Foston is a

deserted medieval village In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the conve ...

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, now in the parish of

Kilby Kilby is a village and civil parish in the Blaby district of Leicestershire, England. Kilby is the easternmost village in the district, and is south east of Leicester. Kilby civil parish includes the former parish of Foston, Leicestershire, Fos ...

, in the

Blaby Blaby () is a town in the Blaby District in central Leicestershire, England, some five miles south of Leicester city centre. At the time of the 2011 census, Blaby had a population of 6,194, falling slightly from 6,240 in 2001. Given Blaby's pr ...

district of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

and lies approximately south of the city of

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

, England. The settlement name Foston means "Fotr's farm/settlement": "Fotr" is an

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

personal name, and "tūn" in

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

means an enclosure, farmstead, village or estate. In 1931 the parish of Foston had a population of 36. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Kilby.

Geography

Foston is situated on a ridge on the south side of the valley of the

River Sence The River Sence is a river which flows in Leicestershire, England. The tributaries of the Sence, including the Saint and River Tweed, Leicestershire, Tweed, fan out over much of western Leicestershire from Charnwood Forest and Coalville in th ...

, between the villages of

to the east,

Countesthorpe Countesthorpe is a large village and civil parish in the Leicestershire district of Blaby, with a population of 6,393 (2001 census, falling slightly to 6,377 at the 2011 census. It lies to the south of Leicester, and is about from the city c ...

to the west ,

Peatling Magna Peatling Magna (also once known as “Great Petlyng” and later as “Great Peatling”) is a village in Harborough district, south Leicestershire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 210. It lies 3.7 km north-east ...

to the south, and the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Kilby Bridge to the north. The soils are "Slowly permeable seasonally wet slightly acid but base-rich loamy and clayey soils", according to UK Soil Observatory results. The site of the settlement is situated on Till (a superficial deposit formed up to 2 million years ago in the Quaternary Period) that is underpinned by Blue Lias mudstone (55-120 million years old).

History

Mentioned in the Domesday Book Survey of 1086, Foston was a settlement in the

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

Guthlaxton Guthlaxton is an ancient hundred of Leicestershire. Its jurisdiction was in the south of the county, and covered Lutterworth and Wigston Magna. At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, it was one of Leicestershire's four wapentakes, and covered ...

, Leicestershire. It had an estimated population of 26 households in 1086. The village Church of St Bartholomew is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The main body of the church dates to the early 14th century, but parts of the structure are 10th century. The village of Foston is clearly visible on the 1576 map of Warwickshire and Leicestershire, produced (in Latin) by

Christopher Saxton Christopher Saxton (c. 1540 – c. 1610) was an English cartographer who produced the first county maps of England and Wales. Life and family Saxton was probably born in Sowood, Ossett in the parish of Dewsbury, in the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

as part of his ''Atlas of England and Wales'', but no indication of village settlement size is shown. A survey by John Nichols, published in 1790, stated only four houses in the village of Foston. The number of houses rose to five in 1801, with a population of 24 "employed in agriculture" followed by an increase to six houses in the 1870s, with 27 residents. However, all that is visible today is its church, rectory, a few houses and a farm. Foston_Hall_Farm_-_geograph

References

External links

Kilby Parish CouncilHistory of Foston and St. Bartholomew's Church
Villages in Leicestershire Deserted medieval villages in Leicestershire Former civil parishes in Leicestershire Blaby {{Towns and villages of Blaby