Harby, Leicestershire

Harby
Harby from the south – Waltham Road
Harby Harby shown within Leicestershire
OS grid reference	SK7449331135
District	Melton
Shire county	Leicestershire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Melton Mowbray
Postcode district	LE14
Dialling code	01949
Police	Leicestershire
Fire	Leicestershire
Ambulance	East Midlands
EU Parliament	East Midlands
UK Parliament	Rutland and Melton

Harby is a village and civil parish. It lies in the Vale of Belvoir and forms part of the Borough of Melton in Leicestershire, England.

Location and governance

Harby is in the far north-east of the county in the Vale of Belvoir, 9.4 miles (15.1 km) north of the town of Melton Mowbray, and 13.9 miles (22.4 km) west south-west of the town of Grantham. Although the village is in Leicestershire, the county town of Leicester is 21.4 miles (34.4 km) away and the closest city is Nottingham (15.7 miles (25.3 km)). The village lies on the south side of the Grantham Canal.

Conspicuous on the horizon is the seat of the Duke of Rutland, Belvoir Castle, 6 miles (9.7 km) to the north-east of the village.

The population in 2001/2 is listed as 864 individuals, with 698 on the electoral register and 376 houses. The population increased according to the 2011 census to 931, and was estimated in 2016 to be 877.^[1]

Harby is in the Rutland and Melton constituency. The current Member of Parliament is Alan Duncan. It shares its civil parish council with Long Clawson, and Hose. In local government it comes under Melton Borough Council and Leicestershire County Council.

There are other villages named Harby in Nottinghamshire, Denmark (Hårby) and Sweden.

History

Herdebi 1085 – Harby 2000

Old names for the village include Hereby, Herdby, Hedeby, and Harteby. The first element "Har" either derives from the old Scandinavian "hiorth" meaning herd, flock or the old Norse personal name "Herrothr", old Danish personal name "Heroth". The second element is the old Scandinavian "by" meaning a village or homestead.

The Domesday book of 1086 listed Harby as in the possession of Robert de Stafford:

Robert de Tosny]]. He owned 17 carucates of land at Harby. In the time of Edward the Confessor it was 14 ploughs. Three of these carucates were held directly by Robert with 8 slaves. 13 of the ploughs were leased to 24 freemen, 7 villagers and 3 smallholders. There were meadows measuring 5 furlongs long and 5 furlongs wide. This land now brought in £5 a year; it used to be £4. Robert de Bucy owns 1 carucute of land at Harby and leases it to Gerard. The land takes 1 plough to work it. Gerard sub-leases it to 2 freeman and 3 smallholders. Its value is 5 shillings.

In 1622 William Burton described in his book The Description of Leicester Shire (page 127).

"Harby, in olde deedes written Herdeby in the Hundred of Framland, standing in the Vale of Bever upon the border of Nottinghamshire. In the 20. yeere of Edward the third, William Lord Ros, and John de Oreby held lands heere. In the 44. yeere of Edward the third, Roger Delaware was Lord of this Mannor. In the 25. of Henry the eight the Lord Delaware was Lord of this Mannor as it appeareth by an Inquisition taken after the death of Sir John Digby Knight, in the said 25.yeere of Henry the eight, where it was found that the said Sir John Digby held 4. messuages (with the appurtenances in Harby ) of the said Lord Delaware, as of his Mannor of Harby. In this Towne was borne Jeffrey de Hardby a famous Dvuine, brought up in Oxford, and after became one of the Canons of the Abbey of Leicester; from whence hee came to be Confessor to King Edward the third, and was by him made one of his Privy Councell of state. He wrote many bookes of speciall note in Divinity, and died in London, and was buried in the Austin Fryers. Here also was borne Robert de Hardby, a Frier Carmelite in Lincolne, who wrote something in praise of the saide Order, and lived 1450. Ecclesa de Herdeby Patronus Willimus de Albaniaco persona Mr.Robertus institutus per Hug.nunc Episcopum Lincoln. The new Patron of this Church is Francis Earle of Rutland. This Rectory is valued in the Kings bookes at 20 pounds."

In 1815 John Nichols described Harby in his book The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicestershire.

"Harby... is destitute of woods and streams; no high road leads through or beside it. A heavy clay spreads over every acre in the parish and the uniform operations of husbandry give a sameness to the country, which a stranger might view with disgust; but cultivation has made it fruitful.... Industry here makes the prospect, and the produce alone is the beauty of the soil. There are about 1800 acres in the parish; and, whilst the field continued open, the method of tillage was, first year fallow; second, barley and wheat; third, beans and pease. The families of Harby are 60, its inhabitants 322, among whom are many small freeholders. There is no mansion or antient building in the village; but the present rector has lately built a neat and convenient house...."

Harby Church of England Primary School

School in 1895

School in 2005

The primary school began as a church school founded by the National Society for Promoting Religious Education, a society established in 1811. The first school was founded by the Rector William Evans Hartopp in about 1827 on land donated by John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland.

A new school opened on 25 March 1861, probably on the site of an old village green, by a church committee headed by Rev. Manners Octavius Norman. The building cost £861 3s 4d. The surveyors and architects were Bellamy and Hardy of Lincoln. It had two main teaching classrooms, a large kitchen, toilets to the rear, and accommodation for the teacher consisting of a downstairs study and three upper rooms. The first headmaster was Henry Major. The county council took over management on 1 July 1903.

Originally there was a bell tower above the front door, of which only the base remains intact. A swan (the emblem of the school) and a book are carved either side of the base. In 1976 the school was extended with three new open-plan classroom areas, and an old kitchen was converted into a studio and TV room. A new kitchen was built at the rear of the old school and a large boiler house in the style of the old school added.

Methodist chapel

Methodists had begun to hold services from 1769 in their homes, and then in an old coach house given by William Orson for chapel conversion in April 1828. By 1847 the Wesleyan congregation had outgrown the coach house, which was replaced by a chapel built on Orson's land. The foundation stone was laid by C. H. Clark, a Nottingham solicitor, and opening sermons were preached by Rev. John Rattenbury and Rev. James Everett. In 1874 it was refurbished.^[2]

In 1926 a new two-manual pipe organ by E. Wragg & Son of Nottingham was installed at a cost of £210, but it was removed when the chapel was modernised for its current use by the Vale Christian Fellowship.^[2]

Parish church

Church of St Mary the Virgin, Harby

The earliest church on the site was probably made of wood, of which there is evidence in the west wall of the nave. The earliest written notice is in the records of the Bishop of Lincoln, recording a priest at Harby in 1220 called Robert. In the 13th century the present stone tower was built at the west end of the nave, and the wooden nave and chancel were rebuilt in stone. The nave was widened for its walls to join the tower at the west end at the outer edges of the tower buttresses.

Around 1350 the chancel roof was raised and new windows added.

The font from the Decorated period probably stood in the pre-Reformation position by the front door, in line with Catholic practice. The date 1606 may indicate when it was moved. After the Reformation, the font was moved again into the centre of the church and remained there until 1834.

Harby has three small panes of pre-Reformation stained glass in the first chancel window, bearing the letters W W W.

A Victorian restoration took place in 1874–76. The flagstone flooring being replaced with tiles. New pews in the chancel were decorated in the Gothic style. In 1874 the roof was renewed. In 1903, a vestry was built and the organ placed to face into the chancel. The font was moved again to the east end of the north aisle.

On the wall above the arch at the east end of the nave are four panels. The middle two are wooden boards. One has the coat of arms of George II (reigned 1727–60). The board above bears the inscription “Fear God, Honour the King”. The other two panels show the ten commandments on canvas in wooden frames.

On 29 May 1839 William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 9th Duke of St. Albans (1801–1849) married Elizabeth Catherine Gubbins the daughter of Maj.Gen. Joseph Gubbins (1785–1817). As a celebration, he gifted the church clock, a bible and a prayer book, and £30 with the rector to be invested for the poor.

Harby Church was made a Grade II*listed building in 1968.

Bells There are 5 bells in the tower dating from as early as 1610.

Pipe organ Installed in 1874 in the chancel, the organ faces into the choir. It was removed from Gedling Parish Church, Nottinghamshire, at a cost of more than £80. The front gilded pipes are sham and do not sound. The organ has one manual, one straight and flat pedal board, seven sounding stops and one coupler (Gt to Ped). It is blown electrically from the rear, but can be operated by a brass manual hand pump.

Parish registers The parchment skins of an early volume of Harby Parish Registers, long lost, are said to have been unstitched and wrapped round the trunk and limbs of the corpse of Anne Adcock, and so buried by her grandson, John Adcock, a man of eccentric character, in December 1776. Some transcripts exist at Lincoln for the years 1604, 1606 to 1609 and 1618; and at Leicester for 1581, 1612–13, 1617, 1621, 1625–29, 1632–34, 1636–38, 1661–63, 1670, 1672, 1674–83, 1685, 1687–88, 1690–91 and 1694–1700.

Priests John Nichols (printer) in one of his monumental History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester lists the incumbents of Harby from 1220:

Rector – 1220 Robert
Chaplain – 1235 William de Herdeby
Subdeacon – 1251 to 1275 Thomas de Bathon
Subdeacon – 1275 Lambert de Trikingham
1298 William de Keln
Rector – 1336 Gilbert
1373 Nicholas
Rector – 1468 William Reynolds
Rector – John
Rector – 1534 Robert Carleton
Rector – 1570 George Benett
1613 – John White
1647 – Thomas Dalby
1659 – William Stevens^[3]
Rector – 1596–1598 Robert Snoden later became chaplain to James I in 1614, and Bishop of Carlisle in 1616.
Curate – 1662 Daniel Pepys (Appt Licensing)
Deacon – 1662–1701 Daniel Pepys
Rector – 1662–1703 Anthony Harwood (Unknown – MA)
Rector – 1638–1703 Richardus Johnson (Unknown – MA)
Curate – 1680 Edvardus Browne (Appt Licensing)
Preacher – 1687 Laur Howell (Appt Licensing)
Preacher – 1688 Gul Lewis (Appt Licensing)
Preacher – 1692 Robert Peete (Appt Licensing)
Curate – 1703 Johannes Vincent (Appt Licensing)
Rector – 1703–1739 John Major (Unknown – BA)
Curate – 1738 John Bugg (Appt Licensing)
Rector – 1739–1741 William Turvile (Unknown – BA)
Rector – 1741–1749 Samuel Kerchevall (St John's College Cambridge BA)
Rector – 1749–1751 Richard Stevens (St John's College Cambridge BA)
Curate – 1751 Richard Stoup (Appt Licensing)
Rector – 1751–1763 William Cant (Queens' College Cambridge BA)
Curate – 1792–1813 Daniel Wagstaff (Appt Licensing)
Rector – 1763–1804 Bennet Storer (Trinity College Cambridge BA)
Rector – 1804–1826 Thomas Norris (Trinity College Cambridge BA)
Rector – 1826–1852 William Evans Hartopp (Trinity College Cambridge BA)
Rector – 1852–1899 Manners Octavius Norman Rural Dean, Framland III Deanery, 1872 to 1885
Rector – 1899–1925 Edward Henry Stone^[4]. Rector – 1926–1946 Arthur Evelyn Furnival (Exeter College Oxford BA)
Rector – 1946–1949 William Paul Watkins (Lincoln College Oxford BA)
Rector – 1949–1959 Alfred Cuthbert Holden (University of St. Andrew MA)
Rector – 1959–1961 Charles Brian Underwood (University of Leeds BA)
Rector – 1961–1963 Joseph Henry Dransfield – Not listed in Crockford’s Clerical Directory.
Rector – 1964–1974 Ieuan Delvin Powell (University of Wales BA)
Priest in charge – 1975–1977 John Sydney Savige
Rector – 1977–1989 John Sydney Savige
Rector – 1990–1994 Simon Bailey
Curate – 1994–1998 Mark Turner (Sarum and Wells Theological College)
Priest in charge – 1994–1998 Geoffrey Spencer (Nottingham University)
Curate – 1997–1999 David Francis Mills (Oak Hill Theological College)
Priest in charge – 1999 and Team Rector 2000–2004 Charles Anthony Bradshaw (Birmingham University)
Team Rector – 2000–2008 Robin Duncan Stapleford (St John's College, Nottingham)
Curate – 2002–2005 Stephen Patrick James Burnham (Christ Church, Oxford)
Priest in charge – 2005–2009 Stuart Jack Foster (Oak Hill Theological College)
Team Vicar – 2009 – present Frederick Philip Richard John Connell (St John's College, Nottingham)

Individuals

Samuel Levis, born in Harby on 30 September 1649, son of Christopher Levis, was married on 4 May 1680 to Elizabeth Claytor. He received a Quaker certificate of removal in July 1684 and arrived in Pennsylvania by 4 November 1684. Levis died between 4 October 1728 (the date of his will) and 13 April 1734 (date of probate).

Harby farm labourer Kemp, born in 1884, was recorded in 1956 by the University of Leeds, talking about sheep shearing, washing, dipping and the price of a fleece.^[5]

Trade

Harby has a post office, village shop and cafe, all located at the village garage in Nether Street.

War Memorial

The war memorial cross was erected to honour the Harby soldiers and sailors who participated in World War I. The accepted plans for this were drawn up by Mr T. Burbidge, and the work was entrusted to Mr S. Squires of Bingham. The height is nearly 15 ft, the lower of the two bases being 8-ft square. The stone above is 4-ft square and 2 ft in height containing 99 names, 19 on the front face being those who were killed in action or died on service. The remaining 80 are those who enlisted from the village and survived. Surrounding this stone is an old shaft and base from an ancient village cross, capped with a new cross suggesting what the original may have looked like, drawn by a former rector, Rev. Manners Octavius Norman. The whole, old and new, is of Portland stone. This relic of the old village cross stood originally on the village green, some yards from its present position. It was moved to the churchyard when the school was built in 1860.

The unveiling ceremony on the night of Thursday, 20 May 1920, was performed by the Rev. E. H. Stone, Rector, in the presence of 200 people and of the church and chapel choirs. Sixty ex-service men formed a guard of honour.

ERECTED BY THE PARISHIONERS IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO FOUGHT IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 – 1919.

BAILEY J. T . COOK E. DEWEY E. GOODSON B. GREAVES W. H. HALL H. HAND B. HOYES F. A. M. M. HOYES J. KEMP T. A. ABBOTT F. W. MOULDS C. H. MOULDS G. H . D.C. M. RAWLINGS T. SMITH J. STOKES A. WESSON F. WOODFORD L. WRIGHT W.

OFFERED UPON THE ALTAR OF THE NATION

After the 1939–1945 war, two names of men who did not return were carved on the base. The arrow marks where the new cross was fitted to the old. The steel brace which joins the two part together was made by Mr Martin Stead, the village blacksmith."

AND IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED IN THE 2ND WORLD WAR 1939 – 1945

DEWEY A. C. MABBOTT J. W.

Public houses

Originally there were three:

• The Marquis of Granby stood opposite the junction of Boyers Orchard in Stathern Lane, as one of many named after John Manners, Marquess of Granby. Now a private house, it ceased trading some time between 1871 and 1881.
• The White Hart in Main Street and traded opposite the Nags Head, both being managed by Home Breweries of Nottingham. It was demolished in 2005 and its site used for housing.
• The Nags Head, now the only survivor, is one of the oldest buildings in the village and reputedly one of the oldest pubs in Leicestershire. It may once have been a priest house: evidence of a priest hole can be seen in one of the upper rooms. This building is one of the best examples of early timber-frame construction in the area.

Transport

The village was served by Harby and Stathern railway station, which opened in 1879 and closed in 1962. Harby is on the now-defunct Grantham Canal. A wharf was formerly used to ship grain from the village mill in Colston Lane.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harby, Leicestershire.

• Village Website
• Harby Village Hall Website
• Nags Head Harby Public House
• Nags Head Harby Public House Website
• Harby Church of England Primary School
• Belvoirchallenge.co.uk
• Church of England – Harby
• Valley Christian Centre in Harby
• Grantham Canal
• Meltononline Description
• Leicestershirevillages.com
• Vale of Belvoir
• Harby, Leicestershire, in old photographs*
• Map sources for Harby, Leicestershire