Pywells in Leicestershire
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Pywell’s Lock is located on what is now the Grand Union canal between Fleckney and Wistow in Leicestershire. Planning of this section began in 1793, the intention being to extend the Union Canal from Leicester to the Grand Junction Canal near Northampton. By 1797 it had reached Debdale where it stopped for some time due to a shortage of funding.
Information I have from the Old Union Canal Society (see below) tells that this lock was originally named Blackstone Hall Lock, later being renamed Pywell’s lock, it was quite common to name locks after tenants of nearby fields.
Their information cites two Pywells -
I have located Joseph and two Johns in the Land Tax Redemption Register for 1798, all being a Proprietor and/or Occupier of various pieces of land in Glen Magna or Kibworth Harcourt. Both parishes also show the Union Canal Company as landowners. In the same register, there are also records for Edward Pywell for land in Kibworth Harcourt. So who were these Pywells?
One Edward was my Great Great Great Grandfather (1777 -
There is a father and son who are likely candidates for John and John junior their
dates being 1738 -
Joseph was quite a frequent name among the greater Pywell family and he is difficult
to pinpoint with real confidence. My Great Great Great Great Grandfather was Joseph
(1725 -
All of the above can be traced back to a common ancestor -
I have just received the following in response to a query which I raised with the Historian of the Old Union Canals Society.
If you are searching:
PYWELL
HAMES
CRANES
IRVING
HALFORD
this may be of interest to you.
I spotted the query on Pywells Lock in Union issue 167, Journal of the Old Union Canals Society. I made notes on the 1793 plan many years ago and found the following. Field nos began at the start of the line in Leicester and increased through Blaby, Wigston and Kibworth to Market Harborough. The reference book gives the field no, its length, owner and tenant; a lock was often given the name of the tenant of the field in which it was built.
Field 118 is from Kibworth Br (75) to Burton Feeder, includes L21 (Pywells) and is in the Parish of Upper Kibworth. It was owned by Robert Hames of Glen Magna (now Great Glen) and the tenant was John Pywell of Upper Kibworth.
Also of interest, down towards Leicester, are the following.
Field 114 on the bend between Lock 21 and 22 (Cranes, also a tenant), in the Parish of Glen Magna. Owned by Lord Denbigh of Wistow Hall and the tenant was Joseph Pyewell (sic) of Glen Magna.
Also similarly, fields 107 and 108 by Bridge 77 in the Parish of Glen Magna were owned by Lord Denbigh and the tenant was Joseph Pyewell of Glen Magna.
The 2 men, Py(e)wells, were no doubt related living in neighbouring villages as the tabulators were not too fussy about spelling at that time. For instance, a tenant of a field at Wigston was Irving but the lock in that field has always been known as Ervins.
Wistow Hall is where Charles 1 stayed the night before the Battle of Naseby in 1645, and was the seat of the Halford family; Lord Denbigh had married the widow of the last of the line.
Some streets in the centre of Leicester are named after local families and their "seats" eg. Rutland, Belvoir, Granby, Vaughan and Halford. The chain of motor accessory shops is named after Halford Street, Leicester, where the first shop was opened.
Pywells Lock was formerly known as Blackstone Hall Lock.
Pywell’s Lock
Information from the Old Union Canal Society