Harby, Leicestershire


Harby is an English village and a former civil parish that is now in the parish of Clawson, Hose and Harby. It belongs to the Borough of Melton and the county of Leicestershire. It lies in the Vale of Belvoir, 9.4 miles north of Melton Mowbray and 13.9 miles west-south-west of Grantham. Although in Leicestershire, the county town of Leicester is further – – than Nottingham –. The village lies on the south side of the Grantham Canal. Belvoir Castle, to the north-east, is conspicuous on the horizon.

Location and governance

The population in 2001/2002 was listed as 864 individuals, with 698 on the electoral register and 376 houses. This increased at the 2011 census to 931 and was estimated in 2016 to be 877.
Harby is in the Rutland and Melton constituency. The current MP is the Conservative Sir Alan Duncan. It shares its civil parish council with Long Clawson, and Hose. In local government it comes under Melton Borough Council and Leicestershire County Council.
There are other villages named Harby in Nottinghamshire, Denmark and Sweden.

History

Old names for the village include Hereby, Herdby, Hedeby, and Harteby. The first element "Har" either derives from the old Scandinavian "hiorth" meaning herd, flock, or the old Norse personal name "Herrothr", found in old Danish as "Heroth". The second element is the old Scandinavian "by", meaning a village or homestead.
The Domesday book of 1086 listed Harby as in the possession of Robert de Stafford:
Robert de Tosny. He owned 17 carucates of land at Harby. In the time of Edward the Confessor it was 14 ploughs. Three of these carucates were held directly by Robert with 8 slaves. 13 of the ploughs were leased to 24 freemen, 7 villagers and 3 smallholders. There were meadows measuring 5 furlongs long and 5 furlongs wide. This land now brought in £5 a year; it used to be £4. Robert de Bucy owns 1 carucute of land at Harby and leases it to Gerard. The land takes 1 plough to work it. Gerard sub-leases it to 2 freeman and 3 smallholders. Its value is 5 shillings.

In 1622 William Burton described in his book The Description of Leicester Shire.
"Harby, in olde deedes written Herdeby in the Hundred of Framland, standing in the Vale of Bever upon the border of Nottinghamshire. In the 20. yeere of Edward the third, William Lord Ros, and John de Oreby held lands heere. In the 44. yeere of Edward the third, Roger Delaware was Lord of this Mannor. In the 25. of Henry the eight the Lord Delaware was Lord of this Mannor as it appeareth by an Inquisition taken after the death of Sir John Digby Knight, in the said 25.yeere of Henry the eight, where it was found that the said Sir John Digby held 4. messuages of the said Lord Delaware, as of his Mannor of Harby. In this Towne was borne Jeffrey de Hardby a famous Dvuine, brought up in Oxford, and after became one of the Canons of the Abbey of Leicester; from whence hee came to be Confessor to King Edward the third, and was by him made one of his Privy Councell of state. He wrote many bookes of speciall note in Divinity, and died in London, and was buried in the Austin Fryers. Here also was borne Robert de Hardby, a Frier Carmelite in Lincolne, who wrote something in praise of the saide Order, and lived 1450. Ecclesa de Herdeby Patronus Willimus de Albaniaco persona Mr.Robertus institutus per Hug.nunc Episcopum Lincoln. The new Patron of this Church is Francis Earle of Rutland. This Rectory is valued in the Kings bookes at 20 pounds."

In 1815 John Nichols described Harby in his book The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicestershire.
"Harby... is destitute of woods and streams; no high road leads through or beside it. A heavy clay spreads over every acre in the parish and the uniform operations of husbandry give a sameness to the country, which a stranger might view with disgust; but cultivation has made it fruitful.... Industry here makes the prospect, and the produce alone is the beauty of the soil. There are about 1800 acres in the parish; and, whilst the field continued open, the method of tillage was, first year fallow; second, barley and wheat; third, beans and pease. The families of Harby are 60, its inhabitants 322, among whom are many small freeholders. There is no mansion or antient building in the village; but the present rector has lately built a neat and convenient house...."

On 1 April 1936 the civil parish was merged with Hose and Long Clawson to form "Clawson and Harby", which is now called Clawson, Hose and Harby.

Primary school

Harby Church of England Primary School began as a church school founded by the National Society for Promoting Religious Education. It opened, under the Rector, William Evans Hartopp, in about 1827, on land donated by John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland.
A new school building was opened on 25 March 1861, probably on the site of an old village green, by a church committee headed by Rev. Manners Octavius Norman. It cost £861 3s 4d. The surveyors and architects were Bellamy and Hardy of Lincoln. It had two main teaching classrooms, a large kitchen, toilets to the rear, and accommodation for the teacher consisting of a downstairs study and three upper rooms. The first headmaster was Henry Major. The county council took over management on 1 July 1903.
Originally there was a bell tower above the front door, of which only the base remains intact. A swan and a book are carved either side of the base. In 1976 the school was extended with three new open-plan classroom areas, and an old school room was converted into a studio and TV room. A new kitchen was built at the rear and a large boiler house in the style of the old school added.
A letter received from the Rt Hon. Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for School Standards in February 2018 states that the school was in the top 1 per cent of primary schools in England for attainment in reading and writing, based in 2017 KS2 results. The school has just under 100 pupils aged 4 to 11. Harby Pre-School has closed. However, the latest full Ofsted report in March 2019 was critical in some respects.

Methodist chapel

Methodists had begun to hold services from 1769 in their homes, and then in an old coach house given by William Orson for chapel conversion in April 1828. By 1847 the Wesleyan congregation had outgrown the coach house, which was replaced by a chapel built on Orson's land. The foundation stone was laid by C. H. Clark, a Nottingham solicitor, and opening sermons were preached by Rev. John Rattenbury and Rev. James Everett. In 1874 it was refurbished.
In 1926 a new two-manual pipe organ by E. Wragg & Son of Nottingham was installed at a cost of £210, but it was removed when the chapel was modernised for its current use by the Vale Christian Fellowship.

Parish church

The Parish church at Harby is dedicated to St. Mary the virgin.
The earliest church on the site was probably made of wood, of which there is evidence in the west wall of the nave. The earliest written notice is in the records of the Bishop of Lincoln, recording a priest at Harby in 1220 called Robert. In the 13th century the present stone tower was built at the west end of the nave, and the wooden nave and chancel were rebuilt in stone. The nave was widened for its walls to join the tower at the west end at the outer edges of the tower buttresses.
Around 1350 the chancel roof was raised and new windows added.
The font from the Decorated period probably stood in the pre-Reformation position by the front door, in line with Catholic practice. The date 1606 may indicate when it was moved. After the Reformation, the font was moved again into the centre of the church and remained there until 1834.
Harby has three small panes of pre-Reformation stained glass in the first chancel window, bearing the letters W W W.
A Victorian restoration took place in 1874–1876, the flagstone flooring being replaced by tiles. New pews in the chancel were decorated in the Gothic style. In 1874 the roof was renewed. In 1903, a vestry was built and the organ placed to face into the chancel. The font was moved again to the east end of the north aisle.
On the wall above the arch at the east end of the nave are four panels. The middle two are wooden boards. One has the coat of arms of George II. The board above bears the inscription “Fear God, Honour the King”. The other two panels show the ten commandments on canvas in wooden frames.
On 29 May 1839 William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 9th Duke of St. Albans married Elizabeth Catherine Gubbins the daughter of Maj. Gen. Joseph Gubbins. As a celebration he donated to the church a new clock, a bible, a prayer book, and £30 with the rector to be invested for the poor.
Harby Church became a Grade II* listed building in 1968.
Bells
There are five bells in the tower dating from as early as 1610.
BellWeightNoteDiameterCastFounderInscription
14-2-21D#27.88"1887John Taylor & Co"JUBILEE 1887. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN" "CHRIST REIGNETH EVER" E. HALL. T.FRECK. WARDENS"
It cost £186 when cast and commemorates the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
24-3-7C#29.25"1610Henry II Oldfield"JESUS BE OUR SPEED"
This was the pancake bell, rung at 11 a. m. on Shrove Tuesday to remind housewives to prepare the pancake mixture.
35-0-9B#30.75"1610Henry II Oldfield"GOD SAVE THE CHURCH"
47-2-0A#34.25"1701William Noone"GOD SAVE HIS CHURCH" R.WHITTLE. I. BROOKBANK. WARDENS.
58-2–16G#37.75"1614Henry II Oldfield"GLORY BE TO GOD ON HIGH".
The tenor or passing bell, rung to record a death. This bell is the heaviest in the tower.

Pipe organ
Installed in 1874 in the chancel, the organ faces into the choir. It was removed from Gedling Parish Church, Nottinghamshire, at a cost of more than £80. The front gilded pipes are sham and do not sound. The organ has one manual, one straight and flat pedal board, seven sounding stops and one coupler. It is blown electrically from the rear, but can be operated by a brass manual hand pump.
Parish registers
The parchment skins of an early volume of Harby Parish Registers, long lost, are said to have been unstitched and wrapped round the trunk and limbs of the corpse of Anne Adcock, and so buried by her grandson, John Adcock, a man of eccentric character, in December 1776. Some transcripts exist at Lincoln for the years 1604, 1606 to 1609 and 1618; and at Leicester for 1581, 1612–1613, 1617, 1621, 1625–1629, 1632–1634, 1636–1638, 1661–1663, 1670, 1672, 1674–1683, 1685, 1687–1688, 1690–1691 and 1694–1700.
Priests
John Nichols in one of his monumental History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester lists the incumbents of Harby from 1220:
Rector – 1220 Robert

Chaplain – 1235 William de Herdeby

Subdeacon – 1251 to 1275 Thomas de Bathon

Subdeacon – 1275 Lambert de Trikingham

1298 William de Keln

Rector – 1336 Gilbert

1373 Nicholas

Rector – 1468 William Reynolds

Rector – John

Rector – 1534 Robert Carleton

Rector – 1570 George Benett

1613 – John White

1647 – Thomas Dalby

1659 – William Stevens

Rector – 1596–1598 Robert Snoden later became chaplain to James I in 1614, and Bishop of Carlisle in 1616.

Curate – 1662 Daniel Pepys

Deacon – 1662–1701 Daniel Pepys

Rector – 1662–1703 Anthony Harwood

Rector – 1638–1703 Richardus Johnson

Curate – 1680 Edvardus Browne

Preacher – 1687 Laur Howell

Preacher – 1688 Gul Lewis

Preacher – 1692 Robert Peete

Curate – 1703 Johannes Vincent

Rector – 1703–1739 John Major

Curate – 1738 John Bugg

Rector – 1739–1741 William Turvile

Rector – 1741–1749 Samuel Kerchevall

Rector – 1749–1751 Richard Stevens

Curate – 1751 Richard Stoup

Rector – 1751–1763 William Cant

Curate – 1792–1813 Daniel Wagstaff

Rector – 1763–1804 Bennet Storer

Rector – 1804–1826 Thomas Norris

Rector – 1826–1852 William Evans Hartopp

Rector – 1852–1899 Manners Octavius Norman Rural Dean, Framland III Deanery, 1872 to 1885

Rector – 1899–1925 Edward Henry Stone.
Rector – 1926–1946 Arthur Evelyn Furnival

Rector – 1946–1949 William Paul Watkins

Rector – 1949–1959 Alfred Cuthbert Holden

Rector – 1959–1961 Charles Brian Underwood

Rector – 1961–1963 Joseph Henry Dransfield – Not listed in Crockford’s Clerical Directory.

Rector – 1964–1974 Ieuan Delvin Powell

Priest in charge – 1975–1977 John Sydney Savige

Rector – 1977–1989 John Sydney Savige

Rector – 1990–1994 Simon Bailey

Curate – 1994–1998 Mark Turner

Priest in charge – 1994–1998 Geoffrey Spencer

Curate – 1997–1999 David Francis Mills

Priest in charge – 1999 and Team Rector 2000–2004 Charles Anthony Bradshaw

Team Rector – 2000–2008 Robin Duncan Stapleford

Curate – 2002–2005 Stephen Patrick James Burnham

Priest in charge – 2005–2009 Stuart Jack Foster

Team Vicar – 2009 – present Frederick Philip Richard John Connell

Individuals

Harby has a post office, a village shop and a cafe, all located at the village garage in Nether Street.

War memorial

The war memorial cross was erected in honour of the Harby soldiers and sailors who participated in the First World War. The accepted plans for this were drawn up by Mr T. Burbidge and the work was entrusted to Mr S. Squires of Bingham. The height is nearly 15 ft, the lower of the two bases being 8 ft square. The stone above is 4 ft square and 2 ft in height, containing 99 names, 19 on the front face being those who were killed in action or died on service. The remaining 80 are those who enlisted from the village and survived. Surrounding this stone is an old shaft and base from an ancient village cross, capped with a new cross suggesting what the original may have looked like, drawn by a former rector, Rev. Manners Octavius Norman. The whole, old and new, is of Portland stone. This relic of the old village cross stood originally on the village green, some yards from its present position. It was moved to the churchyard when the school was built in 1860.
The unveiling ceremony on the night of Thursday, 20 May 1920, was performed by the Rev. E. H. Stone, Rector, in the presence of 200 people and of the church and chapel choirs. Sixty ex-service men formed a guard of honour. The text runs:
ERECTED BY THE PARISHIONERS IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO FOUGHT IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 – 1919.
BAILEY J. T.
COOK E.
DEWEY E.
GOODSON B.
GREAVES W. H.
HALL H.
HAND B.
HOYES F. A. M. M.
HOYES J.
KEMP T. A.
ABBOTT F. W.
MOULDS C. H.
MOULDS G. H. D.C. M.
RAWLINGS T.
SMITH J.
STOKES A.
WESSON F.
WOODFORD L.
WRIGHT W.
OFFERED UPON THE ALTAR OF THE NATION
After the 1939–1945 war, two names of men who did not return were carved on the base. The arrow marks where the new cross was fitted to the old. The steel brace which joins the two parts together was made by Mr Martin Stead, the village blacksmith."
AND IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED IN THE 2ND WORLD WAR 1939 – 1945
DEWEY A. C.
MABBOTT J. W.

Public houses

Originally there were three:
Harby is almost equidistant from two trunk roads: the A46 between Leicester and Newark-on-Trent and the A52 trunk road between Nottingham and Grantham. It is just over 5 miles from the main A607 between Leicester and Grantham. London is 126 miles via the M1 motorway.
The village is served by the No. 24 bus between Melton Mowbray and Bottesford or Bingham.
Harby and Stathern railway station opened in 1879 and closed in 1962. The wharf of Grantham Canal was formerly used to ship grain from the village mill in Colston Lane, but is now closed.