Stream, fields and long memory
Appleby Magna
A village of medieval field patterns, layered church history and a one-room local, with National Forest walking nearby.
- Best for
- Parish walking, church history and a traditional village local
- Give it
- A half day, or longer with nearby Sence Valley Forest Park
- Don't miss
- The stream and ridge-and-furrow pasture on the Riverside Walk
The Fox verdict
A village best read in layers
Start at the cross, follow the stream and let the church and old field patterns explain why Appleby Magna rewards an unhurried visit.
The strongest visit pairs the signposted Riverside Walk with St Michael and All Angels, then makes time for the Crown's one-room village-pub character. Sence Valley Forest Park adds short lakeside and woodland walking nearby.
Where to go
Places in Appleby Magna
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesAppleby Magna Village Cross
A notable village landmark and the natural point for getting your bearings before following Church Street.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 15 minutes
- Locality
- at the top of Church Street
St Michael and All Angels
A church with deep layers of worship history: St Helen's Chapel predates the early 14th century, while Sir Edmund de Appleby financed a major enlargement of the nave.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- next to The Crown Inn
Sence Valley Forest Park
Part of the National Forest, with short walks around a lake through mixed woodland.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- near Appleby Magna
Food & drink
1 placeThe Crown Inn
A traditional one-room village local with a real fire, Marston's Pedigree, two rotating guest ales, a large beer garden and a dog-friendly welcome.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 60 minutes
- Locality
- 23 Church Street, Appleby Magna, DE12 7BB
History & heritage
1 placeThe Moat House
A Grade II*-listed manor house with a stone gatehouse and a timber-framed black-and-white house behind it.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 15 minutes
- Locality
- Appleby Magna
No places match this filter. Choose All places to reset the list.
Three ways to explore Appleby Magna
Signature outings
Ales by the real fire
Settle into the Crown's one-room bar for Pedigree or one of its two rotating guest ales.
A medieval manor survives
Notice the stone gatehouse and the timber-framed black-and-white house behind at one of Leicestershire's best-preserved moated manor sites.
Chapel to medieval nave
Find St Helen's Chapel, which predates the early 14th century, within a church enlarged through Sir Edmund de Appleby's patronage.
The village story
Appleby Magna Village Guide
Pubs, parish paths and deep layers of village history beside the stream.
Village bearings and the Crown
The village cross at the top of Church Street is where you get your bearings. From here the road drops south past stone and brick cottages, a stream cuts through the middle of things, and the fields beyond still carry the corrugated lines of medieval strip farming. Appleby Magna sits on the western edge of Leicestershire, just inside the National Forest, in countryside that's been farmed since before anyone was writing it down.
The Crown Inn is the pub you want. It's a one-room local on Church Street, next to the church, with a real fire, Marston's Pedigree, and two rotating guest ales. There's no kitchen to speak of — cobs at weekends, and occasional pop-up pizza nights that seem to generate a disproportionate amount of goodwill. The beer garden is large. Dogs are welcome. The Pigeon Club meets here. It's CAMRA-listed, which in a village this size counts as an institution. They run beer festivals in February and August, the February one being an act of either optimism or defiance depending on the weather.
Pubs and sacred history
The Black Horse, also on Church Street, is one of three pubs still going. The Appleby Inn over in Appleby Parva makes the third. Others have been less fortunate. The Red Lion was demolished to build an M42 junction.
St Michael and All Angels is Grade I listed and sits on a site that's had something sacred on it since the Romans. A Roman temple first, then a wooden Saxon chapel, then stone. The oldest surviving part is St Helen's Chapel, which predates the fourteenth century. Sir Edmund de Appleby, who fought at Crécy, paid to enlarge the nave. Joyce de Appleby, from the same family, was burned as a Protestant martyr under Mary I. The family held the manor from the reign of Henry II until 1560, which is a good run by anyone's standards.
Stream walks and the medieval manor
Walk south from the church and you pick up the Appleby Riverside Walk, which follows the stream through the village and out past ridge-and-furrow pasture. Sence Valley Forest Park is nearby — a lake, mixed woodland, short loops. The National Forest Way passes close to the parish on its route between Sence Valley and Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
The Moat House is the building that stops you. A stone gatehouse from Henry VIII's reign, largely unaltered, with a timber-framed black-and-white house behind it. Pevsner country. It's considered the best-preserved medieval moated manor in Leicestershire, and it looks it.
Wren's school and village origins
Sir John Moore, born here in 1620, became Lord Mayor of London and asked Christopher Wren to design him a school. Wren obliged. It was finished in 1697 and still stands, now the village primary school. A Wren building full of children learning phonics is not a bad legacy.
The name itself is half English, half Danish — 'aepel' for apple tree, 'by' for village. Orchards survived in the parish until the 1960s. The Domesday Book recorded it as Aplebi: eight villagers, roughly nine households, straddling the old county border with Derbyshire.
Arriving and last light
Tamworth station, on the West Coast Main Line, is the nearest rail link. Buses run to Tamworth and Ashby. The M42 is close, which the Red Lion found out the hard way.
On a weekday afternoon the stream still runs through the middle of the village, the ridge-and-furrow still shows in the low light, and the Crown is still serving Pedigree by the fire.
Stay around Leicestershire
Make a longer stay of it
Travel Fox holiday homes around Leicestershire, linked directly to their property pages.
Leicester
Upperton House - Central 5 Bedroom
- Sleeps 9
- 5 bedrooms
Leicester
Rachel's House with Parking!
- Sleeps 12
- 4 bedrooms
Syston
Tilly's Townhouse with Parking
- Sleeps 4
- 2 bedrooms
Queniborough
Felicity's House with Hot Tub!
- Sleeps 8
- 3 bedrooms
Rearsby
Vanessa's Haven - with hot tub and free parking for 3 cars!!
- Sleeps 5
- 3 bedrooms
A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- Appleby Magna Village Cross — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- The Crown Inn — camra.org.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- St Michael and All Angels — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Sence Valley Forest Park — forestryengland.uk national body or asset manager
- The Moat House — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access