Life in Thurcaston, past and present

The village now has Conservation status and its perimeter is clearly defined. In this way, it has remained a compact area. In the past, it was always self sufficient. The census records, for instance, from 1851 show that all the trades required in a rural village were being met: butchers, a blacksmith, a miller, a carpenter, laundrywomen, dressmakers, bakers, brewers, shoemakers and innkeepers are all identified, in addition to the farmers (and farmer’s boys), shepherds, herdsmen and servants. Those who did not work on the land included framework knitters who eked out a pitiful existence. A number of the girls and women are listed as laceworkers.

Worthy of special mention is the village school. Richard Hill, then the Rector of Thurcaston, founded and endowed his charity school in 1715. The site (as described by Nichols) was ‘a small cottage on Glebe land close by the Causeway, at the lower end of it on the left hand side as we walk from the Parsonage House to the Church’. This school building remained until 1875 when the Victorian school building now known as “The Old School” was built. This later became a Public Elementary School. Eventually, in the 1970’s, the much expanded “Richard Hill School” moved to purpose-build premises at the other end of Anstey Lane

The original dedication slate is incorporated into the wall of the “Old School House” and gives clear evidence of Richard Hill’s intentions for his foundation. It reads: “… for the training up of poor children in good morality and a reverent orthodox piety, in constant keeping the church, and in all sorts of the best learning, this Bible School was founded and endowed by Richard Hill B.D. 1715. Glory be to God.”. There were to be 9 places for children from Thurcaston, 9 from Anstey and 4 from Cropston, since all 3 communities were within his parish. He stipulated that only responsible schoolmasters should be employed and provided a substantial Schoolmaster’s House. In his (very verbose!) Will, he specified how the income from his various land-holdings was to be used for the school’s upkeep.

Farming and sheep figure largely in the early records relating to the village. The enclosure act at the end of the 18th century substantially reorganised the field pattern, but sheep, cattle and a small acreage of arable crops still formed the bulk of the production.

Geography has not favoured Thurcaston from the point of view of economic development. Neither of the major local roadways, the A6 and the A46, pass close enough to bring passing traffic to the doors. And furthermore, when the railway came, the station was at Rothley and trade (such as the coal-merchants Ellis) was focused there. Meanwhile, Anstey was developing small factories connected to the shoe trade and those seeking work other than on the land headed in that direction.

The village has settled into a quiet existence. Once there was a Co-op, a Post Office, a corner shop, two Pubs and a garage. Like so many other villages, these have slowly dwindled, and we now have only one (electrical) shop and one Pub. However, there are many lively and active social groups, including the Women’s Institute, the Garden Club, the Latimer Players and the Thurcaston & Cropston Local History Society, as well as activities associated with the Parish Church. The Memorial Hall (built in memory of the Fallen in the First World War) is the venue for many of these and it is here that up-to-the-minute films are screened regularly during the winter months.

(© Brenda Hooper & Margaret Greiff, 2007)