England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Belgrave St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Belgrave lies in central Leicestershire about 2 miles north of the city of Leicester. Whilst Belgrave was once a distinct and separate village sitting on the eastern banks of the River Soar it has been engulfed within the metropolitan area of Leicester being nowadays merely a district of the growing city. Belgrave sits just west of the A46 road, the route of the Roman's Ermine Street, which cuts diagonally across England and connects Leicester, ultimately, through to Lincoln. At the time of this transcript Belgrave would have been in transit from a rural farming community into an industrialised suburb, the local hosier industry, speciality being socks, employed many folk within Belgrave whilst a mixed farming regime exploited both the river's flood plain for grazing and drier land for arable crops. The Soar drains the parish northeastwards, reaching the Trent it then has a long journey to eventually reach the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Belgrave is sited at around 50 metres above the sea, in its valley setting land is gently rising eastwards to reach close to 100 metres by the eastern suburbs of Leicester. Belgrave parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering close to 1,400 acres it would have supported a population growing from around 900 to well over 2,500 by the end of this transcript period. In Domesday times Belgrave was a modest village, held by one Hugh de Grandmesnil it could muster just 7 ploughs, the usual meadows & woodland but did possess a mill.

The Church

St Peter's church sits close to the banks of the Soar at the end of the dead-end lane of Church Road, which turns off Thurcaston Road at the Talbot Inn. Sadly St Peter is no longer used for worship and in 2019 was put up for sale as a private dwelling. The church has clearly been here since Norman times, the southern doorway & the basal stages of the tower demonstrate the Norman Romanesque style of the 12th century whilst the tower arch comes from the Transitional period leading into Early English Gothic. Most of the church's fabric is, however, of the late 13th century and Decorated in style, the arcades and aisles showing this effectively. Changes followed in the 14th century when the topmost stages were either replaced or completed and the tower originally was topped by a wooden spire (removed in 1824), a clerestory was also added at that time to improve internal lighting. A series of Victorian restorations, Pevsner notes 4 in total have failed to stave off decay and the church was closed for worship, needing extensive repair, in 2009. Church Road has street and ends after the short distance to the site which has brick wall and rails around. It is unknown for how long access to the churchyard will remain, the site has many trees which would make photography from outwith the churchyard difficult to achieve.