The East Norton Police Houses

There have been two Police Houses in East Norton. The "older" one was situated next to the Courtrooms of the East Norton Petty Sessional Division where local magistrates used to sit every first Friday of the month.
Across the road from the Magistrates Court was a "garden, stables and pigsty" which at one time all belonged to Lord Berners together with the Court House, which he built. All of this garden and Court House was sold to the Leicester County Council in 1919. It is believed that policemen in occupation of the "older" Police House enjoyed the use of the said garden. From the census returns and other historical documents, we learn that the following policemen were in residence:

1851 John Platts (Police Constable)
1861 Thomas Rowlet (Inspector of Police)
1871 Thomas Rowlet (Inspector of Police)
1881 Thomas Smith (Inspector of Police)
1891 James Granger (Inspector of Police)
1901 Samuel Barrow (Inspector of Police)
1912 Charles Edwin Freer (Inspector of Police) See extract below of notes supplied by his family
1945 Charles Goldstone (Sergeant)

Charles Edwin Freer (Extracted from notes supplied by the family)

Charles Edwin Freer was born in 1870 at Littlethorpe Lodge and in 1891, was still living with his father in the Narborough area and working as a Grocer's Porter.
He probably lived with his father until in 1893, he married Annie Heap. It is not known when he joined the police force but by 1901, he was living at No. 6, Magazine Square, Leicester in a two storey terraced block designated for police staff.
To have access to good accommodation was a great thing and in addition to his wife Annie Heap and his brood of children, his mother in Law, Ann Henson and his little sister Ida lived there.
In the 1908 edition of Kelly’s Directory, Charles Edwin Snr is still listed as a Police Sergeant living at 6 Magazine Square, Leicester.
By 1911, he is still a Sergeant but has moved along the row to No. 9, in line with his promotion to Police Inspector. The family is much larger and sister Ida is still living with them. By 1912, Charles Edwin had taken the position of a Rural Police Inspector and moved to the Police House in East Norton.
Charles used to ride out in his pony and trap to inspect the rural police stations and manage issues. Annie became quite grand and considered herself equal to the vicar’s wife, rather than the common people.
This was very hypocritical, given that Charles had started as a Grocer’s Porter and Annie had been in service. However, there was no denying that they had definitely done very well for themselves.
In the 1916 edition of Kelly's directory, Charles is listed as inspector of County Police living at 'Station House' (presumably the Police Station, not the Railway Station) in East Norton, supervising 4 constables.
In later years Charles lost his eyesight and had to be retired from the Police Force. Having always lived in Police accommodation, he was homeless and moved to a council house in Gaddesby Avenue, in Leicester, near to the Church of the Apostles, which they supported.
He died in 1923 aged 53 and was survived by his wife Annie who lived until 1947, dying aged 77.
On 30th July 1948, planning permission was granted by Billesdon Rural District Council to build a new Police House in the garden referred to above. A new well had to be constructed to provide drinking water, as the village at that time had no mains water supply. The first policeman to move into the new house from the old one across the road was PS84 Goldstone in 1949. The old Police House was then occupied by Mr and Mrs Palmer for about seven years. They had moved just along the road from Neatsgate Farm. There was a plan to turn the old police house into a waiting area for the Court next door, but this never came to fruition. The court moved to Thurnby in the early 1960s.
The descendants of PS Goldstone have visited the village many times over the years and a letter received in 2015 dated 7th June records their continued affection for East Norton. See below

Policemen known to have occupied the "new" house were:
PS Goldstone from 1949 to 1954
PC Buchanan from July 1955 to June 1957
PC Yates from June 1957 to 1960 (?)
PC 70 Elliot from October 1960 to April 1963
PC 562 Granger from March 1965 to March 1966
PC 646 Hulme (dates unknown)

PC Buchanan is mentioned elsewhere on this website under "The Village Shop circa 1950" and as a result of reading there about his father, one of his sons, John, who no longer lives in the area, has written:
"My father Peter Buchanan was a policeman at East Norton in the middle 1950's. I think about 1955-1957. We lived in what was then the Police House. I would have been about 9 or 10 (I am now 59 years). I along with my two brothers David and Michael have very happy memories, and I must confess to this day that I have great fondness towards the village and the surrounding area. We used to keep animals on the land. We had a pig, chickens, cats and a donkey! (The donkey was featured in The Leicester Mercury entitled something like "Where do donkey's go in the Winter". I remember The Bull operating as a pub and my father used to run the court room adjacent. We used to get bussed into Tugby for school and my teachers were man and wife Mr & Mrs Dawes. I remember Donald who I think still lives in the village, (since deceased ed.) and on a Wednesday we used to go to a house owned by Mrs Groves to see a cowboy film. (She was the only one with a TV). I remember half of the village never had electricity or connected to the sewage!"

By 1970 the new Police House had become redundant due to new policing patterns and in 1974 it was offered for sale. By this time both the old and the new houses had become somewhat neglected as can be seen in the photographs at the top of the page, both taken in 1975.

The old Police House came on to the market in 1965 but was never occupied by the initial purchaser. It came onto the market again in the late 1970s when the new owner converted the Court and Police house into one dwelling as part of its much needed restoration. The 1965 sales publicity, shown below, makes interesting reading