Open Days at St Mary’s Church, Coleorton
Friday 13th & Saturday 14th June
12noon – 4.30pm Friday, 11am – 4pm Saturday
Coleorton Heritage Group and St Mary's Church congregation invite you to visit St Mary's to see the beautiful interior, view displays of the history of the church and Coleorton village and find out what's happening now.During the last year St Mary's have repaired the roof, renewed the carpets in the church and installed lighting which will be better to see by and be more economical to run and making the church a more welcoming space for worshippers and visitors.
There will be contributions from Viscount Beaumont's School and activities for youngsters. The North Door will be open for pedestrian access to the grounds of Coleorton Hall and the film "The Gift" will be shown again.
Open times: 12.00noon - 4.30pm on Friday and 11.00am to 4.00pm Saturday.
Heritage Coffee Mornings
Our next Saturday get-togethers - with a bit of "sleuthing" is on 21 June 10.30 - noon at The New Inn, Peggs Green
If you have any questions about Coleorton families, buildings or life as it once was in Coleorton do come along. We enjoy hearing your stories and seeing if we can all help each other discover more about our local village. There will be photos and articles to examine and some transcripts of local census and 1939 register records. We also have a number of class photos from Viscount Beaumont's School.More >>
"Coleorton at War" booklet
Memories and stories of life for Coleorton residents during the war can be read in our latest booklet "Coleorton at War, residents' memories of WWII" Available price £3.50 at Heritage Group events
A small booklet "Time to Remember" with childhood memories of members and local residents is also abailable price £2, at events or contact Terry Ward at terryjward@aol.com). We're currently collecting stories and memories for a second issue. If you would like to contribute your own story get in touch with Terry to find out more.
St John's Chapel
St John’s Chapel, next to the School on Ashby Road, has served the community since it was opened in 1857; however the chapel is now in danger of being lost to the community as it is considered surplus to Church requirements and may be declared redundant. We believe every effort should be made to retain this beautiful and historic chapel as a community building rather than let it lapse into private hands or disrepair. The cemetery will remain open to visitors and new burials.
The Heritage Group is actively engaging with the Diocese regarding options. Our preferred option is to create a community heritage hub:
- For people to visit and learn about Coleorton history and heritage and to undertake research and use the Group's archive of material
- A place to meet for local groups
- More permanent displays of local history
- A nearby facility and support for visitors to the surrounding graves
To be a viable community facility we will need to add a toilet and small kitchenette. The graves come very close to the walls of the chapel so an extension will need to be compact. We are looking at possibilities in the somewhat limited footprint available.
More about St John's Chapel and its history >>
Working Group Meetings
Our active members usually meet every month or so to organise activities and coordinate research.
If you're interested in local history and would like to be involved with our group please contact Sandra - details below - and I'll let you know about the next meeting. These are informal working group meetings.
In the meantime we'd love to hear your stories and together build our knowledge of Coleorton heritage. Call Sandra on 01530 440000 or email enquiries@coleortonheritage.org.uk to let us know you're coming.
The Coleorton Heritage Group
The Coleorton 2000 Committee was initiated in 1998 to devise a way of commemorating the new millennium. We developed the Millennium Garden in a plot of land kindly donated by Joan Cull, erected a commemorative sign and organised various associated celebrations and events.
More recently the group has been concerned with researching, recording and making publicly available local heritage, social, industrial and family history. We also support various restoration projects, for example the Bakehouse. So the name was changed to "The Coleorton Heritage Group".
Other projects have included:
- Coleorton Heritage Trail
- "Memories of Coleorton - Reminiscences of the Residents" book first published in November 2015
- Regular articles published in local magazines and on our website
- Coleorton History Walks
- "Sleuthing" get-togethers and coffee mornings to share photos and identify people and places
Further information from enquiries@coleortonheritage.org.uk or phone Sandra Dillon (Chair) on 01530 440000
We send out a newsletter every month or so with news about our activities and events. If you would like to receive our newsletter please subscribe >>.
Membership
Become a member of Coleorton Heritage Group and help to preserve and promote the heritage and social fabric of our community.
Blue Plaques
We have launched "the Coleorton Blue Plaque" scheme to commemmorate buildings and sites in the village which have historic significance.
Research Resources
We have brought together some sources of information about social, family and economic history of Coleorton.
Articles
We publish articles in local press inc. Community Voice, St Mary's Church monthly email magazine and on the Coleorton website.