That house “half as old as time” ….. and heaps of stories ...Kibworth Harcourt

This is the Old House in Kibworth Harcourt. 

The Old House, 2024

It dates from 1678 and along with its garden walls is a Grade 1 Listed Building.

I can think of only a few houses which have so caught my interest that I have to confess to being a tad envious of its residents.

"Half as old as time" and with great style, 2024

It stands on the corner of Albert Street and Main Street and consist of sixteen rooms with a large garden to the rear and side.

I went looking for its story and tracked some of its owners and occupants back to 1841 and on through the centuries to 1962.

They were a mix of the well to do, with a sprinkling of high-ranking soldiers including Brigadier – General James Lockhead Jack, DSO who lived there from 1924 till 1962. He is remembered by a green plaque on the side of the property along with Anna Letitia Barbauld “essayist poet and innovative children’s author”. 

She was born in the house in June 1743 and rightly has her own blue plaque located on the garden wall close to the front entrance.

And having trawled the historic records I also came across a fine description of  the Old House on a Kibworth site which describes both the house and some of its history through the centuries  from 1678 down to 2011.*

"The essayist, poet and innovative children's author"

It would be tempting just to “lift” the information but that would not be right, and instead if you want to read about the Parker family who purchased the land in 1609, and built two houses on the site, along with heaps of other residents I suggest you follow the link.

Afterall I could never better the research of Mr. Adams and it would be churlish to try.

So, instead I will fall back on a brief reflection of Kibworth Harcourt, which I first came across last year while looking for old picture postcards of Leicester.

There were only two, dated from the 1920s, but offered up one of those challenges to locate them in the village and tell some stories.

And as you do I found out lots.

Kibworth Harcourt was and still is a small village just 10 miles south of Leicester, with a population of 990, which has only doubled in a century.

"Elegance in the sunlight", 2024

Back in 1916 there were just 446 people with the usual list of tradesmen, and those linked to the land, but also a number who were engaged in the hosiery trade.  

To these can be added the 15 “posh people” who got their own listing in Kelly’s directory for 1916 including Col. Worthy Chaplain C.B., V.C., at Kibworth hall, and Major George Travers in the Old house.

It boasted three pubs and a beer seller and those hosiery frame knitters one of whom also ran the Admiral Nelson.

And without realizing it when we booked a small cottage on Main Street we would be in the heart of part of the village.

Added to which from the cottage we had fine views up the road to the Old House and the rest as they say is the story.

That wall, 2024

All of which leaves me to admit that each night we parked up beside that long garden wall and while we never got to see inside either the house or the garden our location let rip my historical imagination.

The long garden wall was an addition built in 1862 along with an extension at the rear of the house.

And while that wall maybe the baby of the property, its old enough for me marvel at its 2 meter height and its construction.

Location Kibworth Harcourt

Pictures; the Old House and its plaques, 2024, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*THE OLD HOUSE KIBWORTH HARCOURT - part 1, David Adams, 2019, Kibworth Village, https://www.kibworthvillage.co.uk/museum/item/51-oldhouse.html