History of the Village

This part of the website has recently been constructed and is expected to grow. If you would like to contribute please let us know.

There is lots of information available about the history of Keyham.

A good starting point is this book produced by Ros Atkin and Steve Michell in 2000 as part of the village's Millennium celebrations.

Another book, written by Rowles Harrison in 1995, gives a vivid account of life in Keyham in the first half of the 20th Centuary. It may be available at a local library (ISBN 0-7509-0999-4) but many villagers will have a copy for you to borrow. The foundry that is the subject of the book is Harrison Castings which celebrated its centenary in 2011.

Keyham News (the village's monthly newsletter) regularly features articles about the history of the village and its residents. Those articles are submitted by residents, former residents and local historians. To find out more, trawl through the back issues of Keyham News on this site and you will soon come across something of historical interest. Electronic copies on this site go back to 2016. Digital copies going back to 2011 are available and will be loaded at some point by the KN Editors. Paper copies of KN are available going back to the 1980s and are currently being catalogued locally and being made available to the Leicestershire Records Office for safe keeping.

Memoirs. In recent years, former residents of Keyham have provided Keyham News with their recollections of life in Keyham in the decades after the Second World War. Those memoirs can be accessed by following the links below to the Keyham News archive.

Census Returns. Summaries of Keyham's census returns (1841 to 1911) and the 1939 Register have been produced. They are listed below for you to browse and/or conduct some research of your own. Perhaps they will help you establish who has lived in your house over the years.

The 1921 census was released in January 2022, but is currently behind a pay wall.

The addressing is rather vague on the census as unless you lived at a hall, farm or the pub, your address was recorded just as 'cottage'. However, the census taker usually takes the same route. Beginning at Nether Hall and working up hill and finishing at Keyham Hall. The logic being probably a drink to start and end with at each hall and one in-between at The Dog and Gun!

The 1939 Register was a mini census conducted on 29^th September 1939 to ascertain who was in the country and used to issue identity cards and ration books. The Register was kept up to date until the late 40's when it was used to issue NHS Cards. Usually there is a 100 year rule on the publication of census material, but in this case, as it's not officially a census it was published early, but on the condition that anybody who is under 100 and could possibly be still alive is redacted.

All UK census information is Crown Copyright. The originals are held at the Public Record Office, from where copies can be obtained. Please report any errors and omissions.

History of Properties. Villagers are encouraged to research the history of their property and we will include their findings below. The history of our public buildings is included here too.

All Saints Church sits in the centre of the village. Here is a brief history of our church.

The Village Hall sits at the bottom of Main Street. It was built in the 1930's with local and Carnegie Trust funding. It is a Registered Charity run by a Management Committee. More information is available in an edition of Keyham News from 2016.

The Dog and Gun Public House sits on Main Street next to the Village Hall. It is an Everards (Leicester) house. Below is a list of landlords, going back over 200 years.

The main residence in the village is Keyham Hall adjacent to All Saints Church. The two documents below tell the history of the hall.

Corner Cottage on the corner of Main Street and Kings Lane is a listed property with an interesting story to tell. During World War II it was the home to a Czech refugee family and known as Praha (Prague) Cottage. Research of this period and the findings have been published over six editions of Keyham News (June - November 2019) and a summarised version produced.

The Lodge towards the top of Main Street was build in 1876 for the estate gardener at Keyham Hall. The current occupants have produced a history of the property below.

Keyham goes to War. Research has been undertaken that looks at Keyham residents who joined the armed forces in Victorian times and those who served in World War I and World War II.

Here is the story of Keyham's Victorian Adventurers and the Rolls of Honour for WW1 and WW2.

Two villagers have visited the war graves of the five Keyham men who in WWI were killed in the service of their country. Below is a link to their blog and links to the two editions of Keyham News that set their journey in context.