Burton Lazars is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Burton and Dalby, in the Melton district, in the county of Leicestershire, England. It is south-east of Melton Mowbray, having a population of c.450 in 2015. It is the site of the remains of the English headquarters of the military and hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus. Village history The village's name means 'farm/settlement with a fortification'. The name 'Lazars' derives from St Lazarus, and was added after the Leprosy Hospital was opened by the Order of Saint Lazarus in the 12th century. It was originally an Anglo-Saxon village which was listed under the simple name of 'Burtone' at the time of William the Conqueror's Domesday Book in 1086. Before the conquest it was held by Leofric (the noble) son of Leofwin, but was given to Geoffrey of la Guerche once the Normans had taken control of England. It consisted of of meadow and two mills and had a population made up of 30 villagers, 27 smallholders, 4 slaves, 100 freemen, 2 priests and had a value of £23.5. Burton's name was changed to Burton St Lazarus when the Order of Saint Lazarus opened a Leper Hospital on a hill next to the village during the Crusades of the 12th century. The hospital became the Order's headquarters for the whole of its English estates and raised large amounts of money to fund the Order's activities (both military and hospitalary) in the Holy Land. The village's name quickly became abbreviated to Burton Lazars. The village has a natural sulphurous spring which was probably a major reason for the location of the hospital. A more recent attempt to use this for bathing was made in 1760 when a bath house was built but this did not achieve commercial success. The graves of the racing driver Eliot Zborowski and his son Louis Zborowski, also a racing driver, lie in the parish churchyard. In the early 1900s the village was famous for a steeplechase racecourse and grandstand just east of the village. In 1866 Burton Lazars became a parish in its own right, on 1 April 1936 the parish was abolished to form "Burton and Dalby". In 1931 the parish had a population of 197. Hospital of Burton St Lazarus Early history The hospital at Burton Lazars was founded between 1135 and 1138 and is thought to have been financed by