PEATLING MAGNA: Harborough Parish #33 of 91

PEATLING MAGNA – Place of Peatla’s People, Large Next up in Harborough we have the first of a pair of twins. These are the Peatlings, namely, Peatling Parva which we’ll see tomorrow, and this one, Peatling Magna. With just over two hundred residents in this one today, we are in a place that feels very rural. Peatling Magna sits in the Soar Valley. It’s name goes back to Old English. “Peatling” is thought to mean “the place of the people of Peatla or Paetta”. It used to be referred to as “Great Petlyng” in older records. In the Domesday Book, Peatling appears as a sizeable settlement in Guthlaxton hundred, with around forty‑three households and land divided between several lords, including Hugh of Grandmesnil, Godwin the priest and Countess Judith. If we look further back, the landscape around Peatling Magna carries the imprint of medieval farming. Ridge and furrow earthworks still lie in fields near the village, and scheduled remains of the medieval settlement survive north of Whitehouse Farm and around the church Over the centuries, Peatling Magna formed part of a patchwork of manors held by different families. By the nineteenth century the manor was in the hands of the Smith family, with the parish linked ecclesiastically to Willoughby Waterleys. The building that best defines Peatling Magna today is All Saints’ Church. Mainly fourteenth and fifteenth century in date, it has a stone tower and a spire, and inside there’s some fine carved woodwork from several periods. ---- Peatling Magna also ha the Cock Inn along Main Street as well as a collection of old farmhouses on both that and the picturesque School Lane. Around it all, you’re very quickly into open fields, hedgerows and small spinneys. Now, Peatling Magna briefly stepped onto the national stage in 1265. After the Battle of Evesham, villagers here stopped a royalist cart and accused its men of acting against the wider realm, an incident later discussed by historians such as F. M. Powicke and David Carpenter. Their stand has made this small place unusually well documented. That 1265 confrontation has taken on the feel of a local legend - ordinary villagers daring to challenge armed men, sort of a proper David and Goliath sort of story! Alongside that story, Peatling Magna has a human depth across the ages. You’re going to see today, a place shaped by medieval farmers, defiant thirteenth‑century villagers and later Victorian landowners. It’s not as quiet a place as you may think, this. **** #PeatlingMagna, #Leicestershire, #Harborough, #Lutterworth, #Churches, #Pubs, #1265, #Confrontation, #Legends, **** Some of the following music tracks may appear in this video: Brendan Perkins - “Foxsnow” (B. Perkins)    • Foxsnow   Brendan Perkins - “Mickey's House” (B. Perkins)    • Mickey's House   The Keyhouse - "Voices" (H. Flunder)    • Voices   The Keyhouse - "Circles" (H. Flunder)    • The Keyhouse - Circles (official audio)   Helen Flunder - "Sun" (H. Flunder)    • Helen Flunder - 'Sun' (Official Audio)   Helen Flunder - “Angels” (H. Flunder)    • Helen Flunder - Angels (Official Audio)   Helen Flunder - “C Song” (H. Flunder)    • Caistor and the Lincolnshire Wolds   Ending Song made by Suno AI I have me a Facebook page too!   / the-village-idiot-226069228730989   And now an INSTAGRAM - @andythevillageidiot Come and join The Village People! (Subscribers only!)   / 1037756120085304   Please consider buying me a coffee to support the channel! The more I get the faster I'll get to your parish! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thevilla... Join this channel to get access to perks:    / @thevillageidiot