Thurcaston Probate Material, pre 1601
The village of Thurcaston is about five miles north of Leicester. The parish contains three townships: Thurcaston and Cropston, which were both agricultural communities, and Anstey, which became a large industrial village, with several shops, workshops, factories and nonconformist chapels. Thurcaston was the birthplace of Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, who was martyred at Oxford in 1555. Over the centuries six other bishops have also had connections to the parish, four serving as rector, one related to a family who farmed land in Thurcaston for nearly two centuries, and one who was born in Thurcaston rectory. The extent of the glebe and the patronage (from 1584) of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, ensured the appointment of a steady stream of able men as rectors, but there cannot be many villages of this size (the population did not exceed 300 until the 20th century) with such a record.
The modest size of the village means there are few probate records, and only two inventories have been traced so far from the period before 1601:
Other inventories are available for this village as follows:
Content derived from research undertaken as part of the Victoria County History project
