Hoggs Norton had a change of name
The first rector was inducted in 1220 when the village was under the patronage of the Prior of Belvoir.
The west tower was built in the 14th century and has battlements and originally had a short spire which was taken down in 1890 as it had become unsafe.
In the belfry, the windows are all of single light and in a niche in the west wall of the tower is a carved ancient figure sitting like a weary guardian.
In the tower are three bells, the oldest being cast in 1640 and the other two in 1663.
One bell which is inscribed “Glory be to God on high” was recast in 1849 by Taylors of Scarborough at a cost of £24.
The beautiful stained glass east window was made by Warrington in 1841.
Norton can claim to be one of the very few churches in the country to have two pulpits. The smaller one is two-tiered and was originally used for reading the lessons and the preacher occupied the main one.
The lectern was given to the church in 1918 in memory of the Rev William Callahan who was rector of Norton in 1916-17.
The organ is now electronically generated. It was first pumped by hand.
The church is extremely fortunate to have a magnificent rare barrel organ which is in working condition. It was painstakingly restored in 1980 by John Burns of Nuneaton.
It was built in London in 1819 by James Butler who was an apprentice to the celebrated organ builder, George England and installed in Norton in 1840.
It was mainly due to the untiring efforts of three lady members of the church that the organ was restored to its former glory. It has three barrels each having 10 tunes including “O God our help in ages past”.
One of the most famous families of clock makers in the country came from Barton-in-the-Beans. An employee of Samuel Deacon came to take the measurements for a turret clock to be installed in Norton church.
It was made at Barton and within five months was installed in the church on September 11, 1840. The clock has been almost trouble free for the past 150 years, the measurements have been retained and the cost was £80.
The vestry was built in 1850 at a cost of £100. In the churchyard is a very unusual gravestone in memory of John Worthington who died in 1705.
The letters all run together with no space between them and many of the letters are back to front. Among the gravestones are two ancient recumbent effigies of a knight and his lady.
The village of Norton has always had close associations with Gopsall. Charles Jennens who built Gopsall Hall in 1750 was a great friend of the “Young Pretender” and also a close associate of Handel who is supposed to have written part of the Messiah in the stone temple in Gopsall Park.
Charles Jennens died childless and left his estate to his niece and it came by marriage to Penn Assheton Curzon whose son was created the First Lord Howe. The Second Lord Howe was MP for south Leicestershire from 1857-1870. Earl Howe built the school, the schoolhouse, and the almshouses in Norton in 1839, and the majority of the village belonged to the Gopsall Estate.
A villager called Frederick Bowen kept a series of diaries form 1881 until 1920. He was a farm labourer and miller. He recalled that in 1881 many people were buried by snow and a number froze to death. In Atherstone hailstones fell and the town was flooded, and many went home for dinner in boats.
On April 4, 1889, the Prince of Wales came to Gopsall and later attended Leicester races. In 1891 Queen Victoria passed through Snarestone on her way to Derby to lay a stone in the infirmary.
His first diary stated that the railway from Nuneaton to Ashby had opened in 1873 and the first load of Indian corn was unleaded at Snarestone station. He recalled Lord Curzon’s coming of age when 900 bottles of champagne were consumed and finally in 1919 Earl Howe’s estate at Gotham in Nottinghamshire and Gopsall were sold and the flag pole at the hall came down forever.
The last entry in his diary came in 1920 and said: “My hand will not write.” He died in 1922 aged 75 years. During the 1940s Gillie Potter attained widespread popularity with his radio series and also as a music hall comedian. He claimed his inspiration from the village of Hogges Norton (Norton).
His humorous monologues depicted characters in a farming village. He opened his shows with the remark “Good evening England, this is Gillie Potter speaking to you in English from Hogges Norton”.
The Twycross Zoo house was the rectory to Norton church in 1851. The zoo is respected as one of the best managed in the country.
The village school closed in the 1940s. The village hall was built in 1920 in memory of those in the village who lost their lives in the First World War.
The village once had a windmill and also a pinfold where stray animals were kept until the appropriate fee for their release was paid.
One of the most notable personalities in Norton was George Henton who was a threshing contractor. Three generations of the family had carried on the business. At one period they had five full sets of threshing tackle driven by steam.
The engines were manned by drivers who, in the summer months, drove Pat Collins’ fairground steam engines and during the winter months operated the threshing engines.