LOUGHBOROUGH
WOOD THORPE DERIVATION:
"WUDU THORPE" ("The Outlying farm with / by the wood")
- A Scandinavian name.
DESCRIPTION:
This tiny hamlet lies just off the A6 to the south of Loughborough, just beyond
the cemetery and in the shadow of Beacon Hill. It is reached by a single road
leading off the A6 and across a bridge over the Great Central Railway
The narrow lane, with its tall hedges, leads over the railway bridge to the large open fields. Here animals and crops have been tended for centuries and many wild flowers still grow at the edges ...Leaving the fields behind and entering the hamlet there are houses of many shapes and sizes, most of which have been renovated and altered over the years.
One old house is a listed building with a name connected to an old farming family. Some old beamed cottages line the street whilst another larger house was the home of Sarah Burnaby, the mother of Robert who emigrated to Canada and gained much fame in British Columbia. Some new housing has been allowed since the late 1960’s.
Woodthorpe is a very peaceful place and you can often imagine that you are in the depths of the countryside instead of being near to Loughborough and the busy A6.
Several footpaths lead to the hamlet and people do enjoy walking through on the way to Woodhouse and Quorn. However, many people in Loughborough say they have never been to Woodthorpe. Perhaps this is because it has no church, no shop, no pub, and no public transport.
The future is likely to bring great change to Woodthorpe when plans are
carried out. It may well be left hemmed in by the new road extension to the
east and by housing to the west.
HISTORY:
The word "THORPE", meaning "outlying farmstead", had been
in use in Britain long before the Norman Invasion and is a sign of settlement
by the Danes. It is an old settlement whose old boundary stretched from Beaumanor
along the edge of the Shelthorpe estate and down to a small section of the
River Soar, returning to the hamlet by way of the present marked patch near
the “Bull in the Hollow”.
The original settlement of WOODTHORPE therefore probably dates back to the late 9th century as the whole CHARNWOOD area had been under Danish control from the late 800s until Leicester was recaptured by the British in 918.
WOODTHORPE has probably changed little in size for centuries. It was first mentioned in a document of 1236 and was one of several hamlets around LOUGHBOROUGH with "THORPE” in their name. To confuse matters further, it was common in documents to refer to any one of the four - KNIGHT THORPE, SHELTHORPE, THORPE ACRE and WOODTHORPE - simply as "THORPE". This, not surprisingly, can lead to more than a little confusion!
However, the history of WOODTHORPE is closely intertwined with that of nearby SHELTHORPE.
The first written reference to SHELTHORPE is in 1271, when the Patent Rolls call it "SERLETHORP", meaning "THE OUTLYING FARM BELONGING TO SERLO". Serlo had already been mentioned in 1243, connecting him with a wood owned by him. This, in all probability this was WOODTHORPE, just to the south of SHELTHORPE.
The ownership of the land is confirmed by the Assize Rolls of 1284, when SERLOTHORPE is listed as belonging to "RICHARD, SON OF SERLO DE SERLOTHORPE". It is known that the family was of some standing in the area, owning lands in THORPE ACRE as well as SHELTHORPE and WOODTHORPE. So WOODTHORPE could be described as a Thorpe of a Thorpe - SHELTHORPE-THORPE, in fact!
Aerial photographs have indicated a drained fishpond by the stream just north of WOODTHORPE, but the site has now been levelled. A map amongst the Beaumanor papers shows how little has changed over the centuries. Then, as now, Woodthorpe had its important farms. Nichols, the Leicester historian, wrote that in 1564, 14 families lived in the hamlet and in 1662 there were eight houses on the south side and four houses and four cottages on the north side.
THE CHAPEL OF ST KATHERINE:
According to tradition, SHELTHORPE had a Chapel dedicated to St Katherine
but, while burials were found here, there is no archaeological evidence of
a church building of any kind.
This tradition stems from a 1535 will, in which money is left for repairs to "sanct Kathyryn Chapel in Thorpe". But, again, as it does not say which of the four THORPES this is, the evidence is hardly conclusive. As the will was made by a man from WOODTHORPE, it may well be that the CHAPEL OF ST KATHERINE was built here and not SHELTHORPE but there is no proof either way.
FROM "THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF CHARNWOOD FOREST" (TR Potter)
- Hamilton, Adams and Co, 1842
"WOODTHORPE is a delightful old hamlet, abounding in many of the true
characters of English rural life. Three or four respectable farm houses -
one apparently of great antiquity - and a few neat cottages make up the whole
of this quiet place...... In 1463, it was found that William, Viscount Beaumont,
attainted of high treason, was seized of 200 acres of wood at WOODCOTE...
The contiguity of WOODTHORPE to BEAUMANOR is one reason why I conclude...
that WOODCOTE was only an earlier name for it, though NICHOLS thinks it may
have been either WOODHOUSE or WOODTHORPE.... Subsequent examinations both
of WOODTHORPE and the records connected with it, have convinced me that it
was the latter place..."