Sproxton () 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 ...
within the
Borough of Melton
Melton is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with borough status in north-eastern Leicestershire, England. It is named after its main town, Melton Mowbray. Other settlements include Asfordby and Bottesford, Leicestershire, Bo ...
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 ...
, England, close to the border with
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
. It has approximately 80 occupied dwellings (2021) and a population of 480, rising to 658 (including Coston, Saltby and Stonesby) at the 2011 census.
The village and civil parish are not coterminous; the parish includes the villages of Sproxton,
Saltby
Saltby is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sproxton, in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England. It lies close to the River Eye and the border with Lincolnshire. There are approximately 65 properties (2021) within ...
,
Stonesby
Stonesby is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sproxton, within the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England. It is northeast of Melton Mowbray, and southeast of Waltham on the Wolds. In 1931 the parish had a populati ...
,
Bescaby
Bescaby is a hamlet, deserted medieval village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sproxton, in the Melton district, in Leicestershire, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 17.
The hamlet's name means 'farm/settlement of ...
, and the former
RAF Saltby
Royal Air Force Saltby or more simply RAF Saltby is a former Royal Air Force station located near Saltby
Saltby is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sproxton, in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England. It lies cl ...
. The
River Eye runs through the parish. Nearby places are
Waltham on the Wolds
Waltham on the Wolds is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Waltham on the Wolds and Thorpe Arnold, in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England. It lies about north-east of Melton Mowbray and south-west of Grantham ...
,
Croxton Kerrial
Croxton Kerrial (pronounced ˆkroÊŠsÉ™n ˈkÉ›rɨl is a village and civil parish in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England, south-west of Grantham, north-east of Melton Mowbray, and west of Leicestershire's border with Lincolnshire. Th ...
,
Coston,
Buckminster
Buckminster is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish within the Melton (borough), Melton district of Leicestershire, England, which includes the two villages of Buckminster and Sewstern. The total population of the civil parish ...
, and
Skillington
Skillington is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2021 census was 314. It is situated west from the A1 road, south from Grantham, and is within of the ...
(in Lincolnshire).
Th
Viking Wayruns close by. Nearby is
Sproxton Quarry
Sproxton Quarry is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-east of Sproxton in Leicestershire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
The quarry exposes one of the most complete sections of the Middle Jurassic Lincolnshire L ...
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
.
The 14th-century parish church of St Bartholomew, extended and restored in 1882 by architect
Henry Woodyer
Henry Woodyer (1816–1896) was an English architect, a pupil of William Butterfield and a disciple of A. W. N. Pugin and the Ecclesiologists.
Life
Woodyer was born in Guildford, Surrey, England, in 1816, the son of a successful, highly resp ...
, is a Grade II* listed building. There is evidence of Norman building in the west wall of the south aisle and the tower is 13th-century. The top part of the tower was rebuilt in the restoration of 1882. There is a Saxon cross in the churchyard - the only complete one in Leicestershire.
A post mill stood at Sproxton. The mill was rebuilt in 1889 after it blew down and killed the miller. Wakes & Lamb of Newark rebuilt the mill using materials from the old mill and from one at Castle Bytham. It was wrecked by the gales of March 1916, but repaired. By 1920 it was out of use and was demolished in 1949 when owned by Mr T.A.Mount.
Quarrying
Quarrying for iron ore was carried out at Sproxton from 1925 to 1973 and for limestone from 1965 to 1969. The stone was taken away by a railway, construction of which was started in about 1922 by the
Great Northern Railway. The line was an extension of the branch from the main line at High Dyke to
Stainby
__NOTOC__
Stainby is a hamlet in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated west from the A1 road, east from the Viking Way and the Leicestershire border, and south from Grantham.
Stainby is nominally in the civil ...
. The terminus was on the east side of the Sproxton to Saltby road. It was planned to extend the line to Waltham Station but this extension was never opened.
The first quarry was for iron ore close to the road between the railway and Sproxton Church and worked its way eastwards until 1961. The quarry was extended eastwards and southwards between 1965 and 1968 but for the getting of limestone rather than iron ore. A second iron ore quarry operated on the south side of the Skillington road between 1961 and 1973, again working eastwards. A further iron ore quarry was worked on the north side of the railway between 1962 and 1963 again working eastward from the Saltby road. The ore was taken to the railway by standard gauge tramways, worked by horses from 1925 to 1928, then by a petrol engined locomotive and from 1931 by steam locomotives. From 1961 some of the ore was taken to the railway by lorry and from October 1963 the last of the tramways was abandoned and all of the stone was taken to the railway by lorry. Steam quarrying machines were used until 1940 when electric and diesel machines were introduced.
Some of the quarried area has been restored for agriculture (in places it looks hummocky). Some has been forested and the final gullets and the limestone quarry remain. There are traces of the railway and tipping dock.
References
External links
Sproxton Jubilee Site*
Open Gardens Day
{{authority control
Villages in Leicestershire
Civil parishes in Leicestershire
Borough of Melton