The recorded population of South Croxton in the last two centuries varied between a high of 324 in 1851 and to a low of 153 in 1951. It was 234 at the time of the 2001 census and 261 ten years later. The moated area to the north of the church formed part of a medieval manor enclosure and has yielded Saxon remains. Signs of medieval
ridge-and-furrow field patterns can be seen to the north of the moated area. The Grade II* listed Church of St John's and four farmhouses in the parish (Bell Dip, Hill Top, North Manor, South Manor) are listed historic buildings. The village was designated as a Conservation Area in 1975 for its special architectural and historic interest. It has 90 houses, a 14th-century church, a pub (the
Golden Fleece) and a village hall, formerly the local school. A considerable number of unlisted buildings are also of architectural interest, having "survived relatively unchanged over the last hundred years." Some are still roofed in slate quarried at nearby
Swithland, some later ones in Welsh slate. As a community South Croxton antedates
Domesday (where it is referred to as Crochestone) and probably the coming of the
Danes. It appears as "Sudcroxtun" in the Coroner’s Rolls (county records) of 1212. In 2000, a grant was obtained to clean up the Queniborough Brook at the bridge and to provide seating there and at the top of the hill. Halfway up the hill, a little
obelisk made of tiles produced by local children was placed to mark the
Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2002. This passes the mid-18th century
Baggrave Hall, which was badly damaged by developers in 1988–89 and then abandoned. There is also a public footpath following the brook to the village of
Queniborough. The
Anglican church of
St John the Baptist is the only place of worship in the village, although there was at one time a
Methodist congregation. The Anglican parish is united with
All Saints', Beeby. It forms part of the South West Framland Cluster of Parishes. The church is built in the late
Decorated style, of local honey-coloured
Waltham ironstone and dates mainly from the early 14th century, when it replaced an earlier stone building probably from the Saxon period. However, the
Romanesque font of the earlier church remains. The south aisle and the roof were built a hundred years later. The bells, cast in 1636, remain in the tower, but unhung. Extensive repairs had to be made in 1925 due to subsidence.
Notable people •
Ambrose Lisle March Phillipps De Lisle (1809–1878), founder of
Mount St. Bernard Abbey, attended a private school here in 1818. •
Bob Gerard, the
racing driver, died here in 1990.
Croxton of old "CROXTON (South), a parish in
Barrow-upon-Soar district, Leicester; on an affluent of the
river Wreak, 4 miles SSE of
Brooksby r. station, and 7 SW of Melton-Mowbray. It has a post office, of the name of Croxton, under Leicester. Acres, 1,760. Real property, £2,535. Pop., 311. Houses, 68. The property is subdivided. The living is a rectory in the
diocese of Peterborough. Value, £130. Patron, the
Duke of Rutland. The church is old but good; and comprises nave, aisles, chancel, and steeple. Charities, £32 and four cottages." [John Marius Wilson's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales." 1870-72] A book of descriptive and oral history,
South Croxton: The Village on the Hill by Philip Snelders, was published in 2007 and reprinted in 2008. ==References==