Schools in Countesthorpe

Countesthorpe is about five miles south of Leicester, and was originally a chapelry of Blaby. It became a civil parish in 1866. By the early 19th century it was an industrial village, and many of its inhabitants were employed in the framework knitting industry. In 1884 the Leicester Board of Guardians built 11 large houses on a 55-acre site in Countesthorpe, known as the Cottage Homes, to house up to 250 children who would otherwise have been in the workhouse. They survived far longer than the workhouse, becoming less institutionalised over the 20th century, before finally closing in 1974, and being converted into private houses.