Place:Foxton, Leicestershire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Foxton is a village in Leicestershire, England, to the northwest of Market Harborough. The village is on the Grand Union Canal and is a short walk to the site of the Foxton Locks and Foxton Inclined Plane. Swingbridge Street still has a working swing bridge that allows people and vehicles to pass over the canal, which can be opened to allow canal boats to pass. Foxton’s population is a mix of professionals (many of whom commute to London) and locals. Foxton is serviced by Market Harborough railway station which is approximately 3 miles away. London and Birmingham can each be reached by train in approximately 50 minutes. The population in the UK census of 2011 was 478.

Foxton was originally a hill-top settlement, thought to have been founded in Saxon times with a landscape fashioned in the ice-age. The village gradually moved down the valley side as a farming community, working on the open three-field system until it was enclosed in 1770. Foxton remained virtually unchanged between Norman times until the end of the 18th century when the canal arrived from Leicester, cutting through the village. Agriculture began to diminish as improved communication and alternative job opportunities meant that people left their village to work and in the bringing of trade and industry via the canal. In 1935 a small area in the southeast of Foxton was transferred to Harborough, and a small part of Harborough was transferred to Foxton.

Research Tips

• The map on the place-page for Market Harborough Rural District illustrates the location of the various parishes.
• Victoria County History - Leicestershire - Vol 5, pp90-96 - Parish: Foxton. (London, 1964) British History Online. University of London.
• From this Findmypast page you can browse the Leicestershire parishes which have parish register transcripts online.
• From this Ancestry page you can browse the Leicestershire parishes which have parish register transcripts online.
• For both of the above sites, a subscription is charged. Transcriptions of these records may also be available free of charge on the FamilySearch website.
• A further collection of online source references will be found on the county page for Leicestershire.