Hallaton

Hallaton is a village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 523, which had increased to 594 at the 2011 census.[1]

Hallaton
Hallaton
Location within Leicestershire
Population594 (2011 Census)
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townMARKET HARBOROUGH
Postcode districtLE16
PoliceLeicestershire
FireLeicestershire
AmbulanceEast Midlands
UK Parliament

History and description

Hallaton Hall and its lands were owned by Calverley and Amelia Jane Bewicke in 1845. Their daughter was the writer and campaigner Alicia Little.[2] As the site of two markets Hallaton was despite its size regarded as a town, even if one of little significance.[3]

Hallaton parish church
The butter cross

The parish church is dedicated to St Michael and is mainly of the 13th century: the aisles were added a century later.[4] The church is sited on rising ground and has a dignified tower with a fine broach spire (one of the best in the county); the nave and chancel and aisles have nobility and beauty. The sculptured stonework of the north aisle contrasts with the plain battlemented south aisle. A former rector is commemorated by a handsome monument attached to one of the corners.[3]

The village has a famous bottle kicking ritual and "Hare Pie Scramble", which take place usually on Easter Monday. There is a small village museum, offering history of the area. The Hallaton Treasure, a late Iron Age hoard of more than 5,000 silver and gold coins was found at a site near Hallaton in 2000.[5]

In 1736 smallpox affected the town when George Fenwick was the rector.[6]

As of 2019, Hallaton has two pubs, The Bewicke Arms on Eastgate, and The Fox, on North End.

There was once a Hallaton railway station on the line between Market Harborough and Nottingham.

See also

References
  1. "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  2. Sybil Oldfield, 'Little , Alicia Ellen Neve (1845–1926)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2007 accessed 9 Nov 2016
  3. Firth, J. B. (2026) Highways and Byways in Leicestershire. London: Macmillan; p. 227
  4. Betjeman, J. (ed.) (1968) Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches: the North. London: Collins; p. 168
  5. "Coin Hoard Article".
  6. Fenwick, George (1736) "Our souls more worth than all the world-with the use of that consideration.": A sermon preached in the parish church of Hallaton, October 31, 1736. On occasion of the small-pox breaking out there. London: printed for Caleb Ratten, bookseller in Harborough; sold by Tho. Longman

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