Wistow, Leicestershire
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Wistow 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
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 ...
in the
Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, close to the border with Northamptonshire. The population was 24,779 at the 2021 census. It is the administrative headquarters of the Harborough dis ...
district, in the
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...
county 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 seven miles south-east 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 ...
in 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 ...
. Since 1 April 1936 it has included most of the former civil parish of
Newton Harcourt Newton Harcourt is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wistow, in the Harborough district, in the English county of Leicestershire, and lies 7 miles south-east of the city of Leicester on the northern ridge of the River Se ...
which was a chapelry of Wistow. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 256. The village was named as ''Wistanestou'' 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
and is thought to derive from ''Wigstan'' (OE male personal name) + OE ''stow'' 'a holy place'; 'The holy place of
Wigstan Wigstan (, ; died c. 840 AD), also known as Saint Wystan, was the son of Wigmund of Mercia and Ælfflæd, daughter of King Ceolwulf I of Mercia. History Like many Mercians of the period very little is known about Wigstan. He was the son of W ...
'. It is thought to be the site of the martyrdom of Saint Wigstan, a Mercian prince. Wistow was part of the royal multiple estate of ''aet Glenne'' (
Great Glen The Great Glen ( ), also known as Glen Albyn (from the Gaelic "Glen of Scotland" ) or Glen More (from the Gaelic "Big/Great Glen"), is a glen in Scotland running for from Inverness on the edge of the Moray Firth, in an approximately straig ...
). Wistow is listed in the Domesday book of 1086 as a settlement of many households owned by Robert the bursar.


St Wistan's Church

The present structure, which dates from the 12th century, was enlarged c. 1300, again altered in the 14th and 15th centuries, and remodelled in the 18th century. The church of St Wistan consists of nave and chancel under one roof, south porch, west tower, vestry, and north chapel. It is built of rubble, chiefly ironstone, with some limestone dressings, and lead roofs. It is a
Grade II* listed 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, H ...
building.


Wistow Hall

Wistow Hall, which may be built on or near the site of the earlier medieval house, retains the form of a large house of early-17th-century date. It consists of two stories with attics, built of red brick with stone dressings and now completely stuccoed on all sides. The original plan appears to have been H-shaped consisting of a central hall between two cross-wings which extended westwards to enclose a rear court. Then, as now, the principal front faced east with a central entrance, while the south wing contained the parlour rooms and the north wing the kitchen and service rooms. The map of 1632 shows the house with its H-plan having two three-storied tower-like features with pyramidal roofs standing at the front of each wing on their outer sides. Formal gardens are also shown to the south and east of the house. During work on the house in 1960 certain early features were exposed; these included stone dressings in the rear wall of the hall marking the position of a large lateral chimney stack, and a blocked north window and quoins in the existing west wall of the house apparently surviving from a former south extension of the kitchen wing. The first-floor rooms in the north wing have reset panelling of the 17th century and more of a similar date is preserved piecemeal in the attic rooms. One stone doorway with a Tudor head remains in the side wall of the south wing. The multi-gabled appearance of the house with
finials A finial () or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the apex of a dome, spire, tower, roof, or gable or an ...
, kneelers, and large lateral stacks remained more or less unaltered until after the end of the 18th century. Little work appears to have been done to the house between 1783 and 1814. In 1814, the building was in poor condition and subsequently underwent a drastic remodelling: this involved removing the gables on the north, south, and east sides and substituting hipped slate roofs with dormer windows set behind a tall parapet. A large glass hot-house was added at the south-west corner of the house in 1819 which has since been demolished. Later in the 19th century the same side of the house received two semi-circular bay windows, the work of the second
Sir Henry Halford Sir Henry Halford, 1st Baronet, GCH (2 October 1766 – 1844), born Henry Vaughan, was president of the Royal College of Physicians for 24 years. As the royal and society physician, he was physician extraordinary to King George III from 1793 to ...
, who was also responsible for laying out a small formal garden. The rococo decoration in the south wing is probably of this period. In 1912 and the following years the balustrade and parapet were removed and additional dormer windows were provided, and in 1960 parts of the house were converted into five self-contained flats. The interior has few features of distinction, but the fine wrought-iron staircase balustrade built in the inner hall by Sir Charles Halford is similar in design to the wrought-iron gates of the Halford chapel in the church. Wistow Hall was
Grade II* listed 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, H ...
in 1951.


Present day

Today, Wistow is notable as the location of a rural crafts and
garden centre A garden centre (American English spelling; U.S. nursery or garden center) is a retail business that primarily sells plants and related products for Home gardening, domestic gardening. Gardening centers usually revolve around outdoor home imp ...
and of a
maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lead ...
.


References


External links


Wistow cum Newton Harcourt Parish CouncilWistow website
{{Leicestershire, state= collapsed Villages in Leicestershire Deserted medieval villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Harborough District