Queniborough is an English village in the county of

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 ...

2.5 miles (4 km) north-east of the town of

Syston Syston ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of Charnwood in Leicestershire, England. The population was 11,508 at the 2001 census, rising to 12,804 at the 2011 census. Overview There has been a settlement on the site for over 1,000 ...

and of 7.5 miles (12 km) north-east of the city of

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. Its 972 properties housed 1,878 registered electors in 2003. The population increased to 2,326 at the 2011 census. It forms part of the Leicester Urban Area due to its proximity. The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

of St Mary's has, according to the architectural historian

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

, "one of the finest spires in the whole of Leicestershire".

History

The place-name 'Queniborough' first appears in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086, as ''Cuinburg''. It is listed as ''Quenburg'' in about 1125, in the Leicestershire Survey in

J. H. Round (John) Horace Round (22 February 1854 – 24 June 1928) was an historian and genealogist of the English medieval period. He translated the portion of Domesday Book (1086) covering Essex into English. As an expert in the history of the British ...

's ''Feudal England''. It appears as ''Queningburc'' in 1236 and as ''Queniburg'' in 1242 in the ''

Book of Fees The ''Book of Fees'' is the colloquial title of a modern edition, transcript, rearrangement and enhancement of the medieval (Latin: 'Book of Fiefs'), being a listing of feudal landholdings or fief (Middle English ), compiled in about 1302, but f ...

''. The name is thought to be the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''Cwēne-burg'', meaning "the queen's manor". The old part of the village, along Main Street, has a mixture of 16th–20th century houses, some of them thatched. The Grade II*-listed Queniborough Old Hall in Coppice Lane is a large two-storey country house built in 1675–1676 of brick with

Swithland Swithland is a linear village in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. The civil parish population was put at 230 in 2004 and 217 in the 2011 census. It is in the old Charnwood Forest, between Cropston, Woodhouse and Woodhouse ...

slate roofs, to an originally H-shaped plan. The newer Queniborough Hall in Main Street was built about 1820 with later additions. It has two storeys of stuccoed brick with a four-bay frontage. Until the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

it was still occupied by the Lord of the Manor, but it has now been converted into flats. What is now known as Wetherby House was built about 1850 and is believed to have been known as The Beeches. It stands on Syston Road. The house is built of brick with a pitched Swithland slate roof and is listed as of local interest. There was no school in the village open to ordinary villagers until 1847. The earlier school, in a small building to the rear of No. 28, Main Street, was only for children whose parents worked on the Queniborough Hall estate. Nos 22–28, Main Street were built between 1790 and 1810 as workers' cottages. The schoolmaster lived at No. 28. The row is still occupied, and the old village school, part of No. 28, now serves as a dining room with a vaulted

ceiling A ceiling is an overhead interior surface that covers the upper limits of a room. It is not generally considered a structural element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the roof structure or the floor of a story above. Ceilings ...

. The school built in 1847 stands beside the ''Horse and Groom'' pub. This was a free school from the outset, available to children of all villagers. It now holds a small swimming pool for the new primary school built in the 1970s. A junior school was built in Coppice Lane and opened in September 1954.

Notable people

George Shingler George Shingler (15 May 1882 – 5 May 1946) was an English cricketer. Shingler was a right-handed batsman whose bowling style is unknown. He was born in Leicester, Leicestershire. Shingler made his first-class debut for Leicestershir ...

(1882–1946), county cricketer, died in Queniborough.

Buildings and facilities

The two public houses, the ''Horse and Groom'', and the ''Britannia Inn'',Own site. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
/ref> are both in the centre of the old part of the village. Next door to the ''Horse and Groom'' is the Queniborough branch of the British Legion, which has a bar and hall. The village has a butcher/delicatessen and a ladies' and gents' hairdresser. Properties in the newer part of the village, from Queniborough Road to Syston Road, are all from the 20th century. Here there is a post office and corner shop, and a newsagent and general store. At the same end of the village stands a village hall completed in 1973, used for keep-fit, badminton and other activities, and for a pre-school playgroup. The local

Scouts Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

have a hall of their own. The school hall in Coppice Lane is used by

Girl Guides Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

, Brownies and

Rainbows A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows ca ...

, and by weight watchers and many other clubs. Winter fairs and other celebrations are also held.

Playing fields

The village has a sports field marked out mainly for football, for which Queniborough has teams in the junior and senior leagues. The King George playing field is a secure playground for young children, with swings and roundabouts. A recent acquisition is a village

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

completed in 2005 within the King George playing field. There is a public footpath to

South Croxton South Croxton (traditionally pronounced "crow-sun" �kroʊsən is a village and civil parish in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood district of Leicestershire, England. It had a population of 261 in the 2011 census. Nearby villages include Beeb ...

that follows Queniborough Brook.

References

External links

Queniborough History (leicestershirevillages.com)Queniborough Online - Village website (queniborough.online)
{{authority control Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Leicestershire Borough of Charnwood