When you see a date clearly shown on a building of character do you ever say to yourself "What was happening in that year?" It is a question worth asking, for it calls to mind so many events that belong to our history, events which were news at that time.
The Old House, which graces the centre of Kibworth Harcourt, was built in the reign of Charles II. It bears the date 1678 and the coat-of-arms of the Parker family. The handsome windows with cross-mullions of stone remind us that the later sash windows had not yet become common, but Wren and his followers were using them around London. In 1678 St Paul's Cathedral had been started, for the arguments about Wren's first design were over, and the foundations laid.
Wren was 46, Pepys 45 and Isaac Newton 36 at the time, and it is interesting to note that Newton was connected by marriage to the Parkers of Kibworth. 1678 was the year in which Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress' first appeared, and in London the news was of Titus Oates and the 'Popish Plot', with the Crown and the city fearful of conspiracy and a second Gunpowder Plot.
Amongst other dated buildings in Kibworth there is the Old School in Station Street, now the surgery of Dr Bell and Partners. It bears the date 1842 on its Early Victorian front. That was the year of the Mines Act which ended the employment of women and young children underground and the introduction of Sir Robert Peel's income tax.
Also, within the Kibworth Chronicle area, if you look carefully at the parapet of the church tower at Carlton Curlieu you will see, on the north side, on either side of the Palmer coat-of-arms, an inscription telling us that it was built by Geffrey Palmer, son of Sir Lewis Palmer of the other Carlton near Cottingham. It is difficult to read, but the date is given as 1685 in Roman numerals. The lower part of the tower is Norman, about 500 years earlier. 1685 saw the death of Charles II, the controversial accession of James II and the rebellion by Monmouth who landed at Lyme Regis in June of that year. Wren and Newton were then at the height of their achievements, and St Paul's was half finished, but still without its dome. 1685 saw the birth of Handel and J S Bach.
Mention of Handel takes us to another building in the area, the church tower at Gaulby, which is dated 1741. This strange belfry has oversize 'chinoiserie' pinnacles like little pagodas. They always seem to me to be a celebration of Handel's 'Messiah', for that great work was completed in September 1741 after only 24 days of supreme effort. It involved a libretto provided by Charles Jennens of Gopsall Hall in Leicestershire. The 'Messiah' was first performed in Dublin in the following April, when the audience was so great that ladies were asked to abandon their hoops and the gentlemen their swords.
At the time of the building of Gaulby tower, the other arts in England were represented by such names as Hogarth, then 44, Dr Johnson 32, Chippendale 23, whilst Reynolds and Gainsborough were youths of 18 and 14.
Perhaps important buildings in our own time, if built to last, should bear a date so that they can be seen in the context of contemporary events and future generations will be able to say " That was the year......"
© Hugh Collinson 1995
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© Kibworth & District Chronicle 1998