Scalford

Extract from White's Leicester and Rutland Directory 1863

SCALFORD, a salubrious and pleasant village, 31/2 miles N. by E. of Melton Mowbray, is picturesquely seated between two rivulets which flow from the hills on the south side of the vale of Belvoir to the river Wreak. It has several copious springs, one of which delivers 46 gallons per minute. Its parish contains 124 houses, 553 inhabitants, and 2429A. £R. 13P. of land, including Goldsmith Grange, Cumberland Grange, and other scattered farms. The soil is chiefly clay, but there is some little sand, and a small quantity of moorland. The lower grounds are subject to inundation from the Scalford brook, which unites with the Wreak, a little below the village. The Duke of Rutland is lord of the manor, which was purchased by the second duke, of John Cumbray, in 1765, and at the Conquest, was held by Ralph Pepin, under Robert de Buci. A great part of the soil belongs to Mrs Eliza marriot, J.B. Crompton, Esq., Mr. Thomas Morris, Mr. William Kirk, Mrs. Mary Ann Morris, H.C. Bingham, Esq., Rev. - Wlliams, Mrs. Sarah Dixon, E.H.M. Clarke, Esq., Mr. R. Sharp, and several smaller proprietors. In 1303, William Revell had a grant of a fair, market, and free warren here. Robert Vitallis gave the church to Daventry Priory, and part of the land to St. Andrew's Priory, Northampton. The parish was enclosed in 1765, when all the tithes were commuted for allotments of land. The CHURCH (St. Egelwin the Matyr) is a fine ancient fabric ; but the chancel was rebuilt in 1845 by the late Duke of Rutland, as impropriator, and the church was thoroughly restored at a cost of £1150, in 1849, when a new organ was erected. The tower contains three bells and a clock. His grace is also patron of the vicarage, valued in K.B. at £8 1s. 101/2d., and now at £335 per annum. The Rev. Thomas F. Salmon, B.A., is the incumbent, and has 210 acres of glebe, and a handsome residence, built in 1842, at a cost of £1200. A Wesleyan Chapel was built here in 1844, in lieu of the old one, which was given to a parish school, by Mr. Thomas webster. The school was rebuilt in 1861, at a cost of £150, and is attended by upwards of a hundred children of both sexes. It is supported by subscription and the children's pence. Here is also a Primitive Methodist Chapel, built in 1835. At the enclosure, 11A. 3R. 34P. of land, in Redearth field, Mawbrook field, and Gorse pasture, were allotted to the overseers and the church-wardens, for getting stone and gravel for the roads, and herbage for the benefit of the poor parishioners. This land is now let for about £18 a year, which is mostly applied in schooling poor children. In 1835, John Morris, Eqs., left £100 for the relief of the poor, and it is now vested in Debentures ay 41/2 per cent, per annum. The poor have also £2 10s. per year, as rent of 1A. 3R. of meadow land, at Loddington, left by John Moore ; with the interest of £30, given by an unknown donor ; and a yearly rent-charge of 20s., out of the Town close, in Hose, the donor of which is unknown. Part of the poor's land is let in allotments to labourers, and the Duke of Rutland lets seven, and the vicar twelve acres of land to poor tenants, who cultivate them by spade husbandry, and pay rents averaging about 35s. per acre.
POST OFFICE at Thomas Goodacre's. Letters arrive from Melton at 101/2 morning, and are despatched at 3.45 afternoon.

Copyright Guy Etchells © 2000-04 All rights reserved.

Permission is granted for all free personal and non-commercial uses. It is my intention to make all data contained herein freely available for all private, non-profit and non-commercial uses. Commercial use of any portion contained herein is expressly prohibited.