Colin Crosby Heritage Tours

Wistow

Wistow is a pretty place in Leicestershire, 6 miles from Leicester.

It is a deserted mediaeval village site, although two significant buildings testify to its former existence.

St. Wistan's Church dates from the Norman period, and was remodelled in 1746. There are memorials to the Halford family, one of whom was the Royal physician who discovered that George III suffered from porphyria rather than insanity.

Wistow Hall, in attractive parkland with a lake, was modernised in the late 18th century.

One of the attractions at the splendid Wistow Garden Centre is a model village named Wistan le Dale.

Wistow was the scene of the political murder in 849 of St. Wistan, a prince of the Royal house of Mercia. His remains were taken to Repton, where a flourishing cult grew up. This was transferred to Evesham Abbey, a move sanctioned by Cnut, but his shrine was destroyed at the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Places in Wistow

St. Wistan`s Church, Wistow Maze