Coleorton Parish history
Maps & Boundaries
- Map showing Coleorton Parish boundary in 2010 (pdf 2.5MB) - based on OS map and annotated by Leics. C.C.
Coleorton Parish Boundary
The parish boundaries of Coleorton, Thringstone, Worthington, Swannington and Staunton Harold have all been a reflection of manorial systems which existed in the area some hundreds of years ago. Some of these manorial parishes had been established before they possessed their own parish church, although this is not the case for Coleorton. Within these manorial parishes the church was where individuals within the parish would be baptised, married or buried and where they paid tithes and other taxes. These ecclesiastical parishes have developed into the administrative parishes that exist today, with only minor changes being brought about through parliamentary acts.
Coleorton parish is almost certainly defined by the land owned by the Beaumont family, who in 1842 actually owned 97% of the parish. With the development of nonconformist churches in the early 19th century the Beaumont family were able to prevent any of these churches being built in the parish as they owned all of the available land. As a result of this both the Coleorton Methodist church and Baptist chapels were built on land which, at the time, was just outside the parish boundaries.
Pre 1866 (The Poor Law Amendment Act) the ecclesiastical parishes were responsible for local taxes, looking after their own poor, maintaining roads (such as they were) and dealing out justice where required. From 1866 onwards all areas that levied their own rates were re-defined as "civil parishes" and a dual system existed with both ecclesiastical and civil parishes existing for the same or similar areas.
St Mary's Church, which was dedicated in 1179, has been the parish church of Coleorton for many hundreds of years and the majority of today's parish is a reflection of the ecclesiastical parish administered by St Mary's Church.
The Coleorton parish (civil parish) boundary has only been changed twice since parish, or manorial boundaries were established hundreds of years ago. According to C T Smith's "Populations of Leicestershire" these changes were in 1884 and 1936, and both were apparently brought about as part of central government changes.
In 1884 the area which was known as "Rotten Row", a hamlet of Thringstone parish, was transferred to Coleorton Parish. This area included what we now know as part of Lower Moor Road, some of Stoney Lane and also the cottages (now demolished) between the old Ashby Road and the new A512. This resulted in approximately 194 individuals being transferred into Coleorton Parish.
In 1936 there were numerous boundary changes when Coalville Urban District Council expanded. This resulted in a number of changes between Coleorton, Swannington, Thringstone and a very small part of Worthington.
The major change was the transfer of what we now call Peggs Green, from Thringstone to Coleorton Parish, resulting in about 377 individuals being transferred. This was as a result of the dissolution of the parish of Thringstone, most of which is now part of Coalville.
The King's Arms was a Swannington public house when in 1936 the boundary between Coleorton and Swannington was moved to the east. A net 46 individuals and the Kings Arms were transferred from Swannington to Coleorton Parish with the houses on both sides of The Moorlands now in Coleorton Parish.
There was a minor change between Coleorton and Worthington with 22 individuals being transferred to Coleorton Parish.
Parish Plan 2008
In autumn of 2007 450 questionnaires were delivered to residential properties in the Coleorton Parish and 152 completed questionnaires were returned - a 34% response rate.
The completed Plan and Action Plan, based on the results of the questionnaire was presented to the Parish Council at the Council meeting on 7th May 2008. The Parish Council will use the Plan, being an indication of the wishes of Coleorton residents, as guidance for action and decision-making over the next two years.
72% of the households who returned the Parish Plan Questionnaire said they would like more information about what was going on in the Parish and wanted more communication with the Parish Council. This web site is one of the ways we hope to provide more information, more quickly and also to enable you to communicate your concerns and feelings to the councillors.
The Parish Plan was distributed to all households in the Coleorton Parish during the second week of July 2008 and is available to download:
Population Census
Transcripts of Coleorton population census 1841-1901 >>
Hard copy of census records including 1901 and 1911 and the 1939 register are available to view at our "Sleuthing" events.