St Mary - Freeby, Leicestershire - Medieval Churches on Waymarking.com

"St Mary's Church Freeby, situated in a small village three miles out of Melton on the B676 Saxelbye Road, has been part of the Team Ministry of Melton Mowbray for as long as records show.

Today it is under the watchful eyes of churchwardens Jane Meakin and Mel Greaves. However, they are overseeing the church congregation in extraordinary times as it seems the church was built on sinking soil!! Structural issues mean the church is unsafe for services. Undaunted, services are now held across the road by the village hall in the United Reform Chapel.

The church has a nave, chancel, porch and tower, and much of it is in the Early English style. It has a strong resemblance to St James’ Church in Burton Lazars (visit link) , especially with its nave aisles and the tower at the west end which was built later in the 16th century.

Freeby's claim to fame is that Isaac Watts, the writer of many well know hymns such as “O God our help in ages past” and “Jesus shall reign where ere the sun” lived in the village as chaplain to the Lord of the Manor and tutored his children."

SOURCE - (visit link)

"Freeby village, though very small, has a long and ancient history reaching back to the ninth-century Danelaw, when Danish Vikings invaded a large swathe of Eastern England. This portion of the country ruled by the Danes became known as the Danelaw. Many of those Vikings who came and settled left their mark on the landscape in form of place names. Freeby is derived from the Fraethi’s Farm the ‘by’ element means farm or settlement in Old Norse."

SOURCE - (visit link)

Building Materials: Stone

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