windows, heightening of chancel and a new organ chamber built onto the chancel. In 1912 Anglo-Catholocism was introduced into the church by Canon Thomas Wright, and many of the early features of the Medieval church are again in use in a modified form; the Lady Chapel, the Sedilia, the St. John Chapel (using the old chantry chapel), together with more modern furnishings are once more part of the liturgy. In the 1950s the interior was freshly whitened while the roofing timbers were painted in the clear, bright colours of the Medieval church. A rood was set up over the chancel arch replacing the original which was destroyed during the Reformation, with the figures of Christ on the cross, the Virgin Mary and St. John.
St. Thomas’ Church, South Wigston This compilation of information was put together by Dr Kevin Feltham of Kibworth.
South Wigston has always had a separate identity from Wigston Magna but before the 1880s many residents would walk a mile to worship at All Saints Church.
Founding of St. Thomas’ Church
In 1886, on the site of the present day St. Thomas’ Parish Hall, an iron church or "tin" hut was used for worship. In 1892 the foundation stone was laid for St. Thomas’ Church by Mr Thomas Ingram. The church was built without a tower and was consecrated on 2nd February 1893 by the Bishop of Peterborough (Leicester did not become a Diocese until 1927). The dedication to St. Thomas was considered unusual because he was referred to as "doubting" Thomas who needed proof that Jesus had risen.
| St. Thomas the Apostle, St. John the Evangelist and Jesus as a boy can be
seen in the East Window which was presented in 1942 with the Lady Chapel and the
Children’s Corner by the Mothers’ Union. At first many villagers did not like the new church, preferring the cosy "tin" church, and at one point the choir boys went "on strike" demanding one penny to sing at weddings instead of their usual halfpenny. The first Vicar, Rev. W. Whittingham, complained too. He declared he could not employ suitable servants in South Wigston! |
 |
Seven years after completing the church, the unusually shaped bell tower was added. This was again provided by Thomas Ingram who also gave the eight bells.
The Garrison Church
The history of St. Thomas’ is closely linked with the Royal Leicestershire Regiment, who until the middle of this century were housed in the Victorian barrack block in Saffron Road which had been built in 1881. St. Thomas’ was used by the soldiers for Church parades and was known as the Garrison Church after the Boer War in 1901. The flags of the regiment still hang proudly above the church porch.
Back to the Church
In the 1920s Charles Moore was the choirmaster of St. Thomas’ Church. He also founded the Wigston Temperance Prize Band. He taught many of the local boys to play instruments. Today the Band still leads the Armistice parades and upholds the tradition of playing carols in the streets every Boxing Day.
When the Church was consecrated, the Vicarage and Sunday School were yet to be built. The thirteen roomed Victorian Vicarage was completed in 1895. The former "tin" church served as the Sunday School until the 1920s. Funds were raised to build a brick Sunday School. The bricks were bought at five shillings for an adult and two shillings and sixpence for a child and their initials were etched into the bricks for posterity.
Church Activities
St Thomas’ Church has been involved over many years with local groups meeting in the Sunday School including Cubs, Scouts, Brownies and Guides, Saint John Ambulance Brigade and the Evergreens.
In the Sunday School Marie Austin began the Girls Friendly Society in the 1920s. She formed a choir and each girl belonging to the movement was given a badge. With a lovely voice herself, Marie with some 20 girl singers toured neighbouring villages with a hired coach to sing in various churches. Members of the congregation would take two or three girls home to tea.
The Band of Hope was formed too, and young people joining were required to sign the pledge promising never to touch alcohol.
During the 1940s, the Anglican Young Peoples Association (AYPA) was formed and the Dramatic Society (STADS) put on very good productions.
Vicars
The Rev. Jesse Proctor was Vicar in 1939 taking over from Rev. Colin Weston who had served the community for 23 years and whose wife, Mary, was the School Doctor. Rev. Proctor claimed he never saw the east Window during the war years as the blackout curtain was permanently drawn. He left in 1946 and was replaced by former Eighth Army Captain, Rev. Robin Woods until 1951. Also in 1946 electric lighting was installed in the church.
St. Thomas’ Church is now over 100 years old. Many Vicars have made their time in South Wigston memorable, stamping their own identity on the community. Several became "high-flyers", Robin Woods becoming Dean of Windsor and Bishop of Worcester; Jesse Proctor, Harold Lockley and Neil Robinson became Archdeacons of Warwick, Loughborough and Suffolk respectively. Rev. Glynn Richerby moved to St. James the Greater in Leicester in 1993 and he is noted for his outreach into the community. The present incumbent is Rev. Peter Day.
Conclusion
A familiar landmark, St. Thomas’ Church cannot fail to be seen by people of a wider community, but to those who live close by it is a sign that we are near to home. For most of us the church has always been there. It is often taken for granted, but if it were not there it would be greatly missed.
Taken from "South Wigston and its Parish Church: a brief history to commemorate the centenary of Saint Thomas’ Church 1893 to 1993". Researched by Rev. Peter G Holmes, Pamela Ward and Margaret E Nobbs.
Whether there was a church or chapel in Fleckney at the time of the Norman Conquest is not known. What is certain is that a building was erected in the village shortly after that event. The present church has grown over the years from that early building. This is known for certain because the church still has two of the original doorways to that Norman building which date from the same period. In the early part of the 14th century the building was extensively rebuilt with the possible addition of the chancel and the insertion of new windows in the old Norman nave. In this form the building survived until Victorian times, when the condition of the fabric coupled with the Victorian social trend of churchgoing made it necessary to rebuild and extend the church in the period 1868-70 resulting in the building we have today. The only addition since that time is the choir vestry built in 1954.
The principal entrance is through the Victorian porch, which protects the fine Norman doorway from the weather. This doorway dates from about 1100 and was carefully dismantled by the builders and rebuilt in its present position in the extended church. The small doorway now leading to the choir vestry is a plain arch remaining from the Norman church. It has two rather worn heads on either side on the vestry wall and dates from about 1100.
The walls are of rubble masonry, in places over 3 ft. thick, and it seems probable that the fabric of the original church, although much restored, has survived. The west end wall is about 5 ft. thick to support the bell-cote with its two bells dating from 1604 and 1868-70.
Fleckney church was originally a chapel of Wistow. In fact in 1220 it was one of three chapels dependent on Wistow except that it was the only one to have a resident chaplain and had all the rights of the mother church. The first recorded Curate is Thomas of Fleckney in 1236. From 1864 the benefice was described as a vicarage.
Iii the King’s Book of 1542 the dedication is listed as "St. Thomas a Becket" and also in 1786 but in 1805 it is "St. Nicholas". The reason for and date of the change has been lost. The registers date from 1638 and are complete, but there are earlier transcripts for scattered years from 1575.
The yew trees in the churchyard were examined recently and it is estimated that one is 240 years old and another 270.
This short history of Great Glen (Glen Magna benefice) by Fred Stocks (Churchwarden) continues our articles about other churches in the Gartree II Deanery.
There is very little evidence of the history of Great Glen before 1070. It has been suggested that the district may have been an early centre of Christianity or a local Anglian kingdom. There is evidence that the kings of Mercia came to Great Glen in the ninth century to their summer residences.
Great Glen is mentioned in the Domesday Book which was compiled shortly after the Norman invasion of 1066. It was a thriving village and the Lord of the Manor was Hugh de Grantmensuil.
St. Cuthbert was a Saxon bishop of Lindisfarne and it was him that the parish church of Great Glen was dedicated from times preceding the reformation. It was customary in those times for the Normans to build their churches on the sites of former Saxon churches. This gives strong favour to the theory that a Saxon church once stood on the site of the present church.
The two most notable features of the Norman period are the Norman arch inside the porch over the south door and the fine circular font. On each side door is a curiously carved capital of the same period. Near the capital on the West side door the so called ‘little stone’ bearing the fragments of an ancient inscription of which the only decipherable letters are KOBIA. The font from the Norman church was placed in the 14th century church which succeeded it and, having seen many catastrophes, has survived to this day.
By about 1340 the ‘Early English’ style of architecture was adopted in constructing the church which replaced the former building of the Norman period. As far as the exterior of the building is concerned the two lower stages of the tower (topped with a spire until about 1768) remain. The western face of the tower has a complete window of the period – the only complete window of the 14th century church remaining.
The North aisle is probably the oldest part of the 14th century church and it is here that clear indications of Early English architecture can be found. The Picina at the East end is Early English, and there are early traces of the same period in the jamb stones of the East and other windows.
Although there is little certainty about the precise date, it is thought that much of the 14th century church was destroyed by fire in about 1530. History tends to point to the Civil Wars of the following century; certain parts of the church were not damaged. It is believed that Cromwell used the church to shelter his army during and after the battle of Naseby. We have a copy of a letter sent to the Speaker of the House of Commons from Cromwell dated June 14th 1645 regarding his troops and the battle.
This is a short history of St. Wistan’s by Ann Brooks.
| The Parish Church at Wistow was built on its unlikely site in the water meadows by the River Sence because it was the place where Wistan was murdered on 1st June 847. Wistan was a Christian Prince of Mercia whose remains were venerated as a martyr who had powers of healing. His body was carried to Reptou in Derbyshire and buried there in the crypt. |  |
On the way to Reptou the body lay at Wigston and Bretby. Hence these are the only four churches in the country dedicated to Wistan (spelt Wystan at Reptou). The name Wistow is a shortened form of Wistanstowe, holy place of Wistan.
Much of the fabric of the church is Norman with a 13th century tower. The blocked up Norman doorway to the right of the porch is clearly visible outside. The church was restored in Georgian times and it is thought that the box pews (with pegs inside for top hats!) and the splendid reredos were added in the middle of the 18th century. The fine wrought iron altar rail and gate, probably the work of Robert Bakewell of Derby, and the clear glass windows also date from this time as does the plaster ceiling which gives excellent acoustics for concerts.
There are many interesting monuments inside, including the full length figure of Sir Richard Halford in the transept. He was a prominent Royalist, who entertained King Charles I at Wistow in 1645. Also in the transept are monuments to Sir William and Sir Charles Halford and some unusual and beautifully lettered slate tablets in the floor.
In the nave are further Halford memorials including three to Sir Henry Halfords. The 1st Sir Henry was a remarkable man. He was president of the Royal College of Physicians continuously from 1820 to 1844, was physician to George III, George IV and William IV, and attended also all the Royal Dukes and Princesses, and almost everyone of importance in the London of the first quarter of the 19th century, including the Duke of Wellington, Warren Hastings, Sir Walter Scott, Fox, Pitt and Talleyrand. He was not only their physician; he was in most cases their friend and confidant.
The Royal Coat of Arms of George III is on the hatchment facing the doorway as you enter the church. The hatchment on the right hand side of the nave are the arms of the physician, which were granted to Sir Henry by George IV in 1826 as a gesture of gratitude after his unremitting attention to the Duke of York during his last illness. You will notice on this the Greyhound crest of the Halfords, the medical staff entwined with the serpent and the emu supporters. George IV had given Sir Henry two emus. These are reputed to have done much damage in the garden at Wistow, and when they died one was stuffed and placed in a glass case there.
Sir Henry made extensive improvements to the property of Wistow, and created the lake, at the same time diverting the road around it. He was also responsible for completing the Georgian restoration of the church, as can be seen by his initials on the rainwater heads outside.
The church was re-roofed with aluminium in 1961 after a series of assaults by lead thieves, and the pretty Georgian font which was found broken in the vestry was placed in the transept, which makes a lovely place for baptisms. Electricity was connected to the church in 1980 so that the outworn bellows of the hand-pumped Victorian organ could be replaced by a fan.
In the churchyard you will find many old tombstones, but none more recent than 1873 when burials ceased because of the danger of floods. Records show the church to have been flooded three times to a depth of three feet in 1588, 1609 and 1618, and no doubt at intervals to this day to a lesser extent.
Recently it was only possible to toll and not peal the three ancient bells in the tower due to the unsafe state of old wooden bell frame. We were fortunate to obtain (after considerable paper work!) a grant from the Millennium Bell Fund and with this and other helpful grants and fundraising efforts, we now have a peal of six bells, and a new bell frame below the old bell frame which has had to be retained. The three new bells were cast by Taylors of Loughborough and installed in February 1999, the inscriptions being "2000 years of Christendom", "Ringing out a century Fremantle/Brooks" and "Allen, Bale and Gilbert families". The bells were dedicated by Bishop Bill Down on 30th May 1999 and now a full peal can be heard across the water meadows. Bell ringers, both proficient and learning are needed to make up a team.
St Luke’s Church, at Newton Harcourt is a Chapel at Ease of Wistow. It is a charming and intimate church with a beautiful organ and newly installed heating. For this latter reason Newton is used in the winter months and Wistow from April to October. The church at Wistow is open every Saturday and Sunday in the summer, but Newton is kept locked except for services. The parish always uses the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Services include 9.15 am Eucharist on the First and Third Sundays in the month and Evensong at 6.30 pm on the last Sundays in the summer months. There is a Pets’ Service at Wistow on 30th April 2000 at 6.30 pm. Dogs, cats, hamsters and sticklebacks etc. are all welcome!
Last updated on Saturday, 03 December 2005 by Kevin Feltham (Webmaster)
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