Sapcote is a small village in the south west of Leicestershire, England, in the Sparkenhoe Hundred. It has a population of approximately 3,260, measured at the 2021 census The well-known inland scuba diving site Stoney Cove is nearby. History An early Bronze Age occupation site has been discovered here. The Roman occupation of the site, in the hinterland of the major Roman centre at Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum), was associated with the Fosse Way which passed close by, not far from its crossing with the Watling Street. It was centred upon a Roman villa with mosaic pavements and bath house, occupied continuously during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. Related sites in the district were at Mancetter, Barwell and Hinckley. The continuous occupation of the existing settlement had its origins in the Anglo-Saxon period, and lay within that province of the Middle Angles, centred in Leicestershire, the rule of which was granted by Penda of Mercia to his son Peada in AD 653. At that time Christian missionaries, led by Diuma, came into Peada's kingdom from Northumbria. A 7th-century gold necklace pendant enclosing a large shield-shaped garnet, found at Sapcote in 2003, belonged to a person of social importance of that time. Sapcote took its name before the Norman Conquest, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book, as Scepecote. This represented the Anglo-Saxon Scēapcot = "shed or enclosure for sheep". The Church of Sapcote is dedicated to All Saints. In 1188 William Basset was the patron of the living and the first rector was Thomas Spencer in 1220. Under Norman rule, from the 12th-14th century Sapcote became a seat of the powerful Basset family, descendants of the royal justice Ralph Basset (died 1127), who held the neighbouring manor of Stoney Stanton. Ralph de Basset (died 1282) was High Sheriff of England and, possibly, the first Member of Parliament, being the first Lord to be called to the Barons Parliament by Simon de Montfort. Nichols refers to the site of a castle of the Bassets having been on a slight eminence in the village, which was levelled-off during the 18th century. After the Reformation the lordship of Sapcote was successively in the Ferrers, Grey and Tufton families. During the 19th century the main occupations of the villagers were frame-work knitting (hosiery) and quarrying. Buildings The oldest surviving building in the village is the parish church of All Saints, a building in English