Scraptoft

SCRAPTOFT

Scraptoft lies four miles east of Leicester on the western slopes of the east Leicestershire uplands, but by the 1930's the western part of the ancient parish was rapidly becoming part of the suburbs of Leicester. (fn. 1) The area of the parish is 1,711 a.

The parish occupies the relatively high ground between two streams flowing westwards to the Soar. The ground rises from under 300 ft. near the streams to over 400 ft. in the east of the parish, and the village itself lies at over 350 ft. The soil is derived from clay and gravel. The parish boundary follows the more southerly stream, but in some places falls short of and in others runs beyond the more northerly stream. Elsewhere the boundary mainly follows field boundaries; on the west the boundary with the former Humberstone parish is the boundary of the city of Leicester.

Scraptoft village lies one mile to the north of the main road from Leicester to Uppingham. A prehistoric track from Tilton to a crossing over the Soar passed through Scraptoft; (fn. 2) from the village westwards its line is taken by a road (Scraptoft Lane) leading into Leicester, eastwards it is now a farm road (Covert Lane) which eventually joins the Leicester–Uppingham road near Houghton on the Hill. Other roads radiate from Scraptoft to Thurnby to the south (Station Road), Keyham to the northeast (Keyham Lane), and Barkby to the north-west. A branch from Keyham Lane leads to Beeby. The railway line from Belgrave Road Station, Leicester, to Melton Mowbray touches Scraptoft parish in the south-east; Thurnby station was only ¾ mile south of the village, but the line was closed for passenger traffic in 1953.

The roads already described radiate from a figureof-eight in the centre of the parish, around part of which the buildings of the old village are situated. Among them are the church, the Vicarage, Scraptoft Hall, and Nether Hall. Scattered farms include Scraptoft Lodge in the north-east of the parish, Scraptoft Hill Farm in the south-east, and Snow's Lodge in the west. The suburbs of Leicester, which had already engulfed Humberstone, began to extend into Scraptoft by the 1930's. The south-west corner of the parish was built over first, and by 1939 there were many houses, all privately built, along Scraptoft Lane and Station Road; in the angle between these roads there was then a nursery. Some new building took place in the village itself, and houses of a more individual type were built north of the village towards the golf course which was laid out between the roads to Barkby and Beeby. Building continued during and after the Second World War. Thurnby Lodge Council housing estate, south of Scraptoft Lane, had 797 houses by 1956 and Steins Lane and Nether Hall Estate, north-west of the village, had 1,123. (fn. 3) Private building also continued after 1945. A number of older cottages round the village centre have been altered or demolished, some of them to make way for shops. (fn. 4)

Among the 18th-century houses in the village are two in Hamilton Road, one of which is dated 1703 with initials D.C. and W.W. The other is a comparatively unaltered brick house, the date of which, partly obliterated, appears to be 1711. Its ground floor consists of an entrance hall between kitchen and parlour with a later addition at the rear. The main ceiling beams and the cambered lintel to the large kitchen fire-place are stop-chamfered. There is a contemporary cellar below the parlour.

Nether Hall, a two-storied brick house now rough-cast, has the date 1709 on a gable, with the letter w, which may indicate that it was built by a member of the Wigley family. There are, however, traces of an earlier house on the same site. (fn. 5) The rectangular plan of 1709 was altered and enlarged rather later in the 18th century. A large parlour wing was added on the south and a staircase and pantry wing on the north, this work being distinguished by the use of a moulded brick eaves cornice and hipped roofs. The main staircase, in an entrance hall between kitchen and parlour, may belong to the period of the alterations, as do panelling, plaster fire-places, and other decorative features. The staircase has a moulded handrail and turned newels and balusters. Several blocked windows retain their 18th-century frames. Outbuildings north-west of the house are of c. 1730.

The 'Manor House', in Scraptoft Rise, (fn. 6) is mostly of late-18th-century date. A range of 4 red-brick cottages nearby are of the same date but were subsequently altered.

Two semi-detached cottages, dated 1858, are built of red brick with yellow-brick dressings, and Scraptoft Lodge, an outlying farm in the north-east of the parish, is of similar materials. Among 20thcentury buildings are the Memorial Homes for Disabled Leicestershire Ex-servicemen in Hamilton Road, opened in 1957. They consist of a central twostoried block of 9 houses, and 4 bungalows. The White House Hotel, in Scraptoft Lane, formerly a private house, was erected in 1928. Various internal fittings were brought from demolished buildings elsewhere, including Normanton Hall (Rut.), Thurnby Court, and Stoughton Grange. The building itself, a two-storied structure with a modillion cornice and hipped roof, is in the style of the early 18th century and is constructed of Ketton stone brought from Normanton Hall. (fn. 7) The property was bought by the Northampton Brewery Company and became a hotel in 1950. (fn. 8)

The most important domestic building in the village is Scraptoft Hall, which, in its present form, dates largely from the early 18th century. James Wigley, the Leicester M.P., (fn. 9) laid out the park which, at the end of the 18th century, covered about 100 a. and attracted visitors from Leicester. (fn. 10) After 1765 the property was held by the Hartopp-Wigley family who lived in Little Dalby, and the house was let. In 1787 it was leased as a furnished hunting-box to Eliab Harvey of Chigwell (Essex). (fn. 11) In 1790 it was occupied by a retired London businessman named Wilson, (fn. 12) and was afterwards the home of Thomas Paget of Ibstock. (fn. 13) At the end of the 19th century James Burns Hartopp inherited the estate through his wife and came to live at the hall; (fn. 14) after his death the house was bought by Alfred Corah, of a Leicester hosiery firm, whose father had been the tenant in 1850. (fn. 15) Corah died in 1924 and the house and grounds were later sold to B. W. Cole. (fn. 16) The hall and the adjoining land were bought by Leicester Corporation in 1954 as the site for new buildings for the city's teachers' training college; the hall became the principal's residence. The plantations of the park were preserved, and others still existed in the south-east of the parish: Scraptoft Long Spinneys (much reduced since the late 19th century), Square Spinney, and Scraptoft Gorse. (fn. 17)

Scraptoft Hall carries the date 1723 on the rainwater heads of the rear elevation and is said to have been 'built, or rather considerably enlarged' by Letitia, widow of Sir Edward Wigley. (fn. 18) Stone fireplaces with four-centred heads and a mullioned window belonging to an earlier house have recently been uncovered. (fn. 19) There are large cambered tie beams, probably re-used, both in the cellars and in the stables, while the second-floor rooms contain some reset 17th-century panelling. As rebuilt c. 1723 the house was square in plan and of three stories. The principal front of five bays is faced with stone ashlar and is surmounted by a parapet which curves up above the angle quoins and in the centre. The central bay is flanked by a pair of tall Corinthian pilasters, each supporting its own section of entablature at second-floor level. The central secondfloor window is round-headed and is flanked by plain pilasters which reach to the parapet. The main doorway, approached by a flight of stone steps, is surmounted by an open scrolled pediment supported on brackets and has a keystone bearing the Wigley monogram. The windows, some of which contain original sashes, have bolection-moulded architraves, aprons, and prominent key-blocks. Internally the house is symmetrically planned with two rooms on each side of a combined entrance and staircase hall. The fine staircase has moulded strings and slender turned balusters, three to each tread, the newels being formed by clustered balusters. Several rooms retain 18th-century panelling and traces of wallpaper of the same date have recently been dis covered. (fn. 20) Later additions include a single-storied music room, later a billiard room, which was added to the east side of the house soon after 1896. (fn. 21) Between the west forecourt and the road is a fine wrought-iron screen of c. 1725; two side gates are of more intricate workmanship. The 18th-century buildings which surround the stable court are of brick with Swithland slate roofs. At one time the outbuildings included a bake-house, a laundry, and a small smithy. A timber-framed barn, set apart from the main group, is probably of 17th-century date with later brick infilling. In the eastern part of the grounds a large mound contains a shell-lined grotto, in poor repair in 1961, which was formerly surmounted by a Chinese pavilion and is said to have been the work of James Wigley (d. 1765). (fn. 22) The main buildings for the training college, designed by Bridgwater and Shepheard, of London, were begun to the east of the house in 1958 and completed in 1960. Additional hostels were in course of construction in 1961. (fn. 23)

Scraptoft was not a large village in 1086 when the recorded population was 19. (fn. 24) In 1381 the poll tax was paid by 85 people. (fn. 25) There were 22 households in 1563 and 106 communicants in 1603. In 1670 there were 26 households, and 60 communicants were recorded in 1676. (fn. 26) There were 25–30 families in the early 18th century. (fn. 27) The population in 1801 was 107, and in 1911 113. The beginnings of Leicester's suburban expansion into Scraptoft are reflected in the population of 153 in 1921. By 1931 it had risen to 424 and by 1951 to 1,075. (fn. 28)

MANOR.

The manor of SCRAPTOFT probably formed part of the original endowment of the priory of St. Mary at Coventry, founded in 1043 by Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and Godiva his wife. Although Leofric's foundation charter and its so-called confirmation by Edward the Confessor are spurious, it seems probable that Scraptoft and the other Leicestershire possessions of the priory at Packington, Burbage, and Barwell were in fact given, as the charter claims, by Leofric. (fn. 29) The priory certainly held Scraptoft in 1086, (fn. 30) and it increased its holdings there by grants and purchases throughout the Middle Ages. (fn. 31) It appears that the manor was sometimes leased to tenants. The priory had its own bailiff there in 1535, (fn. 32) but Robert de Saddington may have been a tenant of the priory in 1344, when he received a grant of free warren in his demesne. (fn. 33) After the Dissolution the manor was leased for 80 years to Henry Wigley of Scraptoft. (fn. 34) In 1575–6 the queen leased land in Scraptoft, including the capital messuage, to Robert Warwick for 21 years. (fn. 35) A grant was made 5 years later to Robert, Earl of Leicester, and John Morley of Moreton Morell (Warws.), (fn. 36) and they immediately sold the manor of Scraptoft to John Colborne, also of Moreton. (fn. 37) A few months after his death in 1600, (fn. 38) his widow Katherine was licensed to alienate the manor to Henry, George, and Thomas Wigley, the eldest sons of Edward Wigley of Scraptoft. (fn. 39) The manor remained in the possession of the Wigley family until 1765 when it passed to the Hartopp family on the death without direct heirs of James Wigley, M.P. (fn. 40) James Wigley's sister Letitia had married Samuel Hartopp in 1730, and the Hartopps remained lords of the manor until they disposed of the estate after the First World War. (fn. 41) The heir in 1765, Edward Hartopp, greatnephew of James Wigley, took the additional name of Wigley when he inherited the property. (fn. 42) When the estate was sold after the war Mrs. Alfred Corah and Mr. T. Fielding Johnson became the chief landowners. About 1930 B. W. Cole purchased the hall and estate, and a large part of the parish passed to A. T. Sharp, owner of Nether Hall. (fn. 43)

LESSER ESTATES.

In 1279 and 1540 the Hospitallers owned a cottage in Scraptoft. (fn. 44) By the 16th century the only other owner of land in the parish, apart from Coventry Priory, was St. Mary's Abbey, Leicester, which drew 33s. 4d. annual rent from Scraptoft at the Dissolution. (fn. 45) Henry VIII leased this property to Thomas Symkins in 1542; (fn. 46) in 1553 it was granted to Thomas and Humphrey Cockes. Nothing is known of it after this date, when it consisted of a messuage with an adjoining croft, an orchard of ½ a., 2 closes of 1½ a., 56 a. of arable, and 34 a. of meadow and pasture. (fn. 47)

ECONOMIC HISTORY.

In 1086 Coventry Priory held 12 carucates of land in Scraptoft. The priory had 2 ploughs and 4 serfs in demesne, and 6 villeins, 6 socmen, and 3 bordars had a further 5 ploughs. There were 10 a. of meadow, and the value of the holding had risen from 2s. before 1066 to 40s. (fn. 48) In 1279 the priory had 3 carucates in demesne, and 6 were held in villeinage and 3 in free tenure. The prior had view of frankpledge, free warren (granted in 1257), (fn. 49) quittance of murdrum, and quittance of suit to the hundred court. (fn. 50) In 1242 the prior apparently held his land as ¹/6 knight's fee, (fn. 51) but in 1279 it was stated that he paid no scutage. As early as 1205 the whole vill had been acknowledged to belong to Coventry Priory, (fn. 52) although further grants of land in the parish were made from time to time. (fn. 53) By the end of the 14th century the emphasis on tenure in villeinage had become more marked. No free tenants paid tax in 1381, but there were 22 tenants at will out of a total adult population of 85. There were 10 cottagers, a smith, a tailor, a labourer, and 10 servants. (fn. 54)

The parish was inclosed early in the 16th century. In 1607 it was stated that, since 1601, 400 a. had been converted from arable to pasture by 11 landowners, including Henry Wigley (106 a.), Thomas Wigley and Matthew Pochin of Barkby (70 a. each), and the vicar, Nicholas Fisher (4 a.). Since 1597, moreover, 8 farm-houses had decayed through the loss of their arable land, and 40 persons had been robbed of occupation. Various members of the Wigley family were responsible, (fn. 55) and the inclosure had clearly been begun by agreements between the lord of the manor and the other freeholders. (fn. 56) In 1607, when Henry Wigley died, his holding consisted partly of inclosed and partly of uninclosed land. (fn. 57) In 1674 the glebe consisted of land inclosed 'seventy years since', (fn. 58) and in 1669 it was stated that the lordship had been inclosed 'this 64 years'. (fn. 59) In an undated note of about 1636 Scraptoft was described as having been inclosed about 1606 by Henry, George, and Thomas Wigley, the joint proprietors. Before the inclosure there had been 14 farms with ploughs and 44 yardlands attached. William Billers of Leicester had since become possessed of 7 yardlands which formerly supported 2 ploughs, but were then pasture, converted partly by Billers. When inclosed, 4 of the 7 yardlands were held by Billers and his son, and 3 by Thomas Wigley, who afterwards first mortgaged his share and then sold it to Billers in 1636. (fn. 60) In 1637 William Billers and his son and Thomas Wigley were fined £80 jointly for depopulation. (fn. 61) Wigley appealed on the grounds that he had mortgaged his land 10 years previously to William Billers and had since sold it; his share of the fine was reduced from £30 to £20. (fn. 62)

The inclosure had no lasting effect upon the population. (fn. 63) It resulted, however, in an extensive redistribution of land, reflected in the large number of final concords levied between 1606 and 1655, especially in 1609–11, and again in the reign of Charles II. The 17th-century conversion to pasture may have been lasting; in 1801 there were only 76 a. of arable land, (fn. 64) and pasture has remained predominant. There were 7 or 8 farmers and graziers in the 19th century when the parish was still largely agricultural; only the innkeeper at 'Wigley's Arms' was otherwise employed. (fn. 65)

By the 1930's the character of Scraptoft was changing. The population rose rapidly as the builtup area of Leicester extended into the parish, and in 1932 there were only 3 farmers and graziers. There were then 2 shopkeepers, a builder, a firm of nurserymen, a garage proprietor, a dress-maker, and a carpenter. Part of the parish had been given over to a golf-course. (fn. 66) These changes became more pronounced after the Second World War.

There was a mill in Scraptoft in 1502 when it was held by Thomas Kebell, owner of the nearby manor of Humberstone. Mill Hill Close existed in 1629. (fn. 67)

PARISH ADMINISTRATION.

There was no workhouse at Scraptoft, but in 1802–3 6 adults and 9 children received out-relief. (fn. 68) In 1836 Scraptoft was placed in Billesdon Union. (fn. 69) Overseers' and constables' accounts survive for the period 1821–37, and surveyors' accounts for 1842–9. (fn. 70) The expenditure of the two overseers varied between £133 in 1821 and £297 in 1832. There was only one surveyor.

A parish council, with 5 councillors, was formed in 1928. The membership was increased to 6 in 1949, and to 19 in 1958 when there were two wards. (fn. 71)

CHURCH.

A parson was instituted to Scraptoft church by William of Blois, Bishop of Lincoln (1203–6). (fn. 72) It was stated by Charyte that Scraptoft had at one time been a chapel of Humberstone, (fn. 73) but this is not corroborated by any other evidence. The church was appropriated to Coventry Priory in 1238 and a vicarage ordained. (fn. 74) Since 1926 the incumbent has also been Vicar of Hungarton but has usually resided at Scraptoft. (fn. 75)

Coventry Priory appointed vicars until the Dissolution, (fn. 76) and thereafter the advowson descended with the manor. The Hartopp family sold the estate after the First World War, but Mrs. Burns Hartopp retained the patronage; (fn. 77) she devised it to A. T. Sharp, the patron in 1962.

The rectory was valued at 7½ marks in 1217, 10 marks in 1254, and 20 marks in 1291. (fn. 78) By 1428 the rectory and vicarage together were assessed at 26½ marks. (fn. 79) In 1535 Coventry Priory was found to be charged with payments of £4 16s. 4d. a year, including £1 15s. to the Bishop of Lincoln, for the appropriation of the churches of Scraptoft and Packington. (fn. 80) In 1650 the rectory was valued at £60. (fn. 81) Coventry Priory retained its own demesne tithes in 1220, when it received a pension of 1 mark a year from the rector. (fn. 82) After the appropriation of the church the priory at first retained the whole of the tithes, apparently both rectorial and vicarial, (fn. 83) but in 1291, when the vicar's endowment was made more generous, it was provided that the priory was to take so much of the tithes of their demesne lands as would serve to uphold the charges of the church. (fn. 84) In 1535 the tithes were leased to the priory's bailiff at Scraptoft, Henry Wigley, for £8 a year. (fn. 85) After the Dissolution the great tithes were granted with the manor and descended with it; they were commuted in 1850 for £2 10s., the tithes of all but 100 a. of the parish having already been extinguished. (fn. 86)

The vicarage was endowed on the appropriation of the church with 2 marks yearly, with the altarage, and with 9d. in lieu of corn tithes. The vicar was responsible for finding books, lights, and ornaments, and for episcopal and archidiaconal taxation. (fn. 87) At the rearrangement of the endowment in 1291 the expense of finding books and ornaments, and of repairing the chancel, was divided between the vicar and the priory in proportions of one to two. The provision was also made that if in time the vicar's stipend proved insufficient to support him, the bishop should have the right to order an increase. (fn. 88) In 1535 the vicarage was valued at £8 10s., its gross value from tithes, the vicarage house, and glebe. (fn. 89) In 1650 the vicarage was worth £30, (fn. 90) and in 1831, £167. (fn. 91) At the end of the 17th century the vicar held about 200 a. of glebe. (fn. 92) This had been reduced to 91 a. by 1850, when the vicarial tithes were commuted for £75. (fn. 93) By 1932 only 18 a. of glebe remained, (fn. 94) and by 1961 only the Vicarage kitchen garden.

The Vicarage is a two-storied red-brick building with attics, built on a half-H plan early in the 18th century on the site of an older house. Most of the window openings are original but they were altered in the 19th century when the rear wings were partially rebuilt. The west front has a moulded brick eaves cornice and plat band. Internally, the staircase, which has turned balusters, three to each tread, and a moulded handrail, dates from c. 1730. A parlour contains reset panelling of the late 17th century.

The church of ALL SAINTS consists of a chancel, a clerestoried nave, north and south aisles, a south porch, and a low west tower of three stages. The masonry includes 13th-century work of ironstone cobbles with limestone dressings and later work of sandstone, limestone ashlar, and Mountsorrel granite; this last was used mainly in the south aisle as part of the 19th-century restorations.

In the angles between the tower and the aisles are what appear to be remains of the end wall of an aisleless church of c. 1200. The arcades of both aisles are of the 13th century, the south probably slightly earlier than the north. Both arcades are of four bays with pointed arches of double-chamfered orders; the south arcade has one capital carved with nailhead ornament. The octagonal columns have defaced base mouldings. There are smaller and lower arches at each end of both arcades. A short length of wall at the east end of the south arcade may be part of the external wall of the earlier church. A continuous string course and the buttresses are 13th-century features of the north aisle wall. The lower masonry of the north chancel wall is probably early-13thcentury work; it includes a hollow-chamfered plinth moulding and the base of a buttress. The lowest stage of the tower is also of the early 13th century, together with its blocked arch into the nave. A deeply-splayed window opening in the west wall of the tower of which the internal jambs remain, is probably of the same date. A blocked window on the north side of the chancel has forking tracery of c. 1300.

Much rebuilding took place in the earlier 14th century. The north aisle, with gabled ends and a heightened side wall, was largely reconstructed. The interlacing tracery in the side windows and the flowing tracery in the end windows are 19th-century restorations, probably copies of the original work. The east wall of the chancel, also rebuilt in the 14th century, has a restored east window with similar flowing tracery. The chancel arch is of c. 1330; it is of two chamfered orders springing from moulded corbels—one of them original—which rest on carved human heads. The middle stage of the tower, built of squared ironstone rubble, and a large diagonal buttress at its south-west angle are also of the 14th century. At the same time the west window in its lowest stage appears to have been converted into a smaller light; a similar ogee-headed light was inserted into the south wall. On the south side of the chancel a tall 'low side' window, now blocked, with two ogee-headed cusped lights in a square frame, probably dates from later in the 14th century, as does a former rood-loft doorway in the north aisle. The respond at the west end of the north arcade has been carved below the capital with ogee cusping of c. 1400.

At the end of the 15th century the whole church was re-roofed, a clerestory was added to the nave, and the side walls of the chancel were raised and topped with moulded and coped parapets. Two large three-light windows were inserted in the south wall of the chancel. The south aisle was largely rebuilt in the later 15th century and the Perpendicular windows in its south and east walls are of this date; the east window has an unusually high transom in its central light. The elaborate nave roof has heavy cambered and moulded tie beams braced by small brackets to wall posts. A short king post with grotesque carved brackets supports the ridge piece. Between each tie beam and its principal rafters there is traceried panel infilling; intermediate principals intersecting the moulded purlins further enrich the roof. There are carved bosses at the intersections of principals and purlins and at the centres of the tie beams. The chancel roof, of similar design, has been much restored. The aisle roofs are of the same date but there is no traceried infilling between tie beams and principals in the north aisle. The highest stage of the tower, built of ironstone, may also date from the end of the 15th century. It is surmounted by an embattled parapet with angle pinnacles and has two-light windows with four-centred heads and sunk spandrels.

The erection of memorials to the Wigley family and others in the 18th and early 19th centuries led to the blocking of the chancel windows; after the archdeacon's visitation in 1779 it was ordered that the glass should be taken out of the blind windows and the openings filled with stone. (fn. 95) Restoration work in the later 19th century included the windows in the north aisle, the north door, the west window in the south aisle, and the south porch. All this may have taken place in 1867. (fn. 96) The use of granite walling, notably in the south aisle, is probably of the same date. The restoration of the east window in the chancel may be contemporary with the insertion of its stained glass in 1893. (fn. 97) The porch was renovated in 1903–4. (fn. 98)

The panelled pulpit, with egg and dart moulding, and the reading desk appear to be the sole remnants of a refurnishing of the church in the 18th century, when the floors were paved and new pews provided. The work was paid for by James Wigley (d. 1765). The chancel was wainscotted, and a new font was made by a Mr. Phipps of Leicester. (fn. 99) The 13th-century font had lain in the churchyard and later been used as a waste bin (fn. 100) before being restored to the church in the 19th century. It has a plain round bowl on a cylindrical stem to which are attached four shafts with moulded capitals and bases.

The glass is all of the late 19th century. One window in the north aisle, in memory of Thomas and Elizabeth Corah, is dated 1893; a tablet in the chancel records that Thomas (d. 1870) and Elizabeth (d. 1899) lived for 20 years at Scraptoft Hall. Alfred Corah presented the organ, which was built in 1911. (fn. 101) The east window in the chancel was also installed in 1893, in memory of Alexander Charles Barclay (d. 1893) who lived for 21 years at the hall.

In the south wall of the chancel is the stone effigy of a priest, very much worn, said to be that of a Prior of Coventry. On the north wall are marble monuments to Sir Edward Wigley (d. 1710) and James Wigley (d. 1765). (fn. 102) The former includes busts of Sir Edward and his wife set in front of two roundheaded niches; the latter has a bas-relief panel on the sarcophagus showing Wigley supervising the planting of trees at Scraptoft. The south wall has three marble mural tablets: to Andrew Noel of Burbage, to Ann Wigley (d. 1786), and to Samuel Topp (d. 1792), vicar. In the south aisle are tablets to Anne Firmadge (d. 1793) and the Revd. P. Price-Jones (d. 1922); there are also floor slabs of the early 18th century to the Woodcock family. In the north aisle are a hatchment and tablet to J. T. Pares (d. 1831), and floor slabs to the Revd. Kerchevall (d. 1785) and to the Carter family who lived at Scraptoft Hall in the early 19th century. On the blocked tower arch are tablets to Anne Firmadge (d. 1793) and her children and to Elizabeth Carter (d. 1813); between the tablets is a royal arms of the Hanoverian period.

South-east of the porch, in the churchyard, is a stone cross of early-14th-century date consisting of a shortened moulded shaft with a lantern-like finial formed by four co-joined capitals, above which are four short shafts. It rests on a square base which has a quatrefoil top and which is raised on three circular steps. On section of the main shaft was lying loose in 1960.

There are three bells: (i) c. 1560–70; (ii) c. 1615; (iii) 1656. (fn. 103) The plate consists of a silver cup of 1705, given by Lady Ann Noel, formerly wife of Edward Wigley, a silver paten of 1712, given by Lucy, widow of Richard Bradgate, vicar, a silver cup of 1740, and a silver flagon of 1745, given by Letitia, widow of Sir Edward Wigley. (fn. 104) The registers begin in 1539 and are complete.

NONCONFORMITY.

None known.

SCHOOLS.

There was a schoolmaster at Scraptoft in 1626 and 1634. (fn. 105) William Steers, when he died in 1779, had been schoolmaster for more than 20 years. (fn. 106) The overseers' accounts for 1821 include a payment for coal for a school. (fn. 107) In 1832 there was a day school, supported by Mr. Hartopp, attended by 16 or 17 children, and a Sunday school with about the same number. (fn. 108) In 1833 it was stated that the day and Sunday school then existing had been begun in 1826, was supported by subscription, and was attended by 7 boys and 5 girls. (fn. 109) No more is known of a school at Scraptoft in the 19th century; the children went to school at Thurnby. (fn. 110)

The marked growth of the population after the Second World War created a new need for schools. In 1958 the Scraptoft Valley Junior and Infants' School was opened to serve the northern part of a new housing estate. (fn. 111) Another junior and infants' school, the Scraptoft Willowbrook School, was built to serve the southern part of the estate. Hamilton School was opened in 1959 as a secondary modern school but was re-organized in 1960 as a 'high school'. (fn. 112) All three schools were designed by the Leicestershire County Architect, Mr. T. A. Collins; Hamilton School has a pre-fabricated steel frame. (fn. 113)

CHARITIES.

None known.