Kirby Muxloe
Encyclopedia
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
and civil parish west of Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
. Its proximity to the city causes it to form part of the Leicester Urban Area
Leicester Urban Area
The Leicester Urban Area is a conurbation based around the city of Leicester in Leicestershire, England.While it has no formal definition as an administrative area, it is defined by the Office for National Statistics with a population of 441,213 at the time of the 2001 census...
. The Leicester Forest East
Leicester Forest East
Leicester Forest East or LFE is a settlement in Leicestershire, England, west of Leicester, straddling the M1 motorway. It is part of the Blaby district.LFE is a popular location among commuters and young families...
parish border runs along the Hinckley Road A47. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 4,523.
History
The name "Kirby" comes from the name of a Dane, Caeri, who established the community here in the late ninth or early tenth century. The settlement was known as Carbi, and then later Kirby. The village was recorded in the Domesday bookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
as 'Carbi'. (Caeri's settlement) with a working population of 8. At the time the land in Kirby Muxloe was owned by Hugh de Grandesmaynel and by William Peverel
William Peverel
William Peverell , was a Norman knight, and is shown in 'The Battle Abbey Roll' to have fought at the Battle of Hastings.-Biography:...
.
In 1461, William Hastings
William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings
William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings KG was an English nobleman. A follower of the House of York, he became a close friend and the most important courtier of King Edward IV, whom he served as Lord Chamberlain...
, the 1st Baron Hastings of Hungerford, became the Steward of the Honor of Leicester and Ranger of Leicester Forest. His father, Sir Leonard Hastings, had owned a modest estate in Leicestershire and Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, where the family had long been established. On April 14, 1474 Hastings acquired the manorial right to Kirby from the Pakeman family, although he had rented it for some years previous to this. In 1480 he began to build the moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
ed Kirby Muxloe Castle
Kirby Muxloe Castle
Kirby Muxloe Castle, known also as Kirby Castle is an unfinished 15th century fortified manor house in Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire, England .It was begun in 1480 by William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, during the period of the Wars of the Roses...
during the period of the Wars of the Roses
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...
. However, work on the castle stopped soon after Lord Hastings was executed on June 13, 1483 on the orders of King Richard III
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
at the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
for conspiracy. William was caught up in the rivalry for the throne after the death of Edward IV
Edward IV of England
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...
.
In 1582 the name of village becomes Kirby Muckelby, with variants Mullox, Muckle. About 50 years later in 1628 disafforestation of Leicester Forest occurred, effectively dividing the land near Kirby Muxloe into forest and pasture. The results are visible today. In 1636, the Hastings families sold castle and estates in Kirby and Braunstone
Braunstone Town
Braunstone is a civil parish and is the largest parish within the district of Blaby in Leicestershire, England, now known as the Town of Braunstone or more commonly, Braunstone Town. At 2007 the population is around 15,000. There are around 7,500 households including Thorpe Astley.Braunstone is...
to the Winstanley family. The first official use of Kirby Muxloe was used in 1703 in the Oxford Dictionary of Placenames, which states that 'Muxloe' is a family name. There was such a family but they lived three miles away, in the village of Desford
Desford
Desford is a village and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district, west of the centre of Leicester. The parish includes the hamlets of Botcheston and Newtown Unthank and a scattered settlement at Lindridge.-Manors:...
.
The railway came to Kirby Muxloe in 1848 when the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
built a line through Kirby, and on July 1, 1859 Kirby Muxloe railway station
Kirby Muxloe railway station
Kirby Muxloe railway station was a station on the Midland Railway line between and that bypassed part of the Leicester and Swannington Railway in Leicestershire, England.The Midland opened line through Kirby Muxloe in 1848...
opened at Kirby fields. In 1882, the fields known as Far and Near Townsend Close went on to be bought by Kirby Muxloe Land Society. Barwell Road, Castle Road, and Church Road are laid out for the village and building would go on for the next 30 years.
In 1911, Kirby Muxloe Castle was handed over to Ministry of Works, and later English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
. Amidst World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1941 the village was heavily bombed. A German bomber on its way back after attacking Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
emptied its load on two streets with destruction of a church and several houses. Gaps left in the houses can still be seen to this day. On September 7, 1964 the Kirby Muxloe railway station closed in the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
.
The town currently benefits from a local primary school which is rated as one of the top schools in the county. There is a chemist, bakery, supermarket and two pubs in the town too.
External links
- Kirby Muxloe Free Church
- St Bartholomew's Church
- Kirby Muxloe Archery Club
- http://www.kmprimary.leics.sch.uk/welcome