History around Swithland

Todays trip out was a mini tour of Swithland in Leicestershire.

Our first stop was at St Leonard's church on Main Street to see the grave of Sir Joseph Danvers , 1st baronet (1686 - 1753). He apparently wanted to be buried with his dog but wasn't allowed to because the dog was not allowed to be buried on consecrated ground ! In order to get around this problem his impressive tomb cuts into the boundary wall !

Attached are also two close ups of the tomb

The church yard also features lots of stones using the famous Swithland slate as is only right and proper . I would have liked to have gone inside the church to look at a brass memorial to Agnes Scott a 15th century hermit in Charnwood Forest but there was some kind of barrier over the doorway which looked like work was being done so on this visit I did not go inside . Agnes is possibly the historical root behind the Black Annis folktale which is local to Leicestershire.

Next we took a walk along the road to see if we could see the Mountsorrel cross (c. 1500) which a member of the Danvers family took from Mountsorrel in 1793 and repositioned on their lands in Swithland . Mountsorrel have now had a replica installed in their own village and also the Buttermarket which Danvers built for them at the time of the removal of the original cross . I was aware that the cross was on private land but photos other people had obtained looked like you could get fairly close . I did not succeed in getting very near but it is possible that a walk via a public footpath may get me closer .

Before we sighted the cross we did find this intriguing item in a copse and visible from the roadway . I do not know the history of this .

The cross itself could only be seen in the distance through trees from the roadside which was a shame . My picture isn't very

clear unfortunately but you should be able to make out the shaft of the cross against the trees in the background .

A better picture can be found on the internet and I attach one here . No copyright infringement is intended .

Another easy spot on this short stretch of road is one of the remaining towers marking the boundary of the original Swithland Hall site . The other remaining tower is also

visible further into the village .