Sproxton, Leicestershire

For other uses, see Sproxton (disambiguation).

Sproxton
Sproxton Village Hall
Sproxton is located in Leicestershire
Sproxton
Sproxton
Location within Leicestershire
Population658 (2011)
OS grid referenceSK855245
Civil parish
  • Sproxton
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townMELTON MOWBRAY
Postcode districtLE14
Dialling code01476
PoliceLeicestershire
FireLeicestershire
AmbulanceEast Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Leicestershire
52°48′41″N 0°43′50″W / 52.81137°N 0.730609°W / 52.81137; -0.730609

Sproxton (/ˈsproʊsən/) is a village and civil parish within the Borough of Melton in Leicestershire, England, close to the border with Lincolnshire. It has approximately 80 occupied dwellings (2021) and a population of 480,[1] rising to 658 (including Coston, Saltby and Stonesby) at the 2011 census.[2]

The village and civil parish are not coterminous; the parish includes the villages of Sproxton, Saltby, Stonesby, Bescaby, and the former RAF Saltby. The River Eye runs through the parish. Nearby places are Waltham on the Wolds, Croxton Kerrial, Coston, Buckminster, and Skillington (in Lincolnshire).

The Viking Way runs close by. Nearby is Sproxton Quarry Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The 14th-century parish church of St Bartholomew, extended and restored in 1882 by architect Henry Woodyer, is a Grade II* listed building.[3] There is evidence of Norman building in the west wall of the south aisle and the tower is 13th-century. The top part of the tower was rebuilt in the restoration of 1882. There is a Saxon cross in the churchyard - the only complete one in Leicestershire.[4]

A post mill stood at Sproxton. The mill was rebuilt in 1889 after it blew down and killed the miller. Wakes & Lamb of Newark rebuilt the mill using materials from the old mill and from one at Castle Bytham. It was wrecked by the gales of March 1916, but repaired. By 1920 it was out of use and was demolished in 1949 when owned by Mr T.A.Mount.[5]

  1. ^ Office for National Statistics : Census 2001 : Parish Headcounts : Melton Retrieved 20 January 2010
  2. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  3. ^ Historic England. "CHURCH OF ST BARTHOLOMEW (1294595)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  4. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Williamson, Elizabeth (1992). Leicestershire and Rutland. The Buildings of England. London: Penguin. pp. 383–4. ISBN 0-14-071018-3.
  5. ^ Bennett, J (1971). "Windmills in Liecestershire: An Introduction". The Leicestershire Historian. 2 (1). doi:10.5284/1114548.