Kibworth is an area of the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, that contains two civil parishesâ€"the villages of Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt . According to the 2011 census, Kibworth Beauchamp had a population of 5,433 and Kibworth Harcourt of 990. The two villages are split by the A6. Kibworth is close to Foxton Locks, Market Harborough, and Leicester.
Facilities
Kibworth has a number of shops, a community newspaper (The Kibworth & District Chronicle), and since 2002 new shops, including a branch of Co-op UK. New housing continues to be built on the edge of the village, causing periodic controversy.
The village snooker team, Kibworth Snooker based at the village Working Men's Club, won the Market Harborough snooker league in 2011 and 2012, also enjoying cup successes in both these years. However recent seasons have not been as fruitful. The local cricket club won the ECB National Club Cricket Championship in 2004. In the village there are also clubs for golf, bowls and football, and dance schools. The Bookshop, opened in the High Street in 2009, won a regional award of Independent Bookseller of The Year in 2012.
The X7 Stagecoach and X3 Arriva bus services to Leicester and Market Harborough run regularly through the village. The X3 bus also serves Kibworth Meadows estate. The Midland Main Line runs through the area, but Kibworth railway station, which served both villages, closed in 1968.
History
In 1270 Walter de Merton, the founder of Merton College, Oxford, bought a large part of the parish of Kibworth Harcourt from Saer de Harcourt, who had been forced to sell the estate following his support for the unsuccessful "barons' rebellion" led by Simon de Montfort. A large part of the parish has remained property of Merton College, Oxford to the present day. There is a stained glass window depicting Walter de Merton in the bell tower of the parish church, St Wilfrid's, and the warden and scholars of the college are joint patrons with the Bishop of Leicester.
Kibworth Harcourt was the birthplace of the writer/reformer Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743â€"1825) and her brother John Aikin. Their father, John Aikin (1713â€"1780), kept a dissenting academy there and served as minister of a nearby Presbyterian chapel. The family moved in 1757 to Warrington.
On 23 July 1825 the ancient tower and spire of St Wilfrids collapsed.
Michael Wood's Story of England
In September 2010, Kibworth was the central feature of Michael Wood's Story of England, a documentary aired on both BBC Four, BBC Two and repeated on UKTV's Yesterday, presented by Michael Wood about the history of England framed through Kibworth.
A book of the same name was published by Viking (Penguin Books). The series was likened to Who Do You Think You Are? for a whole community. Villagers (Kibworth Improvement Team - KiT) have created a new website and successfully requested a grant of £48,200 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to continue the legacy of the TV series by creating a Kibworth Guide Booklet (heritage trails for Kibworth Harcourt, Kibworth Beauchamp and Smeeton Westerby), several interpretation panels around the three villages, ongoing study materials for the three tiers of local schools and an online Archive (Virtual Museum) to be produced during 2011 and 2012.
Notable residents
In birth order:
- John Aikin (1713â€"1780), Unitarian preacher, schoolteacher and father of Anna Laetitia Barbauld, lived and taught in Kibworth in 1730â€"58.
- Anna Laetitia Barbauld (née Aikin, 1743â€"1823), poet, essayist, children's author and daughter of John Aikin, was born in Kibworth Harcourt.
- John Aikin (1747â€"1822), physician, biographer and brother of Anna Laetitia Barbauld, was born in Kibworth Harcourt.
- James Beresford (1764â€"1840), Anglican cleric and humorist writer, was rector of Kibworth from 1812 until his death in 1840.
- Colonel John Worthy Chaplin (1840â€"1920), awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1860 in the Second China War, was buried in Kibworth New Cemetery.
- Edmund Knox (1847â€"1937), Anglican bishop, Evangelical writer and father of Ronald Knox, was rector of Kibworth 1884â€"91.
- Samuel Perkins Pick (1858â€"1919), architect, was educated at Kibworth Grammar School.
- T. E. R. Phillips (1868â€"1942), Anglican cleric and astronomer specializing in planets, was born in Kibworth.
- Wilfred Knox (1886â€"1950), Anglican theologian and brother of Ronald Knox, was born in Kibworth.
- Ronald Knox (1888â€"1957), Roman Catholic monsignor and religious writer, was born in Kibworth.
- Sir Nicholas Harold Lloyd Ridley (1906â€"2001), inventor of the Intraocular lens, was born in Kibworth.
- Stu Williamson (photographer) (born 1956), photographer and inventor of the Triflector, is currently based in Kibworth.
References
External links
Media related to Kibworth at Wikimedia Commons
- Kibworth Parish Walks
- A History of Kibworth
- Harcourt and Beauchamp: the tale of two villages
- Kibworth Cricket Club
- St. Wilfrid's (Anglican) Church
- Kibworth Beauchamp Grammar School
- Kibworth at genuki.org
- PBS Michael Wood's Story of England
