Market Harborough, Leicestershire

Description
Market Harborough, a town and parish, and head of a poor-law union in Leicestershire, 83 miles from London, 17 from Northampton, and 15 from Leicester, with stations on the M.R. and the L. & N.W.R., and a head post office. Area of Market Harborough, 60 acres; population, 2131; of the Market Harborough and Great and Little Bowdeu local board district, 4987 acres; population in 1891, 5876. The town has a good water supply (certified 170,000 gallons per day), a new system of sewerage, broad streets and good roads, and it is planted with lime trees along the footpaths. The manor, once a royal manor, is in possession of Lord Baniard, whose father-the late Sir Henry Morgan Vane, Kt.-obtained it by purchase from the trustees of the late Earl of Harborough. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough; value, £266 with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Peterborough. The church (c. 1225) dedicated to St Dionysius, has a graceful broached spire, built of that grey stone not uncommon in the Midlands, which is. as durable as it is beautiful. It was restored in 1887. There are churches, with their own special interest, at Great Bow-den and Little Bowden. The old cemetery church of St Mary in Arden (c. 1066) is the mother church of Market Harborough, but, being half a mile distant, is not now used for any service. There are Roman Catholic, Baptist, Congregational, and Methodist chapels. The town also has a Y.M.F.S. Institute, a corn exchange, and an Oddfellows' hall. The new grammar school, with house and grounds, continues-under new conditions the grammar school founded in 1612 by Robert Smyth, citizen of London. New national schoolswere erected in 1894 at a cost of nearly £3000. The housesof the town are superior to many old towns. In the Close Bolls (1216-72) an entry, 4to Henr. III., A.D. 1219, refersto the market of Haverberegh as held, and accustomed to be held, on Monday. In 1221 the king allowed Harborough market to be changed from Monday to Tuesday (see Market Harborough records, by Stocks and Bragg). The market is still held on Tuesday. The trade of the town has undergone a. change within the last fifty years. The carpet factory of that date is now a corset factory, and has been much extended; a flonr mill has been turned to the production of elastic webbing; a sealskin tannery and a hosiery factory are new developments. A large malt-house, a patent brick and "tile kiln, and a brewery do extensive business. Naseby is 7 miles distant. Cromwell dated from Harborough his letter addressed to Lenthall, Speaker of the House of Commons (1645), with an account of the engagement. It was about this time that Harborough became known as Market Harborough.