SCRAPTOFT
Scraptoft lies four miles east of Leicester on the
western slopes of the east Leicestershire uplands,
but by the 1930's the western part of the ancient
parish was rapidly becoming part of the suburbs of
Leicester. (fn. 1) The area of the parish is 1,711 a.
The parish occupies the relatively high ground
between two streams flowing westwards to the Soar.
The ground rises from under 300 ft. near the streams
to over 400 ft. in the east of the parish, and the
village itself lies at over 350 ft. The soil is derived
from clay and gravel. The parish boundary follows
the more southerly stream, but in some places falls
short of and in others runs beyond the more
northerly stream. Elsewhere the boundary mainly
follows field boundaries; on the west the boundary
with the former Humberstone parish is the boundary
of the city of Leicester.
Scraptoft village lies one mile to the north of the
main road from Leicester to Uppingham. A prehistoric track from Tilton to a crossing over the
Soar passed through Scraptoft; (fn. 2) from the village
westwards its line is taken by a road (Scraptoft Lane)
leading into Leicester, eastwards it is now a farm
road (Covert Lane) which eventually joins the
Leicester–Uppingham road near Houghton on the
Hill. Other roads radiate from Scraptoft to Thurnby
to the south (Station Road), Keyham to the northeast (Keyham Lane), and Barkby to the north-west.
A branch from Keyham Lane leads to Beeby. The
railway line from Belgrave Road Station, Leicester,
to Melton Mowbray touches Scraptoft parish in the
south-east; Thurnby station was only ¾ mile south
of the village, but the line was closed for passenger
traffic in 1953.
The roads already described radiate from a figureof-eight in the centre of the parish, around part of
which the buildings of the old village are situated.
Among them are the church, the Vicarage, Scraptoft
Hall, and Nether Hall. Scattered farms include
Scraptoft Lodge in the north-east of the parish,
Scraptoft Hill Farm in the south-east, and Snow's
Lodge in the west. The suburbs of Leicester, which
had already engulfed Humberstone, began to extend
into Scraptoft by the 1930's. The south-west corner
of the parish was built over first, and by 1939 there
were many houses, all privately built, along Scraptoft Lane and Station Road; in the angle between
these roads there was then a nursery. Some new
building took place in the village itself, and houses
of a more individual type were built north of the
village towards the golf course which was laid out
between the roads to Barkby and Beeby. Building
continued during and after the Second World War.
Thurnby Lodge Council housing estate, south of
Scraptoft Lane, had 797 houses by 1956 and Steins
Lane and Nether Hall Estate, north-west of the
village, had 1,123. (fn. 3) Private building also continued
after 1945. A number of older cottages round the
village centre have been altered or demolished, some
of them to make way for shops. (fn. 4)
Among the 18th-century houses in the village are
two in Hamilton Road, one of which is dated 1703
with initials D.C. and W.W. The other is a comparatively unaltered brick house, the date of which,
partly obliterated, appears to be 1711. Its ground
floor consists of an entrance hall between kitchen
and parlour with a later addition at the rear. The
main ceiling beams and the cambered lintel to the
large kitchen fire-place are stop-chamfered. There is
a contemporary cellar below the parlour.
Nether Hall, a two-storied brick house now
rough-cast, has the date 1709 on a gable, with the
letter w, which may indicate that it was built by
a member of the Wigley family. There are, however,
traces of an earlier house on the same site. (fn. 5) The
rectangular plan of 1709 was altered and enlarged
rather later in the 18th century. A large parlour wing
was added on the south and a staircase and pantry
wing on the north, this work being distinguished by
the use of a moulded brick eaves cornice and hipped
roofs. The main staircase, in an entrance hall between kitchen and parlour, may belong to the period
of the alterations, as do panelling, plaster fire-places,
and other decorative features. The staircase has
a moulded handrail and turned newels and balusters.
Several blocked windows retain their 18th-century
frames. Outbuildings north-west of the house are
of c. 1730.
The 'Manor House', in Scraptoft Rise, (fn. 6) is mostly
of late-18th-century date. A range of 4 red-brick
cottages nearby are of the same date but were subsequently altered.
Two semi-detached cottages, dated 1858, are
built of red brick with yellow-brick dressings, and
Scraptoft Lodge, an outlying farm in the north-east
of the parish, is of similar materials. Among 20thcentury buildings are the Memorial Homes for
Disabled Leicestershire Ex-servicemen in Hamilton
Road, opened in 1957. They consist of a central twostoried block of 9 houses, and 4 bungalows. The
White House Hotel, in Scraptoft Lane, formerly
a private house, was erected in 1928. Various internal
fittings were brought from demolished buildings elsewhere, including Normanton Hall (Rut.), Thurnby
Court, and Stoughton Grange. The building itself,
a two-storied structure with a modillion cornice and
hipped roof, is in the style of the early 18th century
and is constructed of Ketton stone brought from
Normanton Hall. (fn. 7) The property was bought by the
Northampton Brewery Company and became a hotel
in 1950. (fn. 8)
The most important domestic building in the
village is Scraptoft Hall, which, in its present form,
dates largely from the early 18th century. James
Wigley, the Leicester M.P., (fn. 9) laid out the park which,
at the end of the 18th century, covered about 100 a.
and attracted visitors from Leicester. (fn. 10) After 1765
the property was held by the Hartopp-Wigley
family who lived in Little Dalby, and the house was
let. In 1787 it was leased as a furnished hunting-box
to Eliab Harvey of Chigwell (Essex). (fn. 11) In 1790 it was
occupied by a retired London businessman named
Wilson, (fn. 12) and was afterwards the home of Thomas
Paget of Ibstock. (fn. 13) At the end of the 19th century
James Burns Hartopp inherited the estate through
his wife and came to live at the hall; (fn. 14) after his death
the house was bought by Alfred Corah, of a Leicester
hosiery firm, whose father had been the tenant in
1850. (fn. 15) Corah died in 1924 and the house and
grounds were later sold to B. W. Cole. (fn. 16) The hall
and the adjoining land were bought by Leicester
Corporation in 1954 as the site for new buildings
for the city's teachers' training college; the hall became the principal's residence. The plantations of
the park were preserved, and others still existed in
the south-east of the parish: Scraptoft Long Spinneys (much reduced since the late 19th century),
Square Spinney, and Scraptoft Gorse. (fn. 17)
Scraptoft Hall carries the date 1723 on the rainwater heads of the rear elevation and is said to have
been 'built, or rather considerably enlarged' by
Letitia, widow of Sir Edward Wigley. (fn. 18) Stone fireplaces with four-centred heads and a mullioned
window belonging to an earlier house have recently
been uncovered. (fn. 19) There are large cambered tie
beams, probably re-used, both in the cellars and in
the stables, while the second-floor rooms contain
some reset 17th-century panelling. As rebuilt c. 1723
the house was square in plan and of three stories.
The principal front of five bays is faced with stone
ashlar and is surmounted by a parapet which curves
up above the angle quoins and in the centre. The
central bay is flanked by a pair of tall Corinthian
pilasters, each supporting its own section of entablature at second-floor level. The central secondfloor window is round-headed and is flanked by
plain pilasters which reach to the parapet. The main
doorway, approached by a flight of stone steps, is
surmounted by an open scrolled pediment supported
on brackets and has a keystone bearing the Wigley
monogram. The windows, some of which contain
original sashes, have bolection-moulded architraves,
aprons, and prominent key-blocks. Internally the
house is symmetrically planned with two rooms on
each side of a combined entrance and staircase hall.
The fine staircase has moulded strings and slender
turned balusters, three to each tread, the newels
being formed by clustered balusters. Several rooms
retain 18th-century panelling and traces of wallpaper of the same date have recently been dis
covered. (fn. 20) Later additions include a single-storied
music room, later a billiard room, which was added
to the east side of the house soon after 1896. (fn. 21)
Between the west forecourt and the road is a fine
wrought-iron screen of c. 1725; two side gates are
of more intricate workmanship. The 18th-century
buildings which surround the stable court are of
brick with Swithland slate roofs. At one time the
outbuildings included a bake-house, a laundry, and
a small smithy. A timber-framed barn, set apart from
the main group, is probably of 17th-century date
with later brick infilling. In the eastern part of the
grounds a large mound contains a shell-lined grotto,
in poor repair in 1961, which was formerly surmounted by a Chinese pavilion and is said to have
been the work of James Wigley (d. 1765). (fn. 22) The main
buildings for the training college, designed by
Bridgwater and Shepheard, of London, were begun to the east of the house in 1958 and completed
in 1960. Additional hostels were in course of construction in 1961. (fn. 23)
Scraptoft was not a large village in 1086 when the
recorded population was 19. (fn. 24) In 1381 the poll tax
was paid by 85 people. (fn. 25) There were 22 households
in 1563 and 106 communicants in 1603. In 1670
there were 26 households, and 60 communicants
were recorded in 1676. (fn. 26) There were 25–30 families
in the early 18th century. (fn. 27) The population in 1801
was 107, and in 1911 113. The beginnings of
Leicester's suburban expansion into Scraptoft are
reflected in the population of 153 in 1921. By 1931
it had risen to 424 and by 1951 to 1,075. (fn. 28)
MANOR.
The manor of SCRAPTOFT probably
formed part of the original endowment of the priory
of St. Mary at Coventry, founded in 1043 by Leofric,
Earl of Mercia, and Godiva his wife. Although Leofric's foundation charter and its so-called confirmation by Edward the Confessor are spurious, it seems
probable that Scraptoft and the other Leicestershire
possessions of the priory at Packington, Burbage,
and Barwell were in fact given, as the charter claims,
by Leofric. (fn. 29) The priory certainly held Scraptoft
in 1086, (fn. 30) and it increased its holdings there by
grants and purchases throughout the Middle Ages. (fn. 31)
It appears that the manor was sometimes leased to
tenants. The priory had its own bailiff there in
1535, (fn. 32) but Robert de Saddington may have been
a tenant of the priory in 1344, when he received
a grant of free warren in his demesne. (fn. 33) After the
Dissolution the manor was leased for 80 years to
Henry Wigley of Scraptoft. (fn. 34) In 1575–6 the queen
leased land in Scraptoft, including the capital
messuage, to Robert Warwick for 21 years. (fn. 35) A grant
was made 5 years later to Robert, Earl of Leicester,
and John Morley of Moreton Morell (Warws.), (fn. 36)
and they immediately sold the manor of Scraptoft
to John Colborne, also of Moreton. (fn. 37) A few months
after his death in 1600, (fn. 38) his widow Katherine was
licensed to alienate the manor to Henry, George,
and Thomas Wigley, the eldest sons of Edward
Wigley of Scraptoft. (fn. 39) The manor remained in the
possession of the Wigley family until 1765 when it
passed to the Hartopp family on the death without
direct heirs of James Wigley, M.P. (fn. 40) James Wigley's
sister Letitia had married Samuel Hartopp in 1730,
and the Hartopps remained lords of the manor until
they disposed of the estate after the First World
War. (fn. 41) The heir in 1765, Edward Hartopp, greatnephew of James Wigley, took the additional name
of Wigley when he inherited the property. (fn. 42) When
the estate was sold after the war Mrs. Alfred Corah
and Mr. T. Fielding Johnson became the chief landowners. About 1930 B. W. Cole purchased the hall
and estate, and a large part of the parish passed to
A. T. Sharp, owner of Nether Hall. (fn. 43)
LESSER ESTATES.
In 1279 and 1540 the Hospitallers owned a cottage in Scraptoft. (fn. 44) By the 16th
century the only other owner of land in the parish,
apart from Coventry Priory, was St. Mary's Abbey,
Leicester, which drew 33s. 4d. annual rent from
Scraptoft at the Dissolution. (fn. 45) Henry VIII leased
this property to Thomas Symkins in 1542; (fn. 46) in 1553
it was granted to Thomas and Humphrey Cockes.
Nothing is known of it after this date, when it consisted of a messuage with an adjoining croft, an
orchard of ½ a., 2 closes of 1½ a., 56 a. of arable, and
34 a. of meadow and pasture. (fn. 47)
ECONOMIC HISTORY.
In 1086 Coventry Priory
held 12 carucates of land in Scraptoft. The priory
had 2 ploughs and 4 serfs in demesne, and 6 villeins,
6 socmen, and 3 bordars had a further 5 ploughs.
There were 10 a. of meadow, and the value of the
holding had risen from 2s. before 1066 to 40s. (fn. 48) In
1279 the priory had 3 carucates in demesne, and 6
were held in villeinage and 3 in free tenure. The prior
had view of frankpledge, free warren (granted in
1257), (fn. 49) quittance of murdrum, and quittance of suit
to the hundred court. (fn. 50) In 1242 the prior apparently
held his land as 1/6 knight's fee, (fn. 51) but in 1279 it was
stated that he paid no scutage. As early as 1205 the
whole vill had been acknowledged to belong to
Coventry Priory, (fn. 52) although further grants of land
in the parish were made from time to time. (fn. 53) By the
end of the 14th century the emphasis on tenure in
villeinage had become more marked. No free tenants
paid tax in 1381, but there were 22 tenants at will
out of a total adult population of 85. There were 10
cottagers, a smith, a tailor, a labourer, and 10
servants. (fn. 54)
The parish was inclosed early in the 16th century.
In 1607 it was stated that, since 1601, 400 a. had been
converted from arable to pasture by 11 landowners,
including Henry Wigley (106 a.), Thomas Wigley
and Matthew Pochin of Barkby (70 a. each), and
the vicar, Nicholas Fisher (4 a.). Since 1597, moreover, 8 farm-houses had decayed through the loss
of their arable land, and 40 persons had been robbed
of occupation. Various members of the Wigley
family were responsible, (fn. 55) and the inclosure had
clearly been begun by agreements between the lord
of the manor and the other freeholders. (fn. 56) In 1607,
when Henry Wigley died, his holding consisted
partly of inclosed and partly of uninclosed land. (fn. 57)
In 1674 the glebe consisted of land inclosed 'seventy
years since', (fn. 58) and in 1669 it was stated that the lordship had been inclosed 'this 64 years'. (fn. 59) In an undated note of about 1636 Scraptoft was described as
having been inclosed about 1606 by Henry, George,
and Thomas Wigley, the joint proprietors. Before the
inclosure there had been 14 farms with ploughs and
44 yardlands attached. William Billers of Leicester
had since become possessed of 7 yardlands which
formerly supported 2 ploughs, but were then pasture,
converted partly by Billers. When inclosed, 4 of the
7 yardlands were held by Billers and his son, and 3
by Thomas Wigley, who afterwards first mortgaged
his share and then sold it to Billers in 1636. (fn. 60) In
1637 William Billers and his son and Thomas Wigley were fined £80 jointly for depopulation. (fn. 61)
Wigley appealed on the grounds that he had mortgaged his land 10 years previously to William Billers
and had since sold it; his share of the fine was reduced from £30 to £20. (fn. 62)
The inclosure had no lasting effect upon the
population. (fn. 63) It resulted, however, in an extensive
redistribution of land, reflected in the large number
of final concords levied between 1606 and 1655,
especially in 1609–11, and again in the reign of
Charles II. The 17th-century conversion to pasture
may have been lasting; in 1801 there were only 76 a.
of arable land, (fn. 64) and pasture has remained predominant. There were 7 or 8 farmers and graziers
in the 19th century when the parish was still largely
agricultural; only the innkeeper at 'Wigley's Arms'
was otherwise employed. (fn. 65)
By the 1930's the character of Scraptoft was
changing. The population rose rapidly as the builtup area of Leicester extended into the parish, and
in 1932 there were only 3 farmers and graziers. There
were then 2 shopkeepers, a builder, a firm of nurserymen, a garage proprietor, a dress-maker, and a
carpenter. Part of the parish had been given over to
a golf-course. (fn. 66) These changes became more pronounced after the Second World War.
There was a mill in Scraptoft in 1502 when it was
held by Thomas Kebell, owner of the nearby manor
of Humberstone. Mill Hill Close existed in 1629. (fn. 67)
PARISH ADMINISTRATION.
There was no
workhouse at Scraptoft, but in 1802–3 6 adults and
9 children received out-relief. (fn. 68) In 1836 Scraptoft
was placed in Billesdon Union. (fn. 69) Overseers' and
constables' accounts survive for the period 1821–37,
and surveyors' accounts for 1842–9. (fn. 70) The expenditure of the two overseers varied between £133
in 1821 and £297 in 1832. There was only one
surveyor.
A parish council, with 5 councillors, was formed
in 1928. The membership was increased to 6 in 1949,
and to 19 in 1958 when there were two wards. (fn. 71)
CHURCH.
A parson was instituted to Scraptoft
church by William of Blois, Bishop of Lincoln
(1203–6). (fn. 72) It was stated by Charyte that Scraptoft
had at one time been a chapel of Humberstone, (fn. 73)
but this is not corroborated by any other evidence.
The church was appropriated to Coventry Priory
in 1238 and a vicarage ordained. (fn. 74) Since 1926 the
incumbent has also been Vicar of Hungarton but has
usually resided at Scraptoft. (fn. 75)
Coventry Priory appointed vicars until the Dissolution, (fn. 76) and thereafter the advowson descended
with the manor. The Hartopp family sold the
estate after the First World War, but Mrs. Burns
Hartopp retained the patronage; (fn. 77) she devised it
to A. T. Sharp, the patron in 1962.
The rectory was valued at 7½ marks in 1217, 10
marks in 1254, and 20 marks in 1291. (fn. 78) By 1428 the
rectory and vicarage together were assessed at 26½
marks. (fn. 79) In 1535 Coventry Priory was found to be
charged with payments of £4 16s. 4d. a year, including £1 15s. to the Bishop of Lincoln, for the appropriation of the churches of Scraptoft and
Packington. (fn. 80) In 1650 the rectory was valued at
£60. (fn. 81) Coventry Priory retained its own demesne
tithes in 1220, when it received a pension of 1 mark
a year from the rector. (fn. 82) After the appropriation of
the church the priory at first retained the whole of
the tithes, apparently both rectorial and vicarial, (fn. 83)
but in 1291, when the vicar's endowment was made
more generous, it was provided that the priory was
to take so much of the tithes of their demesne lands
as would serve to uphold the charges of the church. (fn. 84)
In 1535 the tithes were leased to the priory's bailiff
at Scraptoft, Henry Wigley, for £8 a year. (fn. 85) After
the Dissolution the great tithes were granted with
the manor and descended with it; they were commuted in 1850 for £2 10s., the tithes of all but 100 a.
of the parish having already been extinguished. (fn. 86)
The vicarage was endowed on the appropriation
of the church with 2 marks yearly, with the altarage,
and with 9d. in lieu of corn tithes. The vicar was
responsible for finding books, lights, and ornaments,
and for episcopal and archidiaconal taxation. (fn. 87) At
the rearrangement of the endowment in 1291 the
expense of finding books and ornaments, and of repairing the chancel, was divided between the vicar
and the priory in proportions of one to two. The
provision was also made that if in time the vicar's
stipend proved insufficient to support him, the
bishop should have the right to order an increase. (fn. 88)
In 1535 the vicarage was valued at £8 10s., its gross
value from tithes, the vicarage house, and glebe. (fn. 89)
In 1650 the vicarage was worth £30, (fn. 90) and in 1831,
£167. (fn. 91) At the end of the 17th century the vicar
held about 200 a. of glebe. (fn. 92) This had been reduced
to 91 a. by 1850, when the vicarial tithes were commuted for £75. (fn. 93) By 1932 only 18 a. of glebe remained, (fn. 94) and by 1961 only the Vicarage kitchen
garden.
The Vicarage is a two-storied red-brick building
with attics, built on a half-H plan early in the 18th
century on the site of an older house. Most of the
window openings are original but they were altered
in the 19th century when the rear wings were partially rebuilt. The west front has a moulded brick
eaves cornice and plat band. Internally, the staircase,
which has turned balusters, three to each tread, and
a moulded handrail, dates from c. 1730. A parlour
contains reset panelling of the late 17th century.
The church of ALL SAINTS consists of a chancel, a clerestoried nave, north and south aisles, a south
porch, and a low west tower of three stages. The
masonry includes 13th-century work of ironstone
cobbles with limestone dressings and later work of
sandstone, limestone ashlar, and Mountsorrel
granite; this last was used mainly in the south aisle
as part of the 19th-century restorations.
In the angles between the tower and the aisles
are what appear to be remains of the end wall of an
aisleless church of c. 1200. The arcades of both aisles
are of the 13th century, the south probably slightly
earlier than the north. Both arcades are of four bays
with pointed arches of double-chamfered orders;
the south arcade has one capital carved with nailhead ornament. The octagonal columns have defaced
base mouldings. There are smaller and lower arches
at each end of both arcades. A short length of wall
at the east end of the south arcade may be part of the
external wall of the earlier church. A continuous
string course and the buttresses are 13th-century
features of the north aisle wall. The lower masonry
of the north chancel wall is probably early-13thcentury work; it includes a hollow-chamfered plinth
moulding and the base of a buttress. The lowest
stage of the tower is also of the early 13th century,
together with its blocked arch into the nave. A
deeply-splayed window opening in the west wall of
the tower of which the internal jambs remain, is
probably of the same date. A blocked window on the
north side of the chancel has forking tracery of c. 1300.
Much rebuilding took place in the earlier 14th
century. The north aisle, with gabled ends and
a heightened side wall, was largely reconstructed.
The interlacing tracery in the side windows and the
flowing tracery in the end windows are 19th-century restorations, probably copies of the original
work. The east wall of the chancel, also rebuilt in
the 14th century, has a restored east window with
similar flowing tracery. The chancel arch is of c.
1330; it is of two chamfered orders springing from
moulded corbels—one of them original—which rest
on carved human heads. The middle stage of the
tower, built of squared ironstone rubble, and a large
diagonal buttress at its south-west angle are also of
the 14th century. At the same time the west window
in its lowest stage appears to have been converted
into a smaller light; a similar ogee-headed light was
inserted into the south wall. On the south side of the
chancel a tall 'low side' window, now blocked, with
two ogee-headed cusped lights in a square frame,
probably dates from later in the 14th century, as
does a former rood-loft doorway in the north aisle.
The respond at the west end of the north arcade has
been carved below the capital with ogee cusping of
c. 1400.
At the end of the 15th century the whole church
was re-roofed, a clerestory was added to the nave,
and the side walls of the chancel were raised and
topped with moulded and coped parapets. Two
large three-light windows were inserted in the south
wall of the chancel. The south aisle was largely rebuilt in the later 15th century and the Perpendicular
windows in its south and east walls are of this date;
the east window has an unusually high transom in
its central light. The elaborate nave roof has heavy
cambered and moulded tie beams braced by small
brackets to wall posts. A short king post with grotesque carved brackets supports the ridge piece.
Between each tie beam and its principal rafters there
is traceried panel infilling; intermediate principals
intersecting the moulded purlins further enrich the
roof. There are carved bosses at the intersections of
principals and purlins and at the centres of the tie
beams. The chancel roof, of similar design, has been
much restored. The aisle roofs are of the same date
but there is no traceried infilling between tie beams
and principals in the north aisle. The highest stage
of the tower, built of ironstone, may also date from
the end of the 15th century. It is surmounted by
an embattled parapet with angle pinnacles and has
two-light windows with four-centred heads and sunk
spandrels.
The erection of memorials to the Wigley family
and others in the 18th and early 19th centuries led
to the blocking of the chancel windows; after the
archdeacon's visitation in 1779 it was ordered that
the glass should be taken out of the blind windows
and the openings filled with stone. (fn. 95) Restoration
work in the later 19th century included the windows
in the north aisle, the north door, the west window
in the south aisle, and the south porch. All this may
have taken place in 1867. (fn. 96) The use of granite walling, notably in the south aisle, is probably of the
same date. The restoration of the east window in the
chancel may be contemporary with the insertion of
its stained glass in 1893. (fn. 97) The porch was renovated
in 1903–4. (fn. 98)
The panelled pulpit, with egg and dart moulding,
and the reading desk appear to be the sole remnants
of a refurnishing of the church in the 18th century,
when the floors were paved and new pews provided.
The work was paid for by James Wigley (d. 1765).
The chancel was wainscotted, and a new font was
made by a Mr. Phipps of Leicester. (fn. 99) The 13th-century font had lain in the churchyard and later been
used as a waste bin (fn. 1) before being restored to the
church in the 19th century. It has a plain round bowl
on a cylindrical stem to which are attached four
shafts with moulded capitals and bases.
The glass is all of the late 19th century. One window in the north aisle, in memory of Thomas and
Elizabeth Corah, is dated 1893; a tablet in the chancel
records that Thomas (d. 1870) and Elizabeth (d.
1899) lived for 20 years at Scraptoft Hall. Alfred
Corah presented the organ, which was built in 1911. (fn. 2)
The east window in the chancel was also installed in
1893, in memory of Alexander Charles Barclay (d.
1893) who lived for 21 years at the hall.
In the south wall of the chancel is the stone effigy
of a priest, very much worn, said to be that of a Prior
of Coventry. On the north wall are marble monuments to Sir Edward Wigley (d. 1710) and James
Wigley (d. 1765). (fn. 3) The former includes busts of Sir
Edward and his wife set in front of two roundheaded niches; the latter has a bas-relief panel on the
sarcophagus showing Wigley supervising the planting of trees at Scraptoft. The south wall has three
marble mural tablets: to Andrew Noel of Burbage,
to Ann Wigley (d. 1786), and to Samuel Topp (d.
1792), vicar. In the south aisle are tablets to Anne
Firmadge (d. 1793) and the Revd. P. Price-Jones
(d. 1922); there are also floor slabs of the early 18th
century to the Woodcock family. In the north aisle
are a hatchment and tablet to J. T. Pares (d. 1831),
and floor slabs to the Revd. Kerchevall (d. 1785)
and to the Carter family who lived at Scraptoft Hall
in the early 19th century. On the blocked tower arch
are tablets to Anne Firmadge (d. 1793) and her
children and to Elizabeth Carter (d. 1813); between
the tablets is a royal arms of the Hanoverian period.
South-east of the porch, in the churchyard, is
a stone cross of early-14th-century date consisting
of a shortened moulded shaft with a lantern-like
finial formed by four co-joined capitals, above which
are four short shafts. It rests on a square base which
has a quatrefoil top and which is raised on three
circular steps. On section of the main shaft was
lying loose in 1960.
There are three bells: (i) c. 1560–70; (ii) c. 1615;
(iii) 1656. (fn. 4) The plate consists of a silver cup of 1705,
given by Lady Ann Noel, formerly wife of Edward
Wigley, a silver paten of 1712, given by Lucy, widow
of Richard Bradgate, vicar, a silver cup of 1740, and
a silver flagon of 1745, given by Letitia, widow of
Sir Edward Wigley. (fn. 5) The registers begin in 1539
and are complete.
NONCONFORMITY.
None known.
SCHOOLS.
There was a schoolmaster at Scraptoft
in 1626 and 1634. (fn. 6) William Steers, when he died in
1779, had been schoolmaster for more than 20 years. (fn. 7)
The overseers' accounts for 1821 include a payment
for coal for a school. (fn. 8) In 1832 there was a day
school, supported by Mr. Hartopp, attended by 16
or 17 children, and a Sunday school with about the
same number. (fn. 9) In 1833 it was stated that the day and
Sunday school then existing had been begun in
1826, was supported by subscription, and was
attended by 7 boys and 5 girls. (fn. 10) No more is known
of a school at Scraptoft in the 19th century; the
children went to school at Thurnby. (fn. 11)
The marked growth of the population after the
Second World War created a new need for schools.
In 1958 the Scraptoft Valley Junior and Infants'
School was opened to serve the northern part of
a new housing estate. (fn. 12) Another junior and infants'
school, the Scraptoft Willowbrook School, was built
to serve the southern part of the estate. Hamilton
School was opened in 1959 as a secondary modern
school but was re-organized in 1960 as a 'high
school'. (fn. 13) All three schools were designed by the
Leicestershire County Architect, Mr. T. A. Collins;
Hamilton School has a pre-fabricated steel frame. (fn. 14)
CHARITIES.
None known.