Braunstone
- Not to be confused with Braunston, Northants
| Braunstone | |
| Leicestershire | |
|---|---|
 The Shakespeare, Braunstone | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SK556010 |
| Location: | 52°36’15"N, 1°10’48"W |
| Data | |
| Postcode: | LE3 2XN |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Blaby |
Braunstone is a village in Leicestershire, heard up against thae civic bounds of the City of Leicester, and largely contiguous with it, Braunstone is far from the pretty rural village that once it was. Nevertheless, for all the growth around it, Braunston has retained something of itself and its old character.
The village is southwest of Leicester city centre. The A563 dual carriageway slices through north-to-south and the M1 motorway beyond it to curb the village's western edge. The Leicester East motorway services are at Braunstone.
The civil parish of which Braunstone is the heart is known as the Town of Braunstone or Braunstone Town. In 2007 the population of the parish was around 15,000. There are around 7,500 households including Thorpe Astley.
Braunstone is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, giving a population of "two sokemen and four villeins".[1] The village remained a small settlement (population 238 in 1921) until 1925 when the Leicester Corporation compulsorily purchased the bulk of the Winstanly Braunstone Hall estate.
It is just outside the city boundary of Leicester, and the part of the old civil parish now inside the city boundary is also called Braunstone. This part of the parish, which contains a large council estate was detached in 1935 from the Blaby district and Braunstone Parish to become part of the county borough of Leicester, hence the present split. The use of the name Braunstone Town is more recent, and is an attempt by Braunstone Town Council to distinguish their village from the modern council estate of the same name.
Braunstone Town is adjacent to the M1 motorway (junction 21) and is adjoined by the Meridian Business and Leisure Parks, and the Fosse Shopping Park and Grove Triangle retail outlets.
Although the parish has no railway station of its own, Leicester station is close. Leicester PlusBus, is a scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together at a saving.
St Peter's Church
The first record of a church is 1168: the earliest parts of the existing church date from the twelfth or thirteenth century. It is built of limestone and consists of a short square tower, nave and chancel. It was re-roofed in 1867 and had some minor refurbishment in the 20th century. In 1937 Braunstone became a parish in its own right, and St Peter's became the parish church with its own vicar.[1]
History
The earliest dated human find recorded is a Bronze Age axe (about 1000 BC) found in 1893. The Roman road from Leicester passes through here.
Throughout the Middle Ages and earlier Braunstone was within the ancient Leicester Forest.
Braunstone is mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086 AD) where it is referred to as ‘’Brantestone’’ or ‘’Branstun’’.
"Braunstone – six plough lands, all but for oxgangs, in Braunstone which is the reign of The Confessor had been valued at twenty shillings, were worth sixty shillings at the general survey and were then held by the son of Robert Burdet. The land was equal to four ploughs, one was in Demesne, and four Bondmen; and two socmen and five villains, with one border, had two ploughs. There was a wood five furlongs long and three broad, and there were 5 acres of meadow. Two socmen abiding in Braunstone had five oxgangs of land in Lubbesthorpe; and jointly with ten villains and six borders in that lordship had two ploughs and five ploughing oxen.
The first post-Conquest Lord of the Manor was Hugh de Grantemesnil. The Harcourt or Horecut family held the overriding interest in the estate from the 13th to the 16th Century. A survey taken in 1299 showed a growth to 24 households in the village.
In the modern period woodlands were felled for pasture for sheep, and Leicester Forest was fully enclosed in 1628.
In the 18th Century Braunstone prospered. In 1750 James Winstanley III tried to sink a pit on the manor. His attempts were thwarted when his bore hole was filled with stones by intruders, thought to be from local mining districts.
Braunstone remained a picturesque village with various tenanted farmsteads until, in 1925, the Leicester Corporation compulsorily purchased the bulk of the Winstanley Braunstone Hall estate for £116,500. In 1935 the part of Braunstone on the city side of Braunstone Lane became the North Braunstone Ward of the City of Leicester, and the parish of Braunstone in compensation had part of Lubbesthorpe added to its boundary.
During World War Two Braunstone Park was put to agricultural use. Wheat, barley, and potatoes were grown, and sheep allowed to graze. What is now the Memorial Gardens was used as a military camp, occupied first by the Army and later by the American 82nd Airborne troops. After the war, due to the severe housing shortage, people were allowed to occupy the camp until they found homes of their own.
Braunstone Hall
The first manor house was sited near to St. Peter's Church, and would have been built of the same type of stone as the church. Around 1480 AD the second manor house, known in deeds as "the Mansion", was sited at the corner of Braunstone Lane and Braunstone Avenue. This property had stone walled cellars and ground floor, and two upper and overhanging storeys of oak frame, infilled with either wattle and daub or brickwork, and a Swithland slate roof. Some rooms were panelled. This building was demolished in February 1776 when the Winstanleys built Braunstone House, now called Braunstone Hall.
James Winstanley purchased the estate from the Hastings family in 1650, for which he paid £6,000. The Winstanleys were Lords of the Manor of Braunstone for nearly 300 years and were responsible for building most of the structures which can be seen in Braunstone Park today.
The present Braunstone Hall was built in 1775 for the Winstanleys by William Oldham, who was later to become Mayor of Leicester. There is a rainwater head dated 1776. During the building work, a stonemason and a labourer fell to their deaths from the attic storey. This may have given risen to the stories of the Hall being haunted. The garden part was used to grow fruit trees and contained several hothouses. It is now the walled Garden. There was also a small home farm which provided food for the hall. After the Winstanleys left the hall in 1926 it was converted for use as a school, but is now disused. It is a Grade II Listed Building.[2]
Outside links
- St Peter's Church
- Mosaic Church
- Restore Braunstone Hall Campaign Group
- Braunstone Town Council
- Leicestershire Villages Website
- Braunstone Town community page
- Braunstone Park and Hall History - Leicester City Council website
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 G. D. England (1970) The Story of Braunstone Parish Church (E. Colledge & Co, Leicester)
- ↑ Braunstone Hall