Ingarsby: One of the best-preserved deserted medieval villages in the country

Steve from What Once Was takes us to Ingarsby, one of the best preserved deserted medieval villages in the country, and explores the site thoroughly. It lies six miles from Leicester, in beautiful, empty countryside that is typical of the eastern side of its county.

The site's entry on the National Heritage List for England says:

The village earthworks at Ingarsby are exceptionally well preserved with a wide diversity of features and good documentation with the rare mention of the construction of a pond. 

Ingarsby is also interesting as being the site of a moated manor that was subsequently purchased by an abbey. Religious ownership provides a date of village desertion and important documentation for a site that was the richest possession of Leicester Abbey in the county.

Ingarsby must be the only deserted medieval village that had its own railway station. It stood on the Great Northern branch that ran to the company's terminus at Leicester Belgrave Road. In such a landscape, it must have seen as good a spot as any.