Adventures in Middle England ……… from Leicestershire into the Cotswolds …no. 1 the village

When you were born in a city and at the age of 19 exchanged one for another wandering our rural villages can be fascinating.

St Michael's parish church from Eastgate, 2024

It was last week when on a hot sunny day we left the hamlet of Kibworth Harcourt and drove the small twisty lanes with no clear purpose, other than to see what was there.

And that is how just eight miles out from Kibworth Harcourt we arrived in Hallaton which has all you might expect of a village in the heart of the English countryside.

The War Memorial, 2024

These included the war memorial, the church, a school and even a museum which to be fair was only open at weekends.

My Wikipedia tells me that, “The parish church is dedicated to St Michael and is mainly of the 13th century: the aisles were added a century later. 

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.

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. 

Flowers, green stuff and a thatched cottage, 2024

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”.*

Alas the pub opposite the war memorial was closed but then it was only 10.30 in the morning.

And at that time little was stirring, apart from a Waitrose grocery van, two teenage girls, and the stone mason working at repairing a wall of the church.

But then there are only 594 people and given it was the summer holidays I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised.  

Through an entrance, 2024

A century and half ago I suspect many of the adults would have been engaged in the fields along with some of the children and others would have been about chores in their homes, making an equally quiet place.

Alternative horizons, 2024

And quiet it was all of which added to the magic of the place, but then I wasn’t a local in my teens wondering how to pass the long days a full sixteen miles away from Leicester.

But I wont end on a down note, because My Wkipedia also tells me that "Hallaton Hall and its lands were owned by Calverley and Amelia Jane Bewicke in 1845. 

Their daughter was the writer and campaigner Alicia Little. 

As the site of two markets Hallaton was despite its size regarded as a town, even if one of little significance".

The church yard, 2024

And so I should perhaps correct my description of the place as a village and  reinstate it as a town, along with saying "Alicia Little or Mrs Archibald Little (1845 – 31 July 1926) was a British writer and a campaigner for women's rights and later against foot binding in China".**

Not bad for a place of just 594 people.

Location; Hallaton

Pictures; Hallaton, 2024, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Hallaton, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallaton

**Alicia Little, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicia_Little