Syston Town News » Syston Local History Group

Syston Local History Society

admin — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 04:05:10 +0000

I came across this interesting extract from Syston’s parish register whilst I was researching something else, and thought that it shed light on Syston in times past.
It shows some of the expenses that might seem strange to us now, that the then parish spent over 400 years ago.
Syston – Extract from Parish Register – in the parish register of this village which begins in 1594, are the following singular entries which illustrate the customs expenses etc of former times.
1597 – Paid to the Armour Dresser- 3s 4d. Also for the town sword 7s 0d
1599 – Paid to Peter Pollard for helping to drive away the town bull that was sold – 1d
1599 - Paid for a bull – 30s 0d
1599 - Paid for another bull – 40s 6d
1600 – Paid to Thomas Pollard for moving the bull hooke. 12d
1601 – Old Julian Rivette, widow, bequeathed by will 12d – which was bestowed upon painting the church porch and oiling of the same.
1601 – Spent at Leicester, when we were summoned to appear at the court for that some of the priests had wrought on St Bartholomew’s day – 8d 1602 – Paid to Lord Morden’s players, because they should not play in the church – 12d
1602 - Harvest late, Barley not got in before St Matthew’s day, and on that day no pease nor Beans were got in at Syston.
1603 – A pound of good hops sold for 2s 8d
1603 - A strike * of malt 17d
1603 - A strike * of wheat – 2s 4d
1606 – Grinding was so scant, either by water or wind that at the feast of St Luke, the people came from Hinckley to Syston to grind their corn.
1606 - Frost so hard and continued, that men could not set forth their ploughs till after St Valentines day.
1606 – Upon Wednesday, after Lady Day, there was a very great flood, that entered into many farms, and did much harm among the corn and hay.
1606 - Loughborough, 500 people died of the plague.
* A Strike – of indeterminable weight, where grain is measured, by passing a rod across the top of an agreed heaped vessel, to ensure that it shall be full and no more.
* St Matthews Day – 21st September
I wonder what sins the priests had committed on St Bartholomew’s day (24th August) to be summoned to Leicester court, to be mentioned in the parish records?
And why were the Morden players banned from performing in the church? and why would the parish purchase a couple of bulls? the mind boggles.
By Roy Townsend.

Note on the above article:
For our readers who are unfamiliar with pre-decimal currency. The ‘s’ stands for shillings and the ‘d’ was pennies. At the time of this record we used £ s d which was named after Libra, Sistertius and Denarius from the old roman coinage, or LSD as it was commonly known. There were 240 pennies to the pound and the average agricultural labourer earned around £7.50 per year, which was approximately 35 pence per week so this may put the costs into perspective.

MR M. J. RICE

admin — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 04:09:55 +0000

With Christmas time fast approaching, this seems a good opportunity to reflect on a man who was a wonderful benefactor to the people of Syston Past.
One of Syston’s best known characters of yesteryear was Mr Montague John Rice, who was born in 1858. He was a tall thin gentleman with a beard who always wore a knee length frock coat. He lived in a large house in Barkby Road, Syston with its own chapel, known as ‘The Limes’, almost opposite the cemetery. This large house was previously a convent called ‘St Annes Home’ (Community of St Mary the Virgin), it would appear that they vacated the premises around 1911, as the first mention of Mr Rice living there was in 1912.
He headed a long established Boot and Shoe factory called ‘Montague John Rice and Sons’ which in 1904 had premises at 46 Western Road, Leicester. He then moved his company lock stock and barrel to ‘Montague House’, Narborough Road, Leicester in 1908, and then in around 1911 his business relocated to a large factory at the bottom of Broad Street, Syston, near to the High Street.
Amongst other things, he designed and manufactured a football boot called the Perfegrippe,incorporating a stud and bar attachment on the soles of the boots, which was awarded a gold medal at the Torino exhibition in 1911. Amongst other shoes and boots they manufactured were the football boots for Leicester City football club players, where he was a director and in 1923 he took a school class from Syston to Wembley with the players, and they all travelled down on the same coach.
He ran a successful and profitable business and at Christmas time would always treat the two eldest classes at Syston’s Junior School to a circus or the Christmas pantomime at Leicester’s Opera House and later to refreshments across the road in the Co-op Tea Rooms in High Street, or to Winn’s cafe in the Market Place, Leicester. (It should be remembered that many of the poorer children would never have seen a circus or a pantomime without his generosity).
The big event for Syston’s schoolchildren was the Sunday School treat in Mr Rice’s field behind his house in Barkby Road, now the site of St Johns Avenue and Oriel Drive. There were a variety of races for the children with prizes and refreshments provided by him and at the end of festivities all the children were given an orange and an apple to take home. Every Christmas Mr Rice treated the senior citizens of Syston to a party. Syston lost a great benefactor when he passed away.
He passed away in December 1932 aged 74 and is buried in the cemetery in Barkby Road, Syston and all of his workers attended his funeral. His wife Rebecca outlived him and passed away in March 1933 aged 75.
One of his workers later recalled cleaning his patented shoes with milk.
His shoe factory business seemed to have ceased trading around 1950, and in the Leicester trade directory of 1957 the company is not mentioned at all.
He had two children, an adopted son Arthur who passed away in January 1941 aged 61 and a daughter Clementine Mary, known as Clemmie, who was the managing director of the company and could often be seen driving around Syston in her pony and trap. She passed away in September 1968 aged 80, thus bringing the Rice family name to an end in Syston.
His house must have been sold and demolished soon after his daughter passed away and new properties were built on the site, which is now known as Lime Close, around the early 1970’s.
If anyone has any more information about Mr Rice and his family or even a photo of his house ‘The Limes’ on Barkby Road, would they please contact Syston Local History Group to enable them to update their records.

Syston Local History Exhibition

admin — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 04:04:38 +0000

On Saturday 18th September the Syston Methodist church hall was filled with a variety of pictures from past times and memorabilia. One table was full of items dating back to before WWII and included children’s toys, games, books and even gentlemen’s suspenders, which were used to keep their socks from slipping down. See picture right.
A major feature this year was a range of wedding photographs with lots of people viewing to see if there were any people they knew and when found they reminisced about the people and the day and where they are today.
An interesting edition was the inclusion of the Media Archive for Central England (MACE), who were explaining to people about the three year Heritage Lottery funded project, which wants to work with local communities and societies like Syston’s local history group to discover hidden filmed heritage. The project curators and organisations will seek out film and videotape reflecting the life and experience of a wide range of different communities. They were showing a DVD or material that has already been uncovered from across the Midlands and the curator at the exhibition said that many people had expressed an interest in allowing MACE to borrow their films/videos, in order for them to be copied so that the archive can keep them for future generations. They will return the original copies and provide a copy to the local society so that they can show the footage to the local community.
If you would like to share your films/videos then please contact Tim Garner of Syston’s Local History Group who is the local contact for the archive and who will be able to help you with any queries or refer you to the curators at MACE if necessary.
You can contact Tim on 0116 260 9154.
The project will end in March 2013.

FULL CIRCLE FROM 1881?

admin — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 04:03:03 +0000

Whilst researching a couple of items of local interest in the Bishop Street Reference Library, I came across a copy of Kelly’s Directory of Leicestershire for 1881. Looking up details of Syston, it became apparent that quite a few tradesmen often had two totally contrasting occupations.

Why this was I can only guess, but I am sure that times were extremely hard for families then and every penny counted, especially with no social security or dole money or even a pension as we have today to cushion the blow of unemployment or illness.

Back then, a family had to earn money however which way it could, or the whole family finished up in the workhouse. This was something to be avoided at all costs, as whole families were split up, with husbands, wives and children in separate areas.

Here are just a few examples I came across: Nathan Adcock of Barkby Road was a Hosiery Manufacturer and also a Grocer. Robert Mason Adcock of Wanlip Road was a Builder and a Blind Manufacturer. William Belshaw who had premises at the Junction Works near the railway, was a Band, bow and click line manufacture and also a sausage skin maker. Samuel Hutting of High Street was a clock maker and repairer and also a pig killer. Charles Johnson landlord of the Queen Victoria pub in High Street, was also a tailor, while Alfred Measom, landlord of the Fox and Hounds in the village centre, doubled up as an Inland Revenue officer. John Mehew a saddler of High Street was also a china dealer. George Sharpe of High Street was a plumber and gas fitter and doubled up as draper. William Stain of High Street was a chemist, sub postmaster and a stationer. George Walker Junior of the Wolf and Lamb public house in High Street (now Gambles Funeral Directors), was a beer retailer and also ran a horse drawn cab business.

What with today’s credit crunch and the governments proposed cost cutting and increases in taxation, is this a sign of the times and might we be coming full circle with people again having to have two jobs to be able to survive? Have times changed that much for the better during the last 130 years?

Roy Townsend

SYSTON FEAST

admin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 04:06:59 +0000

Feast Sunday falls on the first Sunday after 10th July although the church is dedicated to St Peter, whose day is on 29th June. The discrepancy is said to be due to the change of calendar in September 1752 when 11 days were added, but Syston continued to observe the Feast according to the old calendar. The feast was commonly called the Wake. Its origin is with the Church. In olden times the Saturday was kept as ‘awake night’ watching and preparing to come to the Lord’s Table on the Sunday morning. It was a family occasion, boys and girls on farms or in service would come home for the feast.
Along with the services came booths with sweetmeats etc and dancing in the churchyard and on the village green!
The dancing was replaced with a funfair on the Recreation Ground (Central Park) and Feast Monday was a half day holiday and the Church held a Feast Tea, usually in the vicarage garden often combined with a sale of work.
The traditional meal for the feast was roast duck and green peas, washed down with homemade cowslip or parsnip wine.
For many years Holland’s was the fair to visit Syston and in later years the fair was set up in High Street in the field between Turn Street and the railway line, on the St Peters football ground (now Millers Close) and also on East Avenue on the Dog Track field.
We have now come full circle as the fair is now back on the Central Park but in September, not July.
The picture above of about a hundred years ago shows Syston ladies on the Recreation Ground, the nearest sign on the marquee reads ‘Ye ancient rite of ye pastrie cookes’ and the legible part of the other sign reads Syston Feast… The Symphony… Wednesday…

SYSTON WINDMILL

admin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 04:03:56 +0000

According to William the Conqueror’s ‘Domesday Book’ of 1086, in the entry of Syston a mill is mentioned, this was probably a water mill.
There appears to have been a windmill in Syston from at least the early 17th century, as there is an entry in the Syston local parish register dated 1606, ‘that grinding was so scant by wind and water that at the feast of St Luke, 18th October, people came from Hinckley to Syston to grind their corn’. But whether that windmill was on the same site of the last windmill in Syston is not known.
The mill was situated at the end of a small track near to the Midland Railway Pub on Melton Road and was probably built in the 1740s, the sails were each 33 feet long and consisted of two common sails and two spring sails and a Mr Edward Cooper was the miller from 1895 to 1908, unfortunately it was blown down in a gale on 14th February 1910.
The Leicester Daily Mercury of 16th February 1910 quoted “that the windmill situated close to the station at Syston, was completely blown over during the storms in the early hours of Tuesday morning and now lies practically splintered to
matchwood”. The paper also reported “that the Mill up to a few months ago was about the only windmill in working order in the northern part of the county and Systonians will regret the destruction of the mill which was one of the landmarks in the district”.
Sadly the windmill was too severly damaged to be rebuilt and was never replaced.

Empire Day

admin — Sat, 01 May 2010 04:01:00 +0000

It was not until after the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 that Empire Day was first celebrated. The first Empire day took place on 24th May 1902, the Queen’s birthday. Although not officially recognised until 1916, many schools across the Empire were celebrating before then. There are Syston photographs existing that were taken in 1908 and 1909. On Empire Day millions of schoolchildren all across the Empire would salute the union flag and sing patriotic songs and listen to tales of ‘daring do’ from across the Empire, but the highlight for the children was that they were let out of school early to take part in marches, maypole dancing concerts and parties that celebrated the event.
Empire Day remained an essential part of the calendar until 1958, when it was renamed British Commonwealth Day, then in 1966 as Commonwealth day, when the date was changed to 10th June. In 1977 the date was again changed to the second Monday in March.
In Canada Victoria Day is still celebrated on the last Monday before 24th May.
Here in Syston Empire Day was still celebrated after the Second World War to a lesser degree and gradually faded away in the 1950s
Do you remember celebrating Empire Day in Syston? Please contact STN with your memories.

The Tale of The Horses Hoof Snuff Box

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:00:41 +0000

The secretary of our Syston local history group received a letter from an inhabitant of Western Australia, who had been handed down a mounted horses hoof snuff box dated 15th July 1880. This commemorated a horse called ‘Captain’ who assisted six people to safety through flood waters, but drowned in the process.
Intrigued, the secretary visited the Public Records office in Wigston, consulted the local newspapers of the time and found a brief account of the events, and I quote: On Thursday the 15th a storm broke over the village about 5.00am. The lightening was very vivid, the thunder loud and the rain fell in torrents. The brook was swollen to a considerable extent and Chapel Lane and Brook Street were impassable. Houses standing near the brook were flooded and the inhabitants were compelled to take to upper rooms. At Harrisons cottage, which stands near to the line to Peterborough, the water was three feet high.
A party set out in a horse and trap for the purpose of going to Ratcliffe, but when outside the village the current was so great that the horse was unable to keep his footing and the passengers just had time to scramble into a tree before the horse and trap were carried away by the stream. The party was rescued after remaining three hours in their perilous position.
The survivors names were Mr Enoch Hitchcox a local baker, R Mansfield, D North, T North, G Sharp and J Sewell.
Does anyone else know anything about this event and are there any more horses hoof snuff boxes out there? After all the horse had four hooves.

Train accident at Syston junction Saturday 29th November 1873

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:00:16 +0000

The Mail train leaving Leicester station at 12.40am was half an hour late and luckily there were only a few people on board from the Carl Ross Operatic Society who had just given a concert at the Temperance Hall in Granby Street, Leicester. Most of them were sitting in the rear carriages on their journey back to Nottingham. On approaching Syston junction at around 12.15am it was somehow diverted to the Peterborough line and not the Derby line as intended and the mail train smashed into the stationary goods train while travelling at around 50 miles an hour. The engine was derailed and rolled down the embankment, while the first four carriages and the guards van were piled up on top of each other, it was a scene of utter devastation. Their pitiful cries for help soon attracted the attention of other station staff and local people, who worked all morning helping to rescue the injured. Dr Dalley of Syston was soon on hand together with four doctors from Leicester to help the injured.
The guard Alfred Baldry was taken to the Queen Victoria Hotel on High Street, Syston and was given Brandy, but unfortunately after about an hour he passed away. The engine struck the Syston East signal box and the stairs were knocked into an adjoining field. Some of the more seriously injured people were taken to Leicester to be treated.
The coroner’s inquest was held on Monday 4th December 1873 at the Midland Hotel on Leicester Road Syston and Mr William Stevenson a guard, Mr Thomas Dabell the driver, John Scattergood the signalman and Dr Dalley the local doctor were all interview and their comments noted.
At the inquest report, again at the Midland Hotel on the following Monday, Colonel Hutchinson said that he had carried out his own inquiries and stated that the cause of other accident could have been accounted for in three ways.
First: perhaps the signals may have been altered and the points snatched in front of the engine, but on the evidence heard, the points seemed to have been locked and I do not think that is the case.
Second: perhaps the engine mounted the points forcing them to open, but no damage was seen on the points and I rule that out. Third: which I believe is the true cause, is that a small object such as a small stone or perhaps a piece of coal may have got wedge between the right point and the right rail. To derail the train, this would show that the signalman had locked the rail correctly from his signal box. This would not derail the train at a low speed but would derail the train at the high speed at which this train was travelling.
After further considerations by the jury, they returned a verdict that Aldred Baldry met his death through the mail train leaving the main line through a defect in the points system and no blame should be attributed to John Scattergood the signalman, but they highly censured the present practice of allowing trains to cross the points at excessive speed and set a limit of 20 mile per hour to cross the junction.