Introduction to Wanlip
The village is located north of Leicester between Birstall and Syston, and presently is a community of approximately 50 houses. There is a ancient church and the remains of a old hall that was owned by the Palmar family. There are no shops and only one commercial premise in the village.
The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book and for centuries was an estate village, owned from the 1600s by the Palmer family. Up to the 1940s, most of the residents were still tenants, farming or directly serving generations of the same family occupying Wanlip Hall.
Wanlip Church
Wanlip Ice House
Few of the tenants came from long established village families. Of those shown in the 1901 Census, only 15 residents were born in Wanlip and overall very few also appeared in the 1891 Census.
In 1937, following the death of Lady Augusta Palmer, the whole village, including all the fields around, was put up for auction. At that time, much of the land was described as 'useful arable land or ideal for development'. Indeed, the former Wanlip Hall, the Park and adjacent land in Church Road was recommended for 'development on comprehensive lines as a Garden City Housing Estate'. Perhaps the sense of an approaching war discouraged potential investors because much of the land is still owned by the Palmer Tomkinson family. War-time and post war building restrictions 'held the fort', then Green Belt and Village Envelope Regulations were introduced which preserved the current rural character of the village.
From 1841 to 1901 there were 21 to 24 households. Over the years, with the building in the Hall Gardens, the site of the former Rectory and more recently, Home Farm, this has increased to 68.