700 



LEICESTERSHIRE. 



Leicefter- 

 shire. 



They are large, heavy, and full of wool ; but large 

 boned, their wool coarse, and they take a long time to 

 " lr ~ 1 ' fatten. This breed, however, is gradually approach- 



Slieep. ing to the second kind, or the new Leicester. For this 

 latter, the county, as lias been remarked, is indebted to 

 Mr. Bakewell. " Their offals are small, and their pro- 

 fitable points are large; their backs are broad and 

 straight ; their breasts are full, bellies tucked up, heads 

 small, necks short, legs thin, pelts light, and wool fine 

 of its kind ; they are quiet in temper and disposition, 

 and capable of being fattened in a short time, on a 

 email proportion of food, and to a great weight, in pro- 

 portion to their apparent size." Mr. Bakewell has 

 fattened mutton to six inches thick of fat upon the 

 ribs. Fat weathers will weigh about 25 11). a quarter ; 

 the average fleece about 7 lb. The weight of the 

 bones is proportionally very trifling : On a shoulder of 

 19 lb. the bones frequently will not weigh more titan 

 six ounces. The forest sheep are principally confined 

 to Charmwood : they are white or grey-faced, with 

 legs of the same colour as the face ; generally without 

 horns, and with coarse wool. 



Horses, &c. Mr. Bakewell paid attention to the improvement of 

 the breed of horses, as well as of cattle and sheep; 

 but long before his time, Leicestershire was famous for 

 .a useful and beautiful breed of strong black horses. It 

 is still a horse-breeding county, not only for the plough, 

 waggons, &c. bvit also for the race-course and the chase. 

 The fairs of Ashley, Loughborough, Har'oorough, Bur- 

 ton-on- Trent, Rugby, Ashburn, Stafford, &c. are prin- 

 cipally supplied with Leicestershire horses, which are 

 here bought up for the drays of London, &c. Mules 

 have long been used in this county, both for draught 

 and the saddle; they have also been used in the plough. 

 The swine of Leicestershire, having partaken of the 

 improvement of Mr. Bakewell, are of a better breed 

 than are to be met with in most other counties. 



Manufac- The principal manufactures of Leicestershire are in- 



taru, timately connected with its great product of wool. They 



consist of wool-combing, woollen yarn, worsted, and 

 stockings principally or wholly of worsted. The chief 

 seat of these branches is Leicester and its neighbour- 

 hood, and Hinckley ; the chief country villages also 

 partake in them. At Ashley are considerable cotton- 

 works. Harborough is the seat of a considerable ma- 

 nufactory of tammies. At Hinckley and Ashley, a good 

 many hats are manufactured. Latterly, patent net- 

 lace has become an object of great attention in Castle 

 Donnington and its neighbourhood. The principal ex- 

 ports of the county, chiefly by means of the Trent, are 

 worsted stockings, hats, cottons, lace, wool, and cheese. 

 Sheep are sent to Birmingham, London, &c. These 

 two towns, and the populous parts of Staffordshire, take 

 off a large quantity of the cattle of this county. 



Poor-lutes. The poor-rates in Leicestershire, in the year 1776, 

 amounted to the sum of 26,360; in the year 1803, 

 they had advanced to 107,568: the increase, there- 

 fore, was nearly as 1 to 40f . In the same period, the 

 poor-rates of the whole kingdom had advanced from 

 1,679,585 to 5,161,813, or from 10 to 31 nearly : 

 hence it appears, that they had increased in this county 

 in rather a greater ratio than in the whole kingdom. 

 The number of persons relieved in and out of work- 

 houses, in the year 180S, was 10,154, besides those 

 that were not parishioners. Each person relieved out 

 of any workhouse at the rate of 3, 13s. 8^d. per an- 

 num ; each person relieved in the workhouses cost at the 

 rate of 11, 4s. 6^d. per annum. Taking both classes 

 together, the expen.ce per individual amounted to 4, 



7s. 3fd. The resident population, in 1801, amounted 

 to 1 30,08 1 ; so that the number of parishioners reliev- 

 ed from the poor-rates appeaA to be 15 in 100 of the 

 resident population. The amount of the total money 

 raised by parochial rates was His. fi^d. per head on the 

 population. The amount of the whole expenditure on 

 account of the poor averaged 12s. 10J,d. on the popula- 

 tion. The number of persons belonging to friendly so- 

 cieties appears, in 1803, to have been 8 in the 100 of 

 the resident population. One hundred of these socie- 

 ties had been enrolled according- to act of Parliament. 

 In the year ending 25th of March, 1S15, the amount 

 of money raised by parochial rates in this county, 

 amounted to rather more than 140,150.* 



When the Romans invaded Britain, Leicestershire History, 

 was inhabited by a tribe called the Corani. On their 

 conquest, it was included within the province of Flavia 

 Cresariensis, and had military stations established in 

 different parts of it, which were connected, as usual, 

 by military ways, the most celebrated of which were , 



the Watling-stfeet and Fossway. When the Romans 

 left the island, Leicestershire formed part of the king- 

 dom of Mercia, and Leicester was constituted a bi- 

 shop's see much about the time that England was di- 

 vided into counties. Before this period, the kingdom 

 of Mercia was subdivided into two parts, distinguish- 

 ed by the names of Southern and Northern. The in- 

 habitants of Leicestershire were then called Middle 

 Angles. Although this county lies, it may be said, in 

 the centre of the kingdom, it was much subject to the 

 ravages of the Danes, who constituted and regarded 

 Leicester as one of their five chief cities in the island. 

 After the Norman conquest, it was entirely parcelled 

 out by William among his relatives and favourites, who, 

 on their part, regranted various allotments to their fol- 

 lowers and dependents. At this period, Leicestershire 

 contained as great a number of strong castles as perhaps 

 any district in the kingdom, most of which, however, 

 were utterly demolished in the reigns of Henry II. 

 John, and Henry III. When Domesday Book was 

 compiled, there were only four wapentakes, or hun- 

 dreds. 



The whole county, at the time of the compilation of 

 Domesday, is said to have -contained 34,000 inhabit- 

 ants; in the year 1700, the number was 80,000; in 

 1 750, the number was 95,000. 



According to the population returns of 1801, there Populatiai'. 

 were at that time 25,992 houses, inhabited by 27,997 

 families ; 63,943 males, and 66, 1 38 females ; employ- 

 ed in agriculture, 73,823 ; in trade, &c. 42,036. The 

 number of inhabitants on a square mile were 159, the 

 average of England and VYales at that time being 152. 

 By some returns of baptisms and burials in the middle 

 of the 1 6'th century, compared with returns from the 

 same parishes in the middle of the 1 8th century, it ap- 

 pears that, at the former period, the baptisms' were 

 1 729, and the burials 1 1 7<> ; and, at the latter period, 

 the baptisms were 2765, and the burials 2l6'9 ; so that 

 the population in these parts of the county, in that 

 space oi' time, seems, judging from the burials, to have 

 increased only as 5 to 9 j whereas, by the births, it 

 seems to have increased only as 5 to 8. The increase 

 of population is supposed to have been chiefly among 

 the manufacturing classes. From the account we have 

 given of its modern agriculture, it is evident that it 

 cannot grow wheat sufficient to support its inhabit- 

 ants ; whereas, formerly, a much larger proportion of 

 its land was arable, under wheat and beans princi- 

 pally. 



