Shenton is a village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of

Sutton Cheney Sutton Cheney ( ) is a village and civil parish in the borough of Hinckley and Bosworth in the county of Leicestershire, England, near the county border with Warwickshire.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : In addition to the ...

, in the

Hinckley and Bosworth Hinckley and Bosworth is a local government district with borough status in south-western Leicestershire, England, administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Its only towns are Hinckley, Earl Shilton and Market Bosworth. Villages in ...

district, 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 ...

, England, situated south-west of

Market Bosworth Market Bosworth is a market town and civil parish in western Leicestershire, England. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 1,906, increasing to 2,097 at the 2011 census. It is most famously near to the site of the decisive final battle of ...

. Shenton was formerly a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel of ease (chapel) which was the communi ...

and township of the parish of Market Bosworth. The settlement is almost entirely agricultural, containing several farms. Much of the land has been in the same family since

William Wollaston William Wollaston (; 26 March 165929 October 1724) was a school teacher, Church of England priest, scholar of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, theologian, and a major Enlightenment era English philosopher. He is remembered today for one book, which he ...

purchased the manor in 1625. It is essentially a privately owned

estate village An estate village is a village wholly within and part of a private estate. Usually several hundred years old, they are often well preserved by the family that owns the estate. They often have small commercial operations such as pubs, craft shops, an ...

and has seen comparatively little modern development. It has been designated a conservation area. The settlement lies either side of the Sence Brook, which is crossed by a picturesque Victorian bridge. The area is fairly flat, and subject to flooding. In 1931 the parish had a population of 154.

Shenton Hall

The hall has a fine gatehouse dated 1629, and a large, listed dovecote of 1719 within the hall grounds, close to the stable block. The main hall is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and was enlarged in the 19th century. The hall itself was sold by the Wollaston family following government requisition during the Second World War, but most of the estate land in the settlement and the surrounding farmland, was not sold.

The Church

The Church of St John the Evangelist is a

and is part of Market Bosworth Benefice. It was rebuilt by the Wollaston family in about 1860. Admiral Sir

Alexander Dundas Young Arbuthnott Admiral Sir Alexander Dundas Young Arbuthnott (bapt. 5 March 1789 – 8 May 1871) was a British Royal Navy officer of the Victorian era. Background Born in Forton, Hampshire, he was the son of Robert Arbuthnott, grandson of Robert Arbuthnot, 1 ...

is buried in the churchyard and the 17th century memorial to

was moved into the church.

History

Shenton is close to the site of the

Battle of Bosworth The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 Augu ...

, which took place south-west of Market Bosworth. It is one of the four settlements named by the early 17th century historian and local man, William Burton (of Lindley), to define the area of the battlefield. Some of the estate was subject to intensive archaeological surveying in recent years as part of the project to locate the site of the battlefield. The first, highly significant, find of round shot was made just west of Mill Lane, which leads from Shenton to Fenn Lanes Roman road. The

Ashby Canal The Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal is a long canal in England which connected the mining district around Moira, just outside the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, with the Coventry Canal at Bedworth in Warwickshire. It was opened in 1804, ...

passes to the east of the village and the road to Sutton Cheney and Market Bosworth passes beneath it through a narrow aqueduct tunnel. By the 1870s, the chapelry as it was known then listed 42 houses, along with 206 residents. Shenton became a parish in 1866, on 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Sutton Cheney. Shenton Train station lies some way from the village on the Sutton Cheney side, east of the canal. It is the southern terminus of the preserved

Battlefield Line Railway The Battlefield Line Railway is a heritage railway in Leicestershire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : It runs from Shackerstone (Grid ref ) to Shenton (), via Market Bosworth, a total of . Shenton is near Bosw ...

, which runs to Shenton from

Shackerstone Shackerstone is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. It is situated on the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal and the River Sence. According to the 2001 census the parish, which also includes the v ...

. This is a section of what was originally the Ashby to Nuneaton railway line, opened in 1873. The station is located at the foot of

Ambion Hill Ambion Hill is a hill in west Leicestershire, England, south of the town of Market Bosworth and lying south of the Sutton Cheney to Shenton road and north of Dadlington and of Fenn Lanes Roman road. The Ashby Canal passes to the south of the hill. ...

and is actually the reconstructed Humberstone Road Station from

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 ...

. The original Shenton station was demolished in the 1940s, except for a small lamp room that now serves as the Station Pottery.

References

External links

{{commons category-inline Villages in Leicestershire Former civil parishes in Leicestershire Hinckley and Bosworth