Elizabeth Thornton was an early Baptist, born in 1632 who lived in Mountsorrel. She died in 1699 and in her will she left three houses and some land in Barrow to four trustees so that the rent could be used to maintain the Baptist Burial Ground. The burial ground was situated on the corner of what is now Barons Way and Leicester Road.
One of the three houses, which was next to the burial ground, was converted to a meeting house for Baptists.This house was on the site of the Thornton & Hickling cottages that were demolished and replaced in 1987 by housing. It was known as the ‘Back Door Meeting House’, its entrance being a corner door at the back in a farmyard. It was a low thatched structure measuring approximately 26 feet by 14 feet.
At one point the house was being used as a hay barn and the burial ground was used as a wood yard, a shame and reproach to Mountsorrel. So in 1880 the burial ground, was restored by the trustees. It was laid out with flower beds and a huge block of undressed granite with an inscription in lead letters “Here lieth the body of Elizabeth, wife of Edward Thornton, who died on the 25th June 1699, in the 67th year of her age The Trustees of Thornton and Hickling’s Charity have erected this memorial, 1880.”
The memorial stone is still there in the front garden of the building on the corner of Barons Way
In 1987 the gravestones were removed to Mountsorrel Cemetery where they now lie, some in a very poor state of repair.
The Elizabeth Thornton charity still exists, now linked to the Bartholomew Hickling Charity.
Elizabeth was married to Edward Thornton. It is not known where in Mountsorrel they lived but the house was a substantial dwelling. There were five rooms on the ground floor, three bedrooms upstairs and a barn outside. On the ground floor were the principal living room (called the ‘house’), the upper parlour, the nether (lower) parlour, the kitchen and the buttery. The buttery was used for brewing beer. When Elizabeth died it contained five barrels and two thralls (frames for holding the barrels).
Edward died in 1692 and Elizabeth in 1699. The contents of their house when Elizabeth died are recorded below.
In her will, as well as the land and houses bequeathed to maintain the burial ground she left land, property and money to over twenty friends and relatives. Included in the land in Mountsorrel were Smiths Close, Branch Close and Moncks Close as well as land in the open fields of Hawcliffe and Thorncliffe. She left thirty pounds to Joseph Bolton of Wimeswold, mercer , cancelled the money he owed her and forgave him. To her servant Rebecca Hanson she left forty pounds and the bed whereon which I lye.
| Item | £-s-d |
| Purse & Apparel | 5-00-0 |
| In the house one table two forms four chairs six cushions one fire iron | 1-10-0 |
| In the upper parlor one trunk, one table,one cubbard, five chairs, one trundle bedstead, three cushions, one stoole | 1-00-0 |
| In the nether parlor two tables, five stooles, one glass case, one cubbard | 1-06-8 |
| In the kitching browning vessels brass and pewter | 8-15-0 |
| In the buttery five barrels, two thralls | 0-12-0 |
| In the best chamber one bedstead, beding, sevean chairs, two stooles, two trunks, one box, one chest of drawers, three stooles, two looking glasses | 5-00-0 |
| A chest of linen and plate | 9-00-0 |
| In the chamber over the house one trundle bed and beding, one press, one coffer, two strikes of malt | 3-00-0 |
| In the chamber over the neather parlor one bedstead and beding, two chairs, two stooles, two boxes and a pinchest | 4-00-0 |
| Wood and cole | 1-11-4 |
| Good debts | 200-00-0 |
| Debts desperate | 10-00-0 |
| Things not found or forgot | 0-15-0 |
The house= the best parlour
A trundle bedstead = a low bed, usually on wheels kept under a normal bed
Neather= lower
A thrall = a structure for holding barrels
A press = a large cupboard with shelves
A coffer = a box or chest for storing clothes or other valuables
A strike = a dry measure, usually ‘half a bushel (about 4 gallons), but varying locally’
Debts desperate = debts with little hope of recovery
Pinchest = don’t know