URPoint Details
The name Lazars derives from England's largest medieval leper colony, St. Mary and St. Lazars Hospital (1160 - 1544) which was situated in the fields over the road from the church. The site is now an ancient monument.
The church dates mainly from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and is internally memorable for the musician figures carved in its roof forming a whole orchestra of period instruments. The 20 foot Squire monument is in the churchyard. It is said that Squire, a weaver, left half his fortune, (600 pounds), for its erection so that he would get recognition after death which he felt he had never had whilst alive. The monument was originally painted to imitate marble and gilded. There are also graves to two Counts Zborowski, father and son, killed motor racing in 1898 and 1924. The son, Luigi, built the racing car used in the film version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The family was well known amongst the hunting fraternity and resided at Coventry House in Melton Mowbray during the `season'.
Burton Lazars once boasted a racecourse used by the local hunts for point to points. The late Duke of Windsor, when Prince of Wales, was a regular visitor, as was his brother, the
- Type:
- Landmark