Nevill Holt is a hamlet 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 the

Harborough District Harborough () is a local government district of Leicestershire, England, named after its main town, Market Harborough. Covering , the district is by far the largest of the eight district authorities in Leicestershire and covers almost a quarter o ...

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. It is situated about northeast of

Market Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, in the far southeast of the county, forming part of the border with Northamptonshire. Market Harborough's population was 25,143 in 2020. It is the adm ...

, northwest of

Corby Corby is a town in North Northamptonshire, England, located north-east of Northampton. From 1974 to 2021, the town served as the administrative headquarters of the Borough of Corby. At the 2011 Census, the built-up area had a population of 5 ...

and lies close to the borders with

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

and

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

. It is on the north side of the

Welland Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750. The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-o ...

valley. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 28. At the 2011 census the population remained less than 100 and was included in the

of Horninghold. Bradley Priory was an Augustinian priory in the parish.

Nevill Holt Hall

Nevill Holt Hall is a Grade I

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 ...

, dating back to before 1300. Its name is derived from the Nevill family who owned it from the 15th century until 1876. The French abbess Ann Nevill was born here in 1605. It is on a hilltop. There have been many alterations and additions in the 14th,15th,17th,18th,19th and 20th (and now 21st) centuries. The

Cunard Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...

shipping family owned the estate from 1876 to 1912 and

Nancy Cunard Nancy Clara Cunard (10 March 1896 – 17 March 1965) was a British writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class, and devoted much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. She became a muse to some of the ...

(1896–1965), writer, anti-racism and anti-fascism activist, publisher and society hostess, was born here. In 1919 the hall became a preparatory school, run by the Phillips family from 1928, the school was an IAPS boarding school. In 1998 the school closed due to falling rolls shortly after a child sexual abuse scandal. One teacher was arrested, charged and convicted of sexual offences against boys aged 7–13. Another teacher committed suicide shortly after police arrived with an arrest warrant. The school closed later in 1998 after these events. In 2000, the Hall was bought and restored by

Carphone Warehouse The Carphone Warehouse Limited was a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent Ca ...

co-founder David Ross who had visited the prep school which a friend of his at Uppingham School had attended. Ross has built a theatre to seat 350 within the 17th century stable courtyard which had formerly housed a science laboratory, games/common room, carpentry workshop, indoor swimming pool, boxing ring and classrooms. In the summer, Nevill Holt hosts the

Nevill Holt Opera Nevill Holt Opera is an arts festival at the end of June and beginning of July that is held at Nevill Holt Hall in Leicestershire, the home of Carphone Warehouse co-founder David Ross. History Nevill Holt Opera launched its first independent s ...

festival. A new 400-seat opera house in the stable block by architects Witherford Watson Mann opened 14 June 2018. The 2021 festival was held in the open air. The two operas performed were ''

La Traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

'' and ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

''.

The Church

The church forms a group of buildings with the Hall. Dedicated to St Mary it dates largely from the 13th century but has had many perpendicular features added. The south porch was added in 1635. It was restored in 1865 to designs by architects Goddard & Son and again in 1878.

Quarrying

Two attempts were made to quarry the south side of the hill for iron ore in the 19th century. Between 1861 and 1868 small amounts of iron ore were probably taken away by horse and cart. Another attempt was made between 1871 and 1874. In 1873 a self-acting incline was constructed to take the ore to the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

's Market Harborough to Peterborough line. The quarry and traces of the incline remain. Further up the hill limestone was quarried from 1942.

References

{{reflist Hamlets in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Harborough District