Places

Catthorpe History

The Danish Army in the 10th Century established farms next to Saxon villages and called them Throp or Thorpe,the Danish for out-lying farms. Here the village was called Lilbourne. The manor was siezed by the Caht family and became Thorpe Caht,now known as Catthorpe.


A siege castle was built overlooking Lilbourne Castle but in 1147 the Earl of Leicester signed a Peace-Pact with Warwickshire and by 1218 the castle was redundant.


Dow bridge (Celtic-Dubh meaning river bank )was built in the Iron Age and was later improved by the Romans to carry Watling St.(The Shire Stone was removed during World War 2 but has never been replaced.)     


The only famous person from Catthorpe is John Dyer best known for his poem  "The Fleece".   33


In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Catthorpe like this:


CATTHORPE, or Calthorpe, a parish in Lutterworth district, Leicester; on the verge of the county, Watling-street, and the river Avon, near the Midland railway, 4 miles ENE of Rugby. It has a post office under Rugby. Acres, 625. Real property, £1,493. Pop., 146. Houses, 36. The property is divided among a few. The parish is a meet for the Pytchley hounds. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £260.* Patron, the Rev. L. Harper. The church is good; and has a very old font. Charities, £16.


Catthorpe briefly came to national attention in 1999 when the alleged war criminal Konrāds Kalējs was discovered to be living at a nursing home near the village.


The parish church, dedicated to St Thomas, dates from the 14th century and is Grade II* listed. The local pub is the Cherry Tree on Main Street.