Preserved by Power Divine

The story of Methodism in Sproxton In the Grantham Circuit

A Fragment of Village History collected and compiled by George H Hickinbotham To Commemorate the Centenary of the Building of the Methodist Chapel at Sproxton

CHAPTER I.

SPROTONE

On the eastern edge of the Leicestershire Wolds and just within the county boundary there lies a pleasant village called Sproxton: a name frequently mispronounced, but recognised by the natives as 'Sproston'. Ten miles south-west of Grantham and nine northeast of Melton Mowbray, it is rather off the beaten track, not very easy of access unless one has a car. An ancient settlement, dating back to Saxon times, its original name was 'Sprotone'. Here is part of an old document found amongst the archives in the Church of St. Bartholomew which stands on the hill at one extreme of the village: - 'In the days of the Confessor it was held by one 'Algar' . . . . Then at the Norman Survey it was held under the Countess Judith by Hugo Musard . . . . Valued at 50/- it consisted of a mill and a meadow ten furlongs long and two broad. . . . King John gave the manor to Achard de Sproxton by the service of a quarter part of a Knight's fee one mark in money. This Achard was progenitor of the family who took their name from the place, and continued owners thereof for many generations; gave two parts of the Tithes of his demesnes here to the Priory of St. 'Andrews in Northampton and a toft of land