Sir John Hartopp, 3rd Baronet (1658) became MP for Leicestershire (1678–81), employed the non-conformist Isaac Watts and left an endowment for the education of dissenting ministers.

Mrs Yerburgh died in 1946[7] and from 1955 the estates and brewery were managed separately from adjacent offices at Eanam, Blackburn.

27 year old Pilot Officer Oliver M. J. Kendrick ejected, into a hedge, in a field owned by Phil Meakins, who gave him a cup of tea.

This can be seen in window frames and doors, the use of ironstone and brick building materials with limestone decoration.

At the T junction to the west of the village, set upon a bank, is a terrace of six houses called Sykes Row.

The red brick and tiled roof construction with decorative window arches are striking.

Ivy House Farm, the Old Barn and Woodbine Cottage are opposite and as the road dips down into the village the church can be glimpsed behind the mature trees that border its north and west walls.

The settlement is relatively unspoilt as an agricultural village, certainly worthy of preservation and its buildings and rural nature are a credit to English Heritage.

That hill is not solid rock and, according to a BBC video is sand which has resulted to constant repairs throughout the last 700 years as the church settles.

There is a preservation order, granted on 24 August 1999 by Melton Borough Council, on a dozen trees on the north side of the churchyard.

[13] At present the villagers worship in the chapel, which is a small building a short walk across the road from St Mary's.

In 1696 the non-conformist cleric and hymn-writer Isaac Watts (1674–1748) was appointed minister to the Hartopp family of Stoke Newington and Freeby.