Overseal is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
in
South Derbyshire
South Derbyshire is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. The population of the local authority at the 2011 Census was 94,611. It contains a third of the National Forest, and the council offices are in Swadlincote. The district a ...
, south of
Swadlincote
Swadlincote is a former mining town in the district of South Derbyshire, England, lying within The National Forest area. It borders the counties of Leicestershire and Staffordshire, south-east of Burton upon Trent and north-west of Ashby-de ...
, west of
Ashby-de-la-Zouch
Ashby-de-la-Zouch, sometimes spelt Ashby de la Zouch () and shortened locally to Ashby, is a market town and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. The town is near to the Derbyshire and Staffordshire ...
and due south-southwest of
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
(16.5 miles by road). The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 2,450. Situated within the
National Forest area, it is one of the southernmost settlements in
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
(after
Netherseal
Netherseal (or 'Netherseale') is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire,OS Explorer Map 245: The National Forest :(1:25 000) : and
Lullington), close to the border with
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
.
Historically both Overseal and Netherseal were part of Leicestershire: they were transferred from Leicestershire to Derbyshire in 1897, in return for Leicestershire absorbing several of Derbyshire's enclaves (see
county enclaves).
Geography
The village was once part of the district of Seal, which included a number of settlements, many of which form
Netherseal
Netherseal (or 'Netherseale') is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire,OS Explorer Map 245: The National Forest :(1:25 000) : and Overseal in modern times. ''Seal'' suggests the area was once heavily forested and ''Nether'' means "lower" and ''Over'' means "upper". The small hamlet of Seale is approximately south of the village, marking the border with Leicestershire near
Acresford
Acresford is a hamlet in North West Leicestershire, it shares civil parish authorities with Donisthorpe and Oakthorpe and forms part of the border with South Derbyshire
South Derbyshire is a local government district in Derbyshire, Engla ...
. The busy
A444 national route bisects the village, with
Burton upon Trent
Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011, it had a ...
to the northwest and
Nuneaton
Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...
some to the south. The
M42 motorway
The M42 motorway runs north east from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire to just south west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, passing Redditch, Solihull, the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and Tamworth on the way, serving the east of the ...
is accessible to the southeast.
Overseal is located very close to the furthest point from mainland Britain's coast, at Church Flatts Farm near
Coton-in-the-Elms (), approximately 3 miles to the west. Overseal was said to be the 'population centre of Britain' in 1971 with an equal number of people living north and south of it, and similarly for east and west. However, this centre has slowly been moving southwards and is now claimed by the nearby village of
Appleby Parva
Appleby Parva, or Little Appleby (Known locally as Over-Town), part of the parish of Appleby Magna in Leicestershire, is a hamlet about south-west of Appleby church. It straddles the A444, south of the crossroads of the highways from Ashby de ...
in
North West Leicestershire
North West Leicestershire is a local government district in Leicestershire, England. The population of the Local Authority at the 2011 census was 93,348. Its main towns are Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Castle Donington, Coalville and Ibstock.
The dist ...
, south of the village. Overeseal lies at almost the same latitude (52.735°N) as
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
,
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
and
Barmouth
Barmouth ( cy, Abermaw (formal); ''Y Bermo'' (colloquial)) is a seaside town and community in the county of Gwynedd, northwestern Wales, lying on the estuary of the Afon Mawddach and Cardigan Bay. Located in the historic county of Merioneths ...
,
Gwynedd
Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...
.
Overseal is in the heart of the
National Forest. To the southeast is the former mining village of Donisthorpe (in
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
). Halfway between the village and
Moira, less than a mile to the east, is the Conkers
activity park, the National Forest
youth hostel
A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ba ...
and a
Camping and Caravanning Club site (all in Leicestershire), close by also to the hamlet of
Short Heath (in Derbyshire). The village was part of West Goscote Hundred in Leicestershire for most of its history. In 1889 it was transferred, along with Netherseal, to Derbyshire in exchange for
Chilcote
Chilcote is a village and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. Until 1897 it was in Derbyshire. The parish had a population of 108 according to the 2001 census, including Stretton-en-le-Field and in ...
,
Donisthorpe
Donisthorpe is a village in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England, historically an exclave of Derbyshire.
History
In 1086 Donisthorpe was part of the land given to Nigel of Stafford by William the Conqueror. It w ...
,
Measham
Measham is a large village in the North West Leicestershire district in Leicestershire, England, near the Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire boundaries. It lies off the A42, 4½ miles (7.25 km) south of Ashby de la Zouch, in the Natio ...
,
Oakthorpe
Oakthorpe is a village in north-west Leicestershire, England.
In 1086, Oakthorpe was part of Derbyshire and was amongst several manors given to Nigel of Stafford by William the Conqueror. Until 1897 Oakthorpe, and its neighbours Measham and D ...
,
Stretton-en-le-Field and
Willesley
Willesley is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in the North West Leicestershire district, in the county of Leicestershire, England. It was originally in Derbyshire. Willesley Hall was the home of the A ...
plus the Derbyshire parts of
Appleby Magna
Appleby Magna is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England. It includes the small hamlets of Appleby Parva and Little Wigston.
The parish has a total collective population of 1,084 (2011) spread across 500 properties (2020), with ...
,
Packington
Packington is a village and civil parish in the district of North West Leicestershire.OS Explorer Map 245: The National Forest :(1:25 000) : It is situated close to the A42 road (England), A42 road and the towns of Ashby de la Zouch and Measha ...
and
Ravenstone.
Woodville Road, leading to the northeast from the A444, was formerly the B5004, but has now been downgraded to a minor road. Close by is the former
Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway (became the
Leicester to Burton line), with a station for . There was also a small two-road loco depot, a sub-shed of nearby Burton which was coded 16F. The depot was closed in the late 1960s.
There is only one pub in the village, the Robin Hood Inn at the junction of Main Street and Burton Road (A444). The Navigation Inn on Spring Cottage Road in Leicestershire was demolished in 2015 to make way for elderly accommodation lodges. There is a small
Co-op
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
supermarket on the north side of the village on the A444, next to a Chinese takeaway.
History
Overseal's history is inseparable from the nearby village of
Netherseal
Netherseal (or 'Netherseale') is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire,OS Explorer Map 245: The National Forest :(1:25 000) : (approximately 1.5 miles southwest). Historically forming a single parish and township, the two settlements have been known by various names, with Overseal having been known as, amongst others, Little Seale and Spital Seile and with variations on Seal including Seile, Sela, Sheile, Seeyle.
During the reign of
Henry III, the manors of Overseal and Netherseal were given by William de Meisham (along with a park, a wood and a mill), as a dowry for his daughter, Godehouda, on the occasion of her marriage to William de Appleby of
Appleby Magna
Appleby Magna is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England. It includes the small hamlets of Appleby Parva and Little Wigston.
The parish has a total collective population of 1,084 (2011) spread across 500 properties (2020), with ...
.
The manor house itself was located in what is now Netherseal. Around 1250, William de Meisaham also gave care of the church to
Merevale Abbey
Merevale is a small village and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of the county of Warwickshire in England. Located about one and a half miles west of Atherstone, it is the site of a medieval Cistercian Abbey (founded in 1148) and ...
near Atherstone, Warwickshire.
[
Around the turn of the 16th century, the Manor, Netherseal Hall, had passed to the Gresley Family of ]Drakelow
Drakelow is a civil parish in South Derbyshire, England. It is centred a small fraction over south of Burton on Trent and has a border with that town. The population of the civil parish including Caldwell, Derbyshire and Cauldwell, Derbyshir ...
, having been purchased by Sir William Gresley (father of Sir George Gresley, 1st Baronet).[ The Gresley family sold the manor to the Morewood family in 1627.][ However, the manor passed back to the Gresley family through the marriage of Sir Thomas Gresley, 2nd Baronet, to Francis Morewood.][
In 1569 Sir Thomas Gresley, 2nd Baronet, is listed as Lord of the Manor, with the Manor itself being tenanted to E.W. Robertson, Esq.][
In 1863 the manorial rights are recorded as belonging to Thomas Mowbray Esq. of Grange Wood House (later Grangewood Hall), which was around a mile southwest of Overseal.][ He did not, however, own all the land in the village; John Curzon Esq. was listed as a major landholder, with the rest shared between smaller owners.][
]
Churches
The village church is dedicated to St Matthew. There appears to have been an earlier church in Overseal; however, in 1622 this was reported as being "quite decayed and gone".[ A new church ("Chapel of Ease") was built in 1840–1841, on land donated by Elizabeth Pycroft, who also gave money for its construction. Elizabeth laid the first stone on 27 August 1840, but died 19 December 1840; she is buried within the church.][ Her family subsequently made further donations to pay for the communion plate, altar table and velvet covering.][ The church was built in the early English style: the tower has eight bells and the church boasts stained-glass windows, a carved stone altar and a font made of ]Caen stone
Caen stone (french: Pierre de Caen) is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in north-western France near the city of Caen. The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about ...
.[ The surrounding church/chapel-yard is three-quarters of an acre, and at its northwest corner stood an oak tree descended from the ]Royal Oak
The Royal Oak is the English oak tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House. C ...
at Boscobel House
Boscobel House () is a Grade II* listed building in the parish of Boscobel in Shropshire. It has been, at various times, a farmhouse, a hunting lodge, and a holiday home; but it is most famous for its role in the escape of Charles II after the B ...
in which King Charles II hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651.[ In 1863 the church is described as a 'chapelry' annexed to the rectory at Netherseal; the curate was Rev. John Morewood Gresley, M.A.][ The church is Grade II listed.]
The Lord of the Manor built a school adjacent to the church in 1841.[
A Baptist chapel was built in the village in 1840 and a Methodist chapel in 1860.][
]
Annual Gala
Every year a gala takes place on one afternoon in July. This includes a parade of floats led by the "Gala King and Queen" and their attendants.
Notable residents
* Joseph Wilkes
Joseph Wilkes (1733–1805) was an 18th-century English industrialist and agricultural improver born in the village of Overseal in Derbyshire but more commonly associated with the village of Measham in Leicestershire.
From a farming family, Wil ...
, industrialist, was born here in 1733Joseph Wilkes web site
/ref>
* George Kettle, cricketer, born here in 1810
* Charlie Freeman
Charles Redfearn Freeman (22 August 1887 – 17 March 1956) was an English professional footballer who played in the Football League for Chelsea, Gillingham and Burton United as an inside forward. After his retirement, he served Chelsea as ...
, footballer, born here in 1887
* Ernest Hart, footballer, born here in 1902
See also
* Listed buildings in Overseal
References
External links
Overseal Village Life website
Overseal Primary School
{{authority control
Villages in Derbyshire
Civil parishes in Derbyshire
South Norfolk