Stockerston

The Parish contains various woods including the large Bolt Wood and Park Wood, and the smaller Fishpond Spinney, Great Spinney, Little Merrible Wood, and Holyoaks Wood.{{Cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/leics/vol5/pp303-308|title=A History of the County of Leicestershire: Volume 5, Gartree Hundred|last1=Lee|first1=J. M.|last2=McKinley|first2=R. A|website=British History Online|publisher=Victoria County History|access-date=1 May 2018}} Bolt Wood and Park Wood are fragments of the medieval Leighfield Forest and included in the sites of special scientific interest known as the Eye Brook Valley Woods.

Analysis of the name of the village name suggests it derives from the term 'made of wood'.{{Cite web|url=http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11124/1/256834.pdf|title=The Place Names of Leicestershire and Rutland|last=Cox|first=B|date=1971|website=University of Nottingham}} Archaeologists state that the scatterings of Roman and Anglo-Saxon pottery discovered at Stockerston indicate occupation during that era.{{Cite web|url=https://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/1997/1997%20(71)%2086-130%20Cooper.pdf|title=Archaeology in Leicestershire and Rutland|last=Copper|first=N. J.|date=1996|website=University of Leicester|access-date=1 May 2018}} The village was in the Gartree Hundred and had two mentions in the Domesday Book.{{Cite web|url=http://opendomesday.org/place/SP8397/stockerston/|title=Stockerston|last=Powell-Smith|first=A|website=Open Domesday}} Stockerston is recorded as having two medieval hospitals. The first was established in 1307 and dedicated to St Leonard. The second was founded by John Boyville in 1465 and dedicated to St Mary and All Saints.{{Cite book|title=The Medieval Hospitals of England|last=Clay|first=R. M.|publisher=Methuen & Co|year=1909|location=London}} In 1666, due to the Great Fire of London, Anthony Tuckney (1599-1670), a notable English Puritan theologian, and University of Cambridge scholar, temporarily resided in the village.{{Cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/site/facelrovir/the-general-biographical-dictionary-vol-30-contain-86973480|title=The General Biographical Dictionary: Volume 30|last=Chalmers|first=A|date=1816}} In 1840, there was a significant tithe commutation.{{Cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2291158|title=Tithe apportionment of Stockerstone [Stockerston] (parish), Leicestershire.|website=National Archives}}

From 1580 to 1807, the manor was held by the Burton family, whose memorials can be found in the parish church.{{Cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/leics/vol5/pp303-308|title=A History of the County of Leicestershire: Volume 5, Gartree Hundred|last1=Lee|first1=J. M.|last2=McKinley|first2=R. A|website=British History Online|publisher=Victoria County History|access-date=1 May 2018}}

There are ten listed buildings in the village:{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/|title=National Heritage List for England|date=2018|website=Historic England}}

• Stockerston Hall
• A pair of gate pillars at Harborough Hill Road
• Stone Cottage
• 28, Stockerston Road
• The Spital
• The Loophole, 46 Stockerston Road
• Manor Farmhouse
• The Lodge
• The Church of Saint Peter
• Manor Cottages, comprising The Cottage, Manor Cottage, Pedlar's Rest and Apple Cottage

The two principal buildings in the village are the parish church (St Peter's) and Stockerston Hall.

This Grade I Listed Building{{NHLE|num=1360696 |desc=Church of St Peter|accessdate=16 April 2015}} is situated on the north side of Church Lane, close to Stockerston Hall. The present structure was largely built in the 13th to 15th centuries. The windows contain some medieval stained glass and the memorials inside the church include a brass that commemorates John Boyville (died c.1467) and his wife. The inscription is recorded as orate pro animabus Johannis Boivile Armig. & Eliz. uxoris ejus, qui hoc campanile cum campanis fieri fecerunt, 1467 (i.e. "pray for the souls of John Boivile, a bearer of arms, and Elizabeth his wife who had this bell tower and bells made").{{Cite book|last=Burton|first=William|year=1777|title=Proposals for Printing by Subscription, a New Edition of The Description of Leicestershire: Containing Matters of Antiquity, History, Armory and Genealogy|page=255}} - this is a revised edition of the book by the noted antiquary William Burton, which was first published in 1622.

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• [https://www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/sets/72157629700098483/detail/?page=36 Stockerston church - brasses and monuments]

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Category:Villages in Leicestershire

Category:Civil parishes in Harborough District

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