Foston, Leicestershire
| Foston | |
| Leicestershire | |
|---|---|
| |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP605953 |
| Location: | 52°33’8"N, 1°6’32"W |
| Data | |
| Postcode: | LE8 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Blaby |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Blaby |
Foston is a hamlet in Leicestershire, which is all that remains of a mediæval village, cleared in the modern era. It is a mile east of Countesthorpe and a mile and a half south of the swollen suburbs of Leicester.
There is a church here, St Bartholomew.[1]
History
Foston has been a deserted village for nearly 400 years. If we go back as far as Domesday (1086) we find that there were twenty-four or twenty-five families tilling the soil here.[2]
The village remained the same for about 100 years. In 1314 there were twenty-seven households. In 1124 there were twenty. Even as late as 1563 the return to the Bishop of Lincoln says there were still twenty-one families.
William Faunt, “a man of great learning, wisdom and judgement, of great esteem and grace in his country,” according to his grandson, bought the manor of Foston in 1549 and he died there ten years later. His eldest son, William, his successor, was killed in battle in 1574. The second son, Anthony, therefore inherited the estate.
It was Anthony Faunt who began to enclose the common land on which the villagers relied for their living. One by one they were forced to leave Foston, until by 1622 the enclosure was complete and the village was no more. Only the squire, the rector, and three or four labouring families were left.
Today the Faunts’ fine house has gone. It probably stood where Hall Farm stands today. The church of course, and the old Tudor rectory next door still remain.
You can see the site of the village in the field to the east of the long narrow spinney by Hall Farm, on the South side of the road that leads in from the A5199. There you will find many long banks and hollows, and traces of a long deep roadway that was probably once the old village street. Close by are one or two very large fields that owe their size to the Faunts’ enclosure 400 years ago.
Outside links
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