Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society 73

An assessment of Neolithic and Bronze Age information from the Sites and Monuments Record, and three area surveys, for the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland suggests that far from being an area of little occupation during these periods it is in fact comparable with much of lowland Britain. Some clearance and occupation was taking place from the early fourth millennium BC onwards with expansion by the end of the third millennium BC. Proximity to water appears to have been a key factor in the location of 'core areas' and a movement of preferred settlement location from the headwaters downstream may be suggested.

The four contiguous Soar Valley parishes of Barrow upon Soar, Quorndon, Sileby and Mountsorrel North End were enclosed between 1760 and 1781 – the first three between 1760 and 1763. This article constitutes a case study of the locality in terms of surviving sources relating to the enclosure process, effects on landownership and changes in landholding and land use. While the focus will be on the framework of each parish, similar experiences and analyses will be referred to in terms of the locality. Villages will be examined individually, with the general observations seen as a bonus rather than the basis of the investigation. Particular attention will be paid to the provisions of the actual enclosure awards themselves and extant land tax records between 1781 and 1800. In relation to the latter, an amended version of previous turnover studies has been implemented to enable greater clarification of post-enclosure changes.

This is a study of an important aspect of the episcopate of W. C. Magee, Bishop of Peterborough from 1868 to 1891. At this time the Archdeaconry of Leicester lay within the jurisdiction of Peterborough: the town of Leicester was the largest and fastest-growing urban area in the diocese; and the problems of the Church in Leicester necessarily occupied much of Magee's attention. Within the town he was especially concerned with the growing-pains of St. Peter's parish which had recently been established in the populous, working-class district of Highfields. This paper traces the relationship between the Bishop and the Revd. F . W. Robinson, whom he had chosen to inaugurate the parish; and in the course of it light is thrown on the manifold problems of a working-class parish in the Late Victorian period and on the views of a bishop whose standing in the church was so high that in 1891 he was advanced to the Archbishopric of York.