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HAMILTON.  ADAMS    i  C?   PAT  ERNO  S  TER  RCW,    R  ALLE  N.  NOTTINGHAM 

E.   ALLEN. LEICESTER. 


THE 

HISTORY  AND  ANTIQUITIES 

OF 

CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

BY  T.  R.  POTTER. 

WITH 

AN   APPENDIX, 

ON  THE 

GEOLOGY,  BOTANY,  AND  ORNITHOLOGY 

OF  THE  DISTRICT. 


THE  GEOLOGY  BY  J.  B.  JUKES,  ESQ.  M.A.  F.GS.; 
THE  BOTANY  BY  THE  REV.  ANDREW  BLOXAM,  M.A.,  AND  CHURCHILL  BABINGTON,  ESQ., 

SCHOLAR  OF  ST.  JOHN'S  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE; 

AND  THE  ORNITHOLOGY  BY  CHURCHILL  BABINGTON,  ESQ. 


AH  !    THAT  Sl/CH  BEAUTY,   VARYING  IN  THE  LIGHT 

OF  LIVING   NATURE,    CANNOT  BE  PORTRAYED 

BY  WORDS,    NOR  BY  THE  PENCIL'S  SILENT  SKILL, 

BUT  IS  THE   PROPERTY  OF  HIM  ALONE 

WHO  HAS  BEHELD  IT,    NOTED  IT  WITH  CARE, 

AND  IN  HIS  MIND  EECOBDED  IT  WITH  LOVE. 


LONDON: 
HAMILTON,    ADAMS,   AND    Co.    PATERNOSTER    ROW. 

R.  ALLEN,  NOTTINGHAM;  E.  ALLEN,  LEICESTER. 

1842. 


R.  ALLEN,  FKINTER,  ALBION  OFFICES,  NOTTINGHAM. 


cm  DONO  LEPIDUM  NOVUM  LIBELLUM?' 


What  filler  Name  my  Book  can  grace, 
Describing  Charxwood's  ancienl  Chase, 
Than  /(W,  whose  Sires,  in  olden  day, 
O'er  Charnwood  held  ihe  Ranger's  sway  ? 
Than  his,  whose  Hunler's  horn  yet  swells 
On  Charnwood's  hills  and  Charley  dells  ? 
Whose  noble  mien  can  still  restore 
The  Chieftain  of  the  days  of  yore — 
Than  his,  who  finds  in  Forest  ride 
Pleasures  to  Courts  and  Kings  denied  ? 

My  theme  is  Field  and  Woodland  scene : 
Romantic  Hill  and  deep  Ravine  : 
(Such  scene,  I  ween,  as  that  which  lies 
Wliere  Loudocn's  time-worn  Turrets  rise) 
Is  Nature,  with  her  every  charm  : 
Is  "  Cottage — Hamlet" — Fane,  "and  Farm  : 
And  he  who  "  finds  this  life"  more  free 
"  Than  that  of  painted  pomp"  can  be  : 
Who,  with  each  Sun  that  gilds  them,  sees 
The  shadow  of  "  Ancestral  trees," 
Meet  Patron  for  the  page  must  be 
Which  tells  the  charms  of  Forestry. 

My  theme  is,  too,  of  War  and  Chase : 
Of  Kingly,  Lordly,  Knightly  race — 
WTiat  Name,  like  Hastings,  can  recall 
The  Tented  Field — the  Banner'd  Hall — 
The  halo  that  invests  them  all? 


INTRODUCTION. 


There  is  no  district  of  England,  equally  deserving  of  notice,  of  which  so 
little  has  been  written,  and  probably  of  which  so  little  is  known,  as  Charnwood 
F'oREST.  Sherwood,  Needwood,  Selwood,  Inglewood,  and  almost  all  other 
Forests  have  had  their  Historian  or  their  Poet,  while  Charnwood,  even  in  his- 
torical and  topographical  works  confined  to  Leicestershire,  has  been  passed  over 
with  as  little  mention  as  if  it  was  a  blemish  instead  of  a  beauty  on  the  face  of  the 
County.  The  best  account  of  Charnwood  Forest,  that  contained  in  Mr.  Nichols' 
"History  and  Antlqullies  of  Leicestershire"  is  scattered  over  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  eight  large  folios  of  that  valuable  and  wonderful  work,  and  the  scarcity  and 
expense  of  a  copy*  render  it  almost  inaccessible  to  the  many.  This  considera- 
tion, and  the  conviction  that  the  District  deserves  to  be  better  known,  induced 
the  Author  of  the  following  pages  to  collect  and  arrange  all  the  materials  in  his 
power  in  order  to  present  such  a  description  of  the  Forest  as  may,  he  trusts,  blend 
with  details  only  interesting  to  the  antiquarian  and  the  scholar,  a  considerable 
portion  of  information  suited  to  the  general  reader.  He  is  anxious  to  render  its 
picturesque  beauties  and  wonderful  geology  better  known :  and  to  show  that  it 
is  not  less  worthy  of  the  Tourist's,  the  Naturalist's,  and  the  Antiquarian's  atten- 
tion, than  many  of  those  districts  to  which  all  resort.  Another  consideration  has 
had  weight  with  the  Author : — many  of  the  nobler  features  of  Charnwood,  owing 
to  the  growth  of  plantations,  the  removal  of  rocks,  and  the  progress  of  cultivation, 
are  rapidly  disappearing ;  and  it  seemed  desirable,  as  far  as  possible,  to 

"  Catch  their  passing  glories  ere  they  fade." 

The  Author  is  conscious  of  some  defects  of  plan  and  of  execution ;  unavoidable, 
perhaps,  where  the  prudent  limitation  of  the  work  was  so  inadequate  to  the 
abundance  of  materials.     Of  the  plan  of  the  main  part — the  Parochial  History — 

*  Only  oue  hundred  and  eighty-seven  copies  are  known  to  be  extant. 


vi  INTRODUCTION. 

he  may  be  permitted  to  premise  that,  looking  at  the  feudal  possessors  of  the  Forest, 
it  seemed  naturally  to  divide  itself  into  four  parts ;  for  each  of  which  he  takes 
the  chief  Lordship  of  the  respective  Lords  as  a  station,  viz. : — Barrow,  Groby, 
Whitwick,  and  Sheepshed.  Under  these  four  heads  he  has  introduced  almost 
every  parish  claiming  right  of  common  on  the  Forest  at  the  Inclosure.  Rothley, 
so  interesting  for  its  connexion  with  the  Templars,  and  forming  by  its  Plain  an 
extension  of  the  Forest,  was  originally  intended  to  occupy  a  separate  Chapter, 
but  through  want  of  space  it  is  unavoidably  omitted.  Two  or  three  other  places 
of  minor  importance  are,  for  the  same  reason,  only  cursorily  mentioned.  The 
scientific  reader  is,  however,  abundantly  compensated  for  these  omissions  by  an 
Appendix,  contributed  by  three  gentlemen  not  unknown  to  literature  and  science, 
for  which  the  Author  was  only  too  happy  to  make  room  by  the  omission  of  many 
lucubrations  of  his  own. 

It  may  be  well  here  to  make  an  observation  which  arrived  too  late  for 
insertion  in  its  proper  place  at  the  beginning  of  the  Ornithology,  Appendix,  p.  65. 
It  was  there  stated  that  "  eight  miles  has  been  taken  as  the  limit  of  vicinity"  both 
in  the  Botany  and  the  Ornithology.  It  should  have  been  added  that,  with  very 
few  exceptions,  no  plant  or  bird  was  admitted  into  the  lists  which  was  not  found 
either  on  the  Forest  or  within  a  mile  or  two  of  its  boundary. 

Though  originally  intending  to  give  minute  descriptions  of  the  diversified 
scenery  of  the  Forest,  the  Author  has  been  compelled,  in  a  great  degree,  to  leave 
this  to  the  pictorial  illustrations.  Respecting  the  fine  landscape  boundary  which 
the  Charnwood  range  presents  from  various  parts  of  the  Midland  Counties,  he  has 
been  wholly  silent.  The  places  in  which  its  beautiful  distant  outline  has  often 
struck  him  as  being  seen  to  the  greatest  advantage  are  Nottingham  Castle,  Hop- 
well  Hall,  Rempstone  Hall,  Nomianton  Hill,  Whatton  House,  Risley  Hill,  and 
the  high  grounds  north  of  Derby.  From  some  of  these  points  its  abrupt  western 
prominences,  in  the  different  states  of  the  atmosphere,  have  something  of  an 
Alpine  character.  It  is  true  that  the  Forest  Hills  may  not,  either  when  viewed 
close  at  hand  or  at  a  distance,  strictly  deserve  the  epithet  which,  for  want  of  a 
better,  he  has  so  often  applied  to  them — picturesque.     JViebuhr  correctly  observes 


INTRODUCTION. 


that  "  nai Tovv-minded  travellers,  who  measure  everything  by  the  gross  scale  of  a 
surveyor,  ridicule  the  humbler  mountain  ranges  of  other  lands  by  contrasting  them 
with  the  touring  Peaks  of  the  Alps ;  yet  in  reality  the  Alps  of  Switzerland  are 
not  picturesque  in  their  forms." 

The  Author  has  further  to  observe,  that  in  places  where  he  has  been  under  the 
necessity  of  abbreviating  or  expanding  any  extract  from  Nichols'  History,  he  has 
abstained  from  the  insertion  of  inverted  commas,  and  contented  himself  with  a 
reference  or  a  general  acknowledgment.  He  has  the  same  observation  to  make 
with  regard  to  a  passage  from  Sir  Thomas  Dick  Lauder's  Edition  of  Gilpin,  and 
Mr.  Fraser  Tytler's  "  Scotland." 

To  the  Rev.  M.D.  Babington,  M.A.,  who  most  kindly  and  most  ably  exam- 
ined the  proof  sheets  of  a  large  portion  of  the  Work,  and  contributed  many  valu- 
able antiquarian  and  other  remarks — to  the  Rev.  Andrew  Bloxam,  M.A.,  who 
most  liberally  furnished  the  Flora — to  Churchill  Babington,  Esq.,  who 
aided  in  that  contribution,  and  also  presented  the  Ornithology — and  to  J.  B. 
Jukes,  Esq.,  M.A.  F.G.S.,  who  wrote  the  Geology,  the  Author's  most  grateful 
acknowledgments  are  justly  due. 

To  Charles  March  Phillipps,  Esq.,  to  William  Herrick,  Esq.,  of  Beaumanor, 
to  Edward  Basil  Farnham,  Esq.,  M.P.,  to  Sir  William  Heygate,  Bart.,  to  the 
Rev,  John  Dudley,  M.A.,  to  the  Rev.  Richard  Gwatkin,  B.D.,  to  Ambrose  Lisle 
March  Phillipps,  Esq.,  to  Thomas  Denning,  Esq.,  to  Kirkby  Fenton,  Esq.,  and 
to  John  Stockdale  Hardy,  Esq.,  all  of  whom  either  furnished  valuable  information 
or  offered  facilities  for  obtaining  it,  he  has  also  to  express  his  deep  obligations ; 
nor  is  he  unmindful  of  the  assistance  rendered  him  by  Mr.  E.  P.  Jackson,  Mr. 
Lester,  Mr.  George  Webster,  of  Desford,  and  the  Author  of  "  Melbourne."  His 
obligations  to  Mr.  Nichols'  great  work  on  the  County — a  work  which,  for 
unwearied  industry  and  extensive  research,  has  no  equal  in  the  whole  range  of 
Topographical  Literature — and  to  another  valuable  work.  Glover's  "  Derbyshire," 
he  has  elsewhere  fully  acknowledged. 

Wymeswold,  near  Loughborough, 
September  Ihth,  1842. 


LIST  OF  ENGRAVINGS. 


FRONTISPIECE.— RUINS  OF  ULVESCROFT  PRIORY. 

VIGNETTE.— ROCK  NEAR  BEAUMANOR. 

DEDICATION  PLATE. 

PAGE 

Map  of  Charnwood  Forest*    1 

High  Cademan 9 

Copt  Oak 10 

The  Oaks  Chapel   39 

Hanging  Stone,  near  the  Oaks  Chapel 41 

Quern  (Hand-mill)  and  Celt 42 

Hanging  Stone  Rock,  near  Beaumanor   73 

WooDHOusE  Chapel 86 

Woodhouse  Eaves  Chapel  and  School 89 

Lower  Cliff,  Beacon  Hill 90 

Charley  Hall 104 

Ruins  of  Bradgate  Hall 120 

Pelder  Tor  151 

Whitwick  Church 154 

Monastery  of  Mount  St.  Bernard   159 

Bardon  Hill 160 

Long  Cliff   '87 

Holy -Well  Haw  Hermitage    190 

Geological  Sections  (Appendix ) 1 

CuRSORius  Isabellinus  (Appendix J 63 

WOOD  ENGRAVINGS. 

Plan  of  Ancient  Fortifications  on  Beacon  Hill 47 

Enlarged  Plan  of  Ditto 49 

Ancient  Spear  and  Coins 51 

Ancient  Spur 6"1 

Ancient  Cross '0 

Oaken  Chair  ^ 

Coin  of  Bruce 105 

Tomb  of  Roesia  de  Vep.don   170 

Counters     "3 

Hanging  Stone — side  view  (Appendix)    28 

•  The  Map  is  coloured  to  serve  Ihe  Geology  ;  the  colours  correspond  with  the  references  on  the  sheet  of  Geological  Sections 
preBxed  to  the  Appendix  :  hut  instead  of  tinting  the  whole  of  each  I'ormaliun,  the  boundaries  only  are  coloured,  in  order  to  avoid 
obscuring  the  engraven  shades  denoting  inequalities  of  surface. 


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LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS. 


HER  MOST  GRACIOUS  MAJESTY  ADELAIDE,  THE  QUEEN  DOWAGER. 

HIS  GRACE  THE  DUKE  OF  RUTLAND,  K.G. 

HIS  GRACE  THE  DUKE  OF  NEWCASTLE,  K.G. 

HIS  GRACE  THE  DUKE  OF  NORTHUMBERLAND,  K.G. 

HIS  GRACE  THE  DUKE  OF  SUTHERLAND,  K.G. 

THE  iMOST  NOBLE  THE  MARQUIS  OF  HA.STINGS,  Donington  Park. 

THE   MOST  NOBLE  THE  MARCHIONESS  OF  HASTINGS,  Donington  Park. 

THE  MO.ST  NOBLE  THE  MARQUIS  OF  NORTHAMPTON,  K.G.,  P.R.S. 

THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE  THE  EARL  HOWE,  Goisall  Park. 

THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE  THE  EARL  OF  XEWBURGH,  Hassop  Hall,  Derbyshire. 

THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE  THE  EARL  OF  RAWDON,  Donington  Park. 

THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE  THE  EARL  OF  STAMFORD  AND  WARRINGTON,  Dunham  Massey. 
(3  Copies.) 

THE  BARONESS   DE  CLIFFORD,  Kirkey  Mallory,  Leicestershire. 

THE   LORD   BISHOP  OF  PETERBOROUGH,  The  Palace,  Peterborough. 

THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE  LORD  BEAUMONT,  Carleton. 

THE   RIGHT  HONOURABLE  LORD  ROBERT  GROSYENOR,  M.P.,  107,  Park  Street,  London. 

THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE   LORD  CHARLES  SOMERSET  MANNERS,  M.P.,  Belvoir  Castle. 

THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE  SIR  R.  PEEL,  BART.,  M.P.,  Drayton  Manor. 

SIR  GEORGE  CREWE,  BART.,  Calke  Abbey,  Derbyshire.     (2  Copies.) 

SIR  HENRY   LEIGH   DRYDEN,  BART.,  Canons  Ashby,  Northamptonshire. 

SIR  FREDERICK  GUSTAVUS  FOWKE,  BART.,  Lowesby  Hall. 

SIR  CHARLES   ABNEY  HASTINGS,  BART.,  Willesley  Hall. 

SIR  WILLIAM  HEYGATE,  BART.,  Roecliff  Manor,  Charnwood  Forest.     (3  Copies.) 

LADY   HEYGATE,  Roecliff  Manor,  Charnwood  Forest. 

SIR  OSWALD  MOSLEY,  BART.,  Rolleston  Hall,  Derbyshire. 

THE  DOWAGER  LADY  SITWELL,  Rempstone  Hall,  Nottinghamshire. 

SIR  THOMAS  POTTER,  KNT.,  Brick  Hills,  Manchester. 

THE  VERY   REVEREND  THE   DEAN   OF  ELY. 

THE  REV.  THOMAS  GISBORNE,  M.A,,  PREBENDARY  OF  DURHAM,  Yoxall  Lodge. 

THE  VEN.  THOMAS  KAYE  BONNEY,  M.A.,  ARCHDEACON  OF  LEICESTER,  AND  RECTOR  OF 

NORMANTON,  Stamford. 
THE  VEN.  CHARLES  GODDARD,  D.  D.,   ARCHDEACON   OF    LINCOLN,  AND    RECTOR   OF  IB- 
STOCK,   Leicestershire. 
EDWARD  BASIL  FARNHAM,  ESQ.,  M.P.,  Quorndon  House,  Leicestershire. 
CHARLES  WILLIAM  PACKE,  ESQ.,  M.P.,  Prestwold  Hall,  Leicestershire. 
WILLIAM  RASHLEIGH,  Jun.,  ESQ.,  M.  P.,  Men.ibilly,  Cornwall. 
JOHN  ARTHUR  ROEBUCK,  ESQ.,  M.P.,  12,  Victoria  Square,  Pimlico,  London. 

b 


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Adcock  Halford,  Esq.,  Humberstone. 

Alford  the  Rev.  H.,  M.A.,  Wymeswold,  Leicestershire, 

(2  copies.) 
Allen  John,  Esq.,  the  Study,  Bonsall,  Derbyshire. 
Allen  Mr.  Edward,  Leicester. 
Allen  Mr.  Richard,  Nottingham. 
Armstrong  John,  Esq.,  Doncaster. 
Arnold  William,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Leicester. 
Ashby  Wm.  Ashby,  Esq.,  Quenby  Hall,  Leicestershire. 
Ashby  Permanent  Library. 
Aslet  Mr.  William  Stacey,  Loughborough. 
Astill  Miss,  Cossington,  Leicestershire. 
Atkin  Mr.  John,  Leicester. 
Attenborough  Mr.  William,  Bradmore,  Nottinghamshire. 

Babington   Thomas   Gisbome,  Esq.,    Rothley  Temple, 

Leicestershire. 
Babingtou  the  Rev.  Matthew  Drake,  M.  A.,  Thringstone, 

Leicestershire. 
Babington,    Churchill,   Esq ,  St.   John's  College,  Cam- 
bridge. 
Bacon  George,  Esq.,  Nottingham. 
Bakewell  Mr.  John,  Lockington,  Leicestershire. 
Bakewell  Mr.  George,  Lockington,  Leicestershire. 
Barnes  Mrs.  Moseley,  Birmingham. 
Barry  Pendock  Barry,  Esq.,  Roclaveston  Manor,  Notts. 
Barker  Mr.  Edward,  Loughborough.  (2) 
Barton  R.,  Esq.,  Coventry. 
Beardsley  Mr,  William,  Shipley,  Derbyshire. 
Beardsley  Amos,  Esq.,  London. 
Beavington  Mr.  William,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 
Bennett  the  Rev.  John,  Ibstock,   Leicestershire. 
Bennett  J.  B.  H.,  Esq.,  Tutbury,  Staffordshire. 
Bennett  Mr.,  Beckering  Park,  Wobum. 
Bickersteth  R.,  Esq.,  Liverpool. 
Biddle  Mr.  Thomas,  Mountsorrel,  Leicestershire 
Biddle  Mr.  Jacob,  Mountsorrel,  Leicestershire. 
Biddle  Mr.  Robert,  Mountsorrel,  Leicestershire. 
Biddle  Mr.  William,  Bradmore,  Nottinghamshire. 
Birch  John,  Esq.,  Doncaster. 

Bloxam  the  Rev.  Andrew,  M.A.,  Twycross,  Atherstone. 
Blunt  the  Rev.  Robert,  M.A.,  ISelton  Vicarage,  Leices- 
tershire. 
Blurton  Thomas,  Esq.,  Dmistall  House,  Staffordshire. 
Bostock  Joseph,  Esq.,  Breedon,  Leicestershire. 
BusworthWilliam,  Esq.,  Charley  Hall,  Leicestershire.  (2) 
Bosworth  Mr.,  Leicester. 
Bott  Mr.  Jervis,  Newton  Burgerland. 
Bowley  Mr.,  Leicester. 
Bowmar  Mr.,  Leicester. 
Bowmar  Mr.  Henry,  Leicester. 
Bowmar  Mrs.  Thomas,  Leicester. 

Boyer  the  Rev.  J.  R.,  M.  A.,  Swepstone  Rectory,  Leices- 
tershire. 
Boyer  Joseph,  Esq.,  Bardon  Lodge,  Leicestershire. 
Bracebridge  Charles  Holte,  Esq.,  Atherstone  Hall. 
Bradley  Thomas,  Esq.,  Ibstock. 
Brewin  Ambrose,  Esq.,  Tiverton,  Devonshire. 
Brittlebank  Andrew,  Esq.,  Winster,  near  Bakewell. 
Briggs  Mr.  John,  Hemington,  Leicestershire. 
Briggs    J.  J.,  Esq.,    Author  of    "  Melbourne,"    King's 

Newton. 
Briggs  Mr.  Robert,  Thulstone,  Derbyshire. 
Brock  Beauvoir,  Esq  ,  Loughborough. 
Brown  Messrs.,  Leicester.  (3) 
Brown  Mr.  B.  W.,  Wymeswold,  Leicestershire. 
Browne  Mr.  P.  Marsland,  Manchester. 
Bulstrode  Miss,  Worthington  Cottage,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 
Bunbury  the  Rev.  T.  H.,  Whitwick,  Leicestershire. 
Bumaby  the  Rev.  Thomas,  M.  A.,  Quomdon,  Leicester- 
shire. 
Burrows,  Mr.  John,  jun.,  Stockwell,  Wymeswold. 


Burton  Mrs.,  Atherstone. 

Burgess  (the  late)  John,  Esq.,  Clipstone,  Notts. 
Butler  Mr.,  Beck  House,  Nottinghamshire. 
Butt  William,  Esq.,  Sandiacie. 

Cantrell  Joseph  Thomas,  Esq.,  Barrister  at  Law,  21, 

Lincohi's  Inn,  London. 
Cardale  J.  Spencer,  Esq.,  Leicester. 
Catleton  J.  W.,  E.sq.,  London. 
Cartwright  John,  Esq.,  Loughborough. 
Carver  T.,  Esq.,  Sherwood,  near  Nottingham. 
Cary  F.  S.,  Esq.,  14,  Park  Street,  Westminster. 
Chamberlain  Henry,  Esq.,  Desford,  Leicestershire. 
Charles  Mr.  William,  Wymeswold,  Leicestershire. 
Chawner  Henry,  Esq.,  Hound-hill,  Uttoxeter. 
Cheney  Colonel,  Gaddesby  Hall,  Leicestershire. 
Cheslyn  Captain,  Langley  Priory,  Leicestershire. 
Chouler  Charles,  Esq.,  WoUaton,  Nottinghamshire. 
Churchill    Fleetwood.   Esq.,    M.D.,    Stephen's    Green, 

Dublin. 
Churchill  Miss,  Glasgow. 

Clanchy  Colonel,  Burleigh  Fields,  Leicestershire. 
Clare  Harcourt,  Esq.,  T\vycross,  Leicestershire. 
Clare  Thomas,  Esq.  Heather. 
Clark  Mr.,  Surgeon,  Wellingborough. 
Clayton  Mr.  Thomas,  jvm.,  Thorpe  Arnold. 
Coleman  H.  F.,  Esq.,  Evington  Hall,  Leicestershire. 
CoUinson  Mr.  R.,  Mansfield,  Nottinghamshire,  (3) 
Cook,  Mr.  T.,  Leicester.  (3) 
Cotman  Rev.  Joseph,  Sharnford,  Leicestershire. 
Combe  and  Crossley,  Messrs.,  Leicester.  (2) 
Cooke  Mr.  Thomas,  Derby 
Cooke  J.,  Esq.,  Uttoxeter. 
Cox  the  Rev.  Richardson,  Tickenhall. 
Cradock  Thomas,  Esq.,  Woodhouse,  Leicestershire. 
Cradock  Edward,  Esq.,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 
Crosher  Mr.  Richard,  Loughborough. 
Cropper  J.  A.,  Esq.,  Barrister  at  Law,  10,  Gray's  Inn 

Place,  London. 
Cresswell  Robert  Green,  Esq.,  Ravenstone,  Leicestershire. 
Curtis  Mr.  W.  H.,  Nottingham. 

Dalby  T.  Burgh,  Esq.,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

Dalby  Thomas,  Esq.,  Castle  Donington. 

Dalley  Mr.  W.  C,  Syston. 

Danvers  G.  J.  D.  Buller,  Esq.,  Swithland  Hall,  Leices- 
tershire. 

Dawson  Edward.  Esq.,  Whatton  House,  Leicestershire. 

Dawson  Mrs.,  Cheltenham. 

Dawson  Henry,  Esq.,  Launde  Abbey. 

Davies  Samuel,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Davenport  Samuel,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Denning  Thomas,  Esq.,  Loughborough. 

Derby  Philosophical  Society. 

Dewes  William,  Esq.,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

Docker  Edward,  Esq.,  M.A.,  81,  King  William  Street, 
London. 

Donisthorpe  Mr.  Alfred,  Leicester. 

Dudley  the  Rev.  John,  M.  A.,  Vicarage,  Sileby,  Leicester- 
shire. 

Dummeller  Mr.  Richard  Shakerstone,  Leicestershire. 

Dutton  Miss  Moseley,  Birmingham. 

Dyson  T.,  Esq.,  Braithwell  Manor  House,  Doncaster. 

Eames  John,  Esq.,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 
Eddowes  Henry,  Esq.,  Loughborough. 
Egerton  Mrs.  Leigh,  Jodrell  Hall,  Cheshire. 
Ella  William  Fisher,  Esq.,  Wymeswold. 
Ellis  Mr.  John,  Leicester. 

Elliott  Wm.  Elliott,  Esq.,  Gedling  House,  Notts. 
Emerson  the  Rev.  Alexander  Lyon,   M.  A.,   Ulvescroft 
Priory,  Leicestershire.  (2) 


LIST  OF  .SUl!SCKIBf;RS. 


Kvaus  the  Rev.  Arthur  Benoni,  D.D.,  Market  Busworth. 

Falconek  Randle  Wilbraham,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Tenby  (late 

Bath.) 
Favrand  George,  Esq.,  Daybrook,  Nottinghamshire. 
Feuton   Kiikby,   Esq.,    Onebarrow  Lodge,   Charnwood 

Forest.  (4) 
Feamhead  Peter,  Esq.,  Alton  Grange. 
Fisher  Edward,  Esq.,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 
Fisher  Mrs.,  Higham  Rectory.  (2) 
Flint  Mr.,  Heniington,  Leicestershire. 
Fosbrooke  Henry,  Esq.,  Linwood  Hall,  Lincolnshire. 
Fosbrooke  Miss,  London. 
Fowler  Thomas,  Esq.,  Melton  Mowbray. 
Fowler  Edward,  Esq.,  Leicester. 
Fox  Douglas,  Esq.,  Derby. 
Fritche  Mr.  Froude,  Derby. 
Freeston  Mr.  William,  Wynieswold,  Leicestershire. 

Garton  the  Rev.  Joseph,  M.A.,  Towcester,  Northamp- 
tonshire. 

Gell  Mrs.,  Clonmell,  Ireland. 

Giles  Mr.  Joseph,  Loughborough. 

Gilbert  Mr.,  Shetfield.   (6) 

Gisborne  Thomas,  Esq.,  Hurwich  House,  Derbyshire. 

Gisborne  Matthew,  Esq.,  Walton  Hall,  Burton-on-Trent. 

Green  Mr.,  Hermitage  Farm,  Belton. 

Grundy  Joshua,  Esq.,  the  Oaks,  near  Leicester.  (2) 

Grundy  Thomas,  Esq.,  Swamiington,  Leicestershire. 

Greatorex  Mr.  Edward,  Uttoxeter. 

Gresley  the  Rev.  J.  Morewood,  M.  A.,  Over  Seal, 
Leicestershire. 

Gutch  the  Rev.  Robert,  M.A.,  Segrave  Rectory,  Leices- 
tershire. 

Gwatkin  the  Rev.  Richard,  B.  D.,  Vicar  of  Barrow, 
Leicestershire. 

Hackett  Mrs.,  Aylestone,  Leicestershire. 

Hall  the  Rev.  John  Hancock,  M.  A.,  Risley  Hall,  Derby- 
shire. 

Hamilton  the  Rev.  J.  H.,  Vicar  of  Sheepshed. 

Hamilton,  Adams,  and  Co.,  Messrs.,  London. 

Harley  Mr.  Edward,  Loughborough. 

Harley  Mr.  James,  Leicester. 

Harris  Smith,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Hardy  John  Stockdale,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Harris  Samuel,  Esq.,  Quom. 

Harris  Samuel,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Harrison  John,  Esq.,  Bakewell. 

Haskins  John,  Esq.,  Cuckney,  Nottinghamshire. 

Haygarth  the  Rev.  Richard,  Muswell  Hill,  Middlesex. 

Haywood  Miss,  Melbourne. 

Herrick  W.  Esq,  Beaumanor  Park,  Leicestershire.  (2) 

Heyrick  William,  Esq.,  Thurmaston. 

Hewgill  Rev.  F.,  Rectory,  WooUaton,  Nottinghamshire. 

Hextall  Mr.  Richard,  Nailstone. 

Hextall  Messrs.,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch.  (3) 

Herbert  William,  Esq!,  Nottingham  Park. 

Hill  the  Rev.  T.,  M.  A.,  Vicar  of  Chesterfield. 

Hill  Mr   Joseph,  Bakewell,  Derbyshire. 

Hind  Mr.  William,  Groby  Quarry. 

Hitchcock  Mr.  H.  M.,  jun.,  Leicester. 

Hives  Mrs.,  Quorndon. 

Hodgson  Isaac,  Esq.,  Kirby  Frith. 

Holbrooke  William,  Esq.,  Nun's  Field,  Alvaston,  Der- 
byshire. 

Hood  R.  Jacomb,  Esq.,  Bardon  Hall,  Leicestershire. 

Hubbersty  Philip,  Esq.,  Wirksworth. 

Hunloke  James,  Esq.,  Birdholme.   (2 ) 

Hunter  John,  Esq.,  Brooksby  Hall,  Leicestershire. 

Huish  Marcus,  Esq.,  Ca,stle  Donington. 

Holme  Rev.  Thomas,  Emmanuel  Church,  Loughborough. 


Inglesant  Joseph,  Esq.,  Solicitor,  Quorndon. 
Iveson  J.  G.,  Esq.,  Halliford,  Middlesex. 

Jacobson  Thomas,  Esq.,  Sleaford,  Lincolnshire. 

Jacomb  Thomas,  Esq. 

Jackson  E.  P.,  Esq.,  Quorndon. 

Jack.son  Mr.  George,  Mountsorrel. 

Johnson  Mr.  A.  B.,  Birmingham. 

Johnson  John,  Esq.,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

Johnson  the  Rev.  N.  Palmer,  M.  A.,  Rector  of  Aston- 

on-Trent,  Derbyshire. 
Judd  Mr.  Robert,  Loughborough. 
Jukes  J.  B.,  Esq.,  M.A.,  F.G.S.,  F.C.P.S. 

Keck  G.  A.  L.,  Esq.,  Stoughton  Hall,  Leicestershire. 
Kegworth  Book  Society. 

Kelk  the  Rev.  T.  H.  Hastings,  B.  A.,   Osgathorpe,   Lei- 
cestershire. 
Kelly  Thomas,  Esq.,  London. 
Kelly  William,  Esq.,  Bowbridge,  Leicester. 
Kennedy  James,  Esq.,  M.  D-,  Woodhouse  Eaves. 
Killingley  Mrs.,  Lenton  Terrace,  near  Nottingham. 
Kingstone  Rev.  Clement  U.,  B.A.,  Ashbourne. 
Kirkman  Samuel,  Esq.,  Bagworth,  Leicestershire. 
Knight  — ,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Lancashire  (the  late)  Miss,  Alvaston  House,  Derbyshire, 

Langdon  Miss,  Leicester. 

Langley  Mr.,  Mansfield. 

Lea  John,  Esq.,  Mountsorrel,  Leicestershire. 

Leacroft  W.  S.,  Esq.,  Southwell,  Nottinghamshire. 

Lee  the  Rev.  R.,  M.A.,  Darleigh  Dale,  Matlock. 

Lee  Mr.  S.  Loughborough. 

Lee  Mr.,  Barrow,  Leicestershire. 

Leeson  Mr.,  Castle  Donington,  Leicestershire. 

Leicester  Permanent  Library. 

Leicestershire  Book  Society. 

Lester  Mr.,  Woodhouse. 

Leschallas  William,  Esq.,  Loudon. 

Loughborough  Permanent  Library, 

Lugar  Robert,  Esq.,  Brunswick  Square,  London. 

Macaulay  Thomas,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Mammatt  John,  Esq.,  Manor  House,  -\shby-de-la-Zoueh. 

Maun  Mr.  Henry,  Pigburn,  Yorkshire. 

Manby  Mr.,  Great  Ofenn. 

Marples  Mr.  Samuel,  Melbourne. 

Martin  W.  Bennett,  Esq.,  Thurgarton  Priory,  Notts. 

Martin  the  Rev.  R.,  M.  A.,  Anstey  Pastures,  Leicester- 
shire. 

Martyn  the  Rev.  John  King,  Ockbrook. 

Mason  Mr.,  Loughborough. 

Mathew  John  Jlee,  Esq.,  Barrister  at  Law,  3,  Churchyard 
Court,  Temple,  London. 

Mence  Rev.  J.  W.,  A.  B.,  Incumbent  of  Prestwold  and 
Hoton- 

Merewether  C.  J.,  Esq.,  Cole  Orton,  Leicestershire. 

Merewether  C.  G.,  Esq.,  Wadliam  College,  Oxford. 

Mettam  Mrs.,  Barwell,  Leicestershire. 

Middletou  Edwaid  Chatlerton,  Esq.,  Loughborough. 

JliUer  T.  B„  Esq.,  Thorpe  Villa,  near  Loughboiough. 

Mitchell  Joseph,  Esq.,  Architect,  Sheffield. 

Mitchell  Richard,  Esq.,  Enderby  Hall.  Leicestershire. 

Moore  Jlr.  James,  Wymeswold,  Leicestershire. 

Moxon  Mr.  Thomas,  Leicester. 

Nedham  J.,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Oastler  J  ,  Esq.,  Brailsford,  Derbyshire. 
Odams  Thomas,  Esq.,  Braunstone  Frith. 
Oldham  Mrs.,  Frith  House. 
Ord  the  Rev.  James,  Langtou  Hall,  Leicestershire. 


LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS. 


Packs  the  Rev.  Augustus,  M.  A.,  Walton  Rectory. 

Paget  the  Rev.  Edward  T.,  M.A.,  Swithland  Rectory, 
Leicestershire. 

Paget  William,  Esq.,  Loughborough. 

Palmer  John,  jun.,  Esq.,  Lichfield. 

Palmer  Mr.  E.  S.,  Leicester. 

Palmer  Mrs.,  Leicester. 

Palmer  Mr.  William,  Leicester. 

Palmer  James,  Esq.,  Lichfield. 

Palmer  W.,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Pares  Thomas,  Esq.,  Hopwell  Hall,  Derbyshire.  (2) 

Pares  Miss,  High  Fields,  Derby.  (2) 

Parker  James,  Esq.,  Chester  Terrace,  Regent's  Park. 

Parsons  William,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Patterson  T,,  Esq.,  Ibstock,  Leicestershire. 

Payne  Mr.  B.,  Leicester. 

Peach  Thomas,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Langley  Hall,  Derbyshire. 

Pearson  Mrs.,  Hill  Ridware,  Rugeley,  Stafford. 

Perston  J.,  Esq.,  Woodside  Terrace,  Glasgow. 

Phillipps  Charles  March,  Esq.,  Garendon  Park,  Leices- 
tershire. 

Phillipps  Samuel  March,  Esq.,  Home  Office,  London. 

Phillipps  Ambrose  Lisle  March,  Esq.,  Grace  Dieu  Manor, 
Leicestershire.  (2) 

Phillipps  Miss  March,  Cheltenham. 

Pickering,  Thomas,  Esq.,  Marchington,  StafTordshire. 

Piddoeke  Thomas,  Esq.,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

Pochin  W.  A.,  Esq.,  Barkby  Hall,  Leicestershire. 

Pochin,  Mrs.,  Portman  Square,  London. 

Potter  Samuel,  Esq.,  Ilkestone  Park,  Derbyshire. 

Potter  Thomas,  jun.,  Esq.,  Ilkestone,  Derbyshire. 

Potter  Thomas,  jun.,  Esq.,  Swansea  Fields. 

Potter  Miss,  Alvaston,  Derbyshire. 

Potter  Miss,  Hoton,  Leicestershire. 

Potter  Miss  Letitia. 

Powell  the  Rev.  J.,  Normanton-on-Soar,  Nottingham- 
shire. 

Proudman  Mr.,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

Price  Major  General,  Rowsley,  Derbyshire. 

Pratt  Mrs  ,  Hoton,  Leicestershire. 

Pratt  Mr.  Thomas,  Cauldewell,  Derbyshire. 

Preston  Miss,  Hinckley. 

Railton  William,   Esq.,   Carlton   Chambers,   Regent 

Street,  London. 
Rawson  Mr.  Charles,  Leicester. 
Reddall  Captain,  Loughborough. 
Redfom  Mr.  Henry,  Barton,  Nottinghamshire. 
Riley  John,  Esq.,  Papplewick,  Nottinghamshire. 
Riley  Mrs.,  Ilkestone,  Derbyshire. 
Robinson  the  Rev.  C.  W.,  M.A.,  Loughborough. 
Robinson  Mr.  J.,  Bunny,  Nottinghamshire. 
Roby  the  Rev.  William,  M.  A.,  Kirkby  Mallory. 
Roby  Miss,  Battle  Flat  Lodge. 
Roby  Miss  Elizabeth,  Battle  Flat  Lodge. 
Roby  William,  Esq.,  Battle  Flat  Lodge. 
Roby  Thomas  Dudley,  Esq.,  Hugglescote. 
Roughton  Miss,  Leicester. 

Sankey  the  Rev.  John,  M.A,,  Parsonage,  Stoney  Stanton. 

Sarson  Mr.,  Quomdon,  Leicestershire. 

Schomberg  the  Rev.  J.  D.,  M.  A.,  Polesworth  Vicarage. 

Scotney  Mr.  T.  H.,  Nottmgham. 

Sgambella  Mrs.,  Bradley  Hall.  (2) 

Sherbrooke  Mrs.,  Oxton,  Nottinghamshire. 

Sherwin  William,  jun.,  Esq.,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

Sheppard  Joseph,  Esq.,  Wymeswold. 


Shilton  C.  D'Aubigney,  Esq.,  Nottingham. 

Simpkin  Benjamin,  Esq.,  Hoby,  Leicestershire. 

Sississon  Mr.  William,  Hull. 

Skevington  Mr.  John,  M.R.C.S.L.,  Ashbourne. 

Smart  T.  W.  W.,  Esq.,  Cranboume,  Dorset. 

Smith  Mrs.,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

Smith  Mr.  John,  Loughborough. 

Smith  James,  Esq.,  Mount  Pleasant,  Uttoxeter. 

Smith  Mr.  James,  Derby. 

Smith,  Alfred,  Esq.,  Derby. 

Sniythe  E.  Watson,  Esq.,  West  Cottage,  Leicester. 

Sneath  Charles,  Esq.,  Nottingham  Park. 

Soresby  Mrs.,  Cavendish  Bridge. 

Spencer  Thomas,  Esq.,  Earl  Shilton,  Leicestershire. 

Spencer  Mr.  Samuel,  Snarestone,  Leicestershire. 

Staunton,  the  Rev.  Dr.,  Staunton  Hall,  Notts. 

Stokes  Thomas,  Esq.  (Mayor),  Leicester. 

Stone  Mrs.,  Quomdon. 

Stone  Samuel,  Esq.,  Town  Clerk,  Leicester. 

Staveley  Mr.  J.,  Nottingham. 

Stow  Mr.  Thomas,  Waltham. 

Sutton  James,  Esq.,  Shardlow  Hall,  Derbyshire. 

Swann  Mr.  W.,  Surgeon,  Farnsfield,  Nottinghamshire. 

Tacey  Mr.  Joseph,  Quomdon,  Leicestershire. 
Tait  Mortimer  Lavater,  Esq.,  Manchester. 
Tomlinson  Robert,  Esq.,  Burton-upon-Trent. 
Toone  Henry,  Esq.,  Loughborough. 
Toone  Miss  B.  H.,  Loughborough. 
Towne  Mr.,  Melton  Mowbray. 
Trimingham  Mrs.,  Marr  Grange,  Doncaster. 

Unsworth  Mr.  William,  Derby. 

Waddington  Mr.,  Leicester. 

Wakefield  Thomas,  Esq.,  Nottingham. 

Walker  George,  Esq.,  Eastwood  Hall,  Nottinghamshire. 

Wall  W.,  Esq.,  Crescent,  Leicester. 

Ward  William,  Esq.,  Belgrave  Gate,  Leicester. 

Warner  Thomas,  Esq.,  The  Elms,  Loughborough. 

Warner  Edward,  Esq.,  Loughborouiih. 

Warner  Henry,  Esq.,  Loughborough. 

Watkinson  Miss,  Woodhouse,  Leicestershire.  (2) 

Watts  Mr.,  Leicester. 

Webster  George,  Esq.,  Hall  Fields,  Desford,  Leicester- 
shire. 

Webster  Mrs.,  Sprotborough,  Doncaster. 

Webb  W.  D.,  Esq.,  Haselour. 

Wesley  Mr.,  Burton-upon-Trent.  (2) 

Whitby  R.  Vemon,  Esq.,  Osbaston  Lodge,  Market  Bos- 
worth. 

Whitechurch  Mr.,  Wymeswold. 

Wilcox  Mr.  W.  W.  T.,  Leicester. 

Wilkinson  Mr.,  jun..  Earl  Shilton,  Leicestershire. 

Williams  J.  C,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Nottingham.   (2) 

Williams  the  Rev.  Richard,  M.  A.,  Rectory,  Great 
Houghton,  Northampton. 

Williamson  William,  Esq.,  Derby. 

Wilmot  Edward  WooUett,  Esq.,  Worksop. 

Winstanley  Clement,  Esq.,  Braunstone  Hall,  Leicester- 
shire. 

Wolfcrstan  S.  Pipe,  Esq.,  Statfold,  Tamworth. 

Woodford  Jolm,  Esq.,  Derby. 

Woodrulf  Jlr.  Daniel,  (Quomdon. 

Woolrich  Mr.  Thomas,  Uttoxeter. 

Wright  John  Smith,  Esq.,  Rempstone  Hall. 

Wright  Mr.  R.,  High  Street,  Leicester. 


»»*  The  Academical  Degree  of  many  Clerical  Subscribers  not  being  known  to  the  Author,  it  has  been  deemed 
better,  in  such  cases,  to  omit  it,  than  to  run  the  risk  of  giving  it  incorrectly. 


CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

CHAPTER  I. 

•  FOREST  LAW,  COURTS,  AND  CUSTOMS. 


2rJ)us  saiti)  rtje  S.ato :— "  It  is  allotofli  to  our  Sobfrrtgn  HorB  ti)C  Hfng, 
in  rrsjjrtt  of  Ijts  continual  care  antt  lahour  for  tijc  prcscrbatton  of  tfjc  toljolc 
realm,  among  otljcr  pribilegcs,  tijis  prerogatibc :— to  ijabc  fjis  places  of  reere= 
atton  anU  pastime  irjijeresocber  f)e  toill  appoint.  jFor  as  it  is  at  tlje  libertg 
attti  pleasure  of  l^is  ©race  to  reserbe  tlje  iuilti  beasts  anD  tije  game  to  l)imself, 
for  ijis  onlg  Delight  anU  pleasure,  so  fje  map  also,  at  i)is  iuill  anti  pleasure, 
mafee  a  jForest  for  t^cm  to  abiDe  in." 

Manwood,  on  Forest  Law,  Chap.  2. 

Forests  have  ever  been  in  use,  in  all  parts  and  ages  of  the  world,  as  the  appendages 
of  Royalty.  We  read  of  them  being  thus  appropriated  even  in  the  times  of  sacred  story. 
^\Tien  Nehemiah  was  in  captivity,  in  the  Court  of  Artaxerxes,  and  had  obtained  leave  of 
that  Prince  to  re-build  Jerusalem,  we  read  [Nehemiah  ii.  8.)  that  Artaxerxes  granted  him, 
among  other  favours,  a  letter  to  Asaph,  Keepei-  of  the  King's  Forest,  to  supply  him  with 
timber. 

"  The  Royal  appropriation  of  most  of  our  English  Forests,"  says  Gilpin,  "  seems  to  have 
been  at  the  least  as  early  as  the  times  of  the  Heptarchy.  Every  petty  Prince  had  his  Royal 
demesnes.  Afterwards,  when  one  Sovereign  obtained  possession  of  the  whole  island,  he 
found  himself  proprietor  of  a  number  of  these  Forests,  scattered  over  the  different  parts  of  it." 

Forest  Law  and  Forest  Rights  were  in  force  as  early  as  the  times  of  the  Saxons :  but 
the  Saxon  Princes  were  generally  so  equitable  and  so  mild,  that  the  afforestation  of  large 
untenanted  wastes,  and  the  laws  enacted  for  their  preservation,  were  hardly  felt  as  a  burden 
by  the  commonalty.  Under  the  Norman  Princes,  all  the  then  existing  laws,  and  especially 
the  Forest  Law,  assumed  a  harsher  character. 


2  FOREST  LAW,  COURTS,  AND  CUSTOMS. 

The  Conqueror,  in  1078,  gave  orders  to  lay  waste  the  fertile  lands  between  the  Humber 
and  Tees,  for  the  extent  of  sixty  miles.  Many  flourishing  towns,  fine  villages,  and  noble 
country  seats,  were  accordingly  burnt  down,  the  implements  of  husbandry  destroyed,  and 
the  cattle  driven  away.  The  great  Lord  Lyttleton,  speaking  of  these  devastations  and  those 
occasioned  by  the  Forest  Laws,  observes,  that  "  Attila  no  more  deserves  the  name  of  the 
'  Scourge  of  God,^  than  did  this  merciless  tyrant :  nor  did  he,  nor  any  other  destroyer  of 
nations,  make  more  havoc  in  an  enemy's  country  than  William  did  in  his  own," 

We,  who  live  under  more  benign  influences,  can  form  no  adequate  idea  of  the  miseries 
which  Forest  Law  inflicted,  under  despotic  Princes.  Constant  encroachments  on  private 
property — cruel  punishments,  for  the  slightest  ofience  committed  within  the  verge  of  a 
Forest — extravagant  claims  made  by  Forest  Officers — heavy  tolls  on  all  merchandize  passing 
through  any  of  the  King's  Forests — and  frequent  arbitrary  changes  of  boundaries,  to  bring 
any  ofience  within  the  scope  of  Forest  Law,  were  only  a  part  of  the  evils. 

Pope  beautifully  alludes  to  this  state  of  things  in  his  poem  on  Windsor  Forest : — 

"  Thus  all  the  land  appear'd,  in  ages  past, 
A  dreary  desert  or  a  gloomy  waste ; 
To  savage  beasts  and  savage  laws  a  prey. 
And  Kings  more  furious  and  severe  than  they ; 
Who  claim'd  the  skies,  dispeopled  air  and  floods. 
The  lonely  lords  of  empty  wilds  and  woods ; 
Cities  laid  waste,  they  storm'd  the  dens  and  caves, 
For  wiser  brutes  were  backward  to  be  slaves. 
•  *»*•* 

In  vain  kind  seasons  swelled  the  teeming  grain : 
Soft  showers  distill'd  and  suns  grew  warm  in  vain : 
The  swain  with  tears  his  frustrate  labours  yields, 
And,  famish' d,  dies  amidst  his  ripening  fields. 
What  wonder,  then,  a  beast  or  subject  slain, 
Were  equal  crimes  in  a  despotic  reign ! 
Both  doom'd  alike,  for  sportive  tyrants  bled; 
But  while  the  subject  starved,  the  beast  was  fed." 

These  cruel  and  insupportable  hardships,  which  the  Forest  Laws  inflicted  on  the  subject, 
rendered  our  ancestors  as  zealous  for  their  abolition  or  reformation,  as  for  the  relaxation  of 
the  feudal  rigours  and  other  exactions  introduced  by  the  Norman  family.  Hence  the  anxiety 
of  the  Barons  on  this  subject  at  Runnymede.  The  disaffbrestation  of  Charnwood,  by  Henry 
the  Third,  was  probably  obtained  by  the  infiuence  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester  and  the  Barons ; 
and  it  should  be  remembered,  that  this  disaff'oresting  implied  little  more  than  exempting  the 
distrist  from  the  harsher  operations  of  Forest  Law. 

It  would  extend  these  pages  to  a  length  unsuited  to  my  design,  to  enter  at  large  into  a 
history  of  the  Chartm  de  Forestd  and  the  other  various  laws  connected  with  Forests.  The 
reader  desirous  of  further  information  on  the  subject,  will  find  all  he  requires  in  Man  wood. 
Some  account,  however,  of  the  ancient  Courts,  Customs,  and  Officers  of  a  Forest,  may  not 
be  out  of  place  here. 


FOREST  LAW,  COURTS,  AND  CUSTOMS.  d 

The  Courts  on  Chamwood  were — the  Justice  Seat  ;  the  Swanimote,  or  Swainmote  ; 
the  Court  of  Attachment,  and  Court  of  Regard.  The  Justice  Seat  was  presided  over 
by  one  of  the  Justices  in  Eyre,*  and  was  the  superior,  or  Court  of  Appeal. 

The  Swainmote  (as  Nichols  prefers  spelling  the  word,  from  its  supposed  derivation — 
a  meeting  of  the  swains)  was  assembled  three  times  a  year,  and  Spelman  describes  it  to  be 
"  Curia  Forestw  de  rebus  et  delictix  in  Forestd  accidenlibus."  The  owners  of  the  lordships 
of  Whitvvick,  Groby,  and  Sheepshed,  only  held  these  Courts :  but  whether  the  other  lords 
of  the  Forest  were  subordinate  to  these,  or  held  other  Courts,  taking  cognizance  of  similar 
matters,  does  not  appear.  Like  all  Courts  of  high  antiquity,  the  Swanimote  was  held  in 
the  open  air;  that  of  Wliitwick,  near  Sharpley  rocks,  where  the  place  may  stiU  be  traced; 
that  of  Groby,  at  Copt  Oak ;  and  that  of  Sheepshed,  on  Ives  Head. 

The  Court  of  Attachment,  or  Woodmote,  was  kept  every  forty  days :  at  which  the 
Foresters  brought  in  the  attachment  de  viridi  et  renatione  and  the  presentments  thereof, 
which  the  Verderors  received  and  enrolled — but  that  Court  could  only  inquire,  not  convict. 

The  Court  of  Regard,  or  survey  of  dogs,  was  holden  every  third  year,  for  expe- 
ditation  or  lawing  of  dogs,  by  cutting  off  to  the  skin  three  claws  of  the  fore  feet,  to  prevent 
their  running  at  or  killing  the  deer.  No  other  dogs  but  mastiffs  were  to  be  thus  lawed, 
because  it  was  supposed  these  only  were  necessary  for  the  defence  of  a  man's  home. — 
(4  Inst.  .308.) 

The  Chief  Officer  of  the  Forest  was  the  Lord  Warden.  I  have  never  met  with  any 
mention  of  this  officer  with  reference  to  Charnwood :  but  as  the  Constable  of  any  Castle  in 
a  Forest  was  the  Lord  Warden,  it  is  probable  that  the  office  was  held  by  the  Lords  of  Whit- 
wick,  Mountsorrel,  or  Groby  Castles. 

A  Verderor  was  a  judicial  officer  of  the  Forest,  chosen  by  the  freeholders  of  the  county, 
by  the  King's  writ;  his  office  was  to  observe  and  keep  the  assizes  or  laws  of  the  Forest,  and 
view,  receive,  and  enrol  the  attachments  and  presentments,  and  make  presentments  of  all 
trespasses  of  the  Forest,  of  vert  and  venison,  and  to  do  equal  right  and  justice  to  the  people. 
The  Verderors  were  the  chief  judges  of  the  Swanimote,  although  the  Chief  Warden  or  his 
deputy  usually  sat  there. — (4  Inst.  292.) 

The  Regarders  were  to  make  regard  of  the  Forest,  and  to  view  and  inquire  of  offences, 
concealments,  defaults  of  Foresters,  &c.  Before  any  justice  seat  was  holden,  the  Regarders 
had  to  make  their  regard,  and  go  through  the  whole  Forest.  They  were  ministerial  officers, 
appointed  by  letters  patent  of  the  King,  or  chosen  by  writ  to  the  Sheriff. 

The  Foresters  were  swom  officers,  and  their  duty  was  to  watch  over  vert  and  venison, 
and  to  make  presentments  of  all  trespasses.  A  Forester  was  also  taken  for  the  Wood  Ward  : 
and  every  Forester,  when  called  at  a  justice  seat,  had  to  kneel  and  present  his  horn,  while 
the  Wood  Ward  knelt  and  presented  his  axe. 

*  Justices  in  Eyre  were  instituted  by  Henry  the  Second,  in  1184,  and  their  Courts  were  formerly  held  very  regu- 
larly :  but  the  last  Court  of  Justice  seat  of  any  note  was  that  holden  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  First,  over  which  the 
Earl  of  Holland  presided — the  rigorous  proceedings  at  which  are  reported  by  Sir  W.  Jones.  After  the  Restoration 
another  was  held,  pro  formii  only,  before  the  Earl  of  Oxford;  but  since  the  revolution  of  1688,  many  of  the  Forest 
Laws  have  fallen  into  disuse. 


4  FOREST  LAW,  COURTS,  AND  CUSTOMS. 

An  Agister's  office  was  to  attend  upon  the  King's  woods  and  lands,  and  receive  and 
take  in  cattle  by  agistment,  that  is  to  depasture  within  the  Forest  or  to  feed  upon  pannage. 

A  Ranger's  proper  office  was  to  rechase  the  wild  beasts  from  the  purlieus  into  the 
Forest. 

The  proper  times  for  hunting  the  various  beasts  of  the  Forest  were  limited  thus : — 

That  of  the  hart  or  buck  began  at  the  Feast  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  and  ended  at  Holy- 
rood  day ;  that  of  the  hind  and  doe  began  at  Holy-rood  and  ended  at  Candlemas ;  the  chase 
of  the  boar  began  at  Christmas  and  ended  at  Candlemas ;  that  of  the  fox  began  at  Christmas 
and  continued  till  Lady-day ;  and  that  of  the  hare  began  at  Michaelmas  and  ended  at  Can- 
dlemas.— (Dyer,  169J 

It  is  right  to  observe  here,  that  Burton  (p.  71  of  his  Description  of  Leicestershire)  asserts 
that  "  this  Forrest  of  Charaewood,  never  since  the  de-affiarestation  thereof  by  Henry  HL, 
hath  had  any  game  or  gard  thereto."  If  by  these  expressions  he  intended  to  imply  that 
there  never  had  been  any  resumption  or  restoration  of  Forest  privileges,  the  following  pages, 
and  especially  the  following  extract,  will  prove  that  he  was  in  en-or: — 

"  The  whole  Royalty  of  the  Forest,  or  Chace  of  Charnwood  (as  touching  the  Swanimote 
Court),  doth  belong  to  these  three  manors — Sheepshed,  Groby,  and  Whitwick  :  and  all  the 
four  Rangers  of  this  Forest  do  hold  lands  of  these  three  manors,  to  perform  their  office  of 
Rangers  and  by  other  services,  viz. :  Mr.  Holt,  of  Hathern,  and  Mr.  Eyre,  of  Belton  (for 
his  lands  in  Wliatton),  two  of  the  Rangers,  do  hold  of  the  manor  of  Shepeshed  (viz. :  Mr. 
Holt,  of  my  Lord  of  Rutland's  manor,  and  Mr.  Eyre,  of  Mr.  Davenport's  manor),  and  Mr. 
Danvers,  of  Swithland,  one  of  the  other  Rangers  (holds  his  lands  in  Swithland),  of  the  manor 
of  Groby.  Warner,  of  Markfield,  the  fourth  Ranger,  holds  of  the  manor  of  Whitwick. 
Every  one  of  these  townships  or  manors  ought  to  have  a  drift  within  the  liberty  of  their  own 
manor  only,  and  not  to  usurp  any  drift  within  the  manor  of  Shepeshed;  sic  e  contra. 
Neither  are  the  tenants  of  these  three  townships  compellable  to  come  to  any  Swanimote  but 
such  as  is  kept  for  the  township  or  manor  whereof  they  are  tenants.  And  therefore  Mr. 
Holt  and  Mr.  Eyre  do  wrong  to  their  Lords  to  appear,  and  their  offices  of  Rangers,  at  Whit- 
wick Swanimote.  And  my  Lord  of  Rutland's  freeholders  and  commoners  do  wrong  to  their 
Lord  to  appear  at  Whitwick  Swanimote;  whereas  they  should  only  appear  at  Shepeshed 
Swanimote,  when  any  is  kept.  Also,  it  is  wrong  that  Shepeshed  tenants  and  commoners 
should  be  amerced  at  Whitwick  Swanimote,  as  they  have  been  of  late :  and  now  at  the  last 
Swanimote,  divers  of  my  Lord  of  Rutland's  tenants,  and  Mr.  Davenport's,  of  Shepeshed 
Lordship,  are  amerced,  and  like  to  be  distrained  upon,  if  my  Lord  of  Rutland  do  not  crave 
of  my  Lord  of  Huntingdon  that  he  will  forbear  to  distrain  them  for  the  aforesaid  causes,  until 
a  right  course  be  concluded  between  them  by  friendly  agreement." 

This  extract  was  transcribed  by  Mr.  Peck,  in  1730,  from  an  old  manuscript  at  Garendon  : 
and  though  it  shows  that  some  irregularity  had  arisen  in  the  holding  of  these  Forest  Courts, 
yet  it  incontestably  proves  that,  even  so  late  as  the  period  when  Garendon  was  in  possession 
of  the  Rutland  family  (about  1621),  the  Swanimote,  at  least,  exercised  its  powers. 


CHAPTER  11. 

WOODY  STATE  OF  THE  FOREST  DOWN  TO  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE 
EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY. 


"  That  wonderful  and  almost  unknown  tract  of  country,  Chamwood  Forest." — Nichols'  West  Goscote,  p.  918. 

"  Neque  enim  ullis  accedere  major 
Possit  honos  dens4  quam  nubilis  arbore  lucus. 
Sylvarum  studiosa,  suos  cilm  Gallia  quondam 
Vii  aleret  cives,  patri^  migrare  relict^, 
Atque  peregrinos  alio  defene  penates 
Maluit,  excisis  victum  quam  quaerere  sylvis. 
Haee  ubi  jam  nemorum  reverentia  tanta  bipennes 
Ut  teneat  ?  nostros  ubi  grandior  uUa  per  agros  , 
Quercus  ad  annosam,  ferri  secura,  senectam 
Durat  ?  inaccessis  nisi  consita  montibus,  ipso 
Se  defensa  loco  tueatur ;  si  qua  supersunt 
A  patribus  nemora  ad  seros  transmissa  nepotes 
Ilia  nee  sestivo  frondent  impervia  soli 
Nobile  nee  coelo  caput  abdimt  qualia  quondam 
Vulgus  adorabat  truncis  procera  Terendis 
Sed  veteri  de  stirpe  novo  surgentia  ramo 
Et  quatuor  post  lustra  nigros  visuia  caminos, 
Vix  lepori  hospitium  prabent,  sylvestribus  olim 
Quse  timidas  latebris  damas  ursosque  tegebant." — I'anier,  Prred.  rusticum. 

To  persons  totally  unacquainted  with  the  district  called  Chamwood  Forest,  the  word 
"  Forest"  will  convey  very  erroneous  ideas  of  the  locality. — "  Why  is  Chamwood,  in  which 
there  is  scarcely  a  tree,  called  a  Forest  f"  asked  one  who  had  long  lived  within  the  shadow 
of  its  beautiful  hills.  "  Not  for  the  reason  for  which  the  Latins  have  been  said  to  have 
given  a  grove  its  name,"  (lucus  a  non  lucendo)  was  the  prompt  and  proper  reply.  Time 
was  when  those  bare  hills,  as  well  as  the  valleys  at  their  feet,  were  covered  with  majestic 
oaks — when,  to  use  the  words  of  an  old  tradition,  "  a  squirrel  might  be  hunted  six  miles 
without  once  touching  the  ground ;  and  when  a  traveller  might  journey  from  Beaumanor  to 
Bardon,  on  a  clear  Summer's  day,  without  seeing  the  sun." 

The  names  of  Woodhouse,  Woodthorpe,  the  Outwoods,  Timberwood  Hills,  and  Cham- 
wood, are  all  plainly  rcfemble  to  the  period  when  the  Forest  was  clothed  with  wood. — We 


6  WOODY  STATE  OF  THE  FOREST. 

shall  endeavour,  in  the  following  pages,  to  trace  the  changes  which  the  hand  of  time,  or  that 
of  man,  has  wrought.     The  lover  of  Nature  in  her  undisturbed  wildness,  and  the  votary  of 

"  The  calm  retreat — the  quiet  shade," 

may  grieve  over  manj'  of  these  changes,  but  he  will  find  much  to  compensate  for  them  in 
the  conversion  of  an  immense  tract  of  almost  unproductive  land  into  fertile  fields,  increasing 
our  agricultural  supply,  and  greatly  adding  to  the  wealth  of  the  proprietors,  and  to  the  com- 
fort of  the  denizens  of  the  Forest.  It  will  be  some  consolation,  too,  to  find,  that  though 
there  are  some  proprietors  utterly  regardless  of  the  preservation  of  the  natural  beauties  of  the 
district,  there  are  others  so  careful  of  them  as  not  to  permit  any  consideration  of  pecuniary 
advantage  to  induce  them  to  efface  the  grand  and  wonderful  works  of  Nature,  or  the  ancient 
handy-work  of  man. 

The  name  Charnwood  is  probably  derived  from  Quern,  a  hand-mill :  as  rough  stones, 
suitable  for  making  these  mills,  were  found  in  many  parts  of  the  Forest.  Dr.  Gale,  how- 
ever, thinks  the  name  derived  from  Guern,  an  alder,  and  considers  that  Querendon,  or 
Quemdon,  had  the  same  derivation*  The  name  Aller,  or  Alder  Carr,  is,  perhaps,  somewhat 
corroborative  of  this  latter  etymology.f  The  alderj  is  still  found  in  many  parts  of  Cham- 
wood.  In  the  lower  grounds  it  was  probably  in  former  days,  as  now,  the  most  common 
tree,  and  its  early-known  suitability  for  chaning,  and  for  many  ordinary  purposes,  may  have 
given  it  an  importance  which  it  has  long  ceased  to  possess.  It  should  be  remembered,  too, 
that  Charley  is,  by  many  old  writers,  written  Charnley,  and  the  terminations  ley  and  wood 
only  show  the  difference  between  the  open  and  the  timber-covered  ground.  Charnwood 
was,  however,  at  a  period  long  anterior  to  the  Norman  Conquest,  clothed  with  all  the  various 
kinds  of  trees  found  in  a  natural  Forest,  and  the  undulating  surface  of  the  ground  must  have 
imparted  unusual  beauty  to  the  woodland  scene.  No  person  at  all  alive  to  the  efl'ects  of 
foliage,  can  have  failed  to  notice  the  superior  charm  of  trees  growing  on  declivities,  over 
those  growing  on  flat  siu'faces.  Such  an  observer  will  easily  draw  on  his  imagination  for  a 
picture  of  sylvan  Charnwood,  when  Nature,  and  not  the  hand  of  man, 

"  Hung  with  -woods  yon  mountain's  sultry  brow." 

Milton  describes  the  woody  boundaries  of  Eden  as  possessing  this  advantage  of  a  rising 
stage  for  the  display  of  foliage. 

"  the  champain  head 


Of  a  steep  wilderness,  whose  hairy  sides 
With  thicket  overgrown,  grotesque  and  wild — 
A  sylvan  scene;  and  as  the  ranks  ascend 
Shade  above  shade,  a  woody  theatre 
Of  stateliest  view." 

*  Qi/ernmore  Forest,  Lancashire,  doubtless  owes  its  name  to  the  same  origin. 

t  See  Cough's  Additions  to  Camden. 

I  Gilpin  describes  the  alder  as  "  flourishing  in  the  poorest  Forest  swamps,  and  perhaps  the  most  picturesque  of  any 
of  the  aquatic  tribe  except  the  weeping  willow." 


WOODY  STATE  OF  THE  FOREST.  7 

A  district  of  ten  miles  in  length  and  about  six  in  breadth,  almost  wholly  covered  with 
trees  and  rocks,  and  containing,  perhaps,  in  early  times,  many  temples  of  the  Druids :  the 
abode,  certainly,  of  those  awful  and  honoured  priests  of  a  mystic  and  imposing  form  of  reli- 
gion, must  doubtless  have  been  of  considerable  importance  to  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the 
country.  Charnwood  formed  part  of  the  ancient  Celtic  Forest  of  Arden,  which  extended 
from  the  Avon  to  the  Trent,  and  the  Leicestershire  portion  was  bounded  on  the  east  by  a 
line  running  through  High  Cross  to  Barton,  in  Nottinghamshire.  Many  of  the  finest 
scenes  in  Shakspeare  are  laid  in  the  Forest  of  Arden ;  and  as  Leicester  is  supposed  to  have 
been  founded  by  Lear,  and  the  seat  of  his  Government,  I  have  sometimes  pleased  myself 
with  tlie  fancy  (especially  when  I  have  been  in  the  midst  of  a  pelting  storm  on  the  Forest) 
that  Charnwood  might  have  been  "  the  heath"  on  which  Shakspeare  imaijined  Lear's  expo- 
sure to  the  storm.  That  the  Romans  were  well  acquainted  with  it  is  placed  beyond  con- 
jecture, by  the  circumstance  of  a  Roman  road  intersecting  the  Forest ;  by  the  recent  discovery 
of  Roman  coins  and  earthenware,  and  by  the  station  or  stations  which,  it  is  presumed,  will 
be  acknowledged  to  have  been  fixed  on  one  or  more  of  the  hills  in  the  Forest  range. 

I  have  somewhere  read,  but  regret  that  I  cannot  now  recollect  my  authority,  that  when 
Wilham  the  Conqueror  first  broached  his  design  of  making  the  New  Forest,  some  courtier, 
out  of  pity  to  the  Hampshire  villagers,  urged  the  King  to  make  Charnwood  his  hunting 
Forest ;  and  that  William  sternly  asked  the  remonstrant  "  whether  it  was  wished  that  he 
should  break  his  neck }  as  he  understood  Charnwood  was  full  of  rocks  and  caves." 

Doubtless  the  Forest  was  of  great  note  in  the  feudal  times,  when  hunting  the  deer  was 
the  chief  pastime  of  the  nobles,  and  when  laws  much  more  stringent  than  our  present  Game- 
laws  were  in  force  with  regard  to  Forests.  The  kilUng  of  a  boar,  a  deer,  or  even  a  hare, 
indeed,  was  punished  with  the  loss  of  the  delinquent's  eyes,  at  a  time  when  the  killing  of  a 
man  might  be  atoned  for  by  paying  a  moderate  fine.  Outlawry  was  also  a  very  frequent 
punishment  for  oflences  of  this  nature.     Scott  makes  John  of  Brent  say — 

An  outlaw  I  to  Forest  Laws, 

And  merry  Needwood  knows  the  cause. 

Robin  Hood  may  often  have  tried  the  quality  of  the  deer  on  Charnwood,  when  Sherwood 
had  too  many  of  the  King's  men.*  At  all  events,  the  Forest  was  in  those  times  frequently 
enlivened  by  the  hunter's  horn,  and  reUeved  by  the  "  Lincolne  green." 

Deer,  goats,  wild  hogs,  wild  sheep,  and  wild  cattle,  with  all  the  varieties  of  the  feathered 
tribe,  abounded  in  the  Forest :  and  previous  to  the  time  of  Edgar,  the  district  was  greatly 
infested  with  wolves.  Some  idea  of  its  state  in  the  13th  century  may  be  formed  from  the 
following  notes,  partly  taken  from  a  Perambulation  of  Shepeshed,  taken  at  Whitwick  Castle, 
Nov.  ■29th,  1-289  (temp.  Edvardi  primi)  : — "  Such  part  of  the  Forest  as  lay  within  the 
precincts  of  Barrow,  contained  a  wood,  one  mile  long  and  four  furlougs  broad.  Other  parts 
are  undoubtedly  included  under  Loughborough,  where  the  wood  was  seven  furlongs  long 

•  It  is  remarkable  that  there  is  a  spot  on  the  south  of  Bardon  Hill  still  called  Robin,  or  Robin's  Butts. 


8  WOODY  STATE  OF  THE  FOREST. 

and  three  broad ;  under  Shepeshed,  where  the  wood  was  one  mile  long  and  five  furlongs 
broad,  and  where  it  was  expressly  stated  that  Godwin,  the  King's  tenant,  held  also  fifty 
acres  of  meadow  (probably  the  site  of  Garendon  Park) ;  under  Belton,  where  the  wood  was 
a  mile  long  and  half  a  mile  broad ;  under  Whitvvick,  where  the  wood  was  a  furlong  in 
length  and  half  a  furlong  broad,  and  where  the  Earls  of  Leicester  had  a  Castle,  a  con- 
siderable Park,  and  a  Manor,  to  which  many  of  the  neighbouring  villages  are  still  append- 
ants; under  Ovretone  (probably  that  part  of  Cole  Orton  called  Thringstone),  where  a 
ploughed  land  lay  waste;  under  Stantone,  where  the  ancient  wood  was  five  furlongs  long 
and  two  broad,  and  in  another  part  (Bardon)  were  four  acres  of  wood ;  under  Markfield, 
where  the  wood  was  six  furlongs  in  length  and  three  broad ;  under  Grobi  (including  the 
site  of  Newtown  and  Bradgate),  where  the  wood  was  two  miles  long  and  half  a  mile  broad  ; 
under  Turcheleston  (Thurcaston),  perhaps  including  also  Swithland,  which  is  not  separately 
noticed  in  Domesday,  where  the  wood  was  two  miles  long  and  half  a  mile  broad ;  and  under 
Anstey,  where  the  wood  was  a  mile  long  and  half  a  mile  broad." 

It  should  be  observed  that  these  parts  of  the  Forest  called  woods,  of  so  many  miles  and 
furlongs,  were  inclosures  for  the  particular  preservation  of  the  beasts  of  the  chase ;  and  it 
is  not  hence  to  be  infen-ed  that  these  were  the  o)dy  woodland  parts.  Polidore  Virgil  informs 
us,  that  even  so  late  as  Henry  the  Seventh's  time,  "  Tertia  propemodum  Angliae  Pars  pecori 
aut  cervis,  damis,  capreolis,  cuuiculisve  nutriendis  relicta  est  inculta,  quippe  passim  sunt 
ejusmodi  ferarum  vivaria,  sen  rohoraria  qua;  Ugneis  roboreis  sunt  clausa;  unde  multa  venatio, 
qud  se  nobiles  cum  primis  exercent." — These  "  roboraria"  probably  meant  fenced  woods, 
like  those  above  alluded  to. 

Leland  states  that,  in  his  time  (the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century),  this  Forest  "  hadde 
plentye  of  woode." 

Dr.  Corbett,  Bishop  of  Oxford,  who  wrote  in  the  seventeenth  century  (about  1620), 
mentions  in  his  Iter  Sejdentrionale,  that  he  and  his  companions  were  lost  in  the  mazes  of 
Charley  Forest,  on  their  route  to  Bosworth  Field. 

Nichols  believes  that,  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  great  quantities  of 
timber  were  certainly  growing :  citing  in  proof  of  it  the  prevailing  tradition,  and  the  con- 
current testimony  of  aged  people. 

A  still  stronger  proof  of  the  abundance  of  timber  on  Charnwood,  in  the  17th  century, 
may  be  found  in  an  original  document  at  Beaumanor  (1673),  which  states  that  "William 
Heyrick,  Esq.,  the  elder,  and  William  Heyrick,  Esq.,  the  younger,  sold  to  Humphrey 
Jennens,  Esq.  (afterwards  owner  of  Gopsall),  6090  oak  and  ash  trees,  within  Beaumanor 
liberty,  on  the  Forest  of  Charnwood,  from  Loughborough  Lane,  near  the  Mile-cross,  to 
the  north-east  corner  of  Charley  Lane,  and  on  by  Oldfield  House,  and  Oldfield  Wood 
Corner,  for  the  sum  of  £1,178."  The  elder  trees,  crab  trees,  and  hollies,  with  the  alder 
trees  growing  along  the  Carr  Brook,  were  to  be  left  standing,  and  twelve  years  allowed  for 
clearance. 

The  acorn  harvest  and  pannage  for  hogs,  of  which  we  find  frequent  mention  in  the  old 
conveyances  of  property  bordering  on  the  Forest,  are  proofs  that  Charnwood  was  not  only 
well  wooded,  but  that  it  abounded  in  oaks. 


C®]? 


IK 


WOODY  STATE  OF  THE  FOREST.  9 

A  poet's  testimony  to  the  sylvan  beauties  of  Chanuvood,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  may 
not  inappropriately  be  introduced  here.  The  description  acquires  additional  value  for  at 
least  poetical  accuracy,  from  the  circumstance  of  the  writer  having  been  a  visitor  at  Beau- 
manor  and  Garendon,  and  consequently  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  Forest. 

"  O  Chahnwood,  be  thou  called  the  choicest  of  thy  kind : 
The  like,  in  any  place,  what  flood  hath  hapt  to  find  ? 
No  tract  in  all  this  isle — the  proudest  let  it  be. 
Can  show  a  sylvan  Nymph  in  beauty  like  to  thee — 
The  Satyrs  and  the  Fauns,  by  Dian  set  to  keep 
Rough  Hills  and  Forest  Holts  were  sadly  seen  to  weep, 
When  thy  high-palmed  harts — the  sport  of  boors  and  hounds. 
By  gripple  Borderers'  hands  were  banished  thy  grounds. 

The  Dryads  that  were  wont  about  thy  lawns  to  rove, 

To  skip  from  wood  to  wood,  and  scud  from  grove  to  grove, 

On  Sharpley  that  were  seen,  and  Cadman's  ancient  rocks, 

Against  the  rising  sun  to  braid  their  silver  locks, 

And  with  the  harmless  elves  on  heathy  Bardon's  height, 

By  Cynthia's  golden  beams  to  play  them  night  by  night ; 

Exiled  their  sweet  abode,  to  common  bare  are  fled — 

They  with  the  oaks  that  lived,  now  with  the  oaks  are  dead." 

But  notwithstanding  this  classical  lament  over  the  departure  of  the  former  glories  of 
Chamwood,  the  same  good  old  bard  goes  on  to  show  that,  in  spite  of  all  it  had  lost  of  its 
pristine  loveliness,  it  was  still  his  beau  ideal  of  all  a  Forest  ought  to  be. 

"  Who  will  describe  to  life  a  Forest,  let  him  take 
Thy  surface  to  himself — nor  shall  he  need  to  make 
Another  form  at  all,  where  oft  in  thee  are  found 
Fine  sharp  but  easy  hills,  which  reverently  are  crown'd 
With  aged  antique  oaks,  to  which  thy  goats  and  sheep 
(To  him  that  stands  remote)  do  softly  seem  to  creep. 
To  gnaw  the  little  shrubs  on  their  steep  sides  that  grow ; 
Upon  whose  other  part,  on  some  descending  brow, 
Huge  stones  are  hanging  out,  as  tho'  they  down  would  drop, 
Where  under-growing  oaks  on  their  old  shoulders  prop 
The  others'  hoary  heads ;  which  still  seem  to  decline. 
And  in  a  Dimble  near*  (even  as  a  place  divine 
For  contemplation  fit),  an  ivy-ceiled  bower, 
As  Nature  had  therein  ordain'd  some  Sylvan  power; 
As  men  may  very  oft  at  great  assemblies  see. 
Where  many  of  most  choice  and  wond'red  beauties  be — 
For  stature  one  does  seem  the  bell  away  to  bear, 
Another  for  her  shape  to  stand  beyond  compare ; 
Another  short  of  these,  yet  for  a  modest  grace 

Before  them  all  preferr'd. 

Amongst  the  rest  yet  one 
Adjudg'd  by  all  to  be  a  perfect  paragon: 

*  Probably  the  Hermitage,  near  Sharpley  rocks. 
C 


10  WOODY  STATE  OF  THE  FOREST. 

That  all  those  parts  in  her  do  altogether  dwell, 

For  which  the  others  do  so  severally  excel. 

My  Chamwood,  Uke  the  last,  hath  in  herself  alone 

What  excellence  can  be  in  any  Forest  shown." — Drayton's  Polyolbion. 

Crow  Hill,  near  Woodhouse  Eaves,  probably  took  its  name  from  a  rookery.  The  old 
trees,  many  of  them  twenty  feet  in  circumference,  were  sold  by  an  Earl  of  Stamford  to  the 
charcoal  burners  at  Melbourne,  and  after  being  charred  on  the  Forest,  the  charcoal  was 
removed  thither  in  bags,  laid  on  horses. — (Nichols.) 

Bens  CliS',  near  Maplewell,  was  known  to  have  been  covered  with  oaks  about  1745.* 
From  this  period  the  Copt  Oak,  the  Outvvoods,  White  Horse  Wood,  the  oaks  growing  in 
Bradgate  Park,  and  about  Charley  Hall,  are  nearly  the  only  vestiges  of  the  Ancient 
Forest. 

It  is  not,  however,  improbable,  that  there  are  still  some  oaks,  among  the  few  remaining 
on  Chamwood,  that  were  growing  at  a  period  little  less  remote  than  the  Norman  Conquest. 
The  trees  to  which  I  should  be  inclined  to  assign  such  a  longevity  are  the  Copt  Oak,  one 
or  two  on  the  skirts  of  the  Outwoods,  and  some  in  Bkadgate  Park. 

Several  oaks  lately  felled  in  Sherwood  Forest,  exposed,  on  being  sawn  up,  the  date  1212, 
and  the  mark  or  cipher  of  King  John ;  and  it  has  been  calculated  that  these  trees  must  have 
been  several  centuries  old  at  the  time  the  mark  was  made. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  oak  that  proved  fatal 

"  To  that  Red  King,  who,  while  of  yore 
Thro'  Boldre-wood  the  chase  he  led, 
By  his  loved  Huntsman's  arrow  bled," 

was  standing  a  few  years  ago  in  the  New  Forest.  They  who  think  a  tree  insufficient  to 
record  a  fact  of  so  ancient  a  date,  "  should  be  reminded,"  says  Sir  Tliomas  Dick  Lauder, 
"  that  seven  hundred  years  make  no  extraordinary  period  in  the  existence  of  an  oak." 
Indeed,  some  authors  have  calculated  with  great  ingenuity,  and  with  considerable  show  of 
truth,  that  some  old  oaks  now,  or  lately,  existing,  may  have  been  growing  for  centuries  before 
the  Christian  era.  Some  noble  oaks,  a  few  years  ago  blown  down  in  Donington  Park,  were 
supposed,  by  their  internal  rings,  to  have  been  nearly  eight  hundred  years  old. 


Nichols'  East  Goscote,  page  135. 


CHAPTER  III. 

TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST. 


Burton  describes  Charnwood  Forest  as  "  lying  upon  the  north-west  side  of  the  countie 
of  Leicester,  neere  unto  Loughborough  ;  in  forme  somewhat  square,  of  an  hard  and  barren 
soyle,  full  of  hills,  woods,  rocks  of  stone,  torres  and  dels  of  a  kind  of  slate.  This  Forrest 
hath  beene  very  anncient,  long  before  the  Conquest,  as  all  Forrests  of  England  were  except- 
ing two." "  It  should  seenie,"  he  adds,  "  that  this  Forrest  (as  many  others  in  this 

vealme)  had  been  disafforested  presently  after  the  Conquest :  and  that  by  King  Henry  the 
Second  it  was  afforested  againe ;  which  by  King  Henry  the  Thirde,  his  grandchilde,  was 
again  disafforested,  as  by  his  deede,  afterwards  exemplified  by  King  Henry  the  Sixth,  may 
appeare." 

To  Burton's  description  of  the  situation  of  the  Forest,  it  is  only  necessary  to  add,  that  it 
is  in  the  Hundred  of  West  Goscote,  and  that  it  comprises  a  considerable  portion  of  the  tri- 
angle formed  by  the  towns  of  Leicester,  Loughborough,  and  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

Charnwood  is  not  often  termed  a  Royal  Forest,  though  it  doubtless  had  as  good  a  claim 
to  that  appellation  as  others  that  were  so :  and  it  has  been  held  by  several  Sovereigns,  and 
conferred,  at  various  times,  either  as  a  whole  or  in  parts,  on  their  favourites.  Sherwood  is 
almost  invariably  honoured  with  the  prefix  of  "  Royal,"  which  it  retained  from  the  circum- 
stance of  King  John  and  other  Sovereigns  having  had  a  hunting  palace  within  its  limits. 
Strictly  speaking,  however,  a  Forest  cannot  be  in  any  other  hands  but  the  King's,  "  as  he 
only  hath  power  to  grant  a  commission  to  any  one  to  be  a  Justice  in  Eyre  of  the  Forest." 
Hence  all  Forests  were  Royal  Forests:  "though,  under  a  particular  Grant,  a  subject  may 
have  a  Forest  in  law."*  The  Conqueror,  who  did  not  hesitate  to  appropriate  to  himself  /b(//-- 
teen  hundred  manors — and  who  actually  granted  sixty-seven  in  this  county  to  one  favourite ; 
and  his  successors,  who  frequently  replenished  their  coffers  by  unjust  attainders,  did  not 
omit  to  secure  the  interest  of  their  partisans  by  grants  of  portions  of  this  district. 

To  trace  how  the  Forest  or  its  privileges  passed  to  the  Grentemaisnells,  the  Earls  of 
Chester,  Leicester,  Winchester,  the  Comyns,  the  Beaumonts,  the  Ferrers',  the  Greys,  the 
Hastings',  &.C.,  &c.,  will  now  be  done  with  as  little  documentary  detail  as  is  compatible 
with  the  plan  of  a  work  professing  to  be,  in  any  degree,  historical. 

The  extensive  lordship  of  Barrow,  which  includes  a  considerable  portion  of  what  may  be 
called  the  Eastern  Forest,  viz. :  Quomdon,  Woodhouse,  Beaunianor,  Alderman's  Haw,  &c., 
to  the  boundaries  of  Sheepshed  and  Whitwick,  was  given  by  the  Conqueror  to  his  nephew. 


12  TERUITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST. 

Hugh  Lupus,  Earl  of  Chester.*  This  Earl  held  also  the  manors  of  MountsoiTel  and  Lough- 
borough, which  still  further  extended  his  rights  on  the  Forest.f 

A  little  attention  to  the  descendants  of  Hugh  Lupus,  of  Hugh  de  Grentemaisnell,  &c., 
will  account  for  many  ancient,  and  perhaps  for  some  present  tenures  of  parts  of  the  Forest. 
It  will  explain,  too,  how  the  Comyns  became  located  on  Chamwood,  and  throw  light  on  the 
cause  of  the  disputes  and  fines  (noticed  further  on)  between  the  Earl  of  Arundel  and  the 
Earl  of  Winchester,  or  Winton,  and  between  the  Earl  of  Arundel  and  Roger  de  Somery, 
respecting  the  right  to  hunt,  &c.,  on  certain  parts  of  the  Forest.  On  these  subjects  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  misconception  prevails,  which  the  statements  in  Nichols,  being  diffused 
over  many  parts  of  his  work,  do  not  greatly  tend  to  remove. 

Ranulph  de  Blondfa'ille,  sixth  Earl  of  Chester,  died  in  123-2,  and  left  no  issue;  his 
estates  therefore  devolved  on  his  four  sisters,  who  were — 

L — Matilda,  who  married  David,  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  and  by  him  had  a  son,  John  the 
Scot,  the  last  Earl  of  Chester,  who  died  without  issue,  and  four  daughters,  viz. : — 

1.  Margaret,  married  to  Alan  de  Galloway,  whose  daughters,  Dervogoyl  and 

Maijory,  married  respectively  John  Baliol  and  John  Comyn. 

2.  Isabella,  wife  of  Robert  Bruce,  the  elder, 

3.  Matilda,  (s.  p.) 

4.  Ada,  married  to  Henry  de  Hastings. 

II. — Mabel,  married  to  William  d'Albini,  Earl  of  Arundel,  by  whom  she  had  Hugh,  who 
died  without  issue  (27  Henry  III.),  and  four  daughters,  viz. : — 

1.  Mabel,  married  to  Robert  de  Tateshall. 

2.  Nichola,  to  Roger  de  Somery,  feudal  Lord  of  Dudley,  by  whom  she,  too,  had 

four  daughters,  viz. : — 

1.  Margaret,  nian-ied  to  Ralph  Lord  Basset. 

2.  Johanna,  to  John  L'Estrange. 

3.  Mabel,  to  Walter  SuUey. 

4.  Matilda,  to  Sir  Henry  Erdington. 

3.  Cicely,  married  to  Robert  de  Monte-alto. 

4.  Isabella,  married  to  John  Fitz-Alan. 

HI. — Agnes,  married  to  William  de  Ferrars,  Earl  Ferrars.  Their  son,  William  de  Fer- 
rars.  Earl  of  Ferrars  and  Derby,  married  Margaret,  daughter  and  co-heiress  of 
Roger  de  Quincy ;  from  which  marriage  descended  two  sons,  viz. : — 

1.  Robert,  Earl  of  Fen-ars  and  Derby ;  deprived  of  his  earldom  and  estates  in 

1265,  for  taking  part  with  Simon  Montfort,  Earl  of  Leicester. 

2.  William  de  FeiTars,  Lord  of  Groby  by  gift  from  his  mother. 

IV. — Ha^visia,  manied  to  Robert  de  Quincy,  son  of  Saer  de  Quincy,  Earl  of  Winchester, 
and  brother  of  Roger,  second  and  last  Earl  of  that  family. 

*  The  ducal  houses  of  Rutland  and  Devonshire  derive  their  descent  from  Ranulph  de  Gernons,  fourth  Earl  of  Chester. 

f  In  the  Grant  of  Ranulph,  Earl  of  Chester,  to  Garendon  Abbey,  he  says,  "per  forestam  meam  qua;  pertinet  ad  Feodum 

de  Barwi." 


TEIIRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST.  13 

Cotemporary  with  Hugh  Lupus,  Earl  of  Chester,  was  another  Noriuan  follower  and 
favourite, 

HUUH   DE  GRENTEMAISNELL. 

On  hiui  William  conferred  almost  unbounded  favours :  and  amongst  others,  the  restored 
Castle  of  Leicester,  together  with  the  office  of  Vicecomes  of  the  County,  and  the  title  of 
Baron  of  Hinckley,  as  well  as  Castles  and  possessions  in  Groby,  Whitwick,  &c. 

Hugh's  third  son,  Ivo  de  Grentemaisnell,  together  with  other  powerful  Barons,  invited 
over,  in  1101,  Robert,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Conqueror,  to  dispute  the  possession  of  the 
English  throne  with  his  brother,  Henry  the  First ;  and,  by  this  act  of  rebellion,  lost  most  of 
his  estates,  as  well  as  his  Castles  in  Leicestershire.     They  were  given  by  Henry  the  First  to 

ROBEBT  BELLOMONTE, 

EARL    OF    MELLENT    (iN    NORMANDV) 

in  his  own  right,  and  created  Earl  of  Leicester  by  Henry,  To  him  succeeded,  in  1118  his 
second  son, 

ROBERT  BOSSU, 

SECOND    EARL    OF    LEICESTER, 

the  great  founder  of  several  religious  houses  in  the  county,  and,  by  his  charity  and  other 
virtues,  well  deserving  his  distinctive  appellation  of  "  The  Good  Eail  of  Leicester."  He 
died  in  1168,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 

ROBERT    BLANCH  MAINS, 

THIRD   EARL  OF  LEICESTER, 

who,  with  the  Earl  of  Chester,  in  1173,  openly  declared  war  against  Henry  H.,  in  favour  of 
young  Henry :  but,  after  repeated  acts  of  rebellion,  was  pardoned.  He  married  Petronilla 
or  Parnell,  daughter  of  Hugh  de  Grentemaisnell;  and  hence  his  son,  by  whom  he  was 
succeeded  in  1189,  was  called 

ROBERT    IITZ-PARNELL, 

FOURTH  EARL  OF  LEICESTER. 

He  died  without  issue  (Xichoh,  Vol.  I.,  p.  98  J  :  so  that  his  two  sisters,  Amicia  and  ]\Iar- 
garet,  became  his  co-heiresses. 

Amicia,  married  to  Simon  de  Montfort,  in  right  of  his  wife  fifth  Earl  of  Leicester  (father 
to  the  great  Earl  of  Leicester).     He  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  Toulouse,  1-218. 

Margaret,  married  to  Saer  de  Quincy ;  he  was  summoned  to  Parliament,  in  1-207  as 
Baron  of  Groby,  and  Earl  of  Winchester. 


14  TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST. 

Saer  de  Quincy's  son  Roger  (now  become  Earl  of  Winton  and  Leicester)  manied  Helen, 
daughter  of  Alan,  Earl  of  Galloway,  and  dying  in  1-264,  left  three  daughters: — 

1.  Elizabeth,  married  Alexander  Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan,  in  Scotland ;  created,  in  1278, 
Baron  Comyn,  of  England ;  by  whom  she  had  John  and  Alexander  Comyn,  successively 
Earls  of  Buchan. — (Alice,  the  daughter  of  the  latter,  married  Henry,  first  Lord  Beaumont.) 

2.  Helen,  or  Elena,  manied  to  Alan  la  Zouch,  grandfather  of  the  Alan  la  Zouch  who 
was  created,  in  1297,  Lord  Zouch,  of  Ashby. 

•3.  Margaret,  married  to  William  de  FeiTars,  Earl  of  Ferrars  and  Derby  ;  son  of  Wil- 
liam Lord  Ferrars,  and  Agnes,  sister  of  Ranulph  de  Blondeville,  Earl  of  Chester,  whose 
second  son,  William,  inherited  from  his  mother  the  possessions  of  the  Barony  of  Groby, 
which  in  a  few  generations  became  vested  in  an  only  daughter,  Elizabeth  de  Ferrars,  mar- 
ried to  Sir  Edward  Grey  (second  son  of  Reginald,  Lord  Grey  de  Ruthyn) :  through  whom 
the  Barony  of  Groby  has  descended  to  the  present  Earl  of  Stamford. 

In  the  Grants  of  portions  of  Charnwood  made  to  the  difTerent  Religious  Houses,  here- 
after to  be  noticed,  and  in  the  descriptions  of  the  various  Parishes,  will  be  found  almost 
every  name  occurring  in  this  genealogical  statement ;  and  much  that  would  otherwise  be 
ambiguous  or  obscure  to  the  general  reader  will  be  explained  by  it. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Ranulph  de  Blondeville  (Nichols  says,  as  early  as  1239),  the 
manor  of  Loughborough,  with  Beaumanor  and  its  other  members,  passed  to  the  Despensers. 
Nichols  states,  too,  that  "  in  1278,  Hugh  le  Despenser,  created  Earl  of  Winchester  in  1322, 
held  Charnwood  Forest  of  the  King,  paying  yearly  a  pair  of  gilt  spurs."  Burton  says,  the 
above  manors  only  "  were  some  time  the  inheritance  of  Hugh  le  Despenser  the  younger :" 
and,  as  William  de  Ferrariis,  as  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Groby,  held,  in  1279,  "partem  bosci 
de  Charntoode  in  quo  est  libera  chacea"  and  made  grants  of  other  parts,*  it  is  evident  that 
Hugh  le  Despenser  did  not  possess  the  \pliole  Forest.  Further,  as  William  de  Ferrariis 
obtained  Groby  and  his  other  possessions  on  Charnwood  by  marriage  \vith  one  of  the  co- 
heiresses of  Roger  de  Quincy,  and  as  the  Earl  of  Buchan  and  Alan  la  Zouch  married  the 
other  two  co-heiresses,  and  held,  in  right  of  their  wives,  considerable  portions  of  the  Forest, 
at  the  very  time  Nichols  assigns  the  whole  to  le  Despenser,  it  must  be  concluded  that 
le  Despenser  only  held,  with  Loughborough,  &c.,  some  privileges  or  office  analagous  to,  or 
identified  with,  the  Rangership ;  which,  however,  was  a  nugatory  grant,  the  Forest  having 
been  disafibrested  in  1235. — (See  page  23.) 

On  the  attainder  of  the  younger  Despenser,  in  1337,  his  possessions  were  confeiTed  by 
Edward  the  Third  on  Henry,  first  Lord  Beaumont.  How  these  parts  passed  from  the 
Beaumonts  to  Sir  William  Hastings,  in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Fourth — to  Thomas,  Lord 
Grey,  in  1527 — to  the  Crown,  by  the  attainder  of  the  Duke  of  Sufiblk — and  to  William 
Heyricke,  Esq.,  by  purchase,  in  1595,  will  be  seen  under  the  head  of  Beaumanor.- 

Gitonv  and  its  members,  extending  over  a  very  large  portion  of  the  centre  of  the  Forest, 
continued  in  the  family  of  the  Lords  Ferrars  till  it  passed,  by  marriage,  to  the  Greys :  from 

*  See  his  Grant  to  Charley  Priory,  in  a  subsequent  page. 


TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST.  15 

which  marriage,  the  present  possessor,  the  Earl  of  Stamford  and  Warrington,  lineally 
descends. 

Whitwick,  with  its  members,  embracing  nearly  all  the  Western  part,  passed,  by  mar- 
riage, from  Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan,  to  the  first  Lord  Beaumont :  and,  on  the  attainder  of 
William,  Viscount  Beaumont,  was  conferred  by  Edward  the  Fourth  (1465)  on  Sir  William, 
afterwards  Lord  Hastings.  On  its  reverting  to  the  Crown,  in  1613,  James  the  First  granted 
it  to  Sir  Henry  Hastings,  and  the  manor  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Marquis  of  Hastings. 

Belton,  the  owner  of  which  manor  is  one  of  the  six  Lords  of  the  Forest,  belonged  to 
Grace  Dieu  Nunnery  at  the  Dissolution,  when  it  was  granted  to  Humphrey  Foster,  who  sold 
it  to  John  Beaumont :  on  whose  forfeiture  Edward  the  Sixth  gave  it  to  Francis,  Earl  of 
Huntingdon,  whose  son  Henry,  in  1567,  sold  it  to  Sir  Francis  Beaumont,  from  whom  it 
passed  to  the  Eyres,  and,  by  purchase,  in  1793,  to  Edward  Dawson,  Esq. 

If,  to  the  parts  of  the  Forest  here  accounted  for,  be  added  those  granted  by  several  of 
the  descendants  of  Lupus  and  Grentemaisnell  to  the  different  Religious  Foundations,  the 
partition  of  nearly  the  whole  of  Charnwood  will  be  explained. 

Garendon,  founded  by  Robert  Bossu  in  1133,  though  others  date  its  foundation  in  1169, 
and  granted  to  the  Cistercians,  was,  with  its  site  and  demesnes,  conferred,  at  the  Dissolu- 
tion, on  Thomas  Manners,  Earl  of  Rutland,  from  whom  it  came,  with  Sheepshed,  by  pur- 
chase, to  Sir  Ambrose  Phillipps,  in  whose  descendant  it  is  still  vested. 

Ulversckoft  and  Charley  Priories,  the  former  founded  by  Robert  Bossu,  the  latter 
by  Robert  Blanchmains,  engrossed  considerable  tracts  of  the  Forest.  These,  too,  were 
granted,  at  the  Dissolution,  to  the  Earl  of  Rutland,  who  sold  them  to  Sir  Andrew  Judd, 
from  whom  they  passed,  by  marriage  or  purchase,  through  various  hands  to  the  present 
possessors— Charley,  to  William  Bosworth,  Esq.,  and  Ulverscroft,  to  the  Rev.  A.  L. 
Emerson. 

Alderman's  Haw,  another  portion  of  the  Forest  granted  to  a  Religious  House  by  William 
de  Belmeis,  was  conferred,  at  the  Dissolution,  on  Thomas  Farnham,  Esq. 

The  fine  before  alluded  to,  as  throwing  further  hght  on  the  history  of  the  Forest,  is  here 
given  at  length. 

Copy  of  a  Fine  levied  between  Hugh  (PAlbini,  Earl  of  Arundel,  and  Roger  de  Quincy, 
Earl  of  Winton,  about  the  right  of  Hunting,  ^c.,  in  certain  parts  of  the  Forest. — 1240. 

"  This  is  the  finall  agreement  made  in  the  King's  Court,  at  Leicester,  in  Hilaiy  Terme, 
in  the  four  and  twentieth  year  of  the  reigne  of  King  Henry,  son  of  King  John,  before  the 
King's  Justices  itinerant  then  and  there  present,  between  Hugh  de  Albiniaco,  Earl  of  .iiun- 
del,  plaintiff,  and  Roger  de  Quincy,  Earl  of  Winton,  upon  a  complaint  of  the  said  Earl  of 
Arundel : — That  the  said  Earl  of  Winton  denied  him  free  ingress  and  regress  into  a  wood 
called  Le  Chaleng,  to  take  his  estover  in ;  and  that  he  interrupted  his  hunting  in  the  said 
wood ;  which  privilege  Ranulph,  formerly  Earl  of  Chester,  enjoyed,  as  belonging  to  the 
manor  of  Barowe,  and  whereof  a  plea  was  summoned  between  them  in  the  said  Court,  viz. : 


16  TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST. 

that  the  Earl  of  Winton  granted  for  himself  and  his  heirs  a  moiety  of  the  said  wood 
Del'Chaleng,  towards  Barrow,  within  the  underwritten  metes  and  bounds,  viz. : — from 
the  Hejway  end  to  the  rock  of  Cerleg',  and  from  the  rock  of  Cerleg'  to  Dunthorne-huU, 
through  the  middle  Burchewode-ley  to  the  Holy  Cross ;  so  that  the  said  Earl  of  Arundel 
may  take,  give  away,  fell  and  use,  at  his  pleasure,  his  estovers  of  the  said  Wood  of  Chaleng' 
which  belongs  to  him,  and  of  all  his  other  woods  to  the  said  manor  of  Barewe  belonging, 
without  the  interruption  of  the  said  Earl  of  Winton  or  his  heires,  saving  to  the  said  Earl  of 
Winton  and  his  heires  liberty  to  hunt  in  that  part  of  the  Wood  of  Chaleng'  belonging  to 
the  said  Earl  of  Arundel  and  his  heires :  and  likewise  in  all  other  the  woods  of  the  said 
Earl  belonging  to  the  manor  of  Barewe,  except  the  Park  of  Querendon.  And  that  the  said 
Eai-1  of  Armidel  and  his  heires  shall  have  Forresters  in  the  said  Wood  of  Chaleng',  and  in 
all  other  woods  belonging  to  the  manor  of  Barewe,  to  keep  the  same ;  and  that  it  shall  be 
lawfull  for  them  to  carry  bows  and  an-ows  in  all  the  said  woods,  upon  condition  that  such 
Forresters  shall  come  every  year,  within  eight  days  after  St.  Michael,  to  the  Park  Ford,  at 
the  summons  of  the  said  Earl  of  Winton  and  his  heires,  or  their  Bayliffes  of  Groby,  and 
shall  take  an  oath  faithfully  to  preserve  the  game  and  whatever  else  belongs  to  the  Forest; 
and  that  the  said  Earl  of  Arundel  and  his  heires  shall  have  nine  bows  in  the  Forest  of  the 
said  Earl  of  Winton,  viz. :  five  of  which  Ranulph,  formerly  Earl  of  Chester,  had  there,  of 
the  gift  of  Robert,  Earl  of  Leicester,  and  four  given  by  the  said  Earl  of  Winton,  to  kill  wild 
beasts ;  six  small  arrows,  to  take  such  as  are  wounded,  without  dogges,  as  often  as  the  said 
Earl  and  his  heirs  shall  think  fit  in  his  own  person  to  goe  there.  And  that  it  shall  be  lawful 
for  them  to  go  throughout,  with  the  said  bows  and  aiTows,  to  the  way  which  comes  from 
Whytwyck  to  Groby ;  and  if  it  happen  that  any  beast  be  shott  within  the  said  bounds,  and 
shall  pass  over  the  way  towards  Bardon,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  them  to  follow  with  the  arrows 
untill  they  be  taken.  And  for  this  Grant  the  said  Earl  of  Arundel  hath  remised  and  quitt 
claimed  from  him  and  his  heires  to  the  said  Earl  of  Winton  and  his  heires,  all  that  part  of 
the  Wood  of  Chaleng',  towards  Charley,  and  towards  the  wood  of  the  Monks  of  Garendon, 
for  ever,  according  to  the  said  bounds ;  reserving  liberty  to  the  said  Earl  of  Arundel  and 
his  heires  to  enter  into  any  part  of  the  said  Forest  with  the  said  nine  bows  and  arrows,  as 
aforesaid." 

"  And  the  said  Earl  of  Arimdel  grantcth,  for  himself  and  his  heires,  that  he  will  not 
permit  any  of  his  servants  or  tenants  to  commit  any  trespass  in  the  said  Forest,  by  destroy- 
ing the  game ;  and  if  any  be  convicted  thereof,  the  said  Earle  granteth,  for  himself  and  his 
heires,  that  he  will  provide  a  reasonable  punishment  for  such  offence,  without  delay,  to  the 
utmost  of  his  power." — fFine.s  Leic\  24  Hen.  III. J 

In  1-252,  another  agreement  was  entered  into  by  the  Earl  of  Winton  and  Roger  de 
Somery,  who,  by  his  marriage  with  Nichola,  second  sister  and  co-heiress  of  Hugh,  Earl  of 
Arundel,  was  the  then  possessor  of  Barrow,  to  this  effect : — 

"  Rogerus  de  Quincy,  Comes  Winton,  Roberto  de  Tateshall,  juniori,  Johanni  filio  Alani, 
Radulpho  fil'  Rogeri  de  Somery,  Rogero  de  Monte-alto  et  Cecil'  ux. :  quod  teneant  Ji/iem 
inter  Hugonem  de  Albiniaco  Comitem  Arundel,  avunculum  Robert!  Johannis  et  Radulphi 


TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST.  17 

et  fratrem  Cecilia;,  de  libero  introitii  et  exitu  Comitis  Arundel  in  boscum  vocat'  Challenge, 
estover  et  cursum  canum  ibidem. 

"  Rogeriis  de  Somery,  tenens  manerium  de  Barewe  post  mortem  Nicolse,  matris  Radul- 
phi,  debeat  fugare  in  Forest^  de  Groby :  Comes  teneat  Parcum  de  Bradgate,  clausum  cum 
saltaloribus.  Comes  dat  licentiam  Rogero  de  Somery  quod  fugat  in  Forest^  su& ;  capiat 
duas  damas  temp,  pinguediiiis  et  duas  damas  temp,  firmationis :  et  aliae  conventiones  notatu 
perdignaj." — fPlacita  dirers'  Comitaf  apud  Hunf,  32  Hen.  III.) 

Of  such  importance  did  these  high  and  mighty  Lords  deem  the  right  of  hunting  in 
Charnwood  Forest,  that  another  agreement  was  made  by  them  at  I^icester,  "in  the  3 1st 
year  of  King  Henry,  son  of  King  John,  before  the  Justices  then  there  itinerant,"  reciting 
the  "  cyrograph  before  made  between  the  aforesaid  Earl  of  Winton  and  Hugh  de  Albiniaco, 
Earl  of  Arundel." — (Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  GQ\.) 

Respecting  their  original  agreement  on  this  weighty  matter,  the  late  Dr.  Vernon  had 
taken  also  the  following  memoranda  from  some  other  national  records  in  the  Talley  Court 
of  the  Exchequer : — "  Comes  Arundel  questus,  quod  Comes  Winton  impedivit  eum  habere 
liberum  introitum  et  exitum  in  bosco  Le  Chaleng,  ad  capiend.  estoveria,  &  currere  cum  cani- 
bus ;  quam  libertatem  Radulfus  Comes  Cestrie  habuit  pertitientem  manerio  stio  Barewe.^'' 
"  Comes  Winton'  concessit  comiti  Arundel  medietatem  bosci  del  Chalenge  versus  Barewe, 
cum  boundariis ;  salv^  venatione  tot^  comiti  Winton',  &c.,  &  omnibus  aliis  boscis  manerii 

Barewe,  excepto  parco  Quarendon Comes  Arundel  &  heredes  habeant  forestarios,  qui 

portarent  arcus,  sagittas,  genderes,  picettas,  &  bozones  sive  sagittas :  cum  aliis  conventi- 

onibus  notatu  perdignis Chimina  de  Whitwick  versus  Groby  &  versus  Berdon  nomi- 

nantur." 

I  could  produce  at  least  twenty  other  Deeds  from  the  Public  Records,  in  which  this 
wood  is  spoken  of  as  "  Kalengia,"  "  Le  Challenge,"  and  "the  Wood  of  Challenge;"  but 
from  its  total  disappearance  for  several  centuries,  and  the  absence  of  its  name  from  all  modern 
documents  as  well  as  Forest  maps,  neither  Burton  nor  Nichols  made  the  least  attempt  to 
show  where  it  was  situated.  I,  too,  should  have  had  great  difficulty  in  ascertaining  its 
precise  site,  but  for  the  assistance  of  a  gentleman  of  such  a  knowledge  of  the  Forest,  and  of 
its  ancient  history,  as  frequently  to  make  me  regret,  while  pursuing  my  researches,  that  he 
had  not  superseded  my  labours  by  being  himself  its  Historian.  I  allude  to  the  Rev.  M.  D. 
Babington,  the  Incumbent  of  the  Oaks  Chapel. 

In  reply  to  my  inquiries,  Mr.  Babington  says,  "  It  is  not  so  difficult  as  might  be  sup- 
posed to  ascertain  the  locality  of  the  long-forgotten  Wood  of  Challenije,  because,  on  com- 
paring the  line  which  divided  it  into  two  moieties,  with  the  ancient  boundaries  of  the 
parishes  of  Barrow  and  Sheepshed,  given  in  Nichols,  from  '  Charyte's  Rentale'  of  Leicester 
Abbey,*  and  with  the  more  modern  perambulations  of  Sheepshed,  it  is  obvious  that  the 

•  One  of  these  Deeds  is  dated  A.D.  1280.  The  other  two  have  lost  their  dates,  being  imperfect:  but  they  cannot 
be  later  than  1502,  when  Brother  Charyte  ended  the  task  commenced  by  him  in  1477,  of  copying  the  ancient  Deeds 
relating  to  the  possessions  of  the  Abbey  into  the  "  Rentale." — (NicAols,  Fol.  I.,  App.  p.  bS.J — They  are  probably 
much  older  than  either  of  those  years. 


18 


TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST. 


same  line  is  intended  in  them  all,  and  that  (with  the  exception  of  the  first  quarter  of  a  mile) 
it  is  no  other  than  the  old  Forest  division  between  those  parishes. 

"  By  placing  them  in  juxta-position,  their  identity  will  be  at  once  perceived. 


Fine  levied  A.D.\2-i.O. 


(See  p.  15.) 


TheHeyway  end.* 


The    Rock    of 

Cerleg'.^^ 


Dunthorne-hull. 


Through  the  Mid- 
dle Burchwode 
Ley. 

The  Holy  Cross.  || 


B. 

Inquisition  respecting 
the  Boundary  of 
Sheepshtd  Paris/i, 
not  later  than  A.D. 
1502.  —  (Nichols, 
Vol.  III.,  p.  1014, 
column  1.) 


Le  Hyvveye. 


Charleston. 

Perniediumclausi 
de  Charley;  and 
inde  per  medium 
antiqua;  aula;  de 
Ciiarley,  quae  vo- 
catur  Erleshall. 
Rohay  Well.§ 


Conston  Cros. 


c. 

Inquisition  respecting 
the  Boundary  oj 
Sheepshed  Wood, 
A.D.  r2SU.— (Nich. 
Vol.  III.,  p.  1014, 
colunui  2.) 


Via  Regia. 
Nettilbush. 

Ad  Charleystonam. 

Per  medium  curiae 
de  Charley. 


Le     Sikes     inter 
Birchwode        et 
Tymberwode. 
Conistoynes.|| 


Inquisition  respecting 
the  Boundary  of 
Barrow  Parish,  jiot 
later  than  A.  D. 
1502.  —  (Nichols, 
Vol.  III.,  p.  61. 


Netilbushe. 


Charleyston. 

Ad  [h  ]  ostium  occi- 
dentiile  ecclesiae 
de  Charley. 


Donthorn-Dike. 


Le  Hyeway  (from 
Whit  wick  to 
Groby.)i| 


Peramiulations  of 
Sheepshed  Parish, 
from  1769*0  1809. 


Top  of  Snell's 
Lane  * 

Nettle  Hill  ;f  and 
tiience  b)'  the 
Earl'sDyketothe 

North  end  of 
Charley  Lane  t 

By  Charley  Hall, 
formerly  through 
it. 


Dunjack  Well, 
afterwards  called 
Carter's  Well.§ 


Wide-meer-pool. 


*  Here  the  turnpikc-icad  from  Loughborough  to  Ashby  enters  the  Forest.  The  name  "  Heyway  End"  implies 
that,  in  1240,  there  was  no  regular  road  to  Ashby  farther  than  this  place.  In  the  Barrow  Inquisition  no  mention  is 
made  of  this  road,  because  at  Nettle  Hill  the  Barrow  boundary  turns  off  towards  Beaumanor  Park. 

f  From  Snell's  Lane  to  Nettle  Hill,  the  Forest  fence  of  the  inclosures  was  formerly  called  "  Holywell  Dyke." 
Thence  to  Charley  Lane  it  is  still  knoAvn  by  the  name  of  the  Earl's  Dyke,  traditionally  said  to  have  been  dug  by  an 
early  Earl  of  Leicester.  In  many  parts,  particularly  near  Charley,  it  can  now  be  scarcely  traced.  Near  the  Five 
Trees  it  is  very  visible. 

J  Whether  there  was  formerly  a  stone  set  down  as  a  boundary  mark  at  the  north  end  of  Charley  Lane,  or  whether 
the  small  adjacent  rock  in  Mr.  Dexter's  garden  be  intended,  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain. 

S  The  strong  spring  which  rises  here,  and  is  the  principal  source  of  Blackbrook,  is  now  merged  in  the  dam  formed 
by  Mr.  Gisbome  at  this  spot,  when  he  built  Charley  Mill.  Its  name,  "  Dunjack  Well,"  probably  has  the  same  origin 
as  "  Dunthornc  Hull."  Possibly  its  other  ancient  appellation,  "  Rohay  Well,"  may  have  been  derived  from  some 
Charley  Monk,  a  member  of  the  family  of  Rohaud,  or  Rohaut,  Lords  of  the  Manors  of  Worthington  and  Newbold, 
and  possessors  of  other  estates  in  Leicestershire  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  No  list  of  the  Monks  of 
Charley  is  extant,  but  Henry  Rohaud  was  a  Priest  in  1309.— ("AVcAofe,  Vol.  II,  p.  211.J 

II  The  present  road  from  Whitwick  to  Groby  does  not  adjoin,  though  within  a  short  distance  of  Wide-mere-pool, 
well  known  in  the  Forest  perambulations  as  the  point  at  which  the  parishes  of  Markfield,  Sheepshed,  and  Whitwick 
met.  Here  three  crosses  were  renewed,  at  each  perambulation,  till  the  Inclosure.  The  name  of  the  ancient  cross, 
"  Holy  Cross,"  gives  it  a  character  of  greater  veneration  than  seems  to  have  been  enjoyed  by  the  many  other  crosses 
spoken  of  in  old  Deeds  as  standing  in  the  Forest;  for  instance,  "Sir  Robert's  Cross,"  near  Little  Bawdon  Castle, 
or  that  called  "  Acernus  Lapis,  ubi  qusedam  crux  stare  solebat,"  near  Copt  Oak.  Perhaps  its  proximity  to  the  Abbot's 
Oak  (little  more  than  one  hundred  yards)  may,  on  some  occasion  of  high  solemnity,  have  caused  it  to  be  consecrated. 
Its  other  names,  "  Conistonyes,"  and  "  Conston  Cross,"  are  probably  derived  from  its  situation,  at  the  east  end  of  the 
range  of  rocks  (between  High  Towers  and  Green  IliU)  called  "  Warren  Hills,"  denoting  the  Cross  near  the  Coney  Stones. 


TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION   OF  THE  FOREST.  19 

"  In  the  present  state  of  the  Forest,  the  line  may  be  thus  described : — Commencing  at 
Snail's  Lane,  on  the  Loughborough  and  Ashby  turnpike-road,  it  skirts  Holy-well  inclosures, 
whence  it  runs  in  a  hollow  way  called  the  Earl's  Hyke,  over  Five  Tree  Hill  to  the  north  end 
of  Charley  Lane,  along  which  it  proceeds  some  short  distance,  and  passes  by  Charley  Hall 
to  Charley  Mill.  It  then  strikes  off  at  nearly  right  angles  to  Wide-niere-pool,  in  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Thurlby's  homestead,  at  the  back  of  the  Green  Hill  public-house,  where  it  terminates. 

"  A  person  at  all  conversant  with  the  disputes  consequent  on  the  Chamwood  Forest 
Inclosure  Act,  cannot  but  observe,  on  looking  at  the  table  just  given,  that  (with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  first  quarter  of  a  mile)  the  parochiality  of  the  land  along  this  line,  generally  on 
both  sides,  but  always  on  one,  was  not  till  then  decided. 

"  For  instance,  Charley  proved  to  be  extra-parochial,  though  the  western  side  of  it  had 
always  been  perambulated  by  Sheepshed,  and  the  Lordship  had,  from  the  time  of  the  Con- 
quest, been  held  by  the  three  first  Norman  Earls  of  Chester,  as  an  appendage  of  Barrow ; 
and  was,  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  described  in  a  Grant  as  part  of '  the  Waste 
of  Barrow,'  meaning  the  part  of  the  Forest  in  that  lordship.* 

"  Again,  a  plot  called  one  hundred  acres,  but  really  much  larger,  on  the  west  of  Charley, 
proved  to  be  in  the  liberty  of  Newtown  Linford,  though  it  had  been  demised  as  part  of  the 
parish  of  Sheepshed  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  by  William  de  Ferrars,  to  the 
Lady  Helen  la  Zouch,  and  was  held  by  his  grandson,  Henry  de  Ferrars,  in  1.325,  as  in 
Sheepshed  parish,  yet  parcel  of  the  manor  of  Groby.f 

"  The  remainder  of  the  large  tract  between  Charley  and  the  Hermitage,  near  the  Reser- 
voir, bounded  by  Blackbrook  on  the  north  and  by  Green  Hill  on  the  south,  was  decided  to 
be  in  Whitwick,  though  at  the  time  of  the  Inquisitions  before  recited,  it  was  found  to  be  in 
Sheepshed,  and  had  been  (together  with  the  one  hundred  acres  just  mentioned)  always 
included  in  the  perambulations  of  that  parish.  So  also,  on  the  south  of  Charley,  the  land 
between  that  place  and  the  lunipike-road  from  Markfield  to  Whitwick,  was  then  found  to 
be  in  Markfield  parish,  though  the  old  Inquisitions  place  it  in  Barrow.  A  somewhat  similar 
uncertainty  prevailed  respecting  a  long  slip  of  land  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Earl's  Dyke, 
till  the  land  was  allotted  by  the  Commissioners  of  Inclosure,  when  it  appeared  that  though 
it  was  in  the  liberty  of  Beaumanor,  it  lay  under  the  burden  of  paying  poors'-rates  to 
Woodhouse. 

"  Unfortunately  no  ancient  Deed  has  been  preserved,  which  shows  what  parts  of  the  Wood 
of  Challenge,  to  the  south  of  the  road  from  Whitwick  to  Groby,  were  claimed  in  ancient 
times  by  diff'erent  Loi-ds  or  Parishes ;  but  it  is  pretty  clear  that  such  disputes  had  arisen, 
from  the  fact  that  a  considerable  portion  of  it  is  now  in  the  liberty'  of  Newtown  Linford, 
though  distant  some  miles  from  that  place,  and  surroimded  by  other  parishes. 

"  Connecting  these  circumstances  with  the  name  of  the  wood  in  question,  we  may  very 
fairly  conjecture  that  it  was  called  the  Wood  of  Challenge  from  still  more  ancient  disputes 

»  Domesday  Book,   Vol.  I.,  p.  237.     Xic/iols,   Vol.  III.,  p.  120,  121,  129,  and  1011.— The  whole  Forest  is  spoken  ol 
by  Lelauil  as  "  The  Forest  of  Charley,  commonly  called  the  Waste." 

t  Inquis.  ad  quod  damnum,  p.  2S3. 


20  TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST. 

as  to  the  proprietors  or  parishes  to  which  it  belonged,  the  old  legal  term  on  such  occasions 
being  '  challenged.'* 

"  But,  thoucrh  the  situation  of  the  Wood  of  Challenge  can  be  ascertained,  its  limits  cannot 
be  exactly  defined.  Besides  the  tracts  already  mentioned,  it  may  have  included  other  con- 
siderable parts  of  the  Forest,  and  perhaps  of  the  adjacent  country.  At  all  events,  it  may  be 
safely  asserted,  that  it  contained,  inter  alia,  the  narrow  slip  of  Beaumanor  liberty  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Earl's  Dyke  ;t  that  it  widened  considerably  on  reaching  Charley  (of  which  a 
small  part  only  was  insulated  by  it)  ;J  that  it  embraced  the  large  tract  already  described  on 
the  western  side  of  Charley,  as  far  as  the  Reservoir ;  while  to  the  south  of  Charley  Hall  it 
included  Charley  Wood,  together  with  Timberwood  and  Birchwood  Hills ;  and  to  the 
east  of  Bardon  a  territory,  the  extent  of  which  cannot  be  ascertained,  on  the  south  of  the 
road  from  Groby  to  Whitwick.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  this  was  considerable;  for  it 
cannot  be  supposed  that  the  part  reserved  for  his  own  exclusive  use  by  the  Earl  of  Winton, 
the  superior  Lord  of  the  Wood,  was  smaller  than  the  part  in  which  he  allowed  the  Earl  of 
Arundel  the  privilege  of  hunting." 

Such  is  Mr.  Babington's  answer.  He  has  not  only  clearly  pointed  out  the  situation  of 
this  wood,  but  has,  perhaps,  satisfactorily  accounted  for  its  name,  from  the  frequent  disputes 
respecting  it :  though  another  antiquarian  and  eminent  scholar  is  of  opinion  that  Challenge, 
or  Chalhenge  (as  it  is  found  in  some  old  documents),  is  evidently  of  kindred  signification 
with  Stone-henge,  and  he  deduces  from  the  word  strong  grounds  for  belief  that  a  Druidical 
Temple  stood  somewhere  near  the  spot  now  called  Stony  Stumps,  and  that  the  wood  was  a 
grove  belonging  to  it,  or  leading  to  it. 

My  readers  will  thank  me  for  adding  a  passage  of  great  interest  from  Sir  Oswald  Mosley's 
"  History  of  Tutbury."  It  shows  that  a  wood  in  Needwood  Forest  derived  its  name  from  a 
cause  somewhat  similar  to  that  which  Mr.  Babington  assigns  as  the  origin  of  the  name  of 
the  "  Wood  of  Challenge." 

"Thurstan,  Archbishop  of  York  [at  the  Battle  of  the  Standard,  1107],  had  recourse  to  a 
new  mode  of  encouraging  the  forces  under  the  command  of  these  nobles  [Peverel  and  Fer- 
rars]  :  he  caused  a  famous  standard  to  be  erected,  bearing  banners  dedicated  to  St.  Peter, 
St.  John,  and  St.  Wilfrid,  with  a  portion  of  the  consecrated  host  thereon  :  and  his  deputj', 
the  Bishop  of  Durham,  addressed  the  army  from  beneath  it.  Robert  de  Ferrars  adopted 
another  plan  of  animating  the  troops  he  had  brought  with  him  out  of  Derbyshire  [another 
passage  adds  "  and  Leicestershire"],  and  from  his  other  estates  around  his  Castle. 

"  He  promised  a  grant  of  land  on  the  most  frequented  side  of  his  forest  of  Needwood,  to 
that  man  who  should  perform  the  greatest  feats  of  valour.  These  methods  had  the  desired 
eft'ect ;  the  hostile  armies  met  in  conflict  near  North  Allerton,  and,  after  an  obstinate  resist- 

*  The  Abbot  of  Leicester  cAaHenj'edAlderniau's  Haw  as  his,  from  the  Prior  of  Bermondsey. — (Nichols,  I'ol.  UI.,  p. 168.  J 

t  This  is  called  in  the  Fine  "  The  part  towards  the  wood  of  the  Monks  of  Garendon,"  to  whom  it  was  granted  by 

Thomas  Dispensator. —  Nichols,  I'ol.  IIL,  p.  811. 

J  In  a  Grant  to  the  Monks  of  Charley,  for  the  purpose  of  enlarging  the  court-yard  of  their  Priory,  the  ditch  of  the 
Wood  of  Challenge  is  described  as  adjoining  the  south  wall  of  their  Priory,  where  the  manors  of  Barrow  and  Sheep- 
shed  met. — (Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  \2\,  compared  with  f'ol.  III.,  p  61,  column  2.) 


TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST.  21 

ance,  the  Scotch  forces  were  defeated  with  great  loss.  The  Derbyshire  men  were  con- 
spicuous for  their  bravery  during  the  battle ;  and  upon  their  return  from  the  campaign,  the 
promised  land  was  claimed  by  one  Ralph,  to  whom  and  his  heirs  the  grant  of  it  was  con- 
firmed under  the  name  of  Boscum  Calumpniatum — Callingwood,  or  the  Claimed  Wood."* 

This  long  explanation  of  points  that  have  often  been  the  subject  of  much  doubt,  will  at 
least  be  interesting  to  proprietors  of  the  Forest :  and  the  general  reader,  it  is  hoped,  will  find 
in  it  some  information  that  will  amply  repay  the  perusal. 

Having  now  given  a  view  of  what  may  be  called  the  quadripartite  division  of  the  Forest, 
viz. :  into  Barrow,  Groby,  Whitwick,  and  Sheepshed,  I  proceed  to  notice  some  subsequent 
subdivisions  of  these  portions,  for  which  I  am  chiefly  indebted  to  Nichols'  History. 

After  the  death  of  Sir  William  de  Ferrariis,  in  1-288,  it  was  found  that  he  held  the  wood 
(boscum)  of  Chamwood,  and  that  William  de  Fen-ars,  his  son,  was  then  aged  seventeen. t 

About  this  period,  Alexander  Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan,  obtained  a  Grant  of  a  market  and 
fair  at  Whitwick,  and  held  lands  in  Chamwood. J  How  he  obtained  possessions  in  the 
Forest  has  already  been  pointed  out.  Manj'  curious  particulars  of  this  remarkable  Scotch 
family  will  be  found  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

In  1306,  John  Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan,  son  of  Alexander  Comyn  and  Elizabeth  de 
Quincy,  gave  to  the  Nuns  of  Grace  Dieu  one  hundred  acres  of  waste  appertaining  to  Whytwyk 
and  Shepeshed.§ 

In  1349,  Alice  de  Beaumont,  Constabulatrix  of  Scotland,  widow  of  Henry  Lord  Beau- 
mont, daughter  of  the  second  Alexander  Comyn,  and  niece  of  John,  confirmed  to  the  Monks 
of  Garendon,  for  the  health  of  her  soul  and  that  of  her  husband,  and  of  John  Comyn,  Earl 
of  Buchan,  her  uncle,  "  Totum  boscum  et  solum  cujusdam  bosci,  cum  situ,  chaceS.  et  vena- 
lione  et  alias  res  et  possessiones  in  v'iWk  et  campis  de  Shepeshevede  et  de  Garendon  et  in 
Forest^  nostra  de  Chai-newode." 

In  1422,  Maud,  widow  of  Sir  John  Lovell,  Knt.,  died  seised  of  a  third  part  of  a  certain 
Chace  called  Chamewood,  parcel  of  the  manor  of  Sheepshed;  and  in  1451,  Sir  William 
Lovell  died  seised  of  the  same,  and  also  of  several  Knights'  fees,  held  of  the  King,  as  of  the 
Honour  of  Leicester,  by  fealty  only.||  These  possessions  devolved  on  the  Lovells  by  the 
marriage  of  John  Lord  Lovell  with  Joan  Beaumont. 

In  1540,  John  de  Vere,  Earl  of  Oxford,  held  portions  of  the  Forest;  and  the  Receiver 
of  Grace  Dieu  Priory  charges  himself  with  payment  to  the  said  Earl  for  common  of  pasture 
in  Chamwood  for  the  tenants  of  Belton.^ 

The  de  Veres  appear  to  have  obtained  possessions  on  the  Forest  by  the  marriage  of 
Hawise,  daughter  of  Saer  de  Quincy,  Earl  of  Winton,  to  Hugh  de  Vere,  Earl  of  Oxford,** 
or  by  the  marriage  of  Elizabeth,  widow  of  William  Lord  Beaumont,  to  this  John  de  Vere. 

•  Sir  Oswald  Mosley  kindly  informs  me  that  he  derived  this  interesting  fact  from  Records  in  the  Duchy  of 
Lancaster  Office,  and  that  the  Norman  French  name  of  the  wood  was  Bors-chalenge. 
t  Esch.  16  Edward  I.  ;  Esch.  16  Edward  L  §  Esch.  34  Edward  L  ||  Esch.  1  Henry  VL  f  Esch.  31  Henry  VIII. 
••  The  amit  of  this  Hawise  de  Quincy,  also  named  Hawise,  has  been  more  ill-used  by  antiquarians,  even  of  great 
name,  than  any  lady  who  has  come  under  their  notice.  In  the  pedigree  of  the  Norman  Earls  of  Leicester  (Nichols, 
Vol.  I.,  p.  18J  she  is  altogether  passed  over  in  silence,  while  her  three  sisters  and  their  alliances  are  duly  enumerated ; 
and  though  mentioned  in  the  de  Quincy  pedigree  ( Aichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  dHJ,  she  is  at  one  time  called  the  wife,  and  in 


22  TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST. 

In  1583,  Thomas  Pasquen  held  parts  of  the  Forest  by  Crown  lease. 

Queen  EHzabeth  also  leased  lands  in  Chamwood  to  William  Acton  and  others,  at  a 
yearly  rent  of  lis.  8d. ;  and  Sir  George  Hastings,  in  1587,  held  certain  woods  in  the  Forest, 
as  parcel  of  the  manor  of  Beaumanor,  under  a  lease  from  the  Crown,  at  a  yearly  rent  of  30s.* 

"  Sir  Henry  Hastings,  of  Humberstone  (who  was  knighted  by  King  James,  at  Belvoir, 
April  23,  1603),  obtained  from  that  King,  for  £4,000.,  the  manor  of  Whitwick,  with  the 
lands  thereto  belonging,  formerly  the  property  of  the  Duke  of  Suffolk,  attainted,  together 
with  Bardon  Park,  and  all  the  messuages,  lands,  &c.,  on  Chamwood  Forest  belonging  to 
the  manor  of  Whitwick."t 

In  1604-5,  Henry,  the  fifth  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  obtained  from  James  the  First  a  Royal 

Grant,  under  the  Duchy  seal,  of  the  office  of  Chief  Forester  of  Leicester  Forest,  with  a  fee 

of  2fZ.  per  diem,  and  also  the  ofiice  of  keeping  the  ward  called  the  Thvvayt,  fee  30s.  4fZ.  per 

annum.     He  had  also  the  office  of  Keeper  of  Heathly  Ward  (there  is  no  spot  in  either  Forest 

now  so  called),  in  the  same  Forest,  fee  l^d.  per  diem,  with  agistment  for  twelve  kine, 

one  bull,  and  sixteen  loads  of  wood  yearly,  on  the  same  Ward.     Also  the  office  of  Keeper  of 

Burned  Lodge  (within  the  said  Forest),  with  agistment  for  twelve  kine,  one  bull,  two  horses,' 

and  sixteen  loads  of  wood  yearly.     The  Earl's  own  valuation  of  these  privileges  was  :— 

Fees  yearly,  in  money £9    2     5 

Cattle  to  be  kept  yearly  (thirty-four)    51     0     0 

The  wood,  yearly,  being  thirty-two  loads lli     0    0 

£7G     2     5 

Besides  this,  the  Earl  had  the  killing  of  eighty  bucks  and  forty  does  yearly,  and  the  fishing 
of  his  Majesty's  ponds  ;  the  pleasure  and  command  of  taking  pheasants  and  partridges ;  the 
oversight  and  command  of  the  wood,  where  no  lord  could  fell  any  without  license.^ 

Some  circumstances  concur  to  render  it  somewhat  probable,  that  the  Forest  here  called 
"  Leicester  Forest"  was,  in  fact,  that  of  Chamwood,  viz. : — Burton's  assertion  that  there  was, 
in  reality,  "  no  other  Forest  in  Leicestershire" — "  the  Thwayt"  being  undoubtedly  situated 
in  Chamwood  (see  under  Garendon) — the  contiguity  of  the  latter  to  Ashby-de-la-Zouch — 
and  lastly,  because  the  Earl's  immediate  predecessor  was  "  Chief  Forester  of  Leicestershire. "§ 

the  next  line  the  daughter-in-law  of  Saer  de  Quincy,  Earl  of  Winton.  This  seems  to  have  originated  in  her  being 
known  by  two  names,  Hawise  daughter  of  Hugh,  and  Hawise  sister  of  Ranulph,  successively  Earls  of  Chester.  In 
another  place  (Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  \'1%)  she  is  married  to  Roger  de  Quincy,  haviaig  been  before  called  the  wife  of 
his  brother  Robert.  Lastly,  the  compiler  of  the  index  to  the  first  volume  of  Nichols,  considers  her  the  sisier-in-laui 
of  Ranulph  de  Blondeville.  There  is  a  Deed  extant  which  settles  the  point,  and  demonstrates  that  she  was  the  wife 
of  Robert,  son  of  Saer,  Earl  of  Winton  (Nichols,  Vol.  I.,  App.  p.  40,  No.  23J ;  and  another  Deed  (Nichols,  Vol.  III., 
p.  120J  shows  that  Robert  was  the  eldest  son  of  Saer  and  Margaret,  and  that  he  was  married  during  his  father's  life. 
Hence  I  have  differed  (page  13)  from  the  pedigree,  &c.,  in  Nichols,  taken,  I  believe,  from  Dugdale  and  Burton. — Part 
of  the  difficulty  may  have  arisen  from  Robert  not  succeeding  his  father  Saer  in  his  title  and  estates,  which  is  accounted 
for  by  his  having  been  absent  in  Palestine  at  his  father's  death. 

*  In  1609,  Thomas  Hood  held  in  capite  the  lands  called  Shiflerman  Hills, 
f  Harleian  Manuscript,  3881. — Mr.  Curtis  states  (p.  9  of  his  Topographical  Histoid  of  the  County  of  Leicester)  that 
this  grant  was  made  to  Sir  Henry  Hastings  and  Henry  Cutler  in  1569,  which  is  evidently  wrong.     See  pages  154  and 
160  of  this  work,  in  the  latter  of  which  this  error  is  unfortunately  repeated. 

\  Carte's  Manuscripts  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  F.F.F.,  No.  3. 

S  William  Lord  Hastings  is  also  stated,  in  an  Inquisit.  post  portem,  1467,  to  have  had  "  officium  Capitalis  Forestarum 

et  Chacese  Leic'." — (Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  141. J 


TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST.  23 

But  Burton  goes  on  to  say,  "Chamwood  never  (since  the  deafforestation  thereof)  hath  had 
any  game  or  gard ."  that  is,  Ranger,  &c.,  appointed  by  the  Crown.  Again,  the  name  "  Tlnvayt," 
a  piece  of  ground  recovered  by  cultivation  from  wood-land,  may  be  expected  near  every  Forest. 
Thirdly,  the  Earls  of  Huntingdon  resided  not  only  at  Ashby,  but  also  at  Kirby  Muxloe,  in 
Leicester  Forest.  Lastly,  the  Parks  included  in  the  Deed  by  which  Sir  William  Hastings 
was,  in  1461,  appointed  Chief  Ranger  of  Leicester  Forest,  viz. :  Leicester-Frith,  Barro?t  Park,* 
and  Tooley  I'ark,  all  on  the  verge  of  Leicester  Forest,  show  that  Chamwood  was  not  then  in- 
tended. Grants  in  nearly  the  same  words  were  made  to  the  Hastings  family  in  1466  and  1507. 
And  the  more  high  sounding  title  of  "  Chief  Forester  of  Leicestershire"  in  1604,  meant 
nothing  more  j  for  the  Grant  goes  on  to  call  him  "  Steward  and  Receiver  of  the  Honour  of 
Leicester,"  of  which  the  Forest,  or  more  properly  the  Chase,  of  Leicester  was  a  part.  Nor 
indeed  had  James  I.  the  power  to  appoint  a  Forester  for  Chamwood.  Since  its  disaffores- 
tation,  in  1235,  the  only  occasion  on  which  a  Sovereign  ventured  to  invade  the  rights- of  the 
Lords  of  Manors,  was  in  1278,  by  Edward  I.,  who  granted  the  Forest  (see  p.  14)  to  Hugh  le 
Despenser,  in  whose  favour  he  frequently  violated  all  the  recognised  privileges  of  his  nobles. 
That  Grant,  indeed,  was  nugatory ;  for  William  de  FeiTariis  was  at  the  very  time  in  posses- 
sion of  a  large  part  of  the  Forest,  and  continued  to  hold  it  to  the  day  of  his  death,  in  1288, 

The  last  Swanimote  Court,  as  has  been  already  shown,  was  held  in  the  middle  of  the 
17th  century.  From  that  time  the  Forest  seems  to  have  gradually  declined  in  importance. 
The  little  timber  it  still  contained,  and  its  well-stocked  rabbit  warrens,  were  the  chief  things 
that  gave  it  value.  Even  the  right  of  common  had  become  a  very  precarious  and  question- 
able advantage.  It  has,  indeed,  been  stated  by  Mr.  Bakewell,  a  great  authority  on  agricultural 
subjects,  that  this  right  was  actually  a  dead  loss  to  those  persons  who  availed  themselves  of  it. 

Having  given  this  cursory  view  of  the  chief  Forest  possessions  of  the  wealthy,  it  seems 
right,  in  this  territorial  description,  not  to  forget  what  the  poor  man  considered  his  territory. 

The  small  commoners  and  cottagers  of  the  various  townships  around  enjoyed  the  privileges 
which  the  free  Forest  afforded.  They  had  their  fern  harvests,  at  which  the  fern  was  gathered 
and  burnt  to  make  ash-balls — they  had  their  little  pickings  of  gorse,  brush-wood,  fire-wood, 
turf,  and  peat — they  had  the  minor  "  waifs  and  strays"  of  the  warren — more  than  all,  they  had 
"  fleet  foot  on  the  Correi."  Some  had  a  few  stunted  cows  and  Forest  sheep — a  horse,  it  may 
be,  or  a/ew  asses,  which  carried  coals  or  besoms  to  the  surrounding  towns.  Regarding  the 
Forest  as  their  inalienable  right,  they  greatly  resented  the  encroachments  that  seemed  to  be 
extending  wider  and  wider,  from  the  increased  vigilance  with  which  the  warreners  found  it 
necessary  to  guard  the  lauds  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  warrens.  A  spirit  of  dissatisfaction 
at  these  inroads  into  what  thej'  called  their  "  Maker's  manor"  (I  have  the  expression  from  a 
very  old  forester),  first  began  to  develope  itself  among  the  cottagers  of  Sheepshed  and  Whit- 
wick.  The  Jack  Cades  and  Wat  Tylers  of  the  district  fanned  the  sparks  of  this  dissatisfac- 
tion into  a  flame,  which  soon  reached  the  colliers  at  Cole-Orton.  The  outbreak  that  shortly 
after  arose,  is  thus  noticed  by  Nichols  : — "  After  the  Forest  had  been  well  cleared  of  wood," 
as  described  in  the  preceding  chapter,  "  it  abounded  for  a  considerable  time  in  rabbits,  there 
being  then  at  least  five  well-stocked  warrens  :  Lord  Stamford's,  Lord  Huntingdon's,  Mr.  Her- 

»  This  is  misprinted  Bartow  in  Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  120 ;  and,  after  him,  La  the  Beauties  of  England 


24  TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST. 

rick's,  Mr.  Phillipps',  and  Mr.  Bosville's ;  besides  three  smaller  ones — Mr.  Barber's,  of  Map- 
plewell,  and  two  others.  In  January,  1748-9,  however,  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  neighbouring 
villages  assembled  at  Charley  Knoll,  and  after  a  formal  consultation  began  to  pull  down  fences, 
where  encroachments  had  been  made  upon  the  Forest,  at  Woodhouse  Eaves,  Newtown  Lin- 
ford,  and  other  places.  Afterwards  the  rabble  of  the  country,  principally  colliers  from  Cole- 
Orton,  proceeded  to  dig  up  and  destroy  the  rabbits,  which  occasioned  great  disturbance. 
Persevering  in  their  resolution,  the  persons  who  claimed  the  right  of  protecting  what  they 
called  their  property,  raised  help,  and  went  to  such  lengths  that  it  was  found  necessary  to 
guard  themselves  with  fire-arms.  William  Whittle,  a  warrener,  and  four  or  five  of  his  assist- 
ants, were  attacked  by  the  rabble  on  the  Warren  Hill.  These  defending  themselves,  a  scufBe 
ensued  with  pitchforks,  spades,  pickaxes,  &c.,  the  warrener  being  the  only  person  having  a  gun. 
In  this  affray  William  Stevenson,  one  of  the  rioters,  received  a  wound  in  his  forehead,  of  which 
he  died  in  a  few  hours.  It  was  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Hunt,  the  surgeon  who  dressed  the  wound, 
that  it  was  not  gun-shot  (though  such  a  rumour  had  gained  ground  from  the  firing  of  a  gun  in 
the  air),  but  occasioned  by  a  pitchfork  giain  having  entered  his  head.  It  was  never  known 
who  killed  him.  Whittle  and  five  or  six  others  were  indicted  for  the  murder  at  the  Lent 
Assizes,  at  Leicester,  in  1749,  but  no  positive  evidence  appearing  to  convict  any  of  them,  and 
Mr.  Herrick's  Grant  of  free  warren  being  produced  in  Court,  they  were  of  course  acquitted. 
Yet  the  resolution  of  destroying  continued,  although  there  came  two  troops  of  dragoons,  who 
took  great  numbers  of  the  rioters  prisoners,  so  that  the  gaols  at  Leicester  were  filled  with  them ; 
and  after  much  controversy,  the  Forest  was  proved  to  be  free  common  for  twenty-six  neigh- 
bouring towns  and  villages ;  and  thus  the  matter  rested.  But  there  is  now  scarcely  a  rabbit  to 
be  seen  except  in  Bradgate  Park."  When  the  tumults  had  entirely  subsided,  the  following 
respectful  memorial  was  drawn  up  by  a  considerable  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  neigh- 
bouring townships,  and  signed  respectively  by  the  officiating  Clergyman  of  each  place : — 

"To  William  Herkick,  Esq.,  of  Beaumanor. 

"We,  the  freeholders,  farmers,  and  commoners  of  the  several  towns  hereto  annexed, 
having  a  right  of  common  upon  a  large  common  called  Chamwood,  alias  Charley  Forest, 
desire,  in  behalf  of  ourselves  and  great  numbers  of  commoners,  in  the  first  place,  to  express 
our  concern  and  abhorrence  of  the  manner  of  the  late  proceedings  on  the  said  commons ; 
and,  in  the  second  place,  we  desire  to  represent  the  great  oppressions  we  and  all  the  com- 
moners have  lain  under,  for  several  years  past,  by  the  enlarging  and  extending  the  supposed 
ancient  bounds  of  the  warrens  which  have  been  kept  upon  the  said  commons,  by  which  the 
grass  and  herbage  of  the  said  commons  has  been  spoiled,  and  rendered  unfit  for  depasturing 
of  cattle  and  sheep ;  and  many  poor  tenants  and  commoners  have  and  do  suffer  grievously 
by  the  said  supposed  bounds  being  so  enlarged,  and  by  the  warreners  disturbing  and  driving 
their  sheep  and  cattle  off,  or  when  near  the  said  warrens.  It  is  therefore  our  request  that 
you  will  take  the  said  condition  of  the  commoners  into  consideration.  And,  agreeable  to 
your  goodness  in  proposing  to  reform  all  grievances,  we  desire  that  a  jury  of  the  most  ancient 
persons  nearest  to  those  commons  may  be  convened,  and  by  their  verdict  such  mere-dykes 
or  stones  may  be  fixed  as  may  prevent  any  future  disputes ;  and  hope  you  in  consequence 


TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST. 


25 


can  receive  no  damage,  as  your  tenants,  together  with  the  rest  of  the  commoners,  will  like- 
wise find  their  account  and  benefit  by  it,  and  be  thereby  enabled  to  pay  their  rents.  And 
we  farther  desire  to  recommend  to  your  mercy  those  commoners  that  have  incurred  your 
displeasure,  by  defacing  the  said  commons ;  it  being  their  first  offence  of  this  nature,  to 
which  many  were  betrayed  either  by  i-umours  without  foundation,  or  led  by  curiosity,  or 
iiTitated  by  others'  murmurs,  or  excited  by  sensibly  experiencing  themselves  the  decay  of 
their  own  commons.     All  which  is  hereby  submitted." 

This  verj'  temperate  representation  and  remonstrance  was  signed  by  the  Ministers  of 
twenty-two  out  of  the  twenty-six  townships,  viz. : — 


Swithland. 
Rothley. 
Moimtsorrel. 
Tliiucaston. 


Cropston.  Barrow. 

Anstey.  |  Quomdon. 

Markfield.  '  Woodhouse. 

Loughborough.  !  Ratby. 


Newtown  Lin- 
ford. 
Hugglescote. 
Whitwick. 


Thringstonc.  '  Woodthorpe. 

Belton.  I  Mapplewell. 

Sheepshed.  j  Stanton-under- 

Hathcm.  |         Bardon. 


What  were  the  immediate  results  from  this  very  proper  address,  Nichols  does  not  inform 
us ;  nor  does  he  state  why  it  was  solely  addressed  to  Mr.  Herrick,  and  not  also  to  the  other 
owners  of  warrens.  The  reason  may  have  been,  that  Mr.  Herrick's  warrener  was  the  person 
who  resisted  the  rioters.  The  document,  signed  as  it  was,  carries  on  the  face  of  it  the 
general  conviction  that  encroachments  had  been  made  on  the  commoners'  rights,  and  the 
circumstance  probably  had  some  weight  in  directing  people's  thoughts  to  inclosure. 

Tlie  circumference  of  the  Forest,  according  to  Wild's  survey  (taken  in  1754),  appears  to 
be  thirty -three  miles :  but  he  has  taken  the  boundaries  in  an  angular  form,  or  indeed  in  any 
fonu  they  presented ;  perhaps  it  might  be  encircled  in  a  fence  of  twenty-five  miles. — 
licland  says  it  was  "  XX  miles  in  cumpace." 

To  the  proprietors  of  Forest  property,  at  least  to  those  who  have  not  access  to  Nichols, 
it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  describe  the  boundaries  of  this  perambulation. 


THE  PERAMBULATION  ROUND  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

BEGINNING  AT  THE  FOREST  LANE,  NEXT  BEAUMANOR  PARK. 

4 

Woodhouse,  Barrow,  Quorndon,  Woodthorpe, 

Round  Woodhouse  Eaves  and  Hungerhill  Wood,  in  Swithland  Field 1     6  25 

Swithland,  Mountsorrel,  Rothley, 
To  N.  E.  comer  of  Swithland  Woods 1     1  39 

Newtown,  Thurcaston,  Anstey,  Groby,  Glenfield,  Ratby, 

To  Cropsfon  Gate 1  6  24 

Round  Bradgate  Park 2  0     2 

Round  Blake  Hayes  and  Stony  Wells,  N.  W 3  4  48 

To  the  ToU-House   I  5  37 

9     1  31 


26  TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST. 

Markfield. 

M.  p.     p. 

From  Toll-House  on  road  to  Leicester 0  124 

To  the  comer  of  Markfield  Intakes,  near  the  Toll-House 0  I  25 

Round  Markfield  Knoll 1  I  28 

To  bottom  of  Wash-pit  lane  0  3    5 

To  comer  of  ditto  lane,  under  Cliff  Hill 0  2  16 

To  top  of  Stony-lane  0  3  20 

To  Broad-lane  0  I  20 

2  5  34 
Stanton,  Thoknton,  Bagworth, 

To  Stanton-street 1  4    8 

To  Battleflat-lane 1  2  14 

2  G  22 

HUGGLESCOTE,  IbSTOCK,  DoNINGTON, 

To  Beggary-lane 0  3  31 

Bardon  Park, 

To  the  comer  of  Copt  Oak I  7  20 

To  Judy's-lane 1  6    4 

3  5  24 

Whitwick,  Cole-Orton,  Swannington,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch,  Raunston, 

To  Judy's  comer 0  2  28 

To  Whitwick-street 2  0     0 

To  the  Dumps 0  4  25 

2  7   13 
Thrinkston, 

To  Thacker's-lane   ^  2  25 

Grace  Dieu,  Osgathorpe, 

To  N.  W.  comer  of  Grace  Dieu  Park  0  6     3 

To  lane  leading  to  Osgathorpe 0  2  35 

1  0  38 

Belton,  Diseworth,  Long  Wiiatton,  Langley, 

To  N.  W.  corner  of  Belton  Low  Wood    , 0  4  27 

To  the  Fish-pool 1  2  18 

I  7     5 

Shepeshed,  Hathern, 

To  Gelder's  Hall 1  7  21 

To  Shepeshed  Nook I  5    0 

3  4  21 


TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST.  27 

Gauendon  Park, 

M.     P.     P. 

Round  the  same 1     4  27 

KNiGHT-TuonrE,  Burleigh, 

To  S.  W.  comer  of  Thorpe-Brand   0  3  30 

To  Loughborough-lane 0  ^  33 

1  I  23 

LoUGHBOnOUGH, 

To  Beaumanor  Park  I  5  20 

Beaumanor  Park, 

Round  the  same 0  7    5 

2  4  25 


The  number  of  ancient  entrances  into  the  Forest,  still  known  by  the  names  of  Forest 
Gates,  will  show  not  only  that  its  boundaries  were  foi-merly  well  known,  but  that  it  was 
inclosed  by  some  kind  of  wall  or  fence.*  These  entrances  were — Forest  Gate,  near  Lough- 
borough ;  Pocket  Gate;  Forest  Gate,  near  Woodhouse  Brand;  The  Hall  Gates  ;  Horsepool 
Lane  Gate ;  Meadow  Lane  Gate  ;  Belton  Low  Wood  Gate  ;  Tickow  Lane  Gate ;  Sheepshed 
Forest  Gate ;  Snell's  Lane  Gate,  &c. 

THE  FOREST  CANAL. 

Some  statement  respecting  the  Charnwood  Forest  Canal  will  not  be  out  of  place  here. 
In  1791,  a  Company,  called  t/ie  Leicester  Canal  Company,  obtained  an  Act  "for  making 
and  maintaining  a  navigable  communication  between  the  Loughborough  Canal  and  the 
Town  of  Leicester ;  and  a  communication,  by  railways  or  stone  roads  and  water-levels,  from 
several  places  and  mines  to  the  said  Loughborough  Canal."  By  virtue  of  this  Act,  a 
railway  was  formed  from  the  canal  at  Loughborough  to  the  Forest  end  of  the  Loughborough 
lane,  whence  a  canal  was  cut,  nine  miles  in  length,  to  Thringstone  Bridge,  with  a  branch 
towards  BaiTow  Hill  lime- works.  From  Thringstone  Bridge,  railways  again  branched  off 
to  the  coal-pits  at  Swannington  and  Cole-Orton.  The  object  was,  to  convey  coals  from  the 
Swannington  and  Cole-Orton  collieries,  and  lime  from  Barrow  Hill  and  Cloud  Hill,  near 
Breedon.  The  water  of  this  canal  was  supplied  by  the  natural  drainage  of  the  Forest 
running  into  Blackbrook,  and  collected  and  raised  by  a  reservoir  of  thirty  -five  acres,  formed 
near  the  Hermitage  under  Sharpley. 

The  failure  of  this  speculation,  by  which  the  Company  sank  nearly  £'100,000.,  has  very 
often  been  ascribed  to  the  bursting  of  this  reservoir — to  the  want  of  water — and  to  the 
porous  nature  of  some  parts  of  the  soil  in  which  the  bed  of  the  canal  lies.  This  is  an  en-or. 
It  is  true  that,  in  1807,  the  reservoir  did  burst,  and  caused  considerable  devastation  and 

*  Forests,  according  to  Sir  Henry  Spelman,  were  not  necessarily  bounded  by  a  fence — "nullo  sepimento,  al  certis 

terminis." 


28  TERRITORIAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FOREST. 

consternation  too  :  carrying  away,  as  it  did,  every  thing  that  impeded  its  course,  and  making 
a  noise  hke  a  second  Niagara.  Only  one  boat  load  of  coals  is  said  to  have  been  brought  to 
Loughborough  by  this  canal  ;  but  the  true  cause  of  its  failure  was  the  nature  of  the  line, 
which  has  been  thought  to  have  been  so  formed  purposely,  in  order  to  favour  the  Derby- 
shire collieries.  It  involved  the  expense  of  unloading  and  re-loading  the  coal  twice  before 
it  left  the  Forest,  and  a  third  time  before  it  could  pass  along  the  Leicester  Canal,  on  reach- 
ing Loughborough.  The  Swannington  Colliery  had,  for  some  time,  been  a  source  of  little 
profit,  and  a  dispute  respecting  the  drainage  of  their  pits  had  arisen  between  the  late 
Sir  George  Beaumont  and  Mr.  Boultbee,  owners  of  different  coal  fields  near  Cole-Orton. 
Both  fields  were  consequently  closed,  when  the  extraordinary  expenses  of  getting  to  market 
prevented  their  proprietors  from  entering  into  competition  with  those  of  Derbyshire  :  whose 
coals,  once  lodged  in  boats,  were  delivered  at  and  beyond  Leicester  without  either  the  break- 
age or  expense  of  frequent  re-loading.  The  Forest  Canal  was,  in  consequence,  no  longer 
used,  and  is  now  a  dry  and  unsightly  cutting. 

The  Commissioners  for  the  Inclosure  were  empowered  to  assess  the  value  of  the  land 
taken  by  the  Company  from  the  Forest.  The  Company  therefore  became  the  actual  owners 
of  the  soil ;  and  as  they  have  no  power  to  sell  it,  it  is  let  to  the  different  proprietors  through 
whose  lands  the  line  runs. 

It  detracts  much  from  the  beauty  and  value  of  the  several  estates  through  which  it 
passes — and,  without  a  fresh  Act  of  Parliament,  it  must  ever  continue  to  do  so — as  all  induce- 
ments to  obliterate  and  improve  it  are  necessarily  wanting. 

Having  now  carried  the  reader,  though  somewhat  discursively,  through  the  Territorial 
description  of  the  Forest,  in  which  both  the  rights  of  the  rich  and  poor  have  been  glanced 
at,  I  proceed  to  another  portion  of  its  history,  to  which  the  foregoing  statements  naturally 
point,  viz. : — The  Inclosure. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  INCLOSURE  OF  THE  FOREST. 


Thk  preceding  chapter  will,  perhaps,  have  rendered  the  reader  anxious  to  arrive  at  the 
termination  of  what  he  may  be  disposed  to  term  "  the  dry  details"  of  the  book.  Unfortu- 
nately for  an  author,  and  sometimes  for  his  readers  too,  he  is  not  always  at  liberty,  at  least 
in  any  historical  work,  to  select  his  subjects.  Most  Historians  have  felt  the  difficulty  of 
avoiding  tediousness,  and  at  the  same  time  doing  justice  to  their  materials.*  It  is  not, 
however,  the  less  incumbent  on  a  writer  to  present  all  "  the  dry  details"  necessary  to  a 
clear  view  of  his  subject,  merely  because  he  knows  they  must  be  unpalatable  to  the 
majority.  To  describe  Charnwood  without  some  account  of  the  Inclosure,  would  be  to 
omit  one  of  the  most  important  circumstances  in  its  history.  Another  chapter,  of  a  cha- 
racter somewhat  similar  to  those  preceding  it,  is  therefore  unavoidable,  however  uninterest- 
ing it  may  be. 

It  was  in  1794  that  Mr.  Monk,  in  his  Agricultural  Report  for  Leicestershire,  stated  that 
"  Charnwood  Forest  contains  about  15,000,  or  16,000  acres,t  three-fourths  of  which  might 
be  made  into  very  useful  land:  and  if  inclosed,  would  make  some  valuable  farms.  The 
most  improvable  part  is  towards  Loughborough,  where  there  is  a  large  tract  of  very  excellent 
land,  worth  a  pound  per  acre.  It  is  the  opinion  of  those  who  are  well  acquainted  with 
every  part  of  it,  that  there  is  not  a  single  acre  which  is  not  capable  of  improvement.  If  the 
hills  were  planted,  and  the  other  parts  inclosed,  it  would  be  a  wonderful  ornament  to  the 
county." 

It  is  jfrobable  that  this  Report  had  considerable  weight  in  confirming  the  then  wavering 
opinions  of  the  proprietors  with  regard  to  the  advantages  of  inclosure.  The  late  Lord 
Hastings,  indeed,  had  long  been  favourable  to  the  step,  and  it  has  been  said  that  it  was 
greatly  owing  to  his  Lordship's  influence,  and  the  high  opinion  entertained  of  the  soundness 
of  his  judgment,  that  the  great  change  was  eventually  accomplished. 

The  prejudices  against  inclosure  were  undoubtedly  great.  The  loss  of  extensive  sheep- 
walks  had  its  influence  with  some  large  proprietors,  whose  old  inclosed  lands  were  on  or  near 
the  Forest.  There  were,  besides,  proprietors  of  small  inclosed  patches,  of  only  a  few  acres 
(as,  for  instance,  that  called  "  The  Oaks"),  who  absolutely  ran  upwards  of  two  thousand 

•  Liv)-  says,  "  Legentium  plerisque,  haud  dubito  quin  prima;  origines  proximaque  originibus,  minus  pra;biturae 

Toluptatis  sint,  festinantibus  ad  htec  nova,"  &c. 

t  Other  authurilies  estimated  it  at  18,000,  and  20,000  acres  :  but  including,  perhaps,  the  old  inclosures. 


30  INCI.uyUKl'.  Ol'  TllK   I'OUKST. 

shiH'p  upon  the  I'luvst.  Tlusi-,  ami  llie  small  lommoiuis,  iialiirally  rcganlcd  the  contem- 
plati'd  change  as  spoliation.  It  was  alk-ginl,  loo,  that  "  tlio  oUl  inclosiires,  such  as  Charley, 
the  Holy  Hood  Land,*  &e.,  rornicd  no  criteiion  ibr  judging  of  the  general  capabilities  of  the 
I'orest.  Thej  were  mostly  in  low  and  sheltered  situations."  However,  notwithstanding 
these  doubts  of  the  advantage  or  the  justice  of  the  measure,  the  Act  of  Inclosure  obtained 
the  Royal  Assent  in  1808,  and  the  account  of  claims  was  signed  in  1812.  "That  Act,"  it 
has  been  said,  "  increased  the  value  of  some  land  thirty,  some  sixty,  some  a  hundred  fold." 

The  Commissioners  named  in  the  Act  were  Robert  Harvey  Wyatt,  of  Barton-under- 
Needwood,  John  Burchani,  of  Coningsby,  Thomas  Eagle,  of  Allesley,  and  James  Green,  of 
Lenton,  Gentlemen:  and  while,  1  believe,  almost  all  the  parties  whose  rights  were  affected 
hv  their  decisions,  allowed  that  they  executed  their  very  onerous  duties  with  fairness  and 
fidelity,  it  must  not  be  concealed  that  a  considerable  degree  of  dissatisfaction  prevailed  at 
the  unparalleled  expenditure  which  the  Commission  caused.  A  leaning  in  favour  of  the 
larger  proprietors  has  also  been  imputed  to  the  Commissioners.  So  far  as  I  can  learn,  this 
"  leaning"  consisted  chiefly  in  their  endeavours  to  accommodate  the  Lords  of  the  Forest,  by 
fixing  their  allotments  as  near  as  might  be  to  their  respective  Parks,  Parishes,  &c.,  and  this 
the  Act  itself  provided  for.  Many  claimants  were  disappointed  at  the  rejection  of  their 
claims  "because  no  stocking  had  been  proved,"  or  because  the  messuages,  &c.,  for  which 
they  claimed  "had  not  been  built  forty  years;"  but  whatever  the  claimants'  original  rights 
might  have  been,  it  is  clear,  at  least  in  cases  of  "  no  stocking,"  that  they  themselves  had 
considered  them  valueless — and  the  Commissioners  were  guided  in  their  limitation  to  forty 
years  by  the  General  Inclosure  Act. — (41  George  HI.) 

The  reader  may  satisfy  himself  on  the  subject  of  the  partiality  or  impartiality  of  the 
Commissioners,  by  referring  to  their  published  List  of  Claims  (to  which  are  appended  the 
reasons  for  rejection).  He  will  at  once  see  that,  in  some  Parishes,  as  in  Kcgworth,  for 
instance,  which  claimed  by  Prescription,  every  claim  was  objected  to  ;  and  that  in  others,  the 
claims  of  most  influential  proprietors  were  disallowed,  while  those  possessed  of  no  influence 
whatever  were  admitted. 

The  Act  declared  that  "  the  soil  of  the  Forest,  with  other  rights  in  and  over  the  same, 
was  vested  or  reputed  to  be  vested  in  the  Lords  of  the  several  Manors,  Lordships,  Precincts, 
or  Territories — Groby,  Barrow,  WTiitwick,  Loughborough,  Beaumanor,  Sheepshed,  Knight- 
Thorpe,  Thorp  Acre,  Garendon,  Grace  Dieu,  Belton,  Ulverscroft,  Charley,  Bardon,  and 
Thringston,  together  with  the  Honourable  Augustus  Richard  Butler  Danvers,  Peter  Cromp- 
ton,  Esq.,  and  some  other  persons  claiming  lo  be  entitled  to  the  soil  of  small  portions 
thereof." 

The  grounds  on  which  Parishes  or  individuals  founded  their  claims  were  Prescription — 
Vicinage — having  a  parochial  or  manorial  boundary  on  the  Forest — being  members  of  a 
parish  that  had  a  boundary,  &c.,  &c. 

Manors  and  Parishes  were  only  in  some  cases  co-extensive. 

*  Inclosed  by  common  consent,  in  1688.— Nichok  owns  that  it  derived  it«  name  from  haying  been,  before  it»  inclo- 
sure, thrown  open  at  Holy  Bood-day  ( Vol.  III.,  p.  Ill)  ;  but  he  inconsiderately  places  it  (Vol.  III.,  p.  128)  at  the 
Holy  Cross,  which  has  been  before  demonstrated  to  have  been  near  the  Abbot's  Oak,  and  Holly  (qu.  Holy]  Rock. 

See  the  last  note  on  Table,  page  18. 


31 


Tne  Pii^sHZs  ha^-  B:^iir^es  ^ 


"W;,;.£l,-!:i 


Parishes  ttat  were  allowed  Right  (rf  Cozi-;z.   i?    ::  ..;  M:u.    t:^     :   !  1  v^  :^  _!._ 
Boondaries  on  the  Fires'. : — 

Ansjey^— Mei^.-  ^   -     M        :  :^  :  IS— :i.:— :  K:— —   -^      :     :   :ii   iLi^r    c 

GropKCii— V  -  :     :    -  ;.  ^-.-i   i— :.   -:    :  _:    ::^   :         ?^t.v- 

Deiora— Mez:     r  ,  ]    .n   :  ;      :     7.  -;    -^    - 

Grobr— Men:;:  .;  :_T  M-i   r  :^:::  Em.- —:.:n; :::_.:- _i   ;        -_:-r;saifi. 

GienEelo — Mv- :   7    :  Ji:  ' .  7  L.;iix''SrLir._- — iC;— :;r  ;;' i_r  ^-n  :  ,:  ?iLi«- 

Xeyic-'gn U- .Ii . -  ■    m  3  :::fr;f  iiei_ 

theMii^:r-:Gr:;y:   =_^     ;.  :  W^-  S-^—  - -:c:— M:  v  :  ^:  _:    •     -'  '^^^'- 

wioi  Minor.  ^--i 

■  -     ■  — M  :  ^;    Mlz;:     :'  Grsor  Dies — ^is  iezu: -i.  lir  Fxr.- .       r 


Parishes  allowed  Right  of  C:: 


Biri-z. 

Garecdoa. 

BiT^.r.i. 

Ibst«i. 

Bre^cc 

The  quantity  of  land  claimed,  allowed,  and  objected  to,  in  the  cases  of  the  six  Lojids  of 

the  Forest,  is  here  given,  in  order  to  gire  the  reader  some  idea  c:  ■.:;-■ 

ihe  general  mode  in  which  thev  wer>?  adjusted.     The  claims  of  > .  -      - 

of  the  largest  claimants,  are  also  stated. 


32  inclosure  of  the  forest. 

The  Earl  of  Stamford's  Claims. 

Claims  allowed  by  the  Commissionera-  Claims  objected  to. 

Ill  Anstey  (as  being  -within  Manor  of  Groby) 263  1  35 

Bradgate  (ditto)     1865  2     2 

Breedon  (by  Prescription) 58  0    0 

Cropston  (witliin  Groby  Manor) 56  0  32 

Glenfield  (ditto) 39  0     0 

Groby(ditto)    2U78  3  26 

Newtown  (as  having  a  Parochial  and  Manorial  Boundary  on  the  Forest)   1374  1  23 

Ratby  (as  being  within  the  Manors  of  Groby  and  Whitwick) 803  3  25 

Swithland  (ditto) 34  1     6 

Stanton  (ditto)  78  2     7 

Thurcaston  (by  Prescription)   19  2  10 

6761  3    6 

For  Anstey  and  Thurcaston,  Lord  Stamford  claimed  also  on  Rothley  Plain. 

In  this  statement,  it  will  be  seen  that  not  a  single  claim  for  land  was  objected  to  by  the 
Commissioners ;  but  their  objections  to  Lord  Stamford's  claims  for  messuages  and  sites 
were  very  numerous. 

The  Earl  of  Moira's  Claims. 

Claims  allowed  by  the  Commissioners.  Claims  objected  to. 

A.  R.     P.  A.      R.       P. 

In  Barrow  (as  being  within  the  Manor  of  Barrow)    6  2  23  0     0     0 

Loughborough  (as  having  a  Parochial  and  Manorial  Boundary,  &c.)  ...    1084  133  0     0     0 

Mountsorrel  (as  being  within  the  Manor  of  Barrow)    1  1   12  0     0     0 

Woodthorpe  (aswithintheManorofBeaumanor&ParishofLoughboro'.)       23  1  20  0    0     0 

Woodhouse  (as  having  a  Parochial  and  Manorial  Boundary  on,  i&c.)  ...         0  0     0  'IS     1  20 

Whitwick  (ditto)    32  2  12  +9     3  21 

Swannington  (as  being  within  Whitwick) 0  0    0  +40    0     0 

Markfield  (as  having  a  Parochial  and  Manorial  Boundary  on,  &c.)    ....         0  0     0  §  7     0     0 

Rothley  (by  Prescription) 0  0    0  1     0  25 

Quom  (as  part  of  Barrow) 8  0  24  0     3   10 

Hathem  (as  part  of  Sheepshed) 21  1  21  0     0     0 

Newtown  Unthank  (as  being  within  Groby  and  Whitwick  Manors)  ....       20  0     0  000 

Hugglescote  (as  having  a  Parochial  and  Manorial  Boundary  on  Forest,  &c.)       15  1  24  11     0  26 

Stanton  (ditto)   0  0     0  8     1  26 

1213  19  96     3     8 


In  Barrow,  Lord  Moira  put  in  forty-five  claims  for  messuages,  with  ten  perches  to  each ; 
every  one  of  which  was  objected  to,  either  "because  the  premises  were  built  on  the  Waste" 
or  had  "  not  been  built  forty  years." 

*  t  Because  no  Stocking  was  proved. 

I  Because  the  Premises  were  on  the  Waste,  and  claimed  by  Trustees  of  Wigston's  Hospital. 

§  Because  on  the  Waste. 


inclosurk  of  the  forest.  33 

Mr.  March  Phili.ipps'  Claims. 

Claims  allowed  by  the  Comniiswioi 


In  Garendon  (by  Prescription)     1774  2  26 

Grace  Dicu  (as  part  of  Belton) ....  465  0     7 

Knight-Thoqiu  (as  having  Parocliial  Boundary)   51  0  27 

Loughborough  (ditto) 217  2  12 

Kegworth  (by  Prescription) 0  0     0 

Markfield  (as  having  Parochial  Boundary)    5.3  2     3 

Sheepshed  (Parochial  and  Manorial  Boundary) 1301  1     4 

Hathem  (as  being  within  Manor  of  Sheepshed)  93  1     1 

Osgathorpe  (by  Prescription) 0  0     0 

Thruigstone  (Parochial  and  Manorial  Boundary) 57  2   14 

Thorpe  Acre  and  Disliley  (by  Prescription) 646  2  18 

Stanton  (Parochial  and  Manorial  Boundary) 4)9  0  26 

5082  3  18 


Claims 

obj«;lt.d  t 

A. 

R.      P. 

0 

0       0 

0 

0     0 

0 

0     0 

0 

0     0 

*185 

1     0 

0 

0     0 

t21 

3  15 

0 

0    0 

tI3 

0  15 

0 

0     0 

0 

0     0 

0 

0     0 

220 

0  30 

Mr.  Herrick's  Claims. 

Claims  allowed  by  the  Coi 

In  Beaumanor  (as  having  a  Parochial  and  Manorial  Boundary) 617  0     0 

Woodhouse  (ditto) 92  115 

Quom  (as  part  of  Barrow) 41  o    0 

Mountsorrel  (ditto) 4  0     0 

Loughborough  (as  having  a  Parochial  and  Manorial  Boundary 102  0     0 

Woodthorpe  (as  being  withLn  Beaumanor  and  Parish  of  Loughborough)     284  2     0 

1140  3  15 


Not  one  of  Mr.  Herrick's  claims  was  objected  to :  and  it  has  been  alleged  that  that  gen- 
tleman might,  with  great  justice,  have  somewhat  extended  them.  The  present  proprietor 
of  Beaumanor  has  made  considerable  additions  to  his  Forest  property  by  purchase. 

Mr.  Dawson's  Claims. 

Claims  allowed  by  the  Commission 

In  Belton  (as  having  Parochial  and  Manorial  Boundary) 217  1  31 

Long  Whatton  (as  being  within  the  Manor  of  Sheepshed  and  Belton) . .  1170  2  12 

Grace  Dieu  (as  being  within  Belton) 4  2  16 

Osgathorpe  (by  Prescription) 0  0    0 

Thriugstone  (as  having  Parochial  and  Manorial  Boundary)   45  2  27 

Whitwick  (ditto)    42  3     2 

Hathem  (as  part  of  Sheepshed)     12  0  15 

Kegworth  (by  Prescription) 0  0     0 

1493     0  23 


Claims 

objected 

A, 

B.      P. 

0 

0     0 

0 

0    0 

0 

0     0 

+32 

0     2 

0 

0     0 

0 

0     0 

0 

0     0 

157 

2  31 

89 

2  33 

Because  no  Stocking  was  proved.  t  Because  it  belonged  to  the  Canal  Company. 

+  Because  no  Stocking  was  proved. 


34  inclosure  of  the  forest. 

Mr.  Bosville's  Claims. 

Claims  allowed  by  the  Commissioners.  Claims  objected  t 

In  Ulverscroft  (as  having  a  Manorial  Boundary) 772     2  39  0     0     0 


The  Honourable  A.  R.  B.  Danvers'  Claims. 

Claims  allowed  by  the  Commissioners. 

A.        R.       P. 

In  Barrow  (as  ■within  Manor  of  Barrow) 40  2     0 

Mountsorrel  (as  within  Manor  of  Barrow)   95  2  36 

Woodhouse  (as  having  Parochial  Boundary) 110  2  38 

Newtown  (as  having  Parochial  and  Manorial  Boundary)    70  2     0 

Swithland  (ditto)    81G  0     7 

Rothley  (by  Prescription) 96  2     4 

Thurcaston  (ditto) 567  3  28 

Cropston  (as  within  Groby) 58  0     0 

1855     3  33 


Mr.  Butler  Danvers  claimed  on  Rothley  Plain,  for  the  same  quantity  of  land  in  Swith- 
land, Rothley,  Thurcaston,  and  Cropston. 

Compensation  for  Manorial  Rights  was  also  claimed  and  allowed  in  all  the  preceding 
six  cases. 

One  of  the  most  singular  claims  was  that  of  Great  Wigston,  situated  nearly  twenty  miles 
from  the  Forest.  It  was  made  in  consequence  of  some  horse-dealers,  resident  at  that  place, 
having  been  accustomed,  in  their  return  from  the  Belton  and  the  northern  fairs,  to  turn  in 
their  horses,  and  to  leave  them  there  till  the  next  neighbouring  fair.  It  was,  of  course, 
disallowed. 

A  recapitulation  of  all  the  claims  made,  both  on  the  Forest  and  Rothley  Plain,  would 
be  more  tedious  than  useful.  In  this  place  it  will  be  sufficient  to  state,  that  the  number  of 
messuages  claimed  for  were  3,631| ;  of  sites,  181 ;  of  acres,  60,605,  .3  roods,  '20  perches. 

The  number  of  allotable  acres,  both  on  the  Forest  and  Plain,  are  stated  by  Mr.  Jackson, 
the  highly  respectable  Surveyor,  to  have  been  only  11,500.  From  these,  the  land  ordered 
to  be  set  apart  for  building  and  endowing  Chapels — the  compensation  for  manorial  rights, 
and  for  tithes — the  land  for  roads,  and  the  expenses  of  making  them,  and  the  whole  cost  of 
the  Act,  Commission,  Surveys,  &c.,  had  first  to  be  deducted. 

One  of  the  greatest  items  of  expenditure  was  the  outlay  for  making  roads,  which  I  state, 
on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Jackson,  to  have  been  not  less  than  sixty  thousand  pounds.  For 
some  of  these  purposes,  extensive  sales  of  Forest  lands  took  place.  The  amount  of  land  so 
sold  was  2,558  acres  on  the  Forest,  and  60  acres  on  Rothley  Plain. 

To  every  proprietor  whose  claim  had  been  admitted,  about  3s.  6d.  worth  of  Forest  land 
was  allotted  for  every  £5.  worth  of  the  old  inclosure  for  which  he  claimed ;  and  for  every 
messuage  and  every  site,  having  right  of  common,  8s.  worth  of  Forest  land.  Hence  there 
were  allotments  so  small  as  one-sixth  of  a  perch. 


INCLOSURE  OF  THE  FOREST.  35 

One  of  the  hardships  committed  by  the  inclosure  will  strike  every  visitor  of  the  Forest — 
the  absence  of  foot-paths.  That  in  a  district  affording  means  of  support  to  many  hundreds 
of  humble  cottagers — means  of  recreation  to  thousands — not  one  yard  of  foot-path,  not  one 
acre  of  open  ground  should  have  been  reserved,  was  at  least  a  hardship.  The  poor,  how- 
ever, had  perhaps  an  equivalent  in  the  new  field  which  was  opened  for  their  labour :  and 
the  public,  in  the  improved  roads  which  run  in  every  direction,  intersecting  the  hitherto 
almost  impassable  region. 

One  remarkable  clause  in  the  Act  was,  that  formally  disafforesting  Charnwood.* 

They  who  had  predicted  that  the  attempts  to  render  the  Forest  profitable  by  the  plough 
would  prove  futile,  were  astonished  at  the  result  of  the  first  few  years'  culture.  The  sower 
who  had  the  courage  to  hazard  his  seed,  "  might  think  himself  fortunate,"  said  the  oppo- 
nents of  the  inclosure,  "  if  his  crop  returned  the  seed."  What  was  their  surprise,  when  the 
apparently  sterile  and  valueless  Broombriggs  produced  ten  quarters  of  oats  an  acre ! 

True,  this  portion  of  Charnwood  had  the  benefit  of  the  skill  and  energy  of  one  of  the 
best  practical  agriculturists  that  ever  set  plough  on  the  Forest — the  late  talented  and 
lamented  Mr.  Charles  Allsop.  Those  readers  who  knew  that  estimable  and  highly-gifted 
man,  will  not  think  some  allusion  to  him,  in  this  place,  foreign  to  the  subject  of  my  history. 

He  was  born  in  the  parish  of  Wanlip,  in  the  year  1780,  and  was  descended  from  an 
old  and  most  respectable  agricultural  family,  who  had  for  many  years  been  tenants  on  the 
Wanlip  estate.  His  excellent  conduct,  his  quickness  of  apprehension,  the  ingenuousness 
of  his  mind,  and  the  desire  which  he  evinced  to  improve  himself,  attracted  the  notice,  and 
subsequently  secured  for  him  the  friendship  and  esteem  of  the  late  Sir  Charles  Hudson  and 
his  family :  admitted  into  their  society  and  intimacy,  he  gradually  acquired  habits  and 
tastes,  to  which  he  otherwise  might  have  been  comparatively  a  stranger ;  and  probably 
imbibed  that  love  for  literature  which  proved  a  recreation  to  him  after  many  a  weary  hour  of 
labour  and  toil,  and  a  solace  to  him  amidst  the  many  domestic  sorrows  with  which  it  pleased 
Providence  to  afflict  him. 

A  matrimonial  alliance  which  he  formed  in  the  year  1812,  with  Mary,  the  eldest  daugh- 
ter, and  one  of  the  co-heiresses  of  the  late  George  Watkinson,  Esq.,  of  Woodhouse,  first 
made  him  acquainted  with  the  neighbourhood  of  Charnwood,  and  through  this  connexion 
he  ultimately  became  the  possessor  of  the  Broombriggs  estate. 

The  beauty  of  the  Forest  scenery  attracted  his  imagination — the  contemplated  inclosure 
— the  scope  that  it  would  give  to  bring  his  agricultural  theories  to  the  test,  and  his  practical 
knowledge  to  bear — and  above  all,  the  good  which  he  felt  conscious  he  could  accomplish — 
were  incentives  which  his  ardent  mind  was  unable  to  resist,  and  led  him  to  contemplate 
with  less  regret,  the  exchange  which  he  shortly  afterwards  made  of  the  richly-cultivated 
lands  of  Wanlip  for  the  unbroken  and  apparently  sterile  soil  of  Broombriggs. 

His  mind  was  intent  on  his  object:  and  within  a  short  time  after  his  residence  on  the 
borders  of  the  Forest,  the  face  of  the  country  was  wholly  changed.  By  his  skill  and  indus- 
try, the  heath-clad  hills  became  verdant  pastures ;  the  valleys  were  filled  with  luxuriant 

•  This,  I  believe,  was  a  legal  formulary,  introduced  into  all  Inclosure  Acts  where  the  lands  to  be  inclosed  ha?e, 
at  any  time,  been  part  of  a  Forest. 


36  INCLOSURE  OF  THE  FOREST. 

corn;    and  in  the  place  of  the  furze  and  the  fern,  there  was  plentiful  food   for  the  use 
of  man. 

His  successful  exertions  excited  emulation  amongst  other  farmers,  and  gave  them  assu- 
rance that  their  labours  would  be  crowned  with  success,  by  showing  them  that  the  wilderness 
could  be  turned  into  a  fruitful  field ;  and  it  may  be  questioned  whether  many  of  the  best 
cultivated  Forest  farms  would  have  reached  their  present  respectable  state  of  cultivation, 
but  for  the  example  of  Mr.  Allsop. 

He  was  visited  with  great  affliction  in  the  loss  of  his  amiable  wife  and  five  children 
(the  whole  of  his  family),  but  the  strength  of  his  mind,  and  his  high  sense  of  religious  duty, 
enabled  him  to  struggle  with  his  grief;  it  is,  however,  probable,  that  these  bereavements 
laid  the  foundation  of  that  disease  which  terminated  his  useful  career.  In  the  last  few  years 
of  his  life,  having  perfected  the  cultivation  of  his  own  farm,  and  having  formed  a  friendship 
with  the  owner  of  the  Beaumanor  estate,  he  undertook  the  management  of  that  property, 
and  laid  the  foundation  of  many  of  the  improvements  which  have  since  been  gi-adually  going 
on  there. 

Passionately  fond  of  landscape  gardening,  many  were  the  pleasant  hours  he  spent  in 
that  seductive  occupation.  His  own  grounds  and  plantations  were  evidences  of  his  great 
taste,  and  they  now  abundantly  testify  how  successfully  he  sought  to  make  amends  to 
Nature  for  the  loss  of  those  wild  beauties,  of  which  she  had  been  robbed  by  the  inclosure. 

Latterly  he  devoted  himself  with  greater  assiduity  to  his  literary  pursuits ;  he  acquired 
a  competent  knowledge  of  Botany,  but  directed  his  attention  more  particularly  to  the  study 
of  Geology ;  and  when  Professor  Sedgwick  visited  the  Forest,  in  the  year  1833,  he  showed 
himself  so  well  acquainted  with  this  interesting  district,  and  afforded  him  so  much  local 
information,  as  led  to  future  communications  between  them,  and  insured  for  him  the  kind- 
ness and  esteem  of  that  eminent  man  till  the  day  of  his  death. 

For  several  years  after  leaving  Wanlip,  and  before  his  own  house  on  Broombriggs  was 
completed,  Mr.  Allsop  took  up  his  abode  at  Woodhouse  Eaves :  and,  during  his  residence 
there,  he  became  familiarly  acquainted  with  the  wants  and  difficulties  of  the  poor  around 
him.  He  viewed  with  pleasure  their  prosperity  increasing  in  consequence  of  the  employ- 
ment which  the  cultivation  of  the  Forest  afforded  them,  and  he  was  earnestly  anxious  that 
the  improvement  of  their  social,  moral,  and  religious  condition,  should  go  hand  in  hand  with 
their  temporal  prosperity. 

He  was  aware  that  no  great  permanent  good  could  be  effected,  unless  there  was  a 
resident  Clergyman,  and  unless  endowed  schools  were  established  in  the  place.  Under  this 
impression,  it  was  his  intention  (had  his  life  been  spared)  to  have  made  provision  for  the 
attainment  of  these  objects  ;  but  being  prematurely  cut  off,  he  could  only  communicate  his 
dying  wishes  to  his  residuary  Legatee,  the  present  Miss  Watkinson,  of  Woodhouse — and 
the  very  handsome  Parsonage  and  Schools,  at  AVoodhouse  Eaves,  are  the  lasting  memo- 
rials of  his  munificence,  and  of  the  faithfulness  of  her  to  whom  the  unwritten  trust  was 
confided. 

Thus  he  died,  in  August,  1830,  having  just  completed  his  56th  year. 


INCLOSUUE  OF  THE  FOKEST.  37 


FOREST  CHURCHES. 


Moreover,  when  ye  shall  divide  by  lot  the  land  for  inheritance,  ye  shall  ofl'er  an  oblation  unto  the  Lord : 
an  holy  portion  of  the  land. — Ezekiel,  chapter  xlv.,  verse  1. 

It  will  not,  it  is  presumed,  be  uninteresting  either  to  the  proprietors,  inhabitants,  or 
visitants  of  the  Forest,  to  have  some  record  of  the  manner  by  which  the  three  Churches,  or, 
properly  speaking.  Chapels,  that  add  so  much  to  its  beauty,  and  contribute  so  largely  to  the 
welfare  of  the  foresters,  were  erected. 

Previously  to  the  inclosure,  the  population,  scattered  over  the  centre  of  the  Forest,  from 
their  remote  situation,  had  no  sanctuary ;  they  were,  in  reality,  "  sheep  without  a  shep- 
herd." A  solitary  Meeting-house  at  Bardon,  and  a  private  meeting  in  some  cottage  near 
Snell's-lane,  offered  the  only  means  of  religious  instruction  within  reach.  No  sooner,  how- 
ever, did  it  appear  likely  that  the  inclosure  would  be  effected,  than  a  neighbouring  pro- 
prietor, who  has  been  termed  "  the  friend  of  Wilberforce  and  of  humanity,"  zealously  applied 
himself  to  the  work  of  securing  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  district,  places  of  worship  suited  to 
their  wants.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add,  that  this  excellent  individual  was  the  late 
Thomas  Babington,  Esq.,  of  Rothley  Temple ;  at  that  time  Member  of  Parliament  for 
Leicester. 

So  early  as  1805,  Mr.  Babington  submitted  to  Dr.  Pretyman,  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese, 
a  plain  statement  of  the  spiritual  destitution  of  the  Charnwood  Foresters,  and  of  the  neces- 
sity for  introducing  into  the  then  pending  Bill,  a  clause  to  secure  the  erection  of  Churches, 
and  make  a  permanent  provision  for  Clergymen  to  serve  them.  The  Bishop  entered  warmly 
into  the  plan.  The  difficulties  to  be  surmounted  were  of  no  ordinary  nature,  and  but  for 
tlie  Christian  zeal  of  Mr.  Babington,  it  is  not  saying  too  much  to  add,  that  they  would  have 
proved  insuperable.  It  was  a  matter  of  doubt  whether  it  would  be  better  to  introduce  a 
clause,  rendering  it  compulsory  upon  certain  Livings  entitled  to  tithe  allotments,  to  maintain 
Chapels  of  Ease  in  different  parts  of  the  Forest — or  at  once  to  provide  for  their  erection. 
The  latter  ]ilan  was  happily  selected ;  and  though  the  provision  secured  seemed,  at  the 
time,  disproportionately  small  to  the  extent  of  territory,  and  to  the  probability  of  its  be- 
coming, at  no  distant  period,  a  well-peopled  district,  a  mode  of  accumulation  was  judiciously 
adopted,  that  has,  after  the  lapse  of  thirty  years,  been  found  equal  to  the  realization  of  the 
enlightened  and  benevolent  views  of  these  excellent  persons.  Three  Churches,  out  of  the 
four  which  were  deemed  requisite  by  the  Bishop  and  Mr.  Babington,  have  been  erected 
and  endowed.  If  they  had  foreseen  that  so  considerable  a  share  of  the  Forest  would  have 
been  sold  by  the  Commissioners  in  large  lots,  and  that  so  many  of  the  claims  of  the  smaller 
proi)rietors  would  have  been  bought  by  wealthy  and  enterprising  individuals — thus  causing 
the  farms  to  be  of  large  size — and  that  no  manufacture  would  be  introduced — they  would, 
no  doubt,  have  been  abundantly  satisfied  with  the  three  which  have  been  consecrated. 

The  Peculiar  Exempt  Jurisdiction  of  Groby  (the  origin  of  which  has  never  been  satis- 
factorily explained),  belonging  to  the  Earl  of  Stamford  and  Warrington,  extended  over  a 
very  large  part  of  the  central  Forest ;  in  fact,  to  the  boundaries  of  Sheepshed  and  Whitwick. 


38  INCLOSURE  OF  THE  FOREST. 

Desirous  of  transmitting  to  his  posterity  those  rights  which  he  had  inherited,  his  Lordship 
could  not,  anxious  as  he  was  to  forward  Mr.  Babington's  plan,  consent,  without  injustice, 
to  surrender  them.  Provision  had  therefore  to  be  made  for  their  preservation,  as  well  as  for 
the  anangement  of  other  difficulties.  The  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Babington, 
dated  December  7,  1805,  sketched  his  view  of  the  general  tenor  of  the  clause,  the  insertion 
of  which  he  requested  his  correspondent  to  move  during  the  progress  of  the  Bill  through  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  was  particularly  desirous  that  it  should  be  so  framed  as  not  to 
require  a  subsequent  enactment.  His  Lordship's  plans  were  embodied  in  the  following 
clause,  and  it  is  due  to  most  of  the  large  proprietors  to  say,  that  claims  urged  from  such  a 
quarter  met  with  a  cheerful  concurrence,  which  could  scarcely  have  been  expected  from 
the  influence  of  Mr.  Babington,  great  as  it  deservedly  was,  in  days  when  the  Wild-more 
Fen  Inclosure  Act,  A.D.  1801,  was  the  only  precedent  the  Bishop  was  able  to  produce  of 
land  having  been  assigned  for  the  erection  of  Chapels  in  addition  to  the  Tithe  allotments. 
The  only  other  previous  instance  of  a  like  nature,  on  the  inclosure  of  Needwood  Forest,  is 
not  exactly  in  point,  because  there  the  land  for  a  new  Church  was  granted  out  of  the  allot- 
ment to  the  King,  as  Duke  of  Lancaster. 

The  Act  of  Inclosure  provided  "  that  there  should  be  set  apart  land  equal  in  value  to 
two  hundred  acres,  at  the  average  value  of  the  said  Forest ;  having  regard  in  setting  out 
the  same  to  the  respective  extent  and  value  of  so  much  of  the  Forest  as  is  within  the  Ecclesi- 
astical Peculiar  Exempt  Jurisdiction  of  Groby,  and  of  the  residue  of  the  Forest  not  included 
in  such  Exempt  Jurisdiction ;  and  the  Commissioners  were  required  to  allot  and  award 
so  much  of  the  said  two  hundred  acres  as  shall  be  proportionate  to  the  extent  and  value  of 
the  parts  of  the  Forest  included  in  the  said  Peculiar  of  Groby,  unto  and  for  the  Lord  of  the 
Manor  and  Ecclesiastical  Peculiar  Exempt  Jurisdiction  of  Groby,  and  the  Commissary  of 
the  same,  and  their  successors  for  the  time  being. 

"  And  all  the  residue  of  such  two  hundred  acres,  unto  and  for  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Lin- 
coln, and  the  Archdeacon  of  Leicester,  and  the  Lords  of  the  several  Manors  of  Groby,  Whit- 
wick,  Beaumanor,  Sheepshed,  Ulverscroft,  and  Belton,  for  the  time  being,  to  be  respectively 
held  and  enjoyed  by  them  and  their  successors  and  heirs,  as  Freehold  in  Fee,  for  the  use 
and  benefit  of  such  person  or  persons  as  may  be  duly  appointed  to  serve  as  Minister  or 
Ministers  of  any  Chapel  or  Chapels  which  may  hereafter  be  built,  consecrated,  and  set 
apart  for  the  public  worship  of  Almighty  God,  according  to  the  laws  Ecclesiastical  of  this 
realm  within  the  said  Forest,  for  the  use  of  such  person  and  persons  as  may  from  time  to 
time  inhabit  houses  upon  the  Forest;  and  the  nomination  and  appointment  of  the  Minister 
or  Ministers  of  such  Chapel  or  Chapels,  shall  be  and  is  vested  in  the  Lords  of  the  several 
above  mentioned  Manors;  and  in  case  of  their  not  agreeing— in  the  major  part  of  them — 
and  in  case  of  their  being  equally  divided — the  nomination  to  any  Chapel,  &c.,  to  be  erected 
within  the  limits  of  the  Peculiar  of  Groby,  shall  be  made  by  the  Ordinary  of  the  said  Juris- 
diction; and  to  any  Chapel,  &c.,  to  be  erected  on  any  part  of  the  Forest  not  included  in  the 
said  Peculiar,  by  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  for  such  turn  or  turns  only  ;  and  until  a  Chapel 
or  Chapels  shall  be  so  built  and  consecrated,  and  a  Minister  or  Ministers  duly  appointed, 
the  rents,  issues,  and  profits  of  such  pieces  of  land  aforesaid,  shall  be,  by  the  said  respective 


INCLOSURE  OF  THE  FOREST.  39 

Trustees  thereof,  placed  out  at  interest  on  Government  securities,  and  the  principal  and 
interest  arising  from  such  rents,  &c.,  shall  accumulate,  and  be  applied  towards  discharging 
the  expenses  of  building  any  Chapel  or  Chapels,  and  house  or  houses,  which  may  hereafter 
be  erected  within  the  said  Forest,  for  the  residence  of  the  officiating  Minister  or  Ministers 
of  such  Chapel  or  Chapels,  and  for  the  increasing  of  the  stipend  or  stipends  of  any  Minister 
or  Ministers  who  may  be  so  nominated  and  appointed  to  officiate  in  such  Chapel  or  Chapels 
as  aforesaid,  or  purchasing  lands  for  his  or  their  use  as  Glebe," 

The  Act  received  the  Royal  Assent  June  18,  1808,  and  measures  were  speedily  taken  to 
render  the  Church  building  clause  effective.  For  this  purpose,  as  there  were,  of  course,  no 
funds  immediately  available,  owing  to  the  provision  made  for  accumulations,  Mr.  Babington 
set  on  foot  a  subscription,  and  succeeded  in  raising  about  £600.  amongst  his  relatives  and 
personal  friends.  When  it  was  decided  to  build  the  first  Church  in  the  Peculiar  of  Groby, 
the  Earl  of  Stamford  nobly  gave  a£400.  and  lent  £400.  more ;  the  latter  sum,  I  believe,  for 
the  purpose  of  bringing  into  cultivation  the  land  in  his  Lordship's  Peculiar  allotted  for  the 
Chapel.  The  Bishop  of  Lincoln  gave  £50.,  and  a  like  sum  was  contributed  by  Mr.  Bos- 
ville,  the  then  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Ulvescroft.  The  other  Lords  of  Manors,  and  pro- 
prietors, from  the  almost  unavoidable  jealousy  occasioned  by  the  manner  in  which  the 
patronage  was  limited  in  the  Act,  reserved  their  donations  for  the  Chapel  or  Chapels  here- 
after to  be  erected  in  those  parts  of  the  Forest  not  included  in  the  Peculiar  of  Groby. 

The  building  of  the  Oaks  Chapel  soon  commenced,  and  on  the  18th  of  June,  181-5,  while 
the  memorable  Battle  of  Waterloo  was  being  fought,  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  consecrated  this 
Chapel  of  the  Wilderness  !  the  first  new  Church  built  in  this  county  for  several  generations, 
so  for  as  I  can  learn. 

The  ceremony  has  been  described  as  one  of  unusual  solemnity ;  the  fineness  of  the  day, 
and  the  novelty  of  the  scene,  had  attracted  a  gi-eat  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  neigh- 
bouring villages;  while  those  more  specially  interested  in  spreading  the  Gospel  in  this  long 
benighted  region,  had  been  drawn  from  greater  distances.  A  spectator,  who  beheld  the 
perambulation  of  the  Chapel  yard  from  a  neighbouring  eminence,  states,  that  the  scene  was 
altogether  the  most  imposing  he  ever  beheld  on  the  Forest. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Forest,  to  commemorate  the  foundation  of  the  first  Forest  Church, 
and  struck,  perhaps,  by  the  coincidence  of  its  being  consecrated  on  what  is  now  called 
"  Waterloo-day,"  attempted  for  some  years  to  keep  up  a  wake  on  the  anniversary ;  the 
custom,  however,  soon  fell  into  disuse. 

The  beautiful  Chapels  at  Copt  Oak  and  Woodhouse  Eaves,  erected  in  1837,  were  also 
the  results  of  the  clause  already  given :  Mr.  Herrick  having  kindly  taken  the  same  active 
part  to  procure  subscriptions  in  aid  which  Mr.  Babhigtou  had  taken  for  the  Oaks  Chapel. 
There  were,  however,  many  difficulties  to  contend  with,  and  the  valuable  and  gratuitous 
legal  assistance  rendered  by  Mr.  Cradock  in  removing  them,  deserves  to  be  recorded.  The 
appointments  of  Ministers  were  made,  for  the  Jirst  time,  February  28,  1838.  The  Rev. 
Matthew  Drake  Babington  was  appointed  to  the  Oaks  Chapel,  and  the  Rev.  R.  W.  Close 
to  those  at  Copt  Oak  and  Woodhouse  Eaves.  The  Copt  Oak  and  Woodhouse  Chapels  were 
erected  after  the  elegant  and  chaste  designs  of  Mr.  Railton. 


40  INCLOSURE  OF  THE  FOREST. 

It  must  be  most  gratifying  to  the  survivors  who  aided  in  the  good  work  of  securing  the 
erection  of  the  three  Chapels,  Schools,  &c.,  to  leani  that  their  labours  have  not  been  in  vain. 

The  Oaks  Chapel  has  always  had  a  tolerably  large  and  an  attentive  congregation,  many 
of  whom,  previously  to  its  erection,  were  precluded  from  all  opportunities  of  attending 
divine  service. 

The  Woodhouse  Eaves  and  the  Copt  Oak  Chapels  are  also  extremely  well  attended, 
and  the  Schools  connected  with  them  are  in  a  most  flourishing  state.  I  visited  those  at 
Woodhouse  Eaves  in  the  present  year,  and  I  never  left  a  similar  institution  with  more 
favourable  impressions.  The  children  are  evidently  receiving  the  elements  of  a  useful  edu- 
cation, based  on  the  foundation  on  which  all  instruction  ought  to  rest — a  sound  knowledge 
of  the  Scriptures. 

One  source  of  regret,  on  leaving  the  Eaves  Schools,  naturally  occurred  to  me — that  he, 
bv  whose  bounty  they  were  raised,  was  not  alive  to  witness  the  happy  results  of  his  own 
munificence — to  enjoy,  as  he  always  did,  the  luxury  of  doing  good  ! 


W    A    ?■]     ©    0    |i^3    ©  S    T   ©    ?1    E  . 

near  the    Oalcs    Ckurch. 


i>]  A  IM  ©      Rfl  a  [L  L 


C'l  LIT 


CHAPTER  V. 

ANTIQUITIES  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


Datur  hsec  venia  Antiquitati. — Livy. 


The  Antiquities  of  the  Forest  being  generally  referred  to  in  the  descriptions  of  the 
respective  parishes  to  which  they  belong,  may  seem  hardly  to  require  a  separate  chapter. 
As,  however,  they  are  not  unimportant,  it  appeared  desirable  to  present  them  in  one  view — 
an  arrangement  which  will  save  the  antiquarian  reader  the  trouble  of  a  too  frequent  reference 
to  the  index. 

Vague  assertions  that  the  Forest  was  one  of  the  favoured  haunts  of  Druidism,  may  be 
found  in  several  writers,  especially  in  Tlirosby,  but  I  have  not  discovered  in  any  work  any 
evidence  to  support  the  statement.  That  it  was  the  haunt  of  those  venerated  priests  of  a 
religion  blending  with  gleams  of  the  pure  faith  all  the  horrors  and  superstitions  of  idolatry, 
I  shall  attempt  to  prove.  It  will,  I  imagine,  be  at  once  conceded  that  a  district,  possessing 
so  many  natural  temples  and  groves,  was  peculiarly  adapted  to  Druid  rites.  Their  strong- 
holds have  almost  invariably  been  found  to  have  been  in  rocky  and  remote  places,  as  on 
Dartmoor,  in  the  Peak  of  Derbyshire — in  Wales — and  in  the  landes  of  Brittany. 

It  has  been  well  observed,  that  "  every  name  is  a  history  ;"  and,  believing  in  the  general 
truth  of  the  observation,  I  am  disposed  to  attach  considerable  importance  to  the  etymology 
of  several  names  still  found  on  Charnwood,  though  it  must  be  admitted  that  deductions  of 
that  kind  ai'e  not  always  to  be  relied  on. 

BuDD  was  the  war-god  of  the  Druids — we  have  Buddon  Wood. 

Apollo  was  worshipped  by  them  under  the  name  Belixus — Belinton  was  the  spelling 
of  Belton  in  Doomsday  Book. 

The  Bards  formed  that  sect  of  the  Druids  which  composed  their  choral  hymns,  and  re- 
counted the  praise  of  their  heroes — hence  Bardox  Hill. 

SoLiXA  was  a  favourite  Druidical  idol — there  is  still  a  lane,  skirting  Sheepshed  towards 
the  Forest,  called  SuLiXG-ton  road. 

Another  name  seems  to  furnish  a  glimpse  by  which  conjecture,  at  least,  may  try  to  find 
her  way. 

AxDR.\STE,  or  AxDRATE,  was  worshipped  by  the  ancient  Britons  as  the  goddess  of  spoils 
— hence  the  name  of  the  now  lost  town  of  AxDRATES-berie,  or  AxDR.tTE.s-bury,  which  is 
shown  elsewhere  to  have  been  probably  near  Beacon  Hill.* 

Now,  distrustful  as  any  one  may  be  with  regard  to  the  degree  of  dependence  to  be 

•  An  antiquarian  friend,  as  has  already  been  stated,  is  disposed  to  attach  considerable  unportancc  to  the  -word  Challenge, 
or  Chalhcnge — the  name  of  an  ancient  wood  on  the  Forest — from  the  similarity  of  its  termination  to  that  of  Stonehenge. 


42  ANTIQUITIES  OF  CHAENWOOD  FOREST. 

placed  on  et3'mologies,  he  cannot  deny  that  here  is  a  very  remarkable  concun-ence  of  names ; 
the  more  remarkable  when  they  are  all  found  circling  such  a  spot  as  Charnwood,  and  when 
it  can  be  proved  that  they  have  undergone  little  or  no  corruption  since  the  earliest  written 
records  that  we  possess. — Having  stated  these  presumptive  proofs  that  Charnwood  was  a 
strong-hold  of  the  Druids,  I  proceed  to  adduce  others  which  may,  perhaps,  be  considered 
of  a  less  questionable  character. 

The  engraving  on  the  opposite  page  contains  a  Celt,  discovered  in  planting  Ben's  Cliff, 
in  1818,  and  a  Quern,  or  ancient  Hand-mill,  discovered  on  Kite  Hill  (Whitwick  parish)  in 
1841.* 

Great  difference  of  opinion  prevails  amongst  the  learned  as  to  the  precise  purpose  for 
which  these  Celts  were  used.  Fosbrooke  believes  they  were  tools  for  domestic  use  ;  Whita- 
ker,  that  they  were  battle-axes ;  Stukeley,  that  they  were  Druidical  hooks  for  cutting  off  the 
misletoe ;  and  others,  that  they  were  instruments  used  in  sacrifice.  All  writers,  however, 
agree  in  their  great  antiquity,  and  many  in  their  having  been  used  by  the  Druids.  The  one 
figured  in  these  pages  is,  from  its  size  and  form,  supposed  to  belong  to  an  era  much  anterior 
to  that  of  those  having  sockets.  Several  are  engraved  in  Nichols  which  were  discovered  at 
Husbands  Bosworth,  all  having  sockets,  but  not  one  bears  much  resemblance  to  that  found 
on  the  Forest ;  and  it  is  evident,  from  their  more  finished  workmanship,  that  they  are  more 
recent.t  The  ring,  which  is  shoMTi  fractured  in  the  engraving,  but  which  appears  perfect  in 
several  found  at  Husbands  Bosworth,  has  been  supposed  by  some  antiquarians  to  have  been 
for  the  purpose  of  a  thong,  which  secured  it,  as  the  staff  of  a  modern  constable,  to  the  arm 
of  the  wan-ior.  The  Rev.  M.  D.  Babington,  on  forwarding  this  Celt  to  me,  noticed  the 
Aclides,  said  by  Virgil  (.-En.  VII.,  7.30)  to  have  been  used  as  missilesj  by  the  primitive 
inhabitants  of  Campania,  and  conjectured  that  the  ring  may  have  served  for  a  thong  by 
which  the  Celt,  after  being  hurled  at  an  enemy,  could  be  recovered,  as  Servius,  Virgil's  old 
scholiast,  considered  was  the  case  with  the  Aclides.  The  remark  of  the  same  commen- 
tator, that  they  were  so  ancient  as  to  be  known  only  traditionally  to  have  been  used  in  war, 
is  deemed  by  Mr.  Babington  of  some  importance  in  considering  implements  of  such  acknow- 
ledged antiquity  and  of  such  doubtful  use  as  Celts. 

My  own  opinion,  from  a  close  examination  of  the  peculiarity  of  form,  and  the  small  si2e§ 
of  the  one  figured  in  these  pages,  is,  that  it  was  inserted  in  a  long  cleft  shaft,  and  used  by 
the  Druids  for  cutting  off  the  misletoe  growing  on  branches  too  high  to  be  reached  from  the 
ground.  The  gentleman  just  mentioned  informs  me  that  a  friend  of  his  was  in  the  habit  of 
]3runing  the  lofty  branches  of  his  standard  fruit  trees  by  a  chisel  attached  to  a  long  staflf, 
and  forcibly  driven  upwards  by  a  mallet,  in  the  mode  I  conjecture  the  Celt  to  have  been. 

*  For  the  former  most  curious  and  valuable  relic  of  bygone  ages,  I  am  indebted  to  the  favour  of  Mrs.  Babington,  of 
Rothley  Temple — for  the  latter,  to  Kirkby  Fcnton,  Esq.,  of  Onebarrow  Lodge,  Charnwood  Forest, 
t  Gough  describes  one  found  on  the  Malvern  hills,  five  inches  and  a  half  long,  with  a  beautiful  patina  upon  it,  and 
a  small  ring  or  loop.     Dr.  Lort,  in  the  fifth  volume  of  the  Archeeologia,  page  106,  mentions  some  found  at  Hercula- 
neum — probably  carried  from  Gaul  or  Britain  by  Roman  soldiers ;  or  by  the  Gauls,  in  their  invasions  of  Italy. 

J Teretes  sunt  aclides  illis 

Tela,  sed  haec  lento  mos  est  aptare  flagello. 
^  It  is  exactly  of  the  dimensions  of  the  engraving. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  43 

But  whatever  inav  have  been  the  uses  to  which  this  particular  Celt  was  applied,  its  being  dis- 
covered so  far  from  any  human  habitation,  and  in  a  neighbourhood  which  tradition,  at  least, 
has  assigned  to  the  Druids,  renders  it  a  strong  link  in  the  chain  of  proof  I  am  attempting. 

The  Quern,  or  Hand-mill,  was  discovered  by  Mr.  Fenton's  labourers,  when  breaking  ujj 
the  old  Forest  turf  with  the  spade.  Its  diameter  is  about  thirteen  inches ;  and  the  lower 
stone — "  the  nether  millstone"  of  the  Scriptm^es — has  all  the  hardness  and  asperity  prover- 
bially ascribed  to  such  stones.  It  appears  more  like  a  body  of  cemented  conglomerate  than 
a  natural  stone,  and  has  evidently  no  affinity  to  any  of  the  Forest  rocks,  while  the  upper 
stone  decidedly  has.  In  the  small  indentation  near  the  edge,  the  thumb  of  the  person 
grinding  or  turning  was  inserted,  and  the  com,  lowered  from  a  vessel  held  in  the  otlier  hand, 
passed,  after  a  few  turns,  in  its  triturated  state,  into  a  receptacle  placed  beneath  it. 

Gough  states  that  two  Querns  were  discovered  near  the  cuiious  group  of  Uruidical 
monuments  on  Durwood  Tor,  Derbyshire ;  and  that  others  have  been  found  in  Yorkshire 
and  Wiltshire.*     Such  hand-mills  are  yet  in  common  use  in  the  Hebrides. 

So  far  as  1  can  ascertain,  no  Quern  has  ever  been  discovered  except  in  localities  in 
which  there  were  also  Druidical  monuments. 

At  a  very  short  distance  from  the  spot  on  which  this  Quern  was  found,  is  the  singular 
stone  (see  engraving)  called  Hanging  Stone — a  name  which  it  has  probably  borne  from  very 
remote  times;  and  I  attach  considerable  importance,  in  the  establishing  of  my  proposition, 
to  the  proximity  of  these  two  ancient  relics  to  each  other. 

Many  have  entertained  a  belief  that  the  upper  of  these  Hanging  Stones  was  artilicially 
raised  upon  the  platform  of  the  other.  The  geologist  arrives  at  a  different  conclusion,  and 
accounts  for  most  of  them  by  means  purely  natural.  But  whether  the  stones  were  placed 
in  their  jiresent  extraordinary  position  by  nature  or  art,  they  must,  in  times  when  supersti- 
tion held  the  minds  of  men  under  its  sway,  have  been  contemplated  with  extreme  veneration. 
And  it  should  be  remembered,  that  wherever  such  apparently  mysterious  formations  pre- 
sented themselves,  the  Druids,  ever  alive  to  what  might  be  auxiliary  to  their  influence  over 
the  people,  did  not  fail  to  turn  them  to  good  accouut.  Even  in  these  days,  the  stranger 
cannot  behold  the  pile  without  feelings  approaching  to  awe.  No  one  riding  up  to  the  lower 
side  of  it,  on  a  spirited  horse,  can  fail  to  observe  the  emotion  of  the  animal ;  and  an  old 
forester  slates,  that  Mr.  Gisborne's  Scotch  cattle,  on  their  first  arrival,  always  gaze  at  it 
with  wonder  !     "  1  take  care,"  added  he,  "  never  to  be  near  it  after  twilight  has  begun  !" 

These  stones  bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  those  in  Wales  and  Derbyshire,  which 
antiquaries  have  almost  unanimously  pronounced  Cromlechs.  "  The  word  Crom  signifies 
crooked,  or  bending,  and  lech  a  Jlat  stone.  Hence  the  belief  that  they  were  altars,  or 
objects  to  which  the  antients  bowed."*  A  pile  more  likely  to  be  selected  as  an  object  of 
idolatrous  veneration  could  not  easily  be  found. f 

Near  Beaumanor  is,  or  rather  was,  another  Hanging  Stone — "  for  ages  the  wonder  and 
admiration  of  beholders"! — of  a  form  totally  different  from  the  one  just  described.     Of  this 

*  Cough's  Additions  to  Camden's  Britannia. 

t  Mr.  Lester,  of  Woodhouse,  states  that,  fifty  years  ago,  he  has  frequently  made  this  stone  rod,  by  a  slight  force 

applied  to  a  certain  part  of  it. 

j  Throsby. 


44  ANTIQUITIES  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Thiosby  took  a  drawing  in  March,  1791,  tying  his  little  horse  under  it:  and  on  the  8th  of 
April  the  ponderous  mass  fell.  He  quaintly,  but  appropriately,  morahzes  on  the  consequences 
of  a  pebble  stone  falling  on  the  extremity  of  the  projecting  part  while  he  was  under  it ;  he 
would  have  been  "  the  fly" — the  stone  the  "  wagon  wheel." 

The  base  of  this  stone,  which  is  still  standing,  is  about  six  feet  squai-e.  Upon  this 
rested  "  another  stone,  quite  separate,  so  that  you  saw  between  them ;  and  the  top  hung  so 
much  as  to  have  the  ap))earance  of  falling  off."*  This  description  gives  good  groimds  for 
the  conjecture  that  it  had,  at  a  remote  period,  been  a  Hocking  Stone ;  and  an  examination 
of  the  area  on  which  it  stood,  and  of  the  lower  part  of  the  mighty  mass  itself,  will  strongly 
incline  an  attentive  observer  to  that  opinion,  t 

Nearer  to  Woodhouse  Eaves,  at  the  other  end  of  the  romantic  range  of  rocks  called  the 
Hanging  Stones,  is  a  kind  of  rude  stone  table,  about  five  yards  long  and  two  wide.  There 
are  strong  reasons  for  believing  it  was  placed  there  by  art,  as  it  lies  horizontally  and  on  a 
different  level  from  the  sun-ounding  masses,  and  its  supporters  seem  to  have  been  artificially 
placed.     This  may  have  been  a  sacrificial  altar. 

"  The  Arch  Druid,  who,  it  may  be,  standing  there, 
Dyed  it  with  human  immolations,  calling 
On  the  grey  ghosts,  the  riders  of  the  clouds — 
•  Or  moon — or  to  the  lightnings  of  the  night — 

Or  war-god,  deaf  as  winds  that  whistled  by  them— 
Whilst  Celtic  savages  howled  beneath — is  past!" 

A  curious  circle  of  stones  may  be  found  on  the  hill  above  this  altar. 

But  to  return  to  the  Oaks  Hanging  Stone. — A  spot  which  is  aboul  the  centre  of  a  triangle 
formed  by  that  stone.  Kite  Hill  and  the  Tin  Meadows,  was,  according  to  the  information 
of  an  old  Forest  Keeper  of  Lord  Hastings',  always  called  "  the  Grove"  before  the  inclosure. 
It  may,  in  early  times,  have  been  a  grove  to  some  temple,  or  to  the  Hanging  Stone  Cromlech. 

The  now  solitary  stone  called  the  Hangman's  Stone,  between  Lubcloud  and  Ives  Head, 
is  very  like  one  of  a  Druidical  circle :  and  it  may  be  that,  from  the  circumstances  of  the 
legend  long  connected  with  it,  it  was  left  standing  when  its  fellows  were  removed.  It  re- 
sembles, both  in  its  form  and  dimensions,  the  stones  composing  the  circle  called  the  Nine 
liadies,  on  Arbor  Low,  Derbyshire. 

Oil  Strawberry  Hill,  on  the  estate  of  Mr.  Kirkby  Fenton,  is  a  singularly-formed  stone 
seat,  apparently  excavated  out  of  the  solid  rock,  and  rudely  but  completely  canopied.  It  is 
verj'  like  one  on  Durwood  Tor,  Derbyshire,  which  Mr.  Rooke  pronounced  to  be  an  "  Augu- 
rial  seat."  Certainly  a  fitter  spot  for  the  delivery  of  auguries  could  scarcely  be  selected ; 
the  space  before  the  chair  being  a  kind  of  sloping  amphitheatre,  just  adapted  to  give  the 
Arch  Druid  the  command  of  the  listening  crowd.  Ivy,  which  seems  almost  coeval  with  the 
rock,  has  wreathed  its  "wild  tapestry"  all  over  it;  and  1  felt  confident,  when  the  obliging 

»  Throsby. 
t  Adolphus  Trollope,  in  his  "  Summer  in  Brittany,"  describes  a  very  similar  stone,  called  "  Les  roulers" — near 
Lc  Camp  d'Artus — which  he  thinks  of  fortuitous  formation ;  though  the  French  antiquaries  pronounced  it  the  work 
of  the  Druids. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  45 

])ro])nctor  of  the  estate  first  pointed  out  this  remarkable  spot  to  my  notice,  tliat  this,  and  not 
tlic  Hermitage  near  Sharpley,  as  before  conjectured,  was  the  place  alluded  to  by  Drayton, 
when  he  says,  speaking  of  Sharpley  rocks — 

"  And  in  a  Dimble  near  (even  as  a  place  divine 
For  contemplation  fit  j,  an  ivy-ceiled  bower, 
As  Nature  had  therein  ordain'd  some  Sylvan  power." 

It  is  observed  by  Weaver,  in  his  "  Miinimenta  Anfuju/i"  and  also  by  other  antiquaries, 
that  in  the  neighbourhood  of  all  Druidical  monuments,  there  are  always  found  Barrows.  It 
is  so  at  Stonehenge,  in  the  Peak,  and  in  Wales.  The  only  earthwork  I  have  discovered  on 
Charnwood,  bearing  any  resemblance  to  an  ancient  Barrow,  is  a  circular  elevation,  about 
nine  yards  in  diameter  and  two  yards  high,  situated  on  Kellam's  fann,  near  Bardon  Hill.* 
But  the  word  BaiTOW,  as  a  name,  occurs  with  remarkable  frequency  on  the  Forest  and  its 
borders.  Barrow,  Barrow  Wood,  Billa-banow  Hill,  One-barrow  Ilill,  Barrow  Cloud  Hill, 
&c.,  will  lead  any  one,  however  slightly  versed  in  antiquarian  lore,  to  investigate  such 
localities  with  attention. t  0/ie-ha.TTOw  is  still  more  significant  than  the  simple  word ;  the 
prefix  seems  to  denote  that  some  one  remarkable  personage  was  inhumed  there.  For  myself, 
when  examining  a  small  square  inclosure,  formed  by  immense  stones  on  the  western  summit 
of  that  beautiful  and  wonderful  hill,  I  could  not  forbear  exclaiming — 

"  In  yonder  grave  a  Druid  lies !" 

Again — there  is  an  ancient  road,  supposed  to  be  British,  and  afterwards  used  by  the 
Romans,!  which,  crossing  the  Fosse  at  Seg's  Hill,  almost  at  right  angles,  and  proceeding 
through  Ban-ow  and  parts  of  Quoni  and  Beaumanor,  has  been  traced  to  a  point  between 
Beacon  Hill,  Broombriggs,  and  Alderman's  Haw,  where  all  marks  of  it  are  lost.  A  suppo- 
sition that  it  led  to  the  salt-mines  at  Uroitwich,  seems  completely  destroyed  by  the  fact 
that,  a  line  continued  in  the  same  bearing  would  pass  through  Staffordshire,  leaving  Droit- 
wich  many  miles  to  the  south.  If,  therefore,  it  was  an  ancient  British  road  before  it  was 
used  by  the  Romans,  its  apparent  termination,  near  the  supposed  site  of  Andratesbery,  gives 
ground  for  the  belief  that  it  was  formed  for  the  use  of  the  ancient  Britons,  when  frequenting, 
as  they  did  three  times  a  year,  the  great  Druidical  Festivals. § 

On  the  summit  of  the  Mount  of  Alderman's  Haw  (so  called  in  1588 ;  see  Nichols,  HI , 
109-2),  now  called  Baldwin  Castle,  is  a  rock,  scarcely  less  remarkable  in  its  form  than  the  Oaks 

«  Mr.  Jacomb  Hood,  the  highly-respected  proprietor  of  Bardon,  inclines  to  the  opinion  that  the  spot  was  the  remains 
of  an  ancient  Keep :  but  its  low  situation  renders  that  supposition  improbable, 
f  Nichols  suggests  that  Barrow-upon-Soar  may  have  derived  its  name  from  the  shape  of  the  hill  on  which  it  stands. 
How  would  he  have  accounted  for  Barrow-upon-Trent,  which  is  on  a  perfect  level  ?     The  latter  name,  however,  is 
satisfactorily  accounted  for,  by  the  proximity  of  the  Barrows  called  Swarkstone  Lowes. 

+  The   Rev.  T.  Leman,  in  his  observations   on  the   Roman   Roads   and  Stations  in  Leicestershire,   unhesitatingly 
pronounces  this  road  of  British /ormadon;   Stukeley,  however,  considered  it  British. 

i  The  Annual  Wake,  now  kept  on  Nanpantan,  but  formerly  kept  on  Beacon,  the  origin  of  which  is  lost  in  obscurity, 
may  be  a  remnant  of  one  of  these  festivals. 


46  ANTIQUITIES  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Hanging  Stone.     Its  top  is  a  platform,  to  all  appearance  levelled  by  art :  and  on  this,  I  con- 
jecture, the  great  idol  Andrate  may  have  stood. 

This  is  the  amount  of  the  evidence  which  I  have  been  able  to  collect  in  favour  of  Cham- 
wood  having  been  an  abode  of  the  Druids.  An  able  antiquarian,  from  the  same  data,  would 
probably  have  made  the  case  much  stronger. 

THE  ROMANS  ON  CHARNWOOD. 

If  the  foregoin"  evidence  in  favour  of  Charnwood  having  been  inhabited  by  the  Druids 
prove  at  all  satisfactory,  the  antiquarian  reader  will  be  the  more  disposed  to  look  for  traces 
of  the  Romans  in  the  neighbourhood.  He  will  have  noticed,  that  wherever  the  invaders 
observed  the  chief  seats  of  the  Celtic  priesthood,  to  those  points  they  particularly  applied 
their  energies.  In  fact,  as  the  routed  Britons  invariably  flew  to  their  groves  and  temples, 
for  the  divine  protection  which  they  expected  the  Druids  would  insm-e  or  procure  them,  it 
was  a  natural  consequence  that  the  Romans  should  try  to  dislodge  them,  and  locate  them- 
selves in  their  strong-holds.  Thus  Paulinus,  the  Roman  General,  invested  by  Nero  with 
the  command  of  the  army  in  Britain,  observing  that  Mona  (Anglesea)  was  a  seat  of  the 
Druids,  and  a  refuge  for  the  defeated  Britons,  resolved  to  reduce  it.  The  sight  of  the' 
venerable  Druids  assembled  round  the  army,  and  with  uplifted  hands  invoking  the  ven- 
geance of  their  gods,  struck  such  terror  into  the  Romans  as  almost  to  induce  them  to  retreat. 
Encouraged,  however,  by  their  General,  they  at  length  drove  the  Britons  from  the  field,  and 
burned  the  Druids  in  the  fires  which  the  latter  had  prepared  for  the  immolation  of  their 
enemies,  and  utterly  demolished  the  altars  of  sacrifice  and  the  sacred  groves.* 

So  it  may  have  been  on  Charnwood ;  and  a  circumstance  like  the  one  just  described 
may  account  for  so  few  vestiges  of  Druidism  having  escaped  Roman  violence. 

Galet  places  the  Roman  Vernometum  at  "  Chandey;'  and  the  arguments  by  which  he 
supports  his  opinion  are  not  devoid  of  force.  He  says,  he  "  finds  in  the  name  (Vernometum) 
traces  of  the  word  Guern,  (British)  an  alder,  as  also  in  Quarendon  and  in  the  name  of  the 
ancient  forest  of  Cheme  :t  and  traces  of  Roman  names  in  Loughborough,  Burghley,  and 
Barrow — but,"  he  adds,  "  the  miles  fix  the  station  at  Chamley."§  Now  there  is  no  place 
of  that  name  on  the  Forest,  but  the  word  was  formerly  in  general  use  to  designate  the  whole 
tract.  There  is  no  place  on  Charnwood  to  which  this  passage  of  Gale's  would  more  dispose 
an  antiquarian  to  look  for  a  Roman  station  or  encampment  than  Beacon  Hill.     Its  central 

•  The  Coritani,  says  Richard,  of  Cirencester  (Book  I.,  chap.  6),  lived  in  a  tract  of  country  overspread  with  woods, 
which,  like  all  woods  of  Britain,  were  called  Caledonia— (Calyddon  means  coverts,  or  thickets).     And  Floras,  the 
Historian,  speaking  of  Ca;sar,  says,  "  Caledonias  sequutus  in  sylvas"— (Book  III.,  chap.  10). 
See  Rose's  Historia  Technica  Anglicana. 
t  Quoted  in  Cough's  Camden,  Vol.  II.,  page  212. 

+  Cemewoda  is  the  earliest  name  of  Charnwood  to  be  met  with ;  it  was  so  called  temp.  Henry  I.     Cernelega  is  the 
name  for  Charley  in  Domesday  Book,  and  was  still  so  temp.  Henry  \.— (Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  120.J     A  witness  to  a 
Deed  of  William  de  Ferrariis  is  Gilbertus  de  'BosehertiiH,  or  Gilbert  of  Charnwood.— (See  Nichols'  West  Goscote, 
under  Tonge).    The  early  name,  noticed  in  page  6,  was,  I  find,  taken  from  an  old  legend. 
i^  Antoninus  places  Vernometum  twelves  miles  from  Ratic. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


47 


and  commanding  situation,  as  well  as  its  very  name,  and  its  proximity  to  the  ancient  road 
(whether  of  British  or  Roman  foundation),  are  reasons  that  will  have  weight  with  the 
inquiring  antiquary.  Its  signal  fires  would  be  observed  from  no  less  than  six  undoubted 
Roman  stations.*  Bar  Beacon,  near  Birmingham,  would  appear  to  have  been  one  of  the 
"  answering  fires." 

Led  by  Gale's  remark,  I  commenced  a  strict  search  for  Roman  remains  on  this  hill :  and 
discovered,  on  the  south-west  and  unprotected  side,  some  works  which  I  think  I  am  not 
mistaken  in  pronouncing  indubitable  vestiges  of  ancient  fortification.  The  camp  may  have 
been  of  Saxon  formation — but  I  incline  to  the  opinion  that  the  remains  are 

"  The  mouldering  lines 
Where  Rome,  the  mistress  of  the  world, 
Of  yore  her  eagle  wings  imfuil'd." 

From  the  ancient  road  already  alluded  to,  we  find,  just  at  the  point  that  offers  the  best 
ascent  up  the  acclivity,  an  elevated  road,  fonning  an  inclined  plane.  Following  this,  we 
arrive  at  a  point  that  appears  to  have  been  the  entrance,  where  the  castrametation  becomes 
well  defined.  Hence  a  mound  runs  on  the  lower  or  south-western  side  to  a  rock  which 
appears  to  have  flanked  it :  and  nearly  parallel  with  this  mound,  but  higher  up  the  hill,  is 
another,  terminated  also  by  a  rock :  forming  together  two  sides  of  a  trapezium.  But  the 
form  will  be  better  understood  by  the  following  rough  sketch : — 


Signal  fires  are  so  obvious  a  mode  of  transmitting  intelligence,  that  they  have  been  used  in  all  ages.     Those  of  the 
Greeks  are  beautifully  described  in  the  Agamemnon  of  iEschylus. 


48  ANTIQUITIES  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

The  plan  is  almost  a  perfect  facsimile  of  a  camp  at  Hunnington,  near  Ancaster;  and  it 
is  somewhat  singular,  that  Beacon,  Hunnington,  and  a  Roman  camp  at  South  Ormsby,  are 
all  in  the  direct  line  to  Salt-fleet,  from  whence  salt  was  probably  brought  to  the  midland 
districts.*  A  field  in  Quorn  was  called  Saltgate  in  1607,t  and  Saltby  is  the  name  of  a  village 
situated  very  near  the  point  where  this  road  enters  Leicestershire. 

Mr.  Langham,  of  Needless  Inn,  informs  me  that  he  well  remembers  that,  thirty-four 
years  ago,  there  stood,  on  the  highest  point  of  Beacon,  an  erection  of  rude  and  ancient  ma- 
sonry, about  six  feet  high,  of  a  round  form,  and  having  in  its  centre  a  cavity  about  a  yard 
deep  and  a  yard  in  diameter,  the  sides  of  which  were  very  thickly  covered  with  burnt  pitch. 
This,  he  says,  had  all  the  appearance  of  having  been  used  for  holding  the  beacon  fires. | 
He  remembers,  too,  that  at  that  period,  the  entrenchments  above  described  were  much  more 
visible  than  they  are  now.  He  is  the  only  person  with  whom  I  have  conversed  that  seems 
ever  to  have  noticed  them,  except  Mr.  William  Lester,  of  Woodhouse ;  and  they  are  not 
mentioned  by  any  writer  whatever,  unless  Gale's  remark  applied  to  them.  I  discovered,  by 
digging,  many  heaps  of  nearly  perished  mortar,  mingled  with  fragments  of  stone  and  dark 
red  brick. 

An  examination  of  the  above  plan,  when  laid  down,  and  a  comparison  of  it  with  some 
similar  ones  in  (lough's  Camden,  suggested  the  idea  that  the  mound  and  rampart,  which 
a]ipear  terminated  by  the  rock  on  the  western  side,  would  probably  be  found  continued  in 
other  ]iarts  of  the  hill,  not  naturally  fortified  by  precipitous  rock.  Accordingly,  on  the  8th 
of  March  of  the  present  year,  I  again  visited  Beacon,  and  found  that  my  conjecture  had  been 
correct.  The  lines  of  fortification  are  continued  along  the  entire  circumference  of  the  hill — 
in  several  places,  indeed,  they  are  double — always  so  in  the  most  accessible  parts. 

Even  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  two  thousand  years,  and  in  a  situation  extremely  exposed 
to  the  varying  action  of  the  elements,  the  fortifications,  in  many  parts,  still  retain  so 
much  of  their  original  boldness  as  to  be  truly  astonishing.  On  the  north-east  and  eastern 
sides,  within  the  entrenchments,  are  several  square  and  oblong  lines  of  time-worn  stones — 
apparently  the  foundations  of  buildings.  It  is  chiefly  opposite  these  that  the  trench  and 
rampart  are  double.  It  would  appear,  that  if  these  fortifications  were  Roman,  the  part  de- 
scribed in  the  first  wood  cut  was  the  summer,  and  this  the  winter  camp. 

Between  the  two  tops  of  our  Parnassus  (for,  like  that  classical  hill,  Beacon  has  also  two 
apices),  the  ruins  of  the  circular  Beacon  Tower,  already  alluded  to,  are  still  plainly  percep- 
tible. It  is  five  yards  in  diameter.  An  elevation  of  a  foot  above  the  surface,  surrounded 
by  the  foundation  of  a  wall,  strongly  cemented  together,  is  all  that  can  now  be  traced.  I 
am  disposed  to  consider  the  tower  of  considerable  antiquity ;  it  may,  indeed,  be  coeval  with 
the  fortifications  that  surround  it.  The  spot  on  which  it  stands  would,  in  a  Roman  Camp, 
have  been  the  Preetorium. 

»  Stukeley  MS.  (quoted  by  Gougli  ill  his  Coiitani,  p.  251),  where  he  says,  "  Salters' Road,  adjoining  Doiiton,  may 

have  been  vsed  by  tlie  Romans  for  bringing  salt  from  Holland  to  Leicester  and  tliu  inland  parts." 

t  Nichols'  West  Goscote,  page  166. 

J  The  almost  imperishable  nature  of  pitch  is  shown  by  the  letters  on  ancient  tombs  :   retaining,  after  many  centuries, 

all  the  freshness  of  newly-melted  bitumen. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


49 


Not  satisfied  with  my  single  opinion  of  these  extraordinary  remains,  I  requested  Mr. 
Lester,  a  highly  intelligent  farmer  and  surveyor,  who  lives  at  the  foot  of  Beacon,  to  examine 
them.  He  was  perfectly  astonished !  Though  long  resident,  almost  upon  the  spot,  and 
aware  of  the  remains  described  as  lying  on  the  south-west  side  of  the  hill,  it  had  never  oc- 
curred to  him  that  there  were  others.  "  Often,"  says  he,  "  as  I  have  crossed  that  wonderful 
hill,  and  always  with  the  feeling  that  it  was  a  cliaruted  spot,  I  have  either  been  so  occupied 
with  the  distant  prospects,  or  so  circumscribed  in  my  immediate  view  by  the  inequalities  of 
the  surface,  that  I  have  never  before  once  noticed  the  most  remarkable  fortifications  to  which 
you  have  directed  me.  Judge  my  surprise  when  I  found  myself  standing,  and  feeling  pretty 
sure  that  I  stood,  on  the  site  of  an  ancient  British  or  Roman  town."  Mr.  Lester  entered 
into  the  discovery  with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  a  true  antiquarian,  and  by  his  assistance  I  am 
enabled  to  present  my  readers  with  the  following  accurate  plan  of  the  whole  : — 


Scale  o(  Tards. 


REFERENCE. 

6,  Remains  of  Beacon  tower,     r.  Precipitous  rocks,     c,  Modern  wall,     d.  Foundations  of  ancient  walls. 

e,  Beacon  road — supposed  part  of  ancient  Saltway. 

H 


50  ANTIQUITIES  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

The  most  singular  part  of  this  encampment  is  the  eastern  corner  of  it.  The  point  com- 
mands the  whole  valley,  and  has  what,  in  modern  fortification,  would  be  called  a  curtain, 
formed  of  rock.  This  point,  with  the  remains  of  walls  lying  above  it,  is  extremely  worthy 
the  attention  of  the  antiquarian.  The  foundations  of  walls  (marked  c  c]  appear  in  many 
places  three  yards  thick,  and  to  have  been  formed  by  large  stones  on  the  outsides,  having 
the  intervening  space  filled  with  small  stones ;  at  least,  such  was  my  impression,  after  causing 
several  excavations  to  be  made.  It  was  only  on  the  foundation  stones  that  any  mortar  was 
discoverable — and  that  in  very  small  quantities.     Ipsae  periere  ruina; ! 

An  ancient  battle-axe  was  found  in  ploughing  a  field  at  the  foot  of  Beacon  Hill.  It  is 
now  in  the  possession  of  Miss  Watkinson,  of  Woodhouse.  That  lady  has  also  some  coins 
of  Vespasian  and  Antoninus  Pius,  found  near.* 

Such  are  the  hitherto  unnoticed  remains  on  Beacon  Hill.  My  readers  will  pardon  me 
if  adopting,  as  I  feel,  a  diffidence  suited  to  one  who  has  hitherto  written  nothing  to  entitle 
his  opinion,  as  an  antiquarian,  to  great  weight,  I  prefer  rather  to  leave  them  to  their  own 
speculations  as  to  the  original  constructors  of  these  fortifications,  than  indulge  in  a  presump- 
tuous positiveuess.  Gale's  observations — the  square  vallum  at  the  south-west  corner — and 
the  coins  and  battle-axe  discovered  close  by,  strongly  dispose  me  to  believe  that  the 
Romans,  at  least,  repaired  the  lines.  If,  however,  I  am  denied  the  gratification  of  having 
located  the  Romans  on  Beacon,  I  must  be  permitted  to  look  in  its  neighbourhood  for  the 
long-lost  Andraetesbury — and  the  upsetting  of  my  theory  with  regard  to  our  first  conquerors, 
will  only  tend  to  furnish  arguments  in  favour  of  a  discovery,  of  equal,  if  not  of  gi-eater  in- 
terest. No  person,  at  all  alive  to  what  has  relation  to  the  distant  past,  can  fail  to  derive 
peculiar  pleasure  in  investigating  such  a  site  as  that  which  I  have  attempted  to  describe. 
Even  the  ordinary  observer  will  view  these  remains,  grey  with  the  mists  of  ages,  with  feel- 
ings of  no  common  gratification,  and  probably  with  surprise  that  they  have  so  long  escaped 
the  notice  of  the  topographer  and  antiquarian. 

The  wonderful  ])rospects  afforded  from  this  remarkable  eminence  will  be  dwelt  on  in  the 
Parochial  History. 

But  even  if  the  conjecture  that  Beacon  Hill  may  have  been  the  Roman  station  referred  ^ 
to  by  Gale  should  prove  ill-grounded,  there  is  another  spot  on  Charnwood  which,  with 
respect  to  the  "  miles,"  exactly  coincides  with  the  Itinerary  he  quotes.     The  Tynte  Meadows 
are  situated  exactly  twelve  miles  from  Rata3  (Leicester),  and  in  a  direct  line  between  that 
place  and  Derventio  (Little  Chester). 

On  June  16,  1840,  as  the  Monks  of  Mount  St.  Bernard,  who  are  owners  of  these  mea- 
dows, were  ploughing  a  piece  of  land  which  they  were  reclaiming  from  the  waste,  the 
ploughshare  came  in  contact  with  a  large  earthen  vessel,  of  peculiar  mould,  which  proved  to 
be  of  Roman  manufacture.  In  this  vessel  was  discovered  a  large  mass  of  ancient  coins, 
malted  together  in  a  most  singular  manner,  measuring  twenty-two  inches  in  circumference, 
and  weighing  about  twelve  pounds.  In  this  lump  there  could  not  have  been  fewer  than 
two  thousand  coins — many  of  which  were  in  admirable  preservation,  and  the  inscriptions 
very  plainly  legible.     They  bore  the  names  of  Gallienus,  Postumus,  Victorinus,  Tetricus, 

*  I  mako  the  statemont  with  respect  tu  the  coins  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Lester,  of  Woodhouse. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


51 


Claudius,  Carausius,  &c.     Besides  the  coins,  there  was  discovered  a  small  arrow  or  spear- 
head, three  inches  long  and  of  the  following  shape  : — 


Also,  a  small  roimd  article,  having  the  appearance  of  a  Roman  lamp,  and  composed  of 
reddish  clay  or  terra  cotta. — Pieces  of  Koman  vases,  and  fragments  of  pottery,  were  found 
in  great  abundance. 

A  few  of  the  coins  discovered  shall  here  be  given,  but  I  enter  with  reluctance  on  the 
description,  from  a  consciousness  of  my  utter  inability  to  do  justice  to  it,  and  from  the  dif- 
ficulty of  deciphering  such  rude  engravings  in  the  absence  of  the  originals. 

I.  M.  P.  G.ALLIENUS,  AVG.— He  was  the  son 
of  \'alerian,  and  was  proclaimed  Emperor  in  Gaul 
A.D.  -253.  He  was  a  cruel  tyrant,  and  was  murdered 
by  one  of  his  Generals,  Martian,  at  Milan. — The  S.  C. 
upon  brass  coins,  according  to  Pinkerton,  ceased  with 
Gallienus,  and  his  silver  was  only  ^vashed  brass. 


I.  M.  P.  C.  POSTVMVS.  PF.  AVG.— The  Em- 
peror's head,  bearded,  with  a  radiated  crown.  Re- 
verse, PROVIDE  XTI A  AVG.— A  female  figure  holds 
an  orb  in  her  right  hand,  a  spear  obliquely  in  her  left. 
An  Officer,  proclaimed  Emperor  in  Gaul  a.d.  260. 


I.  M.  P.    VICTORIXVS.    P.  F.    AVG.— One   of 

the  nineteen  candidates  for  the  Imperial  Purple,  during 
the  reign  of  Gallienus,  a.d.  -268.     Reverse  illegible. 


I.  M.  P.  TETRICVS.  P.F.  AVG.— He  was  pro- 
claimed Emperor  a.d.  268.  His  coins  are  usually- 
found  with  the  legend  PACI — and  he  was  of  a  truly 
pacific  character. 


52  ANTIQUITIES  OF  CHAKNWOOD  FOREST. 

The  four  engraven  {!  !)  coins  are  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  Ambrose  March  Phillipps,  of 
Gracedieu  Manor,  to  whose  kindness  I  am  indebted  for  the  loan  of  them. 

The  following,  in  an  inferior  state  of  preservation,  were  obligingly  forwai'ded  to  me  by 
Mr.  T.  Burgh  Dalby,  of  Ashby-de-la-Zouch,  and  Mr.  J.  J.  Briggs,  of  King's  Newton,  who 
procured  them  from  the  Monks  of  Mount  St.  Bernard  very  shortly  after  the  discovery : — 

I.  M.  P.  C.  POSTVMUS  P^  AVG.  Reverse,  FIDES  MILITVM.— A  female  figure 
holds  in  her  hand  a  military  sign. — Base  brass. 

I.  M.  P.  VICTORINVS  PF.  AVG.  Reverse,  SALVS  AVG.— A  female  figure  stands 
by  an  altar,  holding  in  her  left  hand  a  patera,  out  of  which  a  serpent  is  drinking.  In  her 
left  she  holds  an  erect  spear.  The  obverse  also  differs,  in  several  respects,  from  that  of  the 
same  Emperor  engraved  in  the  preceding  page. — Third  brass. 

CLAVDIVS  AVG.     Reverse  corroded  and  utterly  illegible,  except  VC.  or  VG. — 

This  was  presented  to  me  as  an  undoubted  Claudius  Neko  :  but  the  Rev.  M.  D.  Babington 
and  two  other  antiquaries  to  whom  I  submitted  it,  unhesitatingly  pronounced  it  a  Cl^^udius 
GoTHicus. — Brass. 

CARAVSIVS. — A  very  fine  head,  encircled  by  a  laurel  crown.  Reverse,  apparently  a 
bireme,  surrounded  by  the  legend  FELICITAS  very  legible,  and  apparently  the  letters 
R.  S.  B. 

It  is  a  somewhat  remarkable  coincidence,  that  in  the  parish  of  Epperstone,  on  the  borders 
of  Sherwood  Forest,  and  close  to  the  supposed  Roman  Camp  at  Woodborough,  about  one 
thousand  coins  or  medals  of  the  same  Emperors,  but  all  in  copper,  were  discovered  in  a 
similar  earthen  vase,  in  1776.  Mr.  Walter  Merrey,  in  his  "  Bemar/cs  on  the  Coinage  of 
England^''  thus  enumerates  them  from  his  own  inspection : — 

A.D.  EmprTOTs.  No.  0' Medals, 

254  Gallienus  60 

Salonina,  wife  to  Gallienus 4 

266  Posthumus  10 

268  Claudius  Golhicus  72 

Divo  Claudio  19 

268  Victorinus 126 

Pia  Victorinus 2 

268  Tetricus 215 

C.  Piv.  Tetricus  89 

271  Quinlillus 4 

286  Carausius 3 

CI.  ^lianus* 1 

Not  legible  179 

784 
*  This,  perhaps,  should  be  ^milianus. 


ANTIQUITIES  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  53 

The  remaining  number  had  been  dispersed  before  Mr.  Merrey  was  apprized  of  them. 
The  foregoing  list  is  given  in  order  tliat  the  reader  may  be  enabled  to  form  some  opinion  of  the 
unexamined  mass,  still  preserved  at  Blount  St.  Bernard  in  the  state  they  were  discovered. 
It  is  probable,  from  those  coins  already  dissevered,  that  in  that  mass  would  be  found  every 
coin  in  Mr.  Merrey's  list.  If  so,  the  period  in  which  both  the  vases  were  deposited  must 
have  been  subsequent  to  a.d.  2^6. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  circumstance  connected  with  Roman  customs,  for  which  it  is  so 
difficult  to  assign  a  reason,  as  their  frequent  concealment  of  coin  in  all  parts  of  their  colonial 
possessions.  Pinkerton  says,  "  It  was  no  doubt  a  custom  with  that  victorious  people,  in 
every  instance  ardently  desirous  of  fame,  to  bury  parcels  of  their  coin  as  a  monument  of 
their  having  possessed  the  ground  !"  This  supposition  appears  an  iiTational  one ;  it  by  no 
means  accounts  satisfactorily  for  the  concealment  of  such  quantities  as  those  found  at  Ep- 
perstone  and  Mount  St.  Bernard.  The  motives  may,  indeed,  have  been  vaiious,  but  the 
general  uniformity  of  depth  in  the  ground,  and  the  use  of  earthen  vessels,  would  almost  lead 
to  the  conclusion  that  they  were  the  same. 

As,  however,  earthenware  was  not  the  most  suitable  receptacle  for  the  coin,  in  which  to 
transport  it  from  place  to  place,  it  may  generally  be  inferred,  that  wherever  it  is  found  in 
vases  the  Romans  had  been  permanently  located.  Where  warlike  instruments  and  earth- 
works are  discovered  in  the  neighbourhood  of  coins,  as  is  the  case  both  at  Beacon  and 
Mount  St.  Bernard,  the  discovery  has  much  greater  interest,  and  becomes  more  historicallv 
valuable. 

The  usurpation  of  Carausius — his  murder  by  Alectus — and  the  succession  of  the  assassin 
to  his  throne — are  circumstances  that  may,  perhaps,  furnish  some  grounds  for  conjecture 
both  as  to  the  motive  and  the  time  of  concealing  these  treasures,  Constantius  being  at 
Boulogne  when  the  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Carausius  reached  him,  dispatched  his  Prae- 
fect  Asclepiodatus,  an  Officer  of  distinguished  skill  and  valour,  into  Britain,  in  order  to 
re-establish  the  Roman  power  which,  for  seven  years,  had  been  entirely  lost  to  the  empire 
in  this  island. 

The  fleet  of  Alectus  being  stationed  near  the  Isle  of  Wight,  Asclepiodatus  availed  him- 
self of  a  thick  fog,  and  effected  a  landing  on  the  western  coast.  He  had  no  sooner  disem- 
barked than  he  burnt  his  ships,  in  order  to  infuse  determination  into  the  imperial  troops, 
and  advanced  into  the  centre  of  the  kingdom.  It  was  then,  I  believe,  that  some  of  the 
Roman  forces  that  had  previously  revolted  with  Carausius,  and  had  subsequently  joined 
.\lectus,  flying  from  the  Prsefect  left  the  hidden  treasures  found  near  Mount  St.  Bernard  and 
at  Epperstone.* 

In  addition  to  the  evidence  afforded  by  the  discovery  of  these  coins,  spear,  vases,  &c., 
I  must  mention  that,  on  the  south,  east,  and  west  of  the ^/irst  building  erected  bv  the  Plonks 
of  Mount  St.  Bernard,  there  are  still  visible  several  ancient  mounds  ;  one  forty  yards  bv  eight, 
and  inclosed  by  a  trench,  having  all  the  appearance  of  a  Roman  military  work.  Connecting 
this  mound  with  the  coins,  and  the  situation  of  the  spot  (on  a  line  between  two  undisputed 

»  The  whole  of  the  Roman  auxiliaries  that  guarded  the  island  had,  it  should  be  recollected,  joined  Carausius,  and  -Rith 
the  fickleness  peculiar  to  that  soldiery,  as  readily  gave  in  their  adhesion  to  his  murderer. 


54  ANTIQUITIES  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

stations),  the  most  sceptical  must  admit  that  a  stroug  case  is  made  out  for  believing  that 
the  Tynte  Meadow  was  at  least  a  military  post.  That  either  this  place  or  Beacon  Hill  was 
the  Vemometum,  or  Verometum  of  the  Romans,  I  would  by  no  means  be  so  bold  as  to  assert. 
I  well  know  that  some  itineraries  are  almost  conclusive  in  favour  of  Willoughby — still  those 
"yi  Gessoriaco"  as  given  in  Hollinshed  (Vol.  I.,  p.  420  of  the  reprint),  might  fairly  raise 
a  doubt ;  and  the  uncertainty  which  has  prevailed  amongst  antiquarians  in  fixing  this  sta- 
tion, together  with  G  ale's  remarks,  makes  me  anxious,  if  possible,  to  turn  that  doabt  in 
favour  of  "  Charnley,"  or  at  least  to  call  attention  to  its  claims.* 

At  Markfield,  which  is  also  in  the  direct  line  from  Derventio  to  Raise,  there  was  stand- 
ing, at  the  time  the  Forest  was  inclosed,  a  remarkable  stone,  called  "  The  Altar  Stone."  An 
aged  man,  named  Jarvis,  still  living  at  Markfield,  states  that  he  "  well  remembers  this  stone  ; 
that  it  was  covered  with  outlandish  letters,  and  was  removed  when  cultivation  began,  be- 
cause it  was  in  the  centre  of  a  field."  The  name  seems  to  justify  an  opinion  that  it  was  a 
Roman  altar.  It  may,  indeed,  have  only  been  a  milliare,  like  that  found  at  Thurmaston, 
and  now  standing  in  Belgrave-gate,  Leicester.f 

The  ancient  name  of  the  village  near  which  this  relic  of  antiquity  stood  was  Mark-in- 
field, or  Merc-en-feld :  J  and  that  the  name  was  derived  from  this  "  Altar  stone"  is  by  no 
means  unlikely. § 

The  author  of  "  Rlelhourne'''' — a  work  which  fairly  entitles  its  writer  to  be  considered  a 
sound  antiquarian — strongly  inclines  to  the  opinion  that  a  minor  Roman  road  must  have 
been  formed  between  two  such  important  stations  as  Rataj  and  Derventio.  If  this  really 
was  the  case,  this  interstationary  road  must  have  branched  from  the  Via  Devana,  at  or  near 
to  the  very  spot  on  which  stood  the  Altar-stone. 

Having  now,  with  regard  to  the  Romans  at  least,  rather  opened  a  field  for  further  inves- 
tigation, than  obtained  evidence  on  which  it  would  be  safe  to  hazard  a  positive  opinion,  I 
leave  the  reader  to  form  his  own  conclusions,  and  reserve  all  remark  on  the  later  Antiqui- 
ties of  the  Forest  to  be  interwoven  in  the  Parochial  History. 

*  The  variation  of  tlie  name,  and  the  uncertainty  of  the  true  situation  of  Vernomctum,  or  Verometum,  give 

some  grounds  for  the  supposition  that  they  may,  after  all,  have  been  different  stations.     Camden,  Burton,  and  Stuke- 

ley,  place  Vemometum  at  Burrow-on-thc-HiU — modem  writers,  I  am  aware,  have,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  agreed 

on  fixing  it  at  Willoughby-on-the-Wolds.     The  latter  place  seems,  however,  a  most  unlikely  spot  for  a  great  Temple, 

which  Venantius  shows  to  have  been  the  meaning  of  Vemometum  in  the  old  Gaulic : — 

*'  Nomine  Vemometum  voluit  vocitare  vetustas 

Quod  fanum  ingens  Gallica  lingua  sonat." 

A  fitter  place  than  Beacon,  for  such  a  Temple,  could  scarcely  be  imagined. 

t  A  Roman  altar,  discovered  near  Haddon  Hall,  Derbyshire,  has  been  judiciously  placed,  by  the  Duke  of  Rutland, 
in  the  porch  leading  to  that  celebrated  Baronial  mansion. 

J  Merc,  in  Saxon,  signifies  mark. 

§  The  Reverend  Robert  Martin,  who  has  kindly  interested  himself  in  this  discovery,  suggests  that,  as  the  stone 
stood  at  the  junction  of  the  parishes  of  Markfield  and  Newtown  Linford,  it  may  have  been  a  Mere  stone,  and  may 
have  derived  its  name  from  the  boundary  artering  at  that  point.  This  hypothesis  would  not,  however,  account  for  the 
"outlandish  letters."  Besides,  remarkable  objects  were  quite  as  frequently  agreed  upon  as  marks  of  boundary,  as 
fresh  marks  or  meres  erected. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 


The  present  portion  of  the  work  contains  the  four  great  divisions  of  the  Forest,  or  those 
parts  belonging  to  Barrow,  Groby,  ^VTiitwick,  and  Sheepshed,  to  which  reference  has 
already  been  made.  In  these,  the  Monastic  Foundations  will  be  described  in  the  divisions 
in  which  they  are  situated,  viz. : — Alderman's  Haw,  and  Charley  Priory,  under  Barrow ; 
Ulverscroft,  under  Clroby  ;  the  new  Foundation,  called  Mount  St.  Bernard,  under  Whitwick  ; 
and  Garendon,  Gracedieu,  and  Holy-well  Hermitage,  under  Sheepshed.  It  may  be  objected 
that  not  one  of  the  villages,  set  down  as  the  respective  heads  of  this  division,  lies  within  the 
Forest  boundary.  They  were,  however,  the  places  to  which  the  Forest  was  of  the  greatest 
importance,  and  the  lordships  in  which  the  greater  part  of  it  is  parochially  situated.  After 
the  ancient  and  modern  history  of  each  lordship,  the  reader's  attention  will  be  drawn  to 
whatever  is  picturesque,  curious,  or  interesting  in  each,  and  the  subjects  of  the  engravings 
will  be  minutely  described. 

BARROW-UPON-SOAR. 

(Baro,  Baroo,  Bnrrough,  Btirhoo,  Baru-e,  Burini,  Bareica.) 

The  parish  of  BaiTow,  though  the  village  itself,  as  has  just  been  stated,  is  not  within 
the  verge  of  the  Forest,  includes  so  large  a  part  of  it,  and  was  in  feudal  times  so  closely 
connected  with  it,  as  to  be  fairly  entitled  to  a  prominent  place  in  any  description  of  Cham- 
wood.  The  lordship,  or  parts  of  it,  having  been  the  possession  of  the  brave  but  unfortunate 
Harold — of  the  Norman  Earls  of  Chester* — of  the  Black  Prince — of  Sir  Walter  Manny — 
and  of  many  distinguished  men  of  later  times — ai'e  circumstances  that  invest  it  with  great 
interest.  Then  its  being  situated  on  an  ancient  British  or  Roman  road — its  wonderful 
geological  features — the  fine  scenery  that  surrounds  it — and  its  having  been  the  birth-i)lace 
of  one  of  the  greatest  oniaments  to  the  Episcopal  Bench — give  it  additional  claims  to  notice. 

Burton  says,  "  this  Manner  was  anciently  the  land  of  the  Earl  of  Chester,  and  came  by 
marriage  to  William  de  Albany,  Earl  of  Arundell,  who  married  Mabell,  sister  and  co-heire 
to  Ranulfe  Earle  of  Chester  and  Leicester:  whose  daughter  Nicola,  sister  and  co-heire  of 
Hugh  Eai-le  of  Arundell,  brought  this  Mannor  to  Roger  de  Somery  Baron  of  Dudley,  who 

•  Comes  Hugo  tenet  de  Rege  Barlioo.  «  *  *     Hoc  manerium  tenuit  Heraldus  comes  cum  appendiciis. — 
(Doomsday,  Fol.  2.37,  a.  \.J 


56  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

by  her  had  issue  four  daughters :  one  of  them  called  Maud  married  to  Sir  Henry  de  Er- 
dington,  who  by  his  wife  had  this  Mannor.  It  continued  in  the  name  of  Erdington  untill 
the  reigne  of  King  Edward  4th,  at  which  time  the  last  Thomas  de  Erdington  being  attainted* 
by  King  Edward  4th,  (7  Ed.  4.)  gi-anted  it  to  William  Lord  Hastings." 

Burton  omits  to  mention  that  this  lordship  was  once  a  part  of  the  possessions  of  the 
Saxon  King  Harold,  who  was  slain  at  the  Battle  of  Hastings.  It  was  probably  through  its 
having  belonged  to  his  fallen  rival,  that  the  Conqueror  so  soon  conferred  it  on  his  relative. 

The  partition  of  the  estates  of  Roger  de  Somery,  consequent  upon  the  marriage  of  his 
daughters,  has  already  been  stated. 

There  appears  to  be  some  ground  for  a  belief  that  a  Castle,  or  Baronial  Manor  House, 
was  at  one  time  at  Barrow.  The  expressions  "  Curia  Comitis"  (the  Earl's  Court) — "aque- 
ductum  labentem  in  vinariumf  domini  Comitis  Cestrise" — "  Parcum  de  BarwS,"  &c. — can 
scarcely  be  understood,  unless  on  this  supposition.  The  terms  might,  indeed,  have  been 
applied  to  Beaumanor,  but  that  the  Com'ts  appear  to  have  been  entirely  distinct.  And 
Hugh  de  Albini,  who  died  1243,  in  a  Grant  to  the  Abbey  of  Garendon  for  pasturing  all 
their  cattle  in  the  lordship  of  Barrow,  excepts  his  Park  at  Barrow. 

A  gentleman  whom  I  have  frequently  consulted  in  the  course  of  my  inquiries,  the  Rev. 
M.  D.  Babington,  makes  the  following  valuable  remarks  on  this  somewhat  doubtful  subject : — 
"  I  can  see  no  traces  of  a  Park  having  ever  existed  in  that  part  of  the  parish  which  is  now 
allied  BaiTow.  On  the  other  hand,  I  think  it  may  be  shown,  by  comparing  several  ancient 
Deeds,  that  it  was  situate  on  the  western  side  of  the  Soar.  Ranulph,  the  third  Norman 
Earl  of  Chester,  between  1119  and  1128,  conveyed  an  extensive  tract  in  and  near  Charn- 
wood  Forest,  '  his  Park  at  Barrow  excepted,^  to  King  Henry  I., J  who  re-granted  it  to 
Robert  Bossu,  Earl  of  Leicester,  by  whom  a  large  share  of  it  was  bestowed  on  the  Abbey 
of  Garendon.  WHien  this  Deed  was  recited  in  a  Charter  of  Inspeximus  by  King  Henry  VI. ,§ 
the  expression  was  changed  into  '  praster  parcum  meum,'  and  when  copied  into  the  Garen- 
don Registerll  it  was  altered  in  the  same  manner. 

"Ranulph,  the  next  Earl,  between  1133  and  1153,  granted  to  the  Monks  of  Garendon 
right  of  pasture  throughout  the  Forest,  '  excepto  parcho  meo  de  Barwa.'lf     This  Deed, 

entered  in  the  Garendon  Register,  was  headed  "  Carta  Comitis  Cestriaj  de  conimuni 

pastura  totius  nemoris  &\\\,  prceter  parcum." 

"  Hence  it  appears  that  the  Earls  of  Chester  had  only  one  Park  in  this  neighbourhood  ; 
and  further,  that  this  Park  had  changed  its  name  before  the  time  of  Henry  VI. 

"  A  Deed  of  Ranulph,  the  sixth  and  last  Earl,  who  lived  a  century  before  that  reign,  shows 
what  the  new  name  was.  He  grants**  to  Stephen  de  Segrave  certain  lands  in  Cotes,  '  de 
clausura  parci  sui  de  Querndoii.^ 

"  In  1240,  four  years  after  the  Earl's  death,  the  same  name  (QuerendonJ  was  applied  to 

*  Nichols  doubts  the  attainder. — (See  Bast  Goscote,  p.  64,  note.) 

f  So  given  twice  in  Nichols. — (Fol.  I.„p.  62,  and  Vol.  III.,  Appendix,  p.  9.  J — It  is  perhaps  a  misprint  for  viuarium. 

X  Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  120,  from  the  Chartulary  of  Lirens.  §  Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  120. 

II  Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  830,  col,  2.  f  lb.  p.  822.  »•  Nichols,  Vol.  II.,  Appendix,  p.  1 14. 


PAUOCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  57 

the  Park,  as  the  reader  will  remember,  in  the  dispute  respecting  the  wood  of  Challenge, 
detailed  in  page  l(j.  An  ancient  Inquisition  respecting  the  parish  of  Barrow  speaks  the 
same  language.  It  makes  the  boundary  commence  '  ad  vadiim  sub  parco  de  Querndon.^* 
This  last-named  document  not  only  mentions  the  Park  by  its  new  name,  but  fixes  its  locality ; 
for  Park-furJ  is  still  known  as  the  place  where  Switliland  and  Woodhouse  meet,  at  the  west 
corner  of  Buddon  Wood. 

"  There  is  one  fact  which,  at  first  sight,  seems  to  militate  against  my  theory.  It  appearsf 
that  Ralph  Basset,  who  inherited  one-fourth  of  the  jjossessions  of  the  Earls  of  Chester  in 
this  parish,  died  in  1343,  '  seised  of  a  certain  Park  at  BaiTow.'  But  another  document  con- 
nects the  Basset  property  in  this  parish  with  Buddon  Wood,|  and  thus  confirms  the  identity 
of  Barrow  Park  with  Quorndon  Park,  which  (as  has  been  just  noticed)  adjoined  that  wood. 

"  But,  it  may  be  asked,  how  could  a  Park  on  the  west  of  the  Soar  be  at  any  time  called 
Barrow  Park  ?  Probably,  because  it  was  inclosed  before  any  hamlets  existed  in  the  parish. 
We  know  that  the  Earls  of  Chester  possessed  Ban'ow  previous  to  the  compilation  of  Domes- 
day Book,  in  which  no  one  of  the  three  is  mentioned. 

"The  subsequent  name,  Qiionidoii  Park,  may  be  explained  on  the  same  ground.  We 
have  distinct  evidence  that  it  was  situate  near  Park-ford,  in  a  part  of  the  parish  now  called 
Woodhouse.  But  at  the  time  it  was  named,  no  such  village  as  Woodhouse  was  in  existence. 
That  word  first  occurs  in  12-20,§  nearly  a  century  after  Quorndon  was  so  considerable  a 
place  as  to  have  its  own  Church ;  and  it  can  be  proved  that,  long  after  Woodhouse  did 
acquire  a  distinct  appellation,  it  was  not  unfi-equently  comprehended  under  the  general 
designation  of  Quorndon.  Ranulph,  Earl  of  Chester  and  Lincoln,  the  possessor  of  Wood- 
house  as  well  as  of  Quorndon,  between  1'216  and  1-232,  granted  a  small  portion  of  his  wood 
of  Alderman's  Haw,  '  ubi  homines  sui  de  Querndon  habent  communem  pasturam.'||  The 
expression  in  this  case  is  the  more  extraordinary,  because  the  inhabitants  of  Woodliouse, 
living  so  much  nearer  to  Alderman's  Haw,  would  derive  more  benefit  from  the  right  of 
common  than  those  of  Quorndon  (properly  so  called)  could  do.  A  century  and  a  half  after- 
wards, in  1379,  John  de  Farnham  is  stated  to  have  'founded,  at  Quorndon,  a  Chantry,' 
which  proved,  in  1548,  to  be  situate  in  the  hamlet  of  Woodhouse."1[ 

The  two  townships  were,  till  a  considerably  later  date,  united ;  for  the  inhabitants  of 
Woodhouse  were,  till  about  16-20,  obliged  to  bury  at  Quorndon  ;**  and  they,  only  a  few 
years  ago,  agreed  each  to  maintain  their  own  poor. 

"  As  to  the  Curia  Comitis,  it  is  less  easy,"  continues  Mr.  Babington,  "  to  show  what  it 
was  not,  than  what  it  was.  That  it  was  not  a  Manor  House,  is,  I  think,  clear,  from  the 
tithes  of  it  having  been  gi'anted  to  the  Monks  of  St.  Severus,  which  would  in  that  case  have 
been  ^wpov  acwpou.  If  it  had  any  connection  whatever  with  the  residence  of  the  Earl,  per- 
haps it  was  that  part  of  Mountsorrel  (^lountsonel  Burg)  which  was  '  intra  curiam  ca-stri,'' 

*  Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  61.  f  Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  63. 

X  JO  Rich.  II.,   Radulphus  Basset  tenet  manerium  de  Barrow  super  Soare  cum  Buddon. — Nichols,  Vol.  I.,  p.  126. 

§  Nichols,  Vol.  I.,  p.  58.  ||  Nichols,  Vol.  II.,  Appendix,  p.  117.  H  Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  95,  96. 

••  Nichols,  Vol.  HI.,  p.  111. 


58  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

for  I  find  that  the  parts  extra  curiam  castri  were  granted  by  the  last  Earl  of  Chester  to 
Stephen  de  Segrave:  I  sdiy  per] i a ps,  both  because  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  the  name 
'  Curia  ComHis'  was  not  applied  before  the  Castle  of  Mounlsorrel  was  built,  and  because 
there  is  nothing  to  show  whether  the  bailiwick  of  the  Castle  of  Mountsorrel  was  so  large  as 
to  have  made  the  tithes  of  it  worth  the  notice  of  the  Monks.  But  as  the  word  curia,  in 
legal  documents,  has  (according  to  Sir  Henry  Spelman)  another  intei-pretation,  and  one 
wholly  unconnected  with  any  building,  I  think  that  this  is  probably  its  meaning  in  the 
present  case. 

"  It  appears  from  the  dissertation  on  Domesday  Book,  that  the  dominicutn  (domain)  was 
often  found  greatly  too  extensive  for  occupation  by  the  Lord,  as  well  as  inconvenient,  from 
beino'  dispersed  over  distant  parts  of  the  parish.  In  process  of  time,  therefore,  as  we  are 
informed,  the  Nobles,  being  more  attached  to  war  than  to  agriculture,  let  off  the  outlying 
portions  of  this  dominicum,  often  the  greater  part  of  it,  to  husbandmen,  who  paid  their  rents 
principally,  if  not  wholly,  in  provisions.  That  tliis  took  place  in  Barrow  is  probable,  from 
the  great  extent  of  the  dominicum,  which  comprised  nearly  one-third  of  this  overgrown 
parish.  May  not  the  Curia  Comitis,  then,  have  been  the  portion  not  so  let  off  in  I-2-20  (for 
that  is  the  date  of  the  deed)  ? — in  which  case  it  would  answer  to  Sir  H.  Spelman's  second 
interpretation  of  the  word,  and  be  equivalent  to  a  manor  within  a  manor.  And  may  not  this 
have  been  the  origin  of  one  of  the  manors  co-existing  for  so  long  a  time  within  this  parish  ?"* 

The  "  Erdington  Manor,  in  BaiTow,"  extended  also  to  Quorndon  and  Woodhouse  ;t 
which  probably  accounts  for  the  strange  anomaly  of  Simon  de  Liz  being  recognized  as 
superior  Lord  by  Robert  Bossu.J  I  do  not  find  it  distinctly  stated  that  Robert  Bossu  held 
under  de  Liz :  but  in  1346,  other  persons  held  lands  in  Quorndon  and  Woodhouse,  "  as 
parcel  of  the  fee  of  Huntingcloii."  And  as  de  Liz  was  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  as  well  as  of 
Northampton,  Robert  Bossu  probably  held  some  part  of  his  property  under  him,  though  the 
bulk  of  it  was  of  the  fee  of  Chester. 

The  Hastings  manor  perhaps  originated  as  mentioned  in  the  note.  The  probable  cause 
of  this  division  of  manors  was  explained  in  a  preceding  chapter. 

In  1311,  Mabel  de  Sully  (see  page  12)  died  seised  of  one  quarter  of  the  manor,  held  of 
the  King  in  capite,  as  of  the  honour  of  Chester. 

In  1316,  Raymund  de  Sully,  son  of  Mabel,  died  seised  of  the  same,  held  by  service  of 
a  quarter  of  a  Knight's  fee. 

It  is  evident,  from  the  Segrave  Chartulary,  that  Hugo  le  Despenser  had  possessions  in 
BaiTow,  as  he  gave  to  Stephen  de  Segrave,  in  marriage  with  his  sister  Roesia,  a  virgate  of 

*  The  fees  of  Hugh  Cantor  and  of  Blundol  are  mentioned  in  the  passage  under  consideration ;  and  another  fee, 
that  of  Boteler,  is  named  together  with  them  in  the  Rentale  of  Leicester  Abbey,  fol.  15.  In  1235,  Henry  de  Hastings 
held  a  Knight's  fee  in  Barrow,  under  the  Earl  of  Arundel.— (Nichols,  Vol.  I.,  p.  49.)  Perhaps  this  is  what  was  after- 
wards called  the  Hastings  Manor,  for  that  noble  family  did  not  obtain  the  Erdington  Manor  till  1461 ;  so  that  Nichols 
is  probably  incorrect  in  saying  (Vol.  III.,  p.  G9)  that  it  is  in  right  of  Erdington  Manor  that  the  Earl  of  Huntingdon 
was  described,  in  the  Inclosure  Act  of  1776,  as  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Barrow.  There  seems  to  have  been  more  than 
one  manor  in  Barrow  in  very  early  times  :  for  in  1346,  parts  of  Barrow,  Quorndon,  and  Woodhouse,  were  in  the  fee  of 
Huntingdon  (p.  63),  though  tlie  larger  share  of  it  then  was,  and  always  had  been,  in  the  fee  of  Chester, 
t  Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  69.  X  Nichols,  Vol.  I.,  p.  27. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  59 

land  in  Banow :  and  a  Deed,  by  which  Gilbert  Cat  engages  to  pay  to  the  said  Stephen  and 
his  heirs  an  annual  rent  of  ■2s.,  which  he  held  under  Roger  de  ^lemelavain.* 

This  possession  was,  perhaps.  Cat  Hill,  in  Charley,  and  the  lands  adjoining. 

In  1340,  Henry  de  Beaumont,  then  Earl  of  Buchan,  was  found  to  have  died  seised  of 
the  hamlet  of  ]5arrow,  as  a  member  of  Loughborough. 

In  1;543,  Ralph  Basset,  of  Drayton,  died  seised  of  a  certain  Park  at  Barrow,  and  £4.  16.?. 
rents  of  the  naifs  and  cottagers :  all  of  which  he  held  of  Lord  Edward,  Earl  of  Chester  (the 
Black  Prince,  eldest  son  of  Edward  HI.),  by  the  service  of  a  quarter  of  a  Knight's  fee. 

In  1346,  Giles  de  Erdington,  on  the  aid  then  granted  for  knighting  Edward  of  Wood- 
stock, the  King's  eldest  son,  was  assessed  SO.v.  for  half  a  Knight's  fee,  in  Banow,  Quomdon, 
and  Woodhouse,  parcel  of  the  fees  of  Chester  and  Huntingdon. f 

In  1375,  Sir  Giles  de  Erdington,  Knight,  died  seised  of  the  manor  of  BaiTow,  leaving  a 
son  and  heir,  Sir  Thomas  Erdington,  who  (probably  from  the  proximity  of  BaiTow  to 
Segrave)  formed  a  matrimonial  alliance  with  Margaret,  daughter  of  Thomas  de  Brotherton, 
Eai-1  of  Norfolk,  who  in  her  own  right  succeeded  to  the  title  of  Countess  on  her  father's 
death.  This  lady  had  before  been  twice  mamed ;  first  to  Sir  Walter  Manny,  and  secondly 
to  John  Lord  Segrave,  who  dying  in  1355,  left  her  a  widow  with  an  only  daughter  Elizabeth 
— mother  to  Thomas  Lord  Mowbray,  Earl  ilarshal  and  Duke  of  Norfolk. 

In  1390,  Sir  Ralph  Basset,  of  Drayton,  Knt.,I  died  seised  of  the  manor,  with  the  appur- 
tenances, held  of  the  King  hi  capite  by  Knight's  service. 

In  1394  occurs  an  inquisition  of  a  somewhat  singular  character,  by  which  it  was  found 
that,  on  the  death  of  Sir  Thomas  de  Erdington,  William  le  Walshe,  Rector  of  Upton,  and 
Thomas  Wilde.  Capellan,  had  formerly  assigned  to  Giles  de  Erdington,  father  of  Sir  Thomas, 
for  the  term  of  his  life,  the  manor  of  Banow-upon-Soar,  and  the  view  of  frankpledge  therein  : 
that  the  said  manor  was  held  in  capite  by  the  service  of  a  quarter  of  a  Knight's  fee :  and 
that  Thomas,  son  of  the  said  Thomas  and  jMargaret  his  wife.  Countess  (afterwards  Duchess) 
of  Norfolk,  was  next  heir  of  the  said  Thomas. 

The  obscurity  occurring  here  is  the  want  of  all  proof  of  the  right  by  which  le  Walshe 
and  Wilde  could  grant  the  manor.  The  most  reasonable  supposition  seems  to  be,  that  they 
were  Trustees. 

In  1404,  it  was  found  that  Margaret,  Duchess  of  Norfolk,  widow  of  Thomas  de  Erding- 
ton, Knight,  died  seised  of  the  manor.  Her  son  then  succeeded  to  his  father's  moiety  :  and, 
on  the  death  of  his  relation,  Raymond  de  Sully,  to  the  other  portion  too. 

*  Nichols,  Vol.  II.,  Appendix,  p.  113.  f  Rot.  Aux.,  20  Edw.  III. 

I  It  has  been  before  stated  (p.  12)  that  Margaret,  daughter  of  Roger  de  Somery,  and  Nichola  d'Albini,  married 
Ralph  Basset;  Burke  (Extinct  Peerage)  makes  Margaret  the  daughter  of  Roger's  seconrf  wife,  Annabel,  -H-idow  of 
Gilbert  Segrave,  though  he  owns  that  the  four  daughters  of  the^rs^  marriage  inherited  their  mother's  estates.  It  may 
seem  to  favour  Burke's  former  statement,  that  Nicholas  de  Segrave  held  a  share  of  the  Manor  of  Barrow :  but  it  should 
be  remarked,  that  he  is  distinctly  stated  to  have  held  it,  not  in  his  own  right,  but  in  that  of  his  wife  Alice.  It  does  not 
appear  from  the  Segrave  Pedigree,  either  in  Nichols  or  in  Burke,  whose  daughter  Alice  was  ;  nor  is  even  her  Christian 
name  given  by  either :  but  as  John  Le  Strange  is  the  only  one  of  the  husbands  of  the  four  heiresses  of  Roger  de  Somery, 
whose  name  does  not  appear  as  a  possessor  of  a  share  of  the  Manor  of  Barrow,  it  may  be  conjectured  that  this  Alice 
was  his  daughter. 


60  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

"  The  manor,"  it  is  plain  in  the  above  extracts,  generally  means  only  a  pai't  of  it — most 
commonly  one-fourth. 

In  a  book  of  fifteenths  and  tenths,  granted  by  the  Laity  in  1416,  Barrow  was  rated  at 
£6.  16s.  Beaumont  fee,  de  Priore  hospitalis  S.  Johannis  Jerusalem  in  Anglia  (Beaumanor?) 
at  6s.  8(1. 

In  1427,  Elizabeth,  widow  of  Henry  de  Beaumont,  died  seised  of  the  manor  of  Barrow, 
as  a  member  of  Beaumanor. 

In  1433,  Thomas  de  Erdington,  Esq.,  died  seised  of  the  manor,  held  of  the  King  by  the 
service  of  a  quarter  of  a  Knight's  fee. 

In  1439,  Beatrix,  wife  of  Sir  Hugh  Shirley,  held  that  part- of  the  manor  (one-third)  that 
had  formerly  belonged  to  Sir  Ralph  Basset,  of  Drayton. — (See  page  12.) 

In  1461,  the  last  Sir  Thomas  Erdington  enfeofled  Sir  Richard  Neele,  of  Prestwold,  in 
this  manor :  and  in  default  of  issue,  remainder  to  go  to  William,  Lord  Hastings. 

On  the  attainder  of  William  Viscount  Beaumont,  in  1463,  Edward  IV.  granted  part  of 
his  possessions  in  Barrow  to  Lord  Hastings,  his  Chamberlain:  and  in  1467,  the  other  part 
of  the  Viscount  Beaumont's  lands ;  to  be  held  by  homage  only,  in  lieu  of  all  service. — 
fPat.  7  Edward  I  V.J 

On  the  attainder  of  Lord  Hastings,  June,  1483,  the  lordship,  with  all  his  other  immense 
estates,  reverted  to  the  Crown ;  all  of  these,  however,  on  the  accession  of  Henry  VII.,  in 
consideration  of  the  last  Lord's  services,  were  restored,  Nov.  22,  1485,  to  his  son.  Sir  Ed- 
ward Hastings,  father  of  George,  first  Earl  of  Huntingdon  of  that  name,  who  died  lord 
thereof  in  1534,  as  did  his  son  Francis,  the  second  Earl,  in  1561 :  and  two  grandsons — 
Francis,  the  third  Earl,  Dec.  14,  1595,  and  George,  the  fourth  Earl,  Dec.  30,  1604  ;  at  which 
period  the  manor  is  stated  to  have  been  of  the  annual  value  of  £'66.  13s.  9^d.,  held  of  the 
King,  as  of  the  fee  of  Chester,  by  fealty  only  ;  and  Francis,  Lord  Hastings,  his  son  and  heir 
being  then  dead,  Henry,  Earl  of  Huntingdon  (then  aged  eighteen  yeai-s,  six  months),  was 
his  grandson  and  heir.  He  held  also  the  manor  of  Loughborough,  worth  ^133.  6s.  8d.,  with 
Ashby,  &c.,  &c.,  &c. 

The  Barnards,  Brahams,  Caves,  Babingtons,  Marshalls,  Beaumonts,  Beveridges,  Farn- 
hams,  &c.,  were  all  families  of  opulence  or  distinction  once  located  here.  Of  their  pos- 
terity, there  is  not  more  than  one  now  resident  in  the  village. 

Bv  the  marriage  of  a  Braham  with  a  Cave,  considerable  possessions  at  Ban-ow  passed 
into  the  latter  family,  and  from  Theophilus  Cave  to  his  nephew,  Dr.  Humphrey  Babington, 
a  younger  branch  of  the  Babingtons  of  Rothley  Temple.  The  Marquis  of  Hastings  still  has 
the  manor,  but  the  soil,  2550  acres,  inclosed  in  1776,  belongs  chiefly  to  various  opulent 
farmers — to  the  Vicarage — and  to  charitable  Institutions. 

THE  CHURCH. 

BaiTOW,  in  the  ecclesiastical  division  of  the  county,  is  part  of  the  Deanery  of  Ackley.* 
The  Church,  dedicated  to  the  Holy  Trinity,  is  an  ancient  and  a  somewhat  singular  struc- 

•  The  origin  of  the  name  of  this  Deanery  is  very  obscure.     An  attempt  to  explain  it  will  be  found  under  Sheepshed. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  61 

ture ;  it  is  built  in  tlie  form  of  a  cross.  The  tower,  surmounted  with  very  beautiful  pinna- 
cles, when  viewed  from  a  point  from  which  the  (iuorn  woods  form  its  back-ground,  has  a 
very  fine  effect. 

In  the  reign  of  King  Stephen,  Ranulph  de  Geroniis,  Earl  of  Chester,  gave  the  Church 
of  Barrow,  with  the  Chapel  of  (iuemdon  belonging  to  it,  with  one  carucate  of  the  demesne 
lands,  to  the  Abbot  and  Convent  of  St.  ^lary  de  Pratis,  at  Leicester,  ad  proprios  ttsus :  which 
grant  Hugh  Cevelioc,  the  succeeding  Earl  of  Chester,  as  well  as  King  Henry  II.,*  confirmed. 

The  Benedictine  Abbey  of  St.  Severus,  in  Normandy,  founded  by  Severus,  Bishop  of 
Avranches,  in  558,  and  re-founded  by  Hugo,  Viscount  Avranches,  afterwards  Earl  of  Chester, 
had  evidently  part  of  the  tithes  arising  from  BaiTow  (the  gift,  doubtless,  of  one  of  the  ancient 
Earls  of  Chester) ;  as  William  de  Albini,  Earl  of  Arundel,  in  conferring  on  the  Abbot  and 
Convent  of  St.  Mary  de  Pratis  the  great  and  small  tithes  of  Barrow,  made  a  special  excep- 
tion of  those  due  to  the  Monks  of  St.  Severus ;  which,  however,  the  Abbot  and  Convent 
afterwards  purchased. 

The  Matriculus  of  12-20  shows  that  the  then  Vicar,  William,  received  the  moiety  of  all 
the  profits  of  the  altar,  and  a  third  part  of  all  the  corn-tilhcs,  and  was  bound  to  serve  the 
Church  and  sustain  all  episcopal  and  archidiaconal  payments.  The  Chapel  of  Quorndon 
was  also  to  be  served  thrice  a  week  irom  the  mother  Church. 

The  Monks  of  St.  Severus  received,  from  old  time,  one-third  of  the  tithes  of  blades  and 
demesne  lands  of  the  Earl  of  Chester,  in  Barrow,  with  all  the  small  tithes  arising  from  the 
Earl's  Curia,  or  Court  ("  de  Curia  Comitis").  They  had  also  two  parts  of  the  blades  from 
AVilliam  Blundel's  and  Hugh  Cantor's  lands,  and  from  the  new  inclosures  (novis  bundis)  of 
the  Earl  in  Barrow.  Also  the  whole  tithes  of  com  from  the  cleared  ground  of  Mountsorrel, 
from  which  they  only  ought  to  receive  a  third  part.  They  also  received  the  whole  tithe  of 
com,  and  all  the  small  tithes  at  Woodhouse,  except  the  oblations  on  holy  days,  Peter-pence 
and  wax-shot  (ceragiumj.f 

Charyte's  "  Rentale"  describes  at  great  length  what  portions  of  tithe  and  other  proceeds 
belonged  to  the  Abbey  of  Leicester,  and  what  to  the  Vicar  of  Barrow.  The  ancient  names  of 
the  woods  in  this  parish,  from  which  the  Abbot  took  tithe,  are  given  in  a  note. J 

At  the  Dissolution,  a  portion  of  the  Rectory  belonged  to  Langley  Nunnery.  In  lo9y,  a 
part  of  the  tithes  was  in  the  Crown.  In  KiOO,  Sir  William  Herrick  purchased  it,  and  the 
impropriation  was  his  property  in  164-2  :  the  glebe  and  tithes  belonging  to  Theophilus  Cave 
Esq.     Henry  Famham,  Esq.,  of  Nether  Hall,  Quomdon,  possessed  the  advowson  in  1661. 

The  land  set  apart  at  the  inclosure  in  lieu  of  the  great  tithes  is  now  partly  the  propcrtv 
of  the  Trustees  of  Barrow  Hospital  (to  whom  the  tithes  were  left  by  Mr.  Cave),  and  partly 
of  the  Vicar.     The  value  of  the  living  was  greatly  augmented  by  Dr.  Beveridge,  Bishop  of 

*  Cart.  14  Edward  III.,  N.  17,  Co.  Leic.  Inspeximus.  f  See  Nichols'  East  Goscote,  page  71. 

j  Nomina  locorum  et  boscorum  in  Parochii  de  Baroo  ubi  abbas  Leic'  debet  habere  decimam.  In  Buddunwode, 
in  Mapulwell,  in  Brakkley-kar,  in  medietate  Parci  de  Bellomont,  Ferj-nwode,  Lowsikar,  Philj-pwode,  Barola-wnde, 
Manyclefe,  Wyllynghawe  et  Dryhyrst,  Clossefeld  juxta  Bewmaner,  boscum  de  Quemdonvocatum  Famamwode,  Bew- 
maner-lawnde,  Calvercroft,  Wellawmedewe,  Fa-wkeneyr-hey,  JIukkelynge  et  Thorpulande,  Woleyswode,  Holy  Well, 
Aldurmanhey,  ye  Launde,  Heyrdmanhaucliffe  et  multa  alia — Sowthewode,  Danswode,  Schepeywode,  Tumelleys. 
New  close,  Buk  hyll  et  in  aliis  locis  diversis  sicut  patet  in  rotulis  Celariorum. — Rentale,  fol.  16. 


Q2  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

St  Asaph,  a  native,  and  long  a  resident  of  the  place.  The  patronage  is  now  in  St.  John's 
College,  Cambridge.  Few  Churches  can  boast  of  such  a  succession  of  distinguished  Vicars. 
The  present  Incumbent  is  the  Rev.  Richard  Gvvatkin,  B.D. 

There  were,  in  Burton's  time,  the  following  arms: — England.  William  de  Albini, 
Earl  of  Arundel ;  Erdington,  and  De  Brotherton,  Earl  of  Norfolk. 

The  monuments  and  monumental  inscriptions  are  unusually  numerous  and  cmious.  The 
earliest  is  one  with  the  following  inscription  : — 

il^tc  facet  ^Haltmts  films  Ei)omt  iSrDingtott,  tntlitts,  (jut  oiiit  1430. 

In  the  Chancel  floor,  on  a  slab  of  alabaster,  is  the  figure  of  a  man  between  two  wives— 
their  hands  elevated  in  prayer;  and  below  them  are  those  of  eighteen  children.  This 
monument  is  inscribed — 

i^tr  facft  jeill'm's.  BarnarD  De  JSarroto  sup=:Soore,  et  JToljattna  et  Alicia  uxores  ef. 
^m  WiiU'm'&  retitittJit  Seo  ^att  26.  jjte,  ^nno  Soin:  i-550».  et  JJoIjanna  oiiit  26  ffcb= 
ruarit  anno  Bom :  1537°:  quor'  a'  i'  ab's  propitiet'  Sens.— amen. 

VicAES.  Patrons. 

William,  1220   

William  de  Hmigerton,  1228 

Thomas  de  Creke,  1235   

Philip  de 1240 

William  de  Summerdeby,  1265 

Simon  de  Lechefield,  1267 

William  Gillote,  1534 

William  Rustat,  1563;  buried  1588. 
Jolm  Beveridge,  D.D.,  signs  Vicar  1617.* 

William  Beveridge,  B.D.,  Oct.  24,  1620 ;  buried  1640 John  Beveridge,  D.D. 

Anthony  Beridge,  M. A.,  1640 Henry  Famliam,  Esq. 

John  Beveridge,  M.A.,  1661     The  Beveridge  family. 

John  Beveridge,  1 688-9 ;  buried  1695  

John  Richardson,  1695-6   William  Beveridge,  D.D, 

Benjamin  Bewicke,  1701 ;  died  1730  ' 

Vere  Foster,  B.D.  1730 ;  died  1756 ■) 

William  Burrow,  B.D.  1757 ;  died  1794 

...       „             „  -^     -_„.  )•  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge. 

William  Easton,  B.D.,  1794 '  6.  o 

Richard  Gwatkin,  B.D.  1832 


Prior  and  Convent  of  St. Mary  de  Pratis, 
at  Leicester. 


THE  HOSPITAL. 


One  of  the  noblest  village  charities  in  the  county  is  the  Hospital  at  Barrow.  It  has, 
however,  like  many  other  charitable  foundations,  been  attended  with  one  result  which  its 
beneficent  founder  probably  did  not  calculate  upon.     The  advantages  it  offers  increased, 

•  He  must  have  been  presented  before,  or  else  a  vacancy  had  occurred. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  63 

under  the  old  Poor-law,  the  number  of  settlements.  The  tables  of  benefactions  in  the 
Church  give  the  following  account  of  the  foundation : — 

"  Humphrey  Babington  Clerk,  D.D.,  by  his  will,  dated  the  17th  of  August,  l(j86,  for  the 
glory  of  God,  and  that  the  name  of  his  dear  uncle,  Theophilus  Cave,  deceased,  and  that  the 
name  and  memory  of  his  ancestors  might  be  preserved  in  Barrow,  did  give  and  devise  his 
estate  in  Barrow,  <  iuoradon,  and  ^Nlountsorrel,  to  six  Trustees  (being  neighbouring  gentlemen 
and  divines),  and  their  heirs,  in  trust,  out  of  the  rents  thereof  to  erect  in  BaiTow  an  Alms- 
house for  six  poor  men,  who  should  be  called  ^TheBcadstiienofTlieophilusCave,^  and 
should  have  £9>.  a  year  for  ever  (to  be  paid  weekly)  for  their  maintenance ;  which  beadsmen 
should  be  all  of  them  inhabitants  of  long  continuance  in  Ban'ow  and  Quorndon — either 
widowers  or  ancient  bachelors — whereof  five  should  be  chosen  out  of  Barrow,  and  but  one 
out  of  Quorndon,  unless  great  need  be.  Each  beadsman,  on  his  admittance,  to  have  a  gown 
of  blue  cloth,  faced  with  white,  and  to  have  a  load  of  coals  yearly." 

The  Testator  also  directed  three  commemoration  sermons  to  be  preached  yearly  in  the 
Church  of  Barrow,  viz. : — two  on  Trinity  Sunday,  and  the  other  on  the  last  Sunday  of  Oc- 
tober. The  preacher  to  receive  -iO.s.  on  each  day  of  those  two  days,  and  30.s'.  to  be  given  to 
the  poor ;  and  iOs.  laid  out  in  Bibles,  with  the  liturgy,  and  given  to  such  poor  children  of 
the  place  as  could  read.  The  words,  "  The  Gift  of  Theophilus  Cave,  Esq.,"  to  be  impressed 
in  gold  letters  on  the  covers. 

The  endowment  of  a  Hospital  for  bachelors  and  ancient  widowers,  and  to  perpetuate 
the  memory  of  the  founder's  relative,  and  not  his  own,  is,  perhaps,  an  unparalleled  cir- 
cumstance. 

The  rents  belonging  to  this  excellent  Charily  having,  about  thirty  years  ago,  greatly  in- 
creased, and  the  allowance  to  the  inmates  having,  in  consequence,  become  proportionably 
liberal,  some  of  the  beadsmen  were  much  tempted  to  intemperance.  To  prevent  this,  the 
Trustees,  after  a  decree  in  Chancery,  determined,  out  of  their  surplus  funds,  to  erect  an 
additional  Hospital  for  aged  women. 

In  18-25,  therefore,  another  handsome  Almshouse  was  completed ;  and,  had  its  situation 
been  as  judiciously  chosen  as  the  design,  the  building  would  have  been  a  great  ornament 
to  the  neighbourhood  as  well  as  to  the  village. 

Another  charitable  foundation  is  the  Free  Grammar  School — erected  by  the  will  of  the 
Rev.  Humphrey  Perkins — who  gave  the  reversion  of  a  farm  at  llatcliff-upon-Trent  for  its 
endowment. 

In  endeavouring  to  discover  any  ancient  tumulus  from  which  Barrow  might  originally 
have  taken  its  name,*  I  learnt,  from  an  old  lime-bumer,  that  he  remembers  a  large  heap  of 
earth  on  the  north  side  of  the  village,  called  "  the  Koiind  Hill,"  which  was  removed,  fifty- 
three  years  ago,  to  fill  up  the  hollows  caused  by  the  lime-pits.  This  does  not  seem  an  un- 
likely circumstance. 

There  is  still  in  a  field  adjoining  the  road  to  Burton,  and  exact]}'  opposite  to  the  bridle- 
road  leading  to  Walton,  a  somewhat  curious  circular  mound,  evidently  raised  by  art — as  the 

•  A  more  satisfactory  reason  for  this  name  will  be  found  under  Woodhouse. 


64  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

removal  of  the  surrounding  earth  plainly  shows — but  I  dare  not  venture  to  pronounce,  in  a 
locality  in  which  the  surface  has  undergone  so  much  disturbance,  that  it  has  any  claim  to 
be  considered  an  ancient  barrow. 

The  singular  and  valuable  property  of  the  Barrow  lime,  which  hardens  under  water, 
and  the  wonderful  fossil  remains  discovered  here,  will  be  found  better  described  in  the 
Geology  than  by  any  thing  I  can  say.  Mr.  Lee,  of  this  place,  has  a  collection  of  nearly  all 
the  vai-ieties,  which  he  at  all  times  most  obligingly  shows  to  any  respectable  person.  There 
are  some  specimens  found  here  not  yet  discovered,  I  believe,  in  other  lias  formations ;  I 
regret  my  inability  to  procure  a  complete  list.     The  saurians  are  frequently  found. 

The  Rev.  Robert  Gutch,  of  Segi-ave,  favoured  me  with  the  following  communication 
respecting  a  very  valuable  ichthyosaurus  discovered  at  Barrow : — "  I  had  the  pleasure,  some 
years  ago,  through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Bradshaw,  of  presenting  Dr  Buckland,  among  other 
fossil  remains  collected  from  oiu-  own  as  well  as  the  Barrow  lias,  with  a  specimen  of  a  small 
ichthyosaurus,  about  five  feet  long,  wanting  the  greater  part  of  both  extremities.  T  cannot 
decribe  it  to  you  better  than  in  the  words  in  which  the  Professor  was  pleased  to  acknow- 
ledge the  receipt  of  it.  '  I  have  now  to  thank  you  for  your  magnificent  present  to  our  Mu- 
seum of  an  extremely  fine  ichthyosaurus,  more  perfect  in  its  display  of  the  bones  of  the 
sternum  than  any  specimen  I  have  ever  seen ;  and  wliich  I  hope  to  disengage  from  much 
of  the  stone  in  which  it  is  now  embedded.' — He  did  so,  and  afterwards  delivered  some 
public  Lectures  upon  it,  having,  in  his  microscopic  examinations  of  it,  made,  for  the  first 
time,  the  important  discovery  of  the  skin  of  this  remarkable  fossil.  Of  this  he  has  given  an 
accurate  description  in  page  ii.  Vol.  IL,  of  his  Bridgewater  Treatise,  with  drawings  of  the 
same  in  plate  10  of  the  same  volume." 

It  only  remains  for  me  to  mention  the  magnificent  Forest  views  which  the  Cliff  and  all 
the  western  eminences  of  this  place  afibrd.  Observed,  as  they  should  be,  in  shine  and 
storm — in  all  the  varying  phases  of  the  day  and  the  year — they  will  be  allowed  inferior  to  a 
great  part  of  the  lake  scenery,  inasmuch  only  as  the  Soar  is  inferior  to  Windermere. 

It  may  be  added,  that  if  BaiTOW  Proper  ever  did  contain  a  Baronial  mansion,  its  site 
was  doubtless  on  Cliff'  Hill. 


PAROCHIAL   HISTORY  01"  CIIARNWOOD.  05 

MOUNTSORREL. 

fMoiiiil-soare  hill,  Mu/itsarril,  Miiiistevll*  Mnuid  SurrcUJ 

.lam  ad  Soaruin  iUuiien  regrudimur,  qui  Leicestriam  praHerlapsus,  primOm  Montsorell,  sive  potiis 
Mont-soare-luU,  ex  Normannici  ct  Anglic^  compositione,  irnmen  praebet  *  •  •  Nunc  tantum  mercatu 
celebre  est ;  olim  Tero  ccleberrimum  Castro  in  praerupto  et  coufragoso  coUe  flumini  impendenti,  quud 
prills  ad  Cuniitem,  bello  Baronico,  spectavit;  hodieque  nihil  est  nisi  rudetum. — Camden. 

Mountsorrel  North  (anciently  called  Mouutsorrel  Burgh)  is,  parochially,  an  appendant 
to  Barrow:  and  on  this  account,  as  well  as  on  account  of  its  being,  geologically  speaking, 
one  of  the  outworks  of  the  Forest,  is  of  too  great  importance  to  be  passed  over  without 
remark. 

The  stately  Castle  which  once  crowned  the  remarkable  steep,  still  called  Castle  Hill,  is 
what  chieily  calls  for  notice  in  Mountsorrel.  This  Castle,  Nichols  conjectures,  was  built  bv 
Hugh  Lupus — consequently  about  1080 — and  the  first  mention  of  it  is  in  Articles  of  Agree- 
ment, made  in  the  reign  of  Stephen,  between  Ranulph  de  Geroniis  (great  nephew  of  the 
founder)  and  Robert  Bossu,  Earl  of  Leicester,  whose  extensive  possessions  in  this  neigh- 
bourhood were  respectivel}'  bounded  at  this  place  by  a  lane,  now  called  Bam  Lane,  but 
anciently,  no  doubt,  Baron  Lane.f  By  this  agreement,  made  in  the  presence  of  Robert  de 
Chesney,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  Earl  Ranulph  gave  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester  and  his  heirs  the 
Castle  of  MountsoiTel,  to  be  holden  of  the  said  Ranulph  and  his  heirs  in  such  sort  that  the 
Earl  of  Leicester  should  be  bound  to  receive  the  said  Ranulph  and  his  family  in  the  borough 
and  bailiwick  of  MountsoiTel,  to  war,  whenever  he  listeth,  as  of  his  own  fee;  and,  if  needful 
for  Earl  Ranulph,  his  body  to  be  received  into  the  Castle,  in  such  sort  that  the  Earl  of 
Leicester  should  bear  unto  him  faith  (always  the  faith  due  to  his  liege  lord  excepted) ;  and 
if  it  be  behooful  that  the  Earl  of  Leicester  go  against  the  Earl  of  Chester  with  his  liege  lord, 
not  to  carry  with  him  above  twenty  Knights ;  and  if  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  or  those  twenty 
Knights,  shall  take  any  part  of  the  Earl  of  Chester's  goods,  it  shall  be  restored  again.  And 
the  Earl  of  Leicester  may  not,  in  any  case  ympeach  or  hinder  the  body  of  the  Earl  of  Ches- 
ter, except  he  hathe  defied  him  fifteen  days  before ;  and  the  Earl  of  Leicester  is  bound  to 
aid  the  Earl  of  Chester  against  all  men,  except  the  said  Earl  of  Leicester's  liege  lord  and 
Earl  Simon."! 

A  passage  of  gi-eater  interest,  as  showing  the  immense  power  of  the  English  nobility  at 
the  period  to  which  the  agreement  refers,  coidd  hardly  be  found.  Nichols  (  Vol.  I.,  p.  -27  J 
gives  the  document  at  gi"eater  length,  and  states  several  reasons  for  fixing  the  date  at  1I5I. 

In  those  days,  when  military  achievements  and  the  S2:)orts  of  the  chace  were  the  chief 
resources  of  the  nobility,  this  Castle  must  have  been  highly  esteemed,  bolh  from  its  natural 

*  So  given  in  Burton's  extract  from  a  Roll  of  Henry  III. 
f  Baron  Park,  in  Leicester  Forest,  for  a  long  time  tmderwent  precisely  the  same  corruption.     An  engraving  of  an 

ancient  cross,  that  stood  in  this  lane,  will  be  found  further  on,  in  page  70. 

+  Nichols,  Vol.  I.,  p.  27,  says  (in  a  note)  "Simon  de  St.  Lis,  the  first  Earl  of  Northampton  of  that  name." 

The  liege  lord  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester  appears,  by  the  document,  to  liave  been  Robert,  Earl  of  Ferrars. 


66  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

Strength,  and  from  its  contiguity  to  the  Forest.  But  as  Robert  Bossu  advanced  in  age,  he 
spent  a  considerable  part  of  his  time  in  the  foundation  of  the  Abbeys  of  Leicester  and 
Garendon ;  and  at  length  the  Castle  and  chace  lost  all  their  charms.  For  the  last  fifteen 
years  of  his  life  he  made  Leicester  his  chief  residence,  having  become  a  Canon  Regular  of 
that  Abbey  in  1152. — (Nichols,  Vol.  I.,  p.  3o7.J — There  he  died,  in  1167. 

During  these  years,  the  Castle  of  Mountson-el  was,  no  doubt,  virtually  in  possession  of 
his  son,  Robert  Blachmaines,  who,  after  his  father's  death,  rebelling  against  King  Henry  II., 
and  being  taken  prisoner,  was  forced,  in  1174,  to  sun-ender  this  and  all  his  other  Castles 
into  the  King's  hands.*  He  was,  however,  restored  to  favour  at  the  Great  Council  held  at 
Northampton  in  the  following  year,  and  reinstated  in  all  his  possessions  except  this.  This 
the  King  alleged  to  be  his  own  lawful  right,  and  retained  it — probably  from  a  desire  to  have 
in  his  own  hands  a  fortress  of  such  consequence. 

It  does  not  appear  that  it  was  restored  to  his  son,  Robert  Fitz  Pamell,  high  as  he  was 
in  the  estimation  of  the  next  Monarch  (Richard  I.) :  accompanying  him  to  the  Holy  Land, 
and  greatly  distinguishing  himself  at  Ascalon.  Indeed,  after  the  death  of  Blanchmaines, 
Saer  de  Quincy,  who  married  his  sister  and  co-heiress,  obtained,  for  the  consideration  of 
£1000.,  a  Grant  from  the  King  of  the  custody  of  the  lands  of  the  said  Robert;  this  Castle, 
with  its  appurtenances,  being  excepted,  as  being  then  in  the  King's  hands.  In  1215,  one 
of  the  most  eventful  periods  of  English  History,  King  .John  appointed  Saer  de  Quincy 
Governor  of  it.  On  Saer's  taking  part  with  the  Barons,  the  King  granted  the  custody  to 
Simon  de  Cantelupe  the  same  year.f  It  does  not,  however,  appear  that  the  latter  ever  ob- 
tained actual  possession,  as  de  Quincy  strongly  garrisoned  it,  and  held  it  on  behalf  of  Lewis, 
the  French  King  (whom  the  Barons  had  called  to  their  assistance),  till  the  King's  death. 
It  was  during  the  time  of  this  garrison's  occupation  of  the  Castle,  that  the  officers  and 
soldiers  made  those  marauding  incursions  into  the  adjacent  country,  that  earned  for  the 
Castle  the  remarkable  designation  given  it  in  Camden — "  nidum  Diaholi  speluncam 
latroiium." 

To  check  the  terrible  outrages  committed  by  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  this  garrison,  of 
which  the  whole  peasantry  made  heart-rending  complaints,  the  Royalists  in  the  Castle  of 
Nottingham  determined  to  sally  out  against  them.  Falling  in  with  a  band  of  these  lawless 
depredators  in  the  midst  of  one  of  their  pillaging  excursions,  they  routed  and  dispersed 
them,  returning  victorious  to  Nottingham  with  several  of  the  leaders  prisoners. 

Henry  HI.,  hearing  of  this  act  of  gallantry  against  his  bitterest  enemies,  gave  it  in  com- 
mand to  the  High  Sheriff  of  Nottinghamshire  to  gather  the  forces  of  that  county,  and  with 
the  garrison  of  Nottingham  to  besiege  and  demolish  the  Castle  of  ^lountsorrel.  Matthew 
Paris  (see  Appendix)  gives  a  very  interesting  account  of  this  siege,  which  he  says  took  place 
after  Easter,  1217.     The   Castle  was  at  that  time  defended  by  Henry  de  Braibroc,|   or 

•  Nichols,  Vol.  I.,  p.  358,  asserts  that  "his  Castles  of  Leicester,  Groby,  and  Mountsorrel,  were  demolished  between 
1173  and  1177."  This  mistake  is  the  more  singular,  as  he  had,  in  page  77  of  the  same  volume,  correctly  said,  that 
"  though  the  two  former  were  demolished  in  1175,  the  King  retained  the  Castle  of  Mountsorrel  as  his  own  property ; 
it  having  been  shown  to  be  his  by  the  recognition  of  lawful  men  of  the  vicinage." 

.  f  Rot.  17,  Joh.  m.  3.  j  Nichols  says  Robert. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  07 

Braybioke,  with  ten  most  valiant  Knights  (milites  strenuissimi)  and  a  great  nnmber  of  re- 
tainers. The  leaders  of  the  besieging  party  were  William  ]Mareschal,  Earl  of  Pembroke 
(then  Governor  to  the  infant  King),  Ranulph  de  Blondeville,  Earl  of  Chester,  William  de 
Fen-ariis,  Earl  of  Derby,  William,  Earl  of  Albemarle,  Brienne  de  Lisle  (de  InsulA),  William 
de  Cantelupc,  Philip  Marc,  Robert  de  Gangi,  and  many  others  from  the  garrisons  of  the 
neighbonring  Castles.  The  siege  was  evidently  very  vigorously  undertaken.  Warlike 
engines  were  placed  by  the  Royalists  on  the  neighbouring  heights  (in  loci-s  cotigruis),  now 
called  Broad  Hill ;  and  it  is  evident,  from  the  account  given  by  Matthew  Paris,  that  the 
chief  mode  of  attack  was  by  machines  somewhat  resembling  the  balista.  Describing  the 
besieged,  he  says,  "  they  manftdly  hurled  back  stones  for  stones,  javelin  for  javelin  on  their 
assailants."  The  siege  had  continued  for  some  days  with  a  spirit  equal  to  the  importance 
of  the  fortress,  and  provisions  in  the  ganison  beginning  to  fail,  de  Braibroc  sent  to  Saer  de 
Quincy,  at  that  time  at  London,  begging  for  immediate  assistance.  De  Quincy,  without 
loss  of  time,  applied  to  Lewis  the  Dauphin,  who  had  just  arrived  in  London.  The  latter, 
without  delay,  despatched  the  Count  de  Perche,  with  twenty  thousand  men,  to  the  relief  of 
Mountsorrel,  "  aware  of  the  consequences  that  would  follow  the  surrender  of  a  place  on 
which  the  eyes  of  the  neutral  Barons  were  fixed." 

It  is  singular  that  Nichols  should  have  described  the  Count's  forces  as  having  been  met 
at  Lincoln  by  King  Henry's  army,  and  defeated  in  their  way  to  Mountsorrel.*  The  Count, 
according  to  Matthew  Paris,  approached  so  near  to  the  latter  place  as  to  induce  Ranulph 
de  Blondeville  to  abandon  the  siege,  and  to  join  the  Earl  Mareschal,  at  Nottingham.  After 
the  Royalists'  victory  over  the  Barons  and  the  French,  at  Lincoln,  in  which  de  Blondeville 
greatly  distinguished  himself,  Mountsorrel  fell  into  the  King's  hands,  and  the  government  of 
the  Castle  was  conferred  on  that  brave  Earl,  who  was  also  rewarded  by  the  Earldom  of 
Lincoln.  He  had  not,  however,  held  the  governorship  a  year,  and  probably  was  never  in 
actual  possession  of  it,  when,  by  the  command  of  the  King,  and  by  the  willing  aid  of  the 
neighbourhood,  he  entirely  razed  it  to  the  ground,t  as  a  "  nest  of  the  devil,  and  a  den  of 
thieves  and  robbers."  It  may  not  be  considered  irrelevant  to  my  subject,  to  introduce  a 
short  sketch  of  this  distinguished  man,  who  seems  to  have  taken  such  peculiar  pleasure  in 
the  destruction  of  the  Castle  erected  by  his  ancestor: — 

He  was  sumamed  de  Blondeville,  from  the  circumstance  of  his  having  been  born  at  the 
^Vhite  Monastery,  in  Powis-land.  He  assumed  the  cross,  and  marched  twice  to  the  Holv 
Land, I  where  he  made  many  displays  of  his  undaunted  valour.  An  incident  related  of  bis 
conduct,  on  his  voyage  home,  is  an  amusing  characteristic  of  the  superstition  of  the  times : — 
During  a  dreadful  storm,  being  requested  by  the  master  and  crew  to  lend  his  aid  for  their 
common  presei-vation,  he  told  them  to  continue  their  labours  until  midnight,  when,  if  the 
tempest  should  not  abate,  he  would  assist  them,  but  he  would  do  nothing  till  that  time. 

*  See  East  Goscote,  page  85. 
t  Camden,  as  quoted  by  Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  86,  gives  the  same  date  for  the  destruction  of  the  Castle.     But  in  a 
former  Volume  (I.  -363)  Nichols  had  erroneously  stated  the  final  demolition  to  have  been  effected  about  1265;  shortly 
before  which  time,  he  says,  it  had  been  repaired  and  put  into  a  posture  of  defence. 

j  So  says  Burke. 


bo  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

The  storm  increased — midnight  arrived — and  the  master  of  the  vessel  called  upon  him  to 
join  in  prayer  with  him  and  the  crew  for  the  salvation  of  their  souls  ;  for  all  hope  of  safety 
in  this  world  was  at  an  end.  "  Not  so,"  replied  de  Blondeville  ;  "  for  know  ye,  the  hun- 
dreds of  holy  Monks  and  Nuns,  established  and  endowed  by  my  forefathers  and  myself,  in 
different  parts  of  my  possessions  in  England,  are  at  this  hour  of  midnight  rising  to  sing 
divine  service.  I  put  confidence  in  their  unity  of  prayer,  and  alreadj'  feel  my  strength  in- 
creased." With  that  he  took  an  oar  in  his  hand,  and  called  upon  the  crew  with  words  of 
encouragement.  Their  energy  prevailed,  and  ere  morning  broke  the  tempest  had  subsided 
and  they  found  themselves  in  a  friendly  port.* 

On  his  return  to  liis  native  land  he  opposed  the  arbitrary  power  of  Hubert  de  Burgh  ; 
and  notwithstanding  his  superstition,  resolutely  refused  to  permit  the  Pope's  commissaries 
to  levy  their  demands  within  the  compass  of  his  jurisdiction.  He  died  at  Wallingford,  in 
1232,  after  having  governed  the  Palatinate  of  Chester  for  more  than  fifty  years. 

It  is  related,  to  the  credit  of  his  strenuous  opponent  and  bitterest  enemy,  Hubert  de 
Burgh,  that  when  the  tidings  of  the  Earl's  death  were  brought  him,  by  one  who  expected  to 
rejoice  him  by  the  intelligence,  he  sighed  deeply,  and  exclaimed,  "  God  have  mercy  on  his 
soul !"  and  being  then  fasting,  he  called  for  his  psalter,  knelt  before  the  crucifix,  and  sang 
the  whole  through,  without  intermission,  for  the  repose  of  the  soul  of  his  departed  foe  ! 

Ranulph  has  still  further  claim  to  notice,  as  a  character  of  high  historical  interest.  His 
first  wife  was  Constance,  of  Bretagne,  whom  Shakspeare  has  immortalized  as  an  example  of 
maternal  sensibility  aroused  in  the  defence  of  the  rights  of  her  injured  son.  It  seems  some- 
what irreconcileable  with  our  ideas  of  this  Constance,  that  she  should  have  given  cause  to 
her  second  husband,  Ranulph,  to  abandon  her,  as  the  Chronicles  of  Evesham  say  he  did, 
"  by  reason  that  King  .John  haunted  her  compauy."t  It  seems  scarcely  credible  that  such 
a  mother  should  encourage  the  usm'per  of  her  son's  rights,  her  licentious  brother-in-law, 
"  to  haunt  her  company  ;"  and  the  improbability  is  increased,  when  we  find  that  it  was  "  by 
John's  advice  and  example"  that  the  Earl  divorced  her  and  married  dementia,  the  youthful 
widow  of  Alan  de  Dinant,  with  whom  he  obtained  great  possessions  both  in  England  and 
France. 

Constance,  immediately  after  her  divorce,  married  the  chivah-ic  Guy  de  Thouars,  and 
died  in  child-birth  within  a  year  afterwards.J  Ranulph  left  no  issue,  and  his  nej^hew  and 
successor  in  (he  Earldom  of  Leicester,  John  the  Scot,  died  too  without  issue :  having  been 
poisoned  by  his  wife,  Helena,  the  daughter  of  Llewellyn,  Prince  of  Wales.  The  Earldom 
of  Chester  was  then  annexed  to  the  Crown,  on  the  plea  ne  fain  prceclara  domutatio  inter 
cnlos  feminariim  dividi  contingeret — an  allusion  to  the  jiosterity  of  two  of  Ranulph's  other 
sisters.§ 

»  Noble,  in  Glover's  Derbyshire.  f  So  also  says  Dugdale,  quoted  by  Burke. 

+  It  is  fair  to  observe,  that  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Noble,  compiler  of  "  Derbyshire,"  fur  part  of  the  foregoing 

statement. 
Ij  Mabel  and  Hawise :  the  latter  of  whom  carried  the  Earldom  of  Lincoln  to  her  son-in-law,  John  de  Lacy,  Con- 
stable of  Chester.     Her  brother,  it  should  be  stated,  had  obtained  this  manor  from  Henry  III.,  and  a  little  before  his 
death  gave  it  to  Hawise,  wife  of  Robert  de  Quincy,  by  Charter — "  that  she  might,  in  right  thereof,  be  styled  Countess." 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  69 

To  return  to  the  Castle. — The  site  of  this  once  strong  and  commanding  fortress  is,  even 
after  the  lapse  of  upwards  of  six  hundred  years,  invested  with  peculiar  interest.  The  visitor 
will  at  once  perceive  that  it  must,  in  the  days  of  its  glory,  have  more  resembled  some  fortress 
that  "  frowns  o'er  the  deep  and  foaming  Rhine,"  than  an  English  Castle.  Those  of  Not- 
tingham, Belvoir,  and  Peveril-of-the-Peak,  were,  perhaps,  the  only  Midland  Castles  that 
were  at  all  equal  to  it  in  situation ;  and  these  were  certainly  inferior  to  it  in  security  and 
many  other  respects.  The  precipitous  rock  on  which  it  stood  entirely  guarded  it  on  three 
sides ;  and  on  the  least  protected  side,  from  all  that  can  now  be  ti-aced,  the  fortifications 
seem  to  have  been  commensurate  with  its  great  importance.  On  Broad  Hill,  which  is  situ- 
ated about  four  hundred  yards  to  the  north-west,  and  which  doubtless  was  the  spot  referred 
to  by  Matthew  Paris,  in  the  expression  "  congruis  locis,"  are  three  circular  mounds,  twenty 
feet  in  diameter;  four  oblong  elevations,  of  forty -two  feet  long  (the  latter  forming  the  points 
of  a  parallelogram) ;  and  some  banks  or  earth-works.  Tradition  says,  the  mounds  were  used 
b}'  the  Royalists  at  the  time  of  the  siege ;  and  the  description  of  the  engines  made  use  of, 
in  the  old  Historian  just  quoted,  renders  the  supposition  a  likely  one.  The  works  may 
indeed  have  been  an  outpost  to  the  Castle,  and  certain  peculiarities  in  the  plan  would  per- 
haps induce  some  antiquarians  to  conclude  they  had  a  still  higher  claim  to  antiquity,  viz. : 
that  they  were  the  remains  of  an  ancient  British  camp. 

The  prospects  both  from  Broad  Hill  and  Castle  Hill  are  of  singular  beauty ;  the  mean- 
derings  of  the  Soai-,  and  the  rising  grounds  of  Segrave,  Slleby,  and  the  Wolds,  with  the  fine 
old  Church  towers  of  the  villages  named,  diversify  the  eastern  side ;  on  the  north,  the  heights 
of  Banow,  the  wooded  eminences  of  Quom,  and  the  town  of  Loughborough,  form  a  land- 
scape rich  in  almost  every  element  of  fine  scenery.  On  the  west,  the  Forest  hills  present 
their  bold  and  beautiful  outline,  and  Bradgate  Park  figures  to  great  advantage  in  the  south- 
western distance. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted,  that  there  is  extant  no  representation  of  this  remarkable 
Norman  Castle.  Nichols  fancies  that  the  seal  of  Margaret  de  Quincy,  and  a  painting  on 
glass,  in  Thurcaston  Church,  may  be  intended  for  it.  In  the  seal,  the  Countess  is  repre- 
sented standing  under  an  embattled  gateway  of  great  sti'ength.* 

John  de  Lacy  had  issue  Edmund :  who,  dying  before  his  mother,  left  this  honour  to  his  son  Henry,  the  last  Earl  of 
that  family.  For  having,  in  her  ninth  year,  betrothed  his  only  siurriving  child,  Alice,  to  Thomas,  son  of  Edmund,  Earl 
of  Lancaster,  on  condition  that  if  they  died  without  heirs  of  their  bodies,  his  Castles,  Lordships,  &c.,  should  remain  to 
Edmtind,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  for  ever.  Alice  had  no  children,  and  her  husband  having  been  beheaded,  she  brought 
great  reflection  on  her  character  by  her  unchaste  behaviour;  having  first  consorted  with,  and  afterwards,  without  the 
King's  leave,  married  Eubnlo  Le  Strange,  which  provoked  the  King  to  seize  her  estates. — On  her  death  (s.  p.), 
Henry,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  grandson  of  Edmund,  by  his  second  son,  La  right  of  the  above-mentioned  conveyance,  came 
into  possession  of  this  large  estate,  which  from  that  time  was  in  the  House  of  Lancaster.  The  Kings  of  England  have, 
however,  conferred  the  title  of  Earl  of  Lincoln  on  others— Edward  IV.,  on  John  de  la  Pole;  Henry  VIII.,  on  Henry 
Brandon ;  and  Queen  Elizabeth,  on  Edward  Baron  Clinton,  High  Admiral  of  England :  whose  descendant,  the  present 
Duke  of  Newcastle,  now  enjoys  it  as  his  second  title. —  Gough's  Additions  to  Camden,  I'ol.  II.,  p.  23.3. 

*  I  have  in  my  possession  a  halfpeimy,  or  trader's  token,  issued  by  Joseph  Lovell,  of  Mountsorrel,  in  1677.  It 
bears  on  the  obverse  a  rotmd  tower,  which  may  possibly  have  been  standing  on  some  part  of  Castle  Hill,  at  that  period. 
Nichols  gives  an  engraving  of  the  same  token. 


70 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 


As  some  workmen  wave  getting  stone  from  this  hill, 
in  1787,  they  fomid  several  pieces  of  old  coin,  and  an 
ancient  spur,  of  cast  copper,  which  had  been  gilt,  as  was 
visible  in  the  engraved  strokes  of  the  Mosaic :  instead  of 
a  rowel  it  has  a  pointed  knob,  and  is  from  this  form 
supposed  to  be  of  some  antiquity."*  As  Chamwood 
Forest  was  held  by  the  tenure  of  presenting  yearly  a  pair 
of  gilt  spurs  to  the  King,  it  is  not  improbable  that  this 
identical  spur  may  have  been  one  used  in  that  service. — 
(See  engraving,  p.  Gi.J — A  winding  staircase  was  a  few 
years  ago  discovered  in  the  Castle  Hill,  which  apparently 
had  served  as  a  secret  outlet.  The  steps,  though  hidden 
by  loose  stones,  Mr.  Jackson  informs  me,  still  remain. 

It  should  be  added,  that  the  Castle  and  vill  of  Mount- 
soiTel  were,  for  a  considerable  time,  enjoyed  by  the  Abbot 
and  !Monks  of  Garendon ;  obtained  for  them  from  Eanulph, 
Earl  of  Chestei-,  by  the  influence  of  Robert  Bossu.f 

The  annexed  is  an  engraving  of  an  ancient  cross, 
formerly  standing  in  Baron  Lane,  Mountsorrel,  but  now 
in  Swithland  Park. 


QUORNDON. 

(Qiierne,  Querndon,  Quernedon,  Quarendon,  Quin-yndon,  Querindon,  Querendou, 
Querondon,  Qiioniedon,  Qiiorn. 

The  name  of  this  very  interesting  and  somewhat  celebrated  village  would  seem  to  imply 
its  close  connexion  with  the  Forest.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  Querne  and  Cheme  were  con- 
vertible terms.  It  has  already  been  stated  that  Quorndon  is  a  hamlet  of  Barrow :  and  so 
much  of  its  historj'  is  involved  in  that  of  the  latter  place,  that  there  remains  little  to  be  here 
added. 

Though  this  village  is  not  mentioned  in  Domesday  Book,  it  must  have  been  built  within 
a  few  years  after  that  book  was  compiled,  as  it  possessed  a  Chapel  in  the  reign  of  King 
Stephen. I  Among  the  records  called  "  Pedes  Finium,"  in  the  Chapter  House,  Westminster 
(temp.  Henry  IH.),  are  some  deeds  relative  to  this  place.  In  that  reign,  Sir  Robert  de 
Farnham,  descended  from  Robert  de  Farnham  who  came  over  with  the  Conqueror,  and 
whose  name  appears  in  the  Roll  of  Battle  Abbey,  held  considerable  possessions  here,  which 
are  still  held  by  his  lineal  descendant,  Edward  Basil  Farnham,  Esq.  M.P. ;  Hugh  Cantator 
(called  also  Cantor  and  le  Chantour),  in  1235;  the  Segraves,  in  1325;  the  Despensers, 
in  1330;  and  subsequently  the  Beaumonts,  the  Erdingtons,  the  Bassets,  the  Farnhams; 
and  latterly  the  Meynells  held  possessions  here. 

•  Nichols'  Easl  Goscote,  p.  90.  f  See  Garendon  Chartuliiry.  j  Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  62. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  71 

The  Farnliams  alone  have  any  resident  representative.  The  ancient  seat  of  this  family 
stood  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards  from  the  late  Hall  (pulled  down  by  the  present  Mr.  Farn- 
ham's  father!,*  neai'  the  spot  where  the  entrance  lodge  of  the  present  mansion  is  now  placed. 
It  was  called  the  Upper  or  Over  Hall.  The  Nether  Hall,  now  called  Quorndon  Hall,  was, 
in  1.548,  the  seat  of  Thomas  Famham,  Esq.  About  1686,  it  was  purchased  by  George 
Morton,  Esq.  In  1741,  it  was  occupied  by  F^velyn  Chadwick,  Esq.,  grandfather  of  the  late 
Duchess  of  Newcastle — in  17.50,  by  Laurence  Earl  Ferrers,  and  soon  afterwards  by  .Justi- 
nian Rainsford,  Esq.  It  was  purchased  by  Hugo  Meynell,  Esq.,  in  1758,  since  which  pe- 
riod it  has  passed  with  the  mastership  of  the  celebrated  Hunt,  of  which  the  latter  gentleman 
was  the  founder,  to  nearly  all  the  succeeding  masters.f 

Two  ancient  houses,  one  now  occupied  by  Mr.  Sarson  and  the  other  by  Mr.  .Jackson, 
deserve  mention.  The  former  was  long  the  family  mansion  of  the  Chaveneys — the  latter, 
that  of  a  junior  branch  of  the  Famham  family.  There  are  several  other  residences  of  more 
than  ordinary  consequence.  Those  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Bumaby — of  the  Rev.  B.  C.  Raworth 
— of  Mrs.  Stone — of  Mr.  Flarris — the  one  lately  belonging  to  the  ancient  family  of  Hyde,  &c., 
are  equal  to  the  Halls  and  Manor  Houses  of  many  villages.  In  fact,  the  village  has  been 
in  recent,  as  from  its  proximity  to  the  Forest  it  probably  was  in  ancient  times,  the  hunting 
residence  of  many  of  the  aristocracy. 

The  Chapel,  which  is,  as  has  been  stated,  a  dependant  of  Barrow,  and  consequently  in 
the  gift  of  the  Vicar  of  the  latter  place,  is  a  very  ancient  fabric.  Its  exterior  has  lately  been 
greatly  improved,  by  pointing  the  granite,  of  which  it  is  built,  with  black  cement.  The 
effect  is  altogether  extremely  good.  The  mterior  has  also  been  repaired  and  altered,  under 
the  direction  of  the  same  able  architect.!  Till  these  alterations,  the  fine  old  fabric,  abound- 
ing in  some  of  the  most  remarkable  monuments  in  the  county  (those  of  the  Farnham 
family),  had  its  ancient  ceiling  hidden  by  the  plaster  stuccoing  of  a  ball-room,  and  incon- 
gruities of  every  kind  pervaded  the  whole  edifice. § 

There  is  a  piscina  in  the  wall  of  tlie  North  Willows,  or  Farnham  Chapel,  and  near  it  a 
singular  mutilated  statue  of  John  Farnham,  who,  having  early  in  life  greatly  signalized  him- 
self, in  arms,  was  rewarded  for  his  distinguished  services  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  with  gi-ants 
of  lands,  Hospitals,  Rectories,  &c.,  in  more  than  sixty  lordships. 

*  Nichols,  p.  100,  col.  1.,  last  paragraph. 

t  The  Meynells  derive  descent  from  the  Hugh  do  Grantemaisnell,  the  companion  of  the  Conqueror,  so  often  men- 
tioned in  these  pages.  Sir  Hugh  Mej-nell,  who  married  the  heiress  of  the  Lord  Robert  de  la  Ward,  changed  his  family 
arras  for  those  of  De  la  Ward — the  same  still  used  by  the  Me)'nells  of  Bradley  and  Meynell  Langley.  From  the 
times  of  Edward  I.  to  those  of  Henr)'  VI.  (and  frequently  since),  there  was  scarcely  a  Parliament  called  in  which 
one  of  this  ancient  family  did  not  sit  as  Member  for  Derbyshire.  Mr.  Hugo  MejTiell,  of  Hoar  Cross,  has  lately,  by 
Koyal  License,  taken  the  name  and  arms  of  Ingram,  in  addition  to  his  own. 

J  Mr.  Parsons,  of  Leicester ;  who,  with  a  fimd  of  £600.,  raised  chiefly  by  the  inhabitants,  has  thoroughly  restored  the 
Chapel,  and  greatly  increased  the  accommodation. 

^  It  does  not  come  under  my  plan  to  give  the  monumental  inscriptions  of  the  villages  noticed  :  but  I  cannot  help, 
in  some  degree,  regretting  the  necessity  of  this  omission.  The  inscriptions  at  Quom  and  Barrow  probably  contain  as 
fine  specimens  of  the  elegiac  poetry  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  as  could  be  found  in  any  village  Church  in 
the  kingdom.     One,  at  least,  is  the  production  of  Sir  John  Beaumont. 


72  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

A  Chantry  was  founded  in  Quorndon,  by  Sir  John  Hamelyn,  in  13-28  ;  and  another,  by 
John  de  Farnham,  in  1379.*  Nichols  thought  that  one  of  these  Chantries  stood  where  the 
Nether  Hall  now  stauds.t  The  words  "  Prior  of  Quorndon,"  occurring  in  an  inquisition  on 
the  death  of  William  de  Ros,  of  Hamelake,  in  ]  352,  would  lead  to  the  impression  that  one 
of  them  had  probably  been  a  small  Priory — unless,  as  was  supposed  by  Nichols  fVol.  III., 
p.  db),  this  refers  to  Alderman's  Haw.  The  Abbot  of  Leicester  also  had  a  tithe  bam  in 
Quorndon,  long  known  as  "  the  Abbot's  barn." 

The  ancient  Park  of  Quorndon,  which  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  was  identical  with 
that  of  Barrow,  appears  to  have  Ijeen  of  great  extent — reaching  from  Park  Ford  to  Wood- 
thorpe,  and  perhaps  including  much  of  the  south  and  south-western  side  of  the  lordship. 
Its  ancient  boundary  may  still  be  traced  in  several  places,  particularly  in  an  old  wall  lead- 
ing from  Park  Ford,  where  the  Park  joined  Rothley  Plain  through  Buddon  Wood.  The 
elegant  seat  of  Mr.  Farnham,  M.P.,  called  Quorndon  House,  erected  in  1820,  stands  in  or 
on  the  verge  of  the  ancient  Park;  and  probably  no  residence  in  the  county  commands,  at 
once,  such  a  charming  contrast  of  wild  and  cultivated  scenery.  Indeed,  the  walks  and  rides 
through  "  Farnamwode,"  Buddon  Wood,  the  Coppice,  and  the  modern  Park,  may,  with  great 
propriety,  be  designated  romantic.  -  A  scene  that  presented  itself  in  these  woods,  in  January 
of  the  present  year,  would  have  suited  Salvator  Rosa.  In  the  wildest  part,  surrounded  with 
granite  crags,  a  group  of  wood-markers  had  kindled  a  fire.  The  snow-covered  ground  con- 
trasting with  the  red  paint-tubs — the  blue  smoke,  and  ten  or  twelve  hardy -looking  woodmen, 
who  from  their  appearance  might  have  been  taken  for  banditti,  formed  altogether  a  picture 
of  rare  and  exquisite  effect. 

How  rich  these  woods  are  in  plants  of  more  than  common  interest  to  botanists,  the  article 
on  Botany  will  show. 

There  is  a  considerable  benefaction  to  this  place,  which  acquires  singularity  from  the 
circumstance  of  the  donor's  name  being  wholly  unknown.  The  Table  of  Benefactions  thus 
records  it : — "  Several  houses,  tenements,  and  buildings,  known  by  the  name  of  Town 
Houses,  situate  in  Quorndon,  together  with  several  pieces  or  parcels  of  ground,  estimated 
at  25  acres,  lying  in  the  Lordship,  were  given  in  trust,  for  charitable  uses,  to  the  township 
of  Quorndon — the  donor's  name  unknown.  The  said  houses  and  lands  were  conveyed  by 
Wilham  Herrick,  Esq.,  of  Beaumanor,  the  last  surviving  Trustee  (by  a  deed  bearing  date 
July  11th,  1760),  to  Hugo  Meynell,  Thomas  Babington,  Edward  Farnham,  and  John  Hyde, 
Esqrs. ;  Samuel  Stevens,  gent. ;  the  Rev.  Richard  Hurd,J  the  Rev.  George  Cardale,  D.D.,§ 
the  Rev.  William  Burrow,  the  Rev.  Moor  Scribo ;  Thomas  Squire,  John  Snappes,  Mr.  James 
and  Mr.  Samuel  Sculthorpe,  Mr.  Thomas  Chapman,  and  John  Bradshaw,  in  trust,  to  dispose 
of  the  rents  and  profits  of  the  said  estate  for  the  uses  they  had  formerly  been,  which  had 
from  immemorial  custom  been  as  follows : — To  pay  the  Curate  of  (Quorndon  for  the  time 
being,  £\-2.  per  oniuim.  The  residue  of  the  rents  and  profits  to  be  laid  out  in  the  repairs 
oi  bridges  and  other  charities,  at  the  discretion  of  the  Trustees." 

*  In  the  Favnham  Pedigree  (Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  IU3),  the  date  of  this  foundation  is  stated  to  be  1.393.     An  iuquisitio 

ad  Quod  damnum  (16  Ric.  H.)  gives  the  same  date. — Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  105. 

t  West  Goscotc,  p.  lUO.  %  Afterwards  Bishop  of  Worcester.  \  Then  Vicar  of  Rotliley. 


\^i 


m'  mi  :ii^^-  ' 


'4  ^    T^^'  :•! 


PAROCHIAL   HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  73 

BEAUMANOR. 

fBcinniKuiiioiir,  BcuuKiiior,  Jiodic  Beau  MniiorJ 

Saltus  de  Cliarnwoud  sivc  Charley  longe  expanditur,  in  quo  Beaumanor  vivarium  cemitur,  quod  Domini  de  BcUomonte, 

ut  accepi,  lapideo  muro  circumsepserunt. — Camden. 

Riding  a  little  farther  1  left  tlie  Parke  of  Bewmanor  closid  -ivith  a  stone  walle  and  a  pratie  logge  j-n  it,  longging  alate 

to  Beaumont.— ie/anrf,  about  1536. 

The  assertion  of  Miss  ]\Iitford  already  quoted,  that  "every  name  is  a  history,"  has  a 
peculiar  propriety  when  applied  to  Beaumanor.  Those  who  never  saw  the  spot,  could 
scarcely  fail  to  infer  that  such  a  name  could  only  belong  to  a  place  rich  either  in  natural  or 
artificial  beauty. — It  is  so.  It  is  rich,  too,  in  associations  with  the  memories  of  its  occu- 
pants ;  many  of  whom  make  no  inconsiderable  figure  in  the  annals  of  our  country. 

So  early  as  the  time  of  the  Norman  Conqueror,  this  manor,  for  it  had  not  then  acquired 
its  coiTectly  descriptive  prefix,  was  the  property  of  Hugh  Lupus.  It  was  at  that  period  ac- 
counted a  member  of  the  manor  of  Loughborough,  but  subsequently  has  been  considered  to 
be  locally  situated  in  the  parish  of  BaiTow,*  though  it  has  from  time  immemorial  been 
extra-parochial. 

It  passed  from  the  Earls  of  Chester  to  the  Despensers,  and  in  1239  was  the  inheritance 
of  Hugh  le  Despenser,  under  whom  it  was  held  by  John  le  Despenser  on  the  tenure  of 
finding  yearly  a  pair  of  gilt  spurs,  of  6d.  or  7d.  value,  in  lieu  of  all  other  service.f  This 
Hugh,  by  his  partisanship  with  Simon  de  !Montford,  became  involved  in  all  the  consequences 
of  that  rebellion,  and  lost  his  life  at  the  battle  of  Evesham,  in  1-265.  His  lands  were  shortly 
after  confiscated,  but  the  manor  of  Loughborough  generously  conferred,  as  part  of  her 
maintenance,  on  his  widow  Aliva,  daughter  of  Philip  Basset,  of  Wycombe — the  Grant  says, 
"  out  of  the  love  the  King  bare  her  father."  This  is  gleaned  from  an  inquisition  taken  not 
long  after  the  battle,  in  which  the  names  of  all  De  Montford's  adherents  in  this  county,  and 
the  value  of  their  lands,  then  seized  by  the  King,  are  carefully  specified.  It  appears,  too, 
from  the  list,  that  "  a  certain  manor  called  Beicmanor,^''  being  in  the  tenure  of  John  le  De- 
spenser (taken  prisoner  at  Kenilworth  in  the  same  rebellion),  was  not  restored  to  Aliva. 
Her  son  Hugh,  however,  was  restored  to  his  father's  estates:  and  in  13-21,  the  Eai'ldom  of 
Winchester,  which  had  become  extinct  on  the  death  of  Roger  de  Quincy,  was  revived  and 
conferred  upon  him.  By  his  marriage  with  Aliauore,  daughter  of  Gilbert  de  Clare,  Earl  of 
Gloucester,  he  was  also  advanced  to  that  Earldom,  and  had  a  son,  also  named  Hugh. 

Tlie  fate  of  these  two  last-named  Hughs  is  a  subject  of  too  great  historical  notoriety  to 
require  any  lengthened  detail.  It  may  suffice  to  remind  the  reader  that  they  were  the  two 
favourites  of  Edward  the  Second,  who  fell  under  the  displeasure  of  his  abandoned  mother 

*  So  says  an  extract  from  Charyte's  Rentale  of  Leicester  Abbey,  given  in  Nichols  (Vol.  III., p.  136J.     But  in 
another  extract  fib.  p.  61  J,  only  half  of  Beaumanor  Park  is  claimed  to  be  in  Barrow — "  Usque  ad  Alliskar,  and  sic 
usque  ad  angulum  parci  de  Beimnaner,  comprehendendo  medium  parol  de  Bewmaner." 
t  Dugdale  Bar.  Angl.  Vol.  II.,  p.  52. 


74  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

and  the  Barons,  who  were  envious  of  the  Court  favours  so  profusely  lavished  on  them,  and 
probably  greatly  annoyed  by  the  insolence  of  the  younger  Despenser.  Hugh,  the  elder, 
who  is  represented  by  most  historians  as  a  man  of  distinguished  talents  and  amiable  cha- 
racter, was  hanged  at  Bristol,  in  13-2o,  and  his  light-miuded  and  arrogant  son  in  the  year 
following,  at  Hereford.* 

By  their  attainder  their  estates  fell  to  the  Crown,  and  were  speedily  conferred  on  the 
great  founder  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  families  that  have  ever  figured  in  the  county — 
Henry  de  Beaumont. 

The  origin  of  this  distinguished  nobleman  has  often  been  a  subject  of  dispute  amongst 
genealogists  and  historians. 

It  would  be  tedious,  and  perhaps  presumptuous,  to  attempt  to  decide  a  point  on  which 
Burton  and  several  other  writers  have  felt  considerable  difficulties.  A  careful  examination 
of  the  pedigrees  and  evidences  adduced  before  the  House  of  Lords,  on  die  several  occasions 
when  the  succession  to  this  ancient  barony  has  been  disputed,  leads  me  to  the  belief  that 
Henry  de  Beaumont  was  descended  from  Lewis,  gTandson  of  Lewis  IX.,  of  France,  and  that 
he  was  nearly  related  to  Eleanor  of  Castile,  the  faithful  and  heroic  wife  of  our  first  Edward. 

It  was  probably  the  proximity  of  Beaumanor  to  Whitwick  and  Charley,  that  led  to  his 
matrimonial  alliance  with  Alice,  the  heiress  of  Alexander  Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan  :  an  alli- 
ance which  induced  the  Lord  Beaumont,  for  he  was  then  ennobled,  and  in  right  of  his  wife 
Earl  of  Buchan,t  to  take  so  active  a  part  in  the  Scottish  invasion.  He  was  present  at  the 
fatal  battle  of  Barmockbum. 

The  first  mansion  at  Beaumanor  was  erected  by  this  Lord  Beaumont,  about  1330;  he 
also  inclosed  the  spacious  ancient  Park,  which  some  writers  have  eiToneously  stated  to  be 
twenty  miles  in  circumference — evidently  mistaking  the  Park  boundaries  for  those  of  the 
neighbouring  Forest.  He  died  in  1340,  and  it  was  found  that  he  was  at  that  time  seised 
(conjointly  with  his  wife)  of  the  manor  of  ^\niitv\ick,  cum  memhris,  viz. :  Shepesheved, 
Markfield,  Whittington,  Roteby,  Newton,  and  Bochaston,  held  of  the  King  in  capite  by 
Knight's  service — as  also  of  the  manor  of  Loughborough,  cum  memhris,  viz. :  Beaumanor, 
Burton,  Hucklescote,  Arnesby,  Barrow,  Cossington,  Querndon,  Mountsonell,  Wodethorpe, 
and  Kintesthorpe,  all  in  the  county ;  with  the  Knight's  fees  and  advowsons  of  Abbeys,  Pri- 
ories, Churches,  Chapels,  and  Religious  Houses  there.  His  son  and  heir,  John,  was  then 
aged  twenty-two. 

John,  second  Lord  Beaumont,  never  used  the  title  of  Earl  of  Buchan.  He  married 
Alianore  de  Lancaster,  fifth  daughter  to  Henry,  Earl  of  Lancaster.  In  1338,  during  his 
father's  life,  while  Baron  Beaumont,  he  was  employed  in  a  public  expedition  to  Flan- 
ders ;  and  two  years  afterwards,  while  the  Lady  Alianore  was  attendant  on  (Jueen  Philippa, 

»  Nichols  says,  "  In  1330  John  de  Lisle  died  seised  of  this  manor,  which  he  held  under  Hugh  le  Despencer  the 
younger." — This  must  be  an  error ;  Hugh  was  executed  four  years  before.  Probably  it  means,  which  he  hud  held 
under  Hugh  le  Despenser. 

t  He  was  summoned  to  Parliament  during  twenty  successive  years  of  the  reign  of  Edward  II. ;  the  Writ  being 
addressed  "Henrico  de  Bellamonte" — and  to  several  Parliaments  of  Edward  III.,  -nith  the  addition  of  "Comitide 
Bughan,"  or  Buchan. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  75 

then  resident  in  Brabant,  his  son  Henry  was  bom;  and  Lord  Beaumont,  who  was  not  sum- 
moned to  Parliament  before  15  Edward  III.  (1:34-2),*  died  the  same  year,  having  first  ob- 
tained the  King's  special  letters  patent  that  his  son  should  be  reputed  lawful  heir,  and 
inherit  his  lands  in  England,  as  if  he  had  been  bom  there. 

Henry,  the  third  Baron  Beaumont,  was  only  two  years  old  on  the  death  of  his  father. 
His  legitimacy  was  ratified  by  Parliament  in  1351.  He  married  Margaret,  daughter  of 
John  de  Vere,  Earl  of  Oxford,  and  died  in  1370,  leaving  a  son  John,  the  fourth  Baron,  then 
in  his  ninth  year. 

This  Lord  was  of  a  truly  chivalric  character.  He  accompanied  John  of  Gaunt  (then 
called  King  of  Castile  and  Leon)  into  Spain,  but  was  for  a  time  expelled  from  the  Court  by 
the  machinations  of  some  persons  who  were  jealous  of  his  influence.  Those  discontents 
somewhat  abating,  he  obtained  license  to  pass  to  Calais,  to  answer  a  challenge  of  four 
French  Knights,  to  as  many  English  ones,  to  just  with  them  at  tilt  and  toumey.  Knighton 
says,  "  he  broke  a  lance  with  the  Lord  Chamberlain  of  France,  and  comported  himself  alto- 
gether as  a  brave,  true  Knight."  Being  made  Admiral  of  the  Northern  Fleet,  and  also 
Warden  of  the  Marches  towards  Scotland,  he  penetrated  forty  miles  into  that  country, 
attacked  the  town  of  Fowyke,  and  brought  home  many  prisoners. 

In  the  same  year,  and  probably  in  compliment  to  his  successful  foray  into  Scotland,  he 
had  the  honour  to  receive  Richard  II.  and  his  Queen  at  Beaumanor,  on  their  progress  to 
York ;  and  again,  in  1390,  on  their  road  from  Leicester  to  Nottingham.  There  is  a  tradition 
that  in  both  their  visits,  one  of  which  was  of  nine  days'  duration,  the  King  shared  in  the 
pleasures  of  the  chase  on  Charnwood.  This  Lord  was  honoured  with  the  Garter,  and,  dying 
in  1397,  left  three  sons : — Henry,  who  succeeded  him,  then  aged  sixteen — Thomas,  from 
whom  descended  the  Cole-Orton  branch — and  Richard.t 

Henry,  the  fourth  Baron  Beaumont,  received  the  honour  of  Knighthood  at  the  Corona- 
tion of  Henry  IV.  He  was  then  only  nineteen.  He  was  summoned  as  a  Baron  to  several 
Parliaments,  and  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-two ;  leaving,  by  his  wife  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
William  Lord  Willoughby  D'Eresby,  an  only  son  John,  aged  three  years — for  whom,  as 
there  was  no  provision  made  for  him.  Lady  Beaumont  obtained  from  the  King  an  assignment 
of  a£40.  a  year  till  he  arrived  at  majority. 

John,  the  fifth  Baron,  was  addressed,  in  the  writs  of  summons  to  Parliament,  "  JoJianiii 
Beumo)id  CIirr."X  He  was  created  Earl  of  Boulogne,  by  Letters  Patent,  dated  Canterbury, 
•27th  July,  1436,  being  at  that  time  on  his  joumey  to  the  relief  of  Calais :  having  been  re- 
tained by  indenture  to  serve  the  King,  with  twenty  men  at  aims  and  eighty-eight  archers. 

In  1440,  in  consideration  of  his  merits,  and  the  special  services  of  his  ancestors,  he  was 
advanced  to  the  dignity  of  Viscount  (being  the  first  person  who  bore  that  title  in  England), 
with  precedency  above  all  Barons  of  the  realm.  He  had  the  misfortune,  in  1441,  to  lose 
his  Lady,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William  Phelip,  Lord  Bardolph  ;  and,  "  by  reason  of  his 
continued  services,"  he  obtained  a  grant  of  the  custody  of  all  the  castles,  manors,  and  lands, 

*  Nichols  miscalculates  this  as  1345  (page  13S),  though  he  correctly  dates  his  death  1342,  in  the  Beaumont 

Pedigree  (page  66). 
t  Dugdale's  Baronage.  J  Chl'r. — a  contraction  for  Chevalier. 


76  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

which,  by  the  death  of  his  wife,  came  to  Henry,  his  son  :  and  in  case  of  his  death,  to  Wil- 
liam, his  younger  son,  with  remainder  to  Joan,  his  daugliter,  who  married  John  Lord  Lord 
Lovel.  John  Viscount  Beaumont,  however,  formed  a  second  alliance  with  Catharine,  widow 
of  John  ^Mowbray,  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  afterwards  wife  of  Sir  John  Widvile,  Knt.,  whose 
sister  Elizabeth  manied  Sir  John  Grey,  of  Groby,  afterwards  Lord  Fen-ars,  of  Groby.  The 
Duchess  had  Beaumanor  as  part  of  her  dowry. — He  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  Northamp- 
ton, 1459. 

Henry,  the  elder  son,  dying  unmarried  before  his  father,  William,  the  younger,  succeeded 
to  the  family  honours  and  estates,  both  paternal  and  maternal,  and  thus  became  Viscount 
Beaumont  and  Baron  Bardolph. 

Adhering  with  great  zeal  and  fidehty  to  the  House  of  Lancaster,  he  was  taken  prisoner 
in  the  memorable  battle  of  Towton  Field  (Palm  Sunday,  March  -29,  1461),  and  was  after- 
wards attainted  in  Parliament,  and  sentenced  to  forfeit  all  his  titles  and  estates.  He  was  at 
that  time  seised  of  the  manors  of  Loughborough,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch,  Whitwick,  Sheepshed, 
Donington,  Markfield,  Katby,  Beaumanor,  &c.,  &c. 

The  demesnes  of  Beaumanor,  Whitwick,  Bochaston,  Newtown,  Markfield,  and  Arnesby, 
were  held,  for  the  term  of  her  life,  by  the  Duchess,  his  mother-in-law :  and  the  reversion  of 
these  was  conferred  by  Edward  IV.  (February  18,  1462),  on  Sir  William  Hastings,  Knight, 
and  his  heirs. 

The  injustice  of  this  attainder  has  been  strongly  commented  upon.  Le  Neve  says, 
"  attainted,  not  for  disloyalty,  but  that  he  endeavoured  to  maintain  the  crown  on  the  head 
of  Henry  \l.,  who  had  enjoyed  the  same  for  forty  years,  and  so  had  both  his  father  and 
o-randfather,  without  contempt  or  impeachment.  And  this  attainder  ought  not  to  have  been 
left  indefinite,  because  it  is,  without  expression  of  the  cause,  to  be  taken  for  disloyalty,  none 
of  which  lineage  were  ever  stained  or  tainted  therewith,  and  it  is  a  foul  blot  in  the  author 
to  impose  such  a  stain  or  blemish  on  him." 

The  cruelty  and  injustice  of  this  attainder  have  also  been  feelingly  pleaded,  and  forcibly 
shown  in  the  several  petitions  of  Viscount  Beaumont  and  his  descendants,  for  its  reversal 
and  their  restoration  to  their  dignities — especially  in  that  of  Viscount  Beaumont :  in  which 
he  states  that  he  had  been  "  attainted  for  the  true  and  faithful  allegiance  and  service  which 
he  owed  unto  the  most  blessed  Christian  Prince,  King  Henrie  VL,  the  uncle  of  King 
Henrie  VII." 

I  quote  the  words  of  the  petition  which  he  presented  to  Henry  VII.  soon  after  the  battle 
of  Bosworth  Field ;  on  which,  after  twenty-five  years'  injustice,  he  obtained  a  reversal  of 
the  attainder,  as  "  grounded  upon  no  good  foundation  or  cause  warrantable" — and  a  resto- 
ration of  all  his  lands  and  manors  in  fee.  He  was  also  summoned  to  Parliament  in  a  writ 
addressed  "  Wilhelmo  Vicecomiti  Beamond." 

Two  years,  however,  had  scarcely  elapsed,  when,  on  the  plea  that  Viscount  Beaumont 
was  "not  of  sadness  ne  discrecion  neither  to  rule  and  kepe  himself  nor  his  said  lyvelode"— 
in  other  \\ords,  that  he  alienated  and  wasted  his  estates— a  Bill  was  passed,  appointing  "  the 
King  or  his  deputies  to  have  the  rule  of  the  said  lyvelode." 

"  This  measure,"  says  Nichols,  "  was  confirmed  in  1496,  and  all  such  grants  as  llic  Kiiuj 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  77 

had  iiKidc  out  of  tlic  exfales  were  efstahlishedr  Lord  Beaumont  died  s.  i'.,  December  •!(), 
1508,*  and  his  nephew,  Francis  Lord  Lovel,t  son  of  his  sister  Joan,  having  been  attainted, 
and  having  pre-deceased  his  uncle,  being  killed  at  the  battle  of  Stoke,  in  1487 — his  two 
sisters  being  also  dead,  the  title  of  Viscount  Beaumont  became  extinct — having  been  limited 
to  John,  the  first  Viscount,  and  the  heirs  male  of  his  body — but  the  barony  of  Beaumont, 
being  a  barony  in  fee,  descended  upon  Sir  Brian  Stapleton,  Knt.,  and  Sir  John  Norres,  the 
sons  of  the  Viscount's  two  sisters,  Joan  and  Frideswide,  as  co-parceners  in  abeyance." 
Sir  John  Norres,  the  elder  son  of  Frideswide,  died  in  6th  of  Elizabeth,  without  issue ;  and 
Henry,  his  younger  brother,  was  attainted  iSth  of  Henry  VHL,  and  cruelly  executed,  for 
having  shown  some  little  act  of  gallantry  to  Queen  Ann  Boleyn. 

With  a  view  of  keeping  the  narrative  continuous,  I  must  here  state,  that  in  1790,  the 
representative  of  the  Stapleton  branch,  Thomas  Stapleton,  Esq.,  of  Carlton,  Yorkshire,  pre- 
ferred a  petition  to  his  Majesty,  stating  his  claim  to  the  Barony  of  Beaumont.  On  its  being 
referred  to  the  House  of  Peers,  the  Earl  of  Abingdon  (whose  second  title  is  Baron  Norreys, 
of  Ricote)  put  in  a  counter  claim,  as  heir  general  to  Henry  Lord  NoiTes,  the  descendant  of 
Henry  Norres,  who  was  restored  in  blood  in  the  18th  of  Elizabeth. 

On  a  motion  in  the  House,  May  18th,  1790,  the  consideration  of  Mr.  Stapleton's  claim 
was  adjourned  for  three  months.  It  was  again  brought  under  the  notice  of  the  Committee 
of  Privileges,  in  the  House  of  Peers,  in  1798,  on  which  occasion  the  Lord  Chancellor  pro- 
nonuced  a  very  elaborate  judgment  on  the  case ;  concluding  it  with  moving  three  Resolu- 
tions, which  were  unanimously  confirmed  by  the  Committee. 

1.  "  That  the  Barony  of  Beaumont  vested  in  William  Viscount  Beaumont." 

2.  "  That  the  Barony  remained  in  abeyance  between  the  co-heirs  of  the  said  Viscount." 

3.  "That  the  petitioner,  Mr.  Stapleton,  had  proved  himself  to  be  one  of  the  co-heirs." 

Notwithstanding  these  steps,  it  was  only  in  the  year  1841  that  this  long  and  unjustly 
neglected  claim  was  fully  recognized  in  the  person  of  the  son  of  the  last  petitioner,  who  was 
summoned  to  Parliament  by  the  title  of  Baron  Beaumont. 

I  return  to  the  year  1461,  when,  as  has  been  stated,  another  distinguished  personage — 
Sir  William  Hastings — obtained  the  reversion  of  Beaumanor. 

To  recite  the  numerous  grants  made  to  this  once  fortunate,  but  at  length  cruelly  used 
favourite,  would  take  up  more  space  than  is  compatible  with  my  plan.  It  must  suffice  to 
say,  that  in  addition  to  the  numerous  and  almost  imprecedented  royal  favours  he  received, 
the  principal  nobility  seem  to  have  vied  with  each  other,  and  witli  the  Sovereign,  in  the 
extent  of  the  grants  and  privileges  they  conferred  upon  him.  That  Lord  Hastings  (for  he 
was  now  ennobled)  was  a  very  extraordinary,  accomplished,  and  pleasing  man,  is  shown 

•  Elizabetli,  his  widow,  was  re-married,  in  the  following  year,  to  John  de  Vere,  Earl  of  Oxford. 
f  It  was  of  this  Lord  Lovel,  Catesby,  and  Ratcliff,  that  the  well-known  distich  was  written  : — 
"  The  Cat,  the  Rat,  and  Level  the  dog, 
Rule  all  England  under  a  hog !" 


78  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD 

by  these  remarkable  favours  of  the  Prince  and  the  nobles.  Sir  Thomas  Mora's*  character 
of  him  can  hardly  be  suspected  to  be  overdrawn : — "  He  was  an  honourable  man,  a  good 
Knight,  and  a  gentle  ;  of  great  authority  with  his  Prince  ;  of  living  somewhat  dissolute  ;t 
plain  and  open  to  his  enemy,  and  secret  to  his  friend ;  easj'  to  be  guided,  as  he  that  (of 
good  heart  and  courage)  forestudied  no  peril ;  a  loving  man,  and  passing  well  beloved ;  very 
faithful  and  trusty,  and  trusting  too  much." 

Probably  no  subject  had  at  any  time  more  extensive  power  and  influence,  or  used  it 
with  more  moderation,  than  Lord  Hastings,  At  a  time  when  two  Barons,  nine  Knights, 
and  nearly  a  hundred  Esquires  and  gentlemenj  bound  themselves  by  indenture  to  be  his 
faithful  retainers,  he  is  represented  as  "  void  of  pride,  easy  to  be  entreated,  and  of  ready 
access." 

It  must  have  been  a  spectacle  of  uncommon  interest,  to  see  this  distinguished  Baron  and 
his  train  leaving  the  noble  Castle  of  Ashby,  of  which  he  was  the  founder,  for  a  day's  hunting 
in  Charnwood  or  Leicester  Forest,  of  which  he  was  Chief  Forester.  No  man,  however, 
more  fully  proved  what  a  broken  reed  is  "  confidence  in  Princes."  He  had,  in  Edward  the 
Fourth's  time,  incurred  the  disfavour  of  the  Queen,  who,  Dugdale  says,  "  owed  him  a  grudge 
in  regard  she  saw  he  was  so  powerful  with  the  King" — and  the  Protector  (afterwards 
Richard  IH.)  soon  resolved  to  be  rid  of  so  potent  and  popular  a  Baron.  On  Richard's  mere 
allegation,  and  in  the  most  summary  way,  perhaps,  that  ever  even  a  person  proved  guilty 
was  treated,  was  this  injured  nobleman  dragged  out  from  a  meeting  of  the  Lords'  Privy 
Council,  sent  to  the  Tower,  and  within  two  hours  consigned  to  the  axe !  June  13th,  1483.§ 

Well  does  Shakspeare  make  Lord  Hastings  exclaim — 

"  O  momentary  grace  of  mortal  men, 
Which  we  more  hunt  for  than  the  grace  of  God ! 
Who  builds  his  hope  in  air  of  your  fair  looks : 
Lives  like  a  dnmken  sailor  on  a  mast, 
Ready  with  every  nod  to  tumble  down 
Into  the  fatal  bowels  of  the  deep  1" 

The  murdered  Lord  was  buried  in  St.  George's  Chapel,  Windsor ;  a  stately  tomb,  and 
rich  screen,  still  known  as  the  Hastings  Chapel,  mark  the  spot.  By  his  will  he  directed 
that  his  Executors,  immediately  on  the  news  of  his  death,  should  procure  a  thousand 
Priests,  to  say  a  thousand  Placebos  and  Diriges,  and  a  thousand  masses  for  his  soul — every 
Priest  to  have  sixpence. 

*  Sir  Thomas  More's  History  of  Richard  III.  f  An  allusion,  no  doubt,  to  Jane  Shore. 

+  Their  names  are  given  in  Dugdale's  Baronage,  Vol.  I.,  p.  583. 
6  Shortly  after  midnight  preceding  that  fatal  day,  the  Lord  Stanley  sent  a  trusty  messenger  to  Lord  Hastings' 
house,  to  advertise  him  of  a  dream  he  had  that  very  night ;  viz.,  that  a  Boar  (Richard's  cognizance)  with  his  tusks 
so  razed  both  their  heads  that  the  blood  ran  about  their  shoulders— which  made  so  great  an  impression  upon  liimsclf, 
that  he  caused  his  horse  to  be  made  ready,  resolved  to  have  gone  away  Uiat  night  if  Hastings  would  have  gone  with 
him.  But  tliis  the  Lord  Hastings  slighted  as  a  vain  conceit,  though  the  next  day  it  was  woefully  fulfilled  upon  himself 
and  likewise  on  Lord  Stanley,  though  not  so  severely ;  for  when  the  soldiers  rushed  in,  and  took  away  Hastings,  they 
smote  Stanley  on  the  head,  so  that  the  blood  ran  about  his  ears ;  and,  had  he  not  stooped  under  the  table,  might  have 
beaten  out  his  htams.— Dugdale's  Baronage,  Vol.  I.,  p.  584. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  79 

It  is  not,  it  must  be  confessed,  quite  apparent  that  Lord  Hastings  was  ever  in  actual 
possession  of  Loughborough  and  Beaumanor;  for,  in  1527,  when  the  reversion  of  these 
manors  with  Sheepshed  was  gianted  in  exchange  for  Grafton  and  Hartwell,  Northampton- 
shire, they  were  still  held  by  the  Countess  of  Oxford,  widow  of  William  Lord  Beaumont. 

The  Marquis  of  Dorset,  dying  in  1530,  his  second  son,  Lord  Leonard  Grey  (in  conse- 
quence of  a  remainder  in  one  of  the  leases  from  the  Crown),  became  the  next  possessor  of 
Beaumanor,  where  his  court  rolls  are  stUl  preserved. 

In  1537,  Margaret,  widow  of  the  first  Marquis  of  Dorset,  obtained,  by  the  King's  Letters 
Patent,  the  manors  of  Loughborough,  Sheepshed,  &c.,  and  from  that  time  the  manors  of 
Beaumanor  and  Loughborough  have  been  entirely  distinct.* 

Lord  Leonard  Grey  was  attainted  in  1540,  and  his  brother,  the  Marquis,  who  (with  his 
wife  Catharine,  daughter  of  William  Fitz  Alan,  Earl  of  Arundel)  had  previously  obtained 
from  the  Crown  a  reversionary  lease  of  Beaumanor,  procured  a  lease  of  twenty-one  years 
both  of  Beaumanor  and  its  members,  viz. :  Woodhouse,  Woodthorpe,  Quorndon,  BaiTovv, 
and  Mountsorrel,  in  exchange  for  Marston,  Sussex,  and  the  moiety  of  a  manor  in  Bedford- 
shire. In  1554,  he  obtained  a  new  grant  of  Beaumanor,  and  had  a  survey  taken  of  the 
manor — still  preserved.  As  the  account  of  this  noble  family  will  be  given  under  Bradgate 
and  Groby,  it  will  suffice  in  this  place  to  say,  that  the  Marquis  of  Dorset,  having  no  issue 
by  his  first  wife,  mamed  secondly,  Frances,  eldest  daughter  of  Charles  Brandon,  the  gay 
Duke  of  Suffolk ;  and  that  Duke,  dying  without  any  male  issue  surviving,  the  Marquis  was, 
out  of  compliment  to  his  Lady,  created  Duke  of  Suffolk.  From  this  marriage  sprang  Lady 
Jane,  Lady  Catharine,  and  Lady  Mary  Grey. 

The  Duchess,  after  the  death  of  her  husband  (beheaded  Feb.  23,  1553-4,  for  his  share 
in  raising  his  daughter,  Lady  Jane,  to  the  throne),  underwent  almost  incredible  hardships, 
but  afterwards  enjoyed  much  tranquillity  and  domestic  happiness,  at  Beaumanor,  in  a  second 
matrimonial  connexion  with  Mr.  Adrian  Stocks,  who  had  been  her  Master  of  the  Horse. 
This  alliance,  though  censured  by  some  as  beneath  her  dignity,  has  been  praised  by  others 
for  its  policy,  as  providing  for  her  own  security :  which,  from  her  near  relationship  to  the 
Crown,  might,  in  case  of  an  equal  match,  have  been  disturbed. 

The  Duchess  died  in  1559 :  in  three  years  after  which,  Mr.  Stocks  obtained,  by  Letters 
Patent,  from  Elizabeth,  a  new  lease  of  twenty-one  years  of  her  Higness's  manor  of  Beau- 
manor, with  all  rights,  members,  and  appurtenances,  then  extending  to  the  towns  or  hamlets 
of  Barrow,  Woodhouse,  Quorndon,  Woodthorpe,  and  Mountsorrel. 

Mr.  Stocks  had  a  daughter,  who  died  an  infant,  by  the  Duchess :  and  about  1571,  when 
he  was  returned  as  one  of  the  Members  of  the  county,  he  took,  for  his  second  wife.  Dame 
Anne,  widow  of  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton,  Knt. 

Mr.  Stocks  died  in  1586,  leaving  his  brother  William,  then  aged  sixty,  his  heir. 

In  159-2,  Queen  Elizabeth,  at  tlie  humble  petition  of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  granted  a  lease 
of  the  manor  of  Beaumanor,  in  trust  for  the  said  Earl,  to  Gelly  ^Meyrick  and  Henry  Liudley, 
by  whom  it  was  soon  after  transferred  to  William  Heyricke,  Esq.,  of  London,  at  an  annual 
rent  of  £70. 

•  Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  143. 


80  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

In  1595,  having  purchased  Lord  Essex's  interest  in  Beaumanor,  with  all  the  different 
outstanding  leases,  together  with  the  great  and  small  tithes  in  Mountsorrel  and  (iuorndon, 
Mr.  Heyricke  took  up  his  residence  here,  and  held  a  Court.  Since  that  period  Beaumanor 
has  continued  uninterruptedly  in  possession  of  his  descendants. 

Some  account  of  a  family  that,  long  prior  to  their  connexion  with  Beaumanor,  had  been 
advantageously  connected  with  the  county,  shall  here  be  given.  It  is  taken  chiefly  from  the 
copious  stores  which  Mr.  Nichols'  industry  has  gathered ;  and  here  it  may  be  right  to  state, 
that  as  that  gentleman's  works  are  almost  inaccessible  to  the  majority  of  my  readers — not 
two  hundred  copies  being  in  existence — I  conceive  I  am  better  consulting  the  value  of  my 
History,  by  incorporating  with  it  whatever  I  find  valuable,  than  by  fastidiously  rejecting  all 
matter  that  is  not  original. 

Mr.  Nichols'  own  example  furnishes  ample  precedent.  He  incorporated  ichole  hooks 
in  his  own,  not,  however,  forgetting  the  ■suuiit  cuiqiie. 

The  Herrick  family  are  supposed  to  derive  descent  from  Eric  the  Forester,  and  therefore 
from  the  ancient  Kings  of  Sweden.  I  found,  on  the  Forest,  a  very  prevailing  tradition,  that 
this  Eric  assembled  a  large  army  at  the  Copt  Oak,  on  Charnwood,  in  order  to  resist  the 
Norman  invader.  The  mode  of  assembling,  as  the  tradition  was  related  to  me  by  an  old 
forester,  seems  to  have  somewhat  resembled  that  of  the  "  gathering"  of  the  Scottish  Clans, 
so  vividly  depicted  in  "  the  Lady  of  the  Lake."  That  this  Eric  did  bravely  resist  William  I., 
and  afterwards,  on  being  vanquished,  become  one  of  his  Generals,  rests  on  better  evidence 
than  tradition. 

The  family  was  seated  in  Leicestershire  at  a  very  early  period.  Eric,  Ericke,  Eyricke, 
Eyrie,  Heyricke,  Ilericke,  Hearicke,  Heyrick,  and  Herrick,  are  all  modes  which  members 
of  the  family  have  at  different  times  adopted.  These  changes  can  only  be  accounted  for  from 
the  arbitrary  and  variable  modes  that  formerly  prevailed.  The  Leicester  branch  adhere 
to  "  Heyrick,"  while  the  possessors  of  Beaumanor  have,  for  two  or  three  generations,  written 
"  Herrick." 

William  Heyricke,  the  purchaser  of  Beaumanor,  was  the  fifth  son  of  John  and  Mary 
Heyrick,  of  Leicester,  at  which  place  he  was  born,  in  1557.  He  went,  in  his  seventeenth 
year,  to  reside  with  his  brother  Nicholas,  in  London,  and  seems  very  shortly  to  have  become 
a  favourite  at  Court.  He  is  described  by  our  County  Historian  as  "  a  man  of  great  abilities 
and  address ;  remarkably  handsome  in  person,  and  high  in  the  confidence  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, as  well  as  of  James :  and  by  honourable  services  to  both,  acquired  large  property." 
His  being  sent  by  Elizabeth  on  an  embassy  to  the  Porte,  and  his  being  rewarded  with  a 
Tellership  of  the  Exchequer  and  several  other  places  of  trust,  at  once  speak  for  his  talents 
and  integrity.  He  was  knighted  by  Queen  Elizabeth  previously  to  his  departure  for  Con- 
stantinople, and  married,  in  1596,  Joan,*  daughter  of  Kichard  May,  Esq.,  of  Mayfield  Place, 
Essex.  The  character  of  this  exemplary  lady,  and  admirable  wife,  will  be  better  portrayed 
to  the  reader's  imagination  by  the  following  beautiful  and  affectionate  letter  to  her  husband, 
than  by  any  eulogy  of  mine. 

•  This  lady  was  sister  to  Sir  Humphrey  May,  and  to  the  lady  of  Sir  Baptist  Hicks,  afterwards  Lord  Campdeu — 
ancestor  of  the  Earl  of  Gainsborough. 


\^^'i^J 


PAUOCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  81 

"  Sweet  hart,  1  could  not  let  so  fet  a  messenjar  pas  me  as  hee  did  you.  I  houp  you 
remember  Mr.  Votier's  Godli  Use  of  Prayer  everi  morning  and  evining,  with  all  your  com- 
pani.  As  you  love  God  leave  it  not  undone ;  it  shall  bring  a  blessing  on  you  and  yours. 
God  linows  how  short  our  time  shall  be  on  earth,  as  wee  see  daly  feareful  exsamples  to  put 
us  in  mind  of  our  last  end.  Mr.  Wadup  the  goldsmith  went  to  Brestol  well,  and  Ijrought 
hom  a  ded  corpse ;  and  one  of  our  nebars  at  Kichmond  went  out  to  milke  her  kine,  as  well 
as  ever  she  was  in  her  life,  and  nielke  two  kine,  and  sodenly  fell  downe  ded  and  never  spacke 
more.  O  God,  grant  we  may  ever  be  preparid,  as  living  this  houre,  and  dying  the  next ! 
Sweet  hart,  a  littel  afore  you  went  your  joumi,  I  tould  you  that  I  must  nedse  take  one  into 
the  hous  to  bring  up  the  gerls,  which  you  wilenly  consented  to  that  1  should  have  one  at 
Michelmas ;  but  so  it  is  hapened,  that  she  that  was  with  my  sister  Hickes*  to  bring  up 
Bes  Nowel  is  com  from  my  sister,  and  will  not  stay,  because  Bes  Nowel  is  so  headstrong 
that  she  cannot  rule  her.  My  sister  Hickes  sent  me  word  of  hur  by  Sir  George  Write,  how 
fet  a  woman  she  was  for  me  to  breed  up  my  gerls ;  and  I  knowing  it  of  my  own  knoledge 
to  be  so,  I  hou])  you  will  not  be  angri  wnth  me  for  it:  God,  that  knows  my  hart,  knows  I 
was  never  loufter  to  ofiend  you  in  all  my  liefe  than  I  have  bine  within  this  halfe  yeare;  and 
so  I  houpe  ever  I  shall  be.  If  you  should  bord  them  forth,  they  would  cost  you  £14.  a  yeare 
at  the  least,  and  save  nothing  at  home ;  beside,  they  will  never  be  bred  in  Religion  as  at 
home,  and  weare  out  twise  so  many  clothes  as  at  home.  All  things  considered,  this  is  the 
best  corse.  Mr.  Votier  came  to  me,  and  tould  me  the  parish  and  hee  would  make  you  a 
fare  pue  afore  my  pue ;  but  they  hard  you  would  goo  away,  and  they  would  be  louft  to  make 
it  for  Mr.  Willams.  I  wil'd  them  to  goo  forward  with  theare  good  intent.  I  houp  in  God 
you  would  never  leave  this  hous  while  I  did  live ;  and  I  beseche  God  1  may  never  live  to 
gooe  out  of  it  e'en  from  the  bottom  of  my  harte. 

"  Commend  me  to  all  our  frends  :  I  must  not  forgite  my  love  to  Will.     Wee  are  all  in 

helth.     I  leave  you  to  his  protection,  who  is  abel  to  kepe  you  al.     Sweet  hart,  Mr.  Teri  is 

in  possession  in  that  olTes  at  the  Custora-hous;  but  what  my  lord  will  have  of  him,  he 

knoweth  not  yet.     Your  true  and  fathful  wife  tel  death. 

"JoAXE  Hekicke." 

"  From  London,  the  22  day  of  August,  1616." 

This  is  one  of  the  many  interesting  letters  preserved  among  the  Herrick  papers  at  Beau- 
manor  :  from  which  I  could  have  wished  to  draw  more  largely.  It  may  with  truth  be  pro- 
nounced a  beautiful  letter.  One  breathing  more  of  conjugal  affection — of  maternal  solicitude 
— of  thorough  simple-mindedness,  and  of  Christian  feeling,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find. 

On  Lady  Heyrick's  picture,  still  preserved  at  Beaumanor,  is  the  following  couplet — 
which,  it  will  be  easy  to  conclude  from  the  foregoing  beautiful  sentiments,  the  qualities  of 
her  mind  abundantly  justified: — 

"  Art  may  hir  outsid  thys  present  to  Tiew, 
How  faire  within  nor  art  or  tong  can  shewe." 

•  Lady  Hickes  was  sister  to  Lady  Herrick :  and  the  author  of  "  A  Complete  Survey  of  London,"  1742,  attributes 
a  dispute  about  precedency,  long  kept  before  the  Court  of  Aldermen,  "  to  Hickes  and  Herrick  and  their  imperious 
wives."     Lady  Herrick,  at  least,  did  not  deserve  this  epithet. 


82  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

Seven  sons  and  five  daughters  were  the  issue  of  this  marriage.  The  sons  were — Wil- 
liam, Robert,  Richard,  Fellow  of  All  Souls,  and  afterwards  of  St.  John's  College,  Oxford, 
afterwards  Rector  of  North  Keeps,  Norfolk,  and  Warden  of  Christ's  College,  Manchester  ;* 
Thomas,  Henry,  a  Barrister,  Roger,  and  John. 

Sir  William  Heyrick  died  in  165-2,  at  the  age  of  ninety-six,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Mar- 
tin's Church,  Leicester. — He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  William,  who  married  the  daughter 
of  Humphrey  Fox,  of  the  City  of  London,  Esq.,  and  died  in  1671,  aged  seventy-four.  He 
left  issue  William,  who  married  Ann,  only  daughter  of  William  Bainbrigge,  of  Lockington, 
Esq.,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons,  William,  John,  and  Benjamin,  and  one  daughter.  By  a 
second  marriage  with  Frances,  daughter  of  William  Milward,  Esq.,  of  Chilcote,  Derbyshire, 
he  had  one  son  and  three  daughters.  William,  the  eldest  son,  married  Dorothy,  daughter 
of  James  W^ootton,  Esq.,  of  Weston-upon-Trent ;  and,  dying  in  1705,  left  by  her  three  sons 
and  two  daughters.  This  gentleman  left,  among  his  papers,  the  following  interesting  memo- 
randum, dated  1688 : — 

"  Sir  William  Heyricke,  Knight,  of  Beaumanor,  in  the  county  of  Leicester,  died  at 
Beaumanor  when  he  was  96  years  of  age.  He  lived  to  see  William  Herricke,  of  Beaumanor, 
Esq.,  his  son;  and  his  son's  son,  William  Heyricke,  of  Beaumanor,  Esq. ;  and  his  son's 
son's  son,  William  Herricke,  of  Beaumanor,  Esq.,  yet  living,  aged  37  years. — These  four 
William  Herrickes  did  frequently  meet  together  in  the  great  chamber  at  Beaumanor.  It 
was  the  youngest  that  did  write  this  account;  and  I  was,  when  Sir  Wilham  Herricke  died, 
three  or  four  years  old,  and  I  have  had  three  children  born  at  my  manor  of  Beaumanor." 

There  seem  to  have  been,  both  in  Sir  William  Herrick  and  his  descendants,  all  those 
properties  that  distinguish  the  Christian  gentleman.  The  archives  of  few  families  could  pro- 
duce more  proofs  of  their  observance  of  the  domestic  virtues — love  to  their  children — 
kindness  to  the  tenantry,  their  servants,  and  the  poor — exactitude  in  their  accounts — and 
liberality,  tempered  by  economy.  A  love  of  nature,  and  a  keen"  perception  of  natural  beauty 
— so  rare  in  those  days — seem  to  have  been  hereditary  in  the  family,  and  to  have  strongly 
attached  them  to  Beaumanor.  Of  this  feeling,  the  last-named  Mr.  Henick  left  many  proofs. 
The  following  is  one  of  his  many  memoranda  : — "  Thursday,  July  -28,  1696,  about  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  before  nine  o'clock  at  night,  as  I  was  walking  in  the  lane,  I  saw,  full  west,  just 
over  Hanging-stone  Hill,  on  the  Forest,  in  the  sky,  just  like  a  scythe  bended  in  the  back, 
and  the  edge  hollowed  like  a  scythe — the  sky  very  clear,  and  no  clouds,  and  about  the  length 
of  a  scythe  :  it  was  of  the  colour  of  flame,  but  the  full  length  I  could  not  see,  the  hills  hin- 
dering me."t 

Mr.  Herrick  died  in  1705;  his  widow  survived  him  forty-four  years,  and  died  at  the  a"-e 
of  one  hundred  !  He  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  William,  who  married  Lucy,  daugh- 
ter of  John  Gage,  Esq.,  of  Bentley  Park,  Sussex — an  immediate  descendant  of  Sir  John 

•  A  preferment  obtained  from  Charles  I.,  in  consideration  of  the  surrender  of  .Sir  William's  pension. 
■(•  Different  members  of  the  family  have  been  distinguished  for  poetical  talents  of  high  order:  Robert  Herrick 
author  of  "  Hesperides,"  was  not,  perhaps,  surpassed  by  any  lyric  poet  of  the  sixteenth  century — and  Lieut.  John 
Heyrick,  R.N.,  evinced  talents  that  rendered  his  early  death  as  great  a  loss  to  society  as  his  life  had  been  a  solace  of 
his  friends. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CIIARNWOOD.  83 

Gage,  of  Firle.  He  died  in  1773,  aged  eighty-four,  leaving  three  sons,  William,  John,  and 
Thomas  Uainbrigge,  and  one  surviving  daughter,  Lucy,  maiTied  to  Richard  Gildart,  of 
Norton  Hall,  Staffordshire. — The  seventh  William  Herrick,  who  succeeded  his  father  in 
1773,  served  the  office  of  High  Sheriff  of  the  county  in  1780.  He  married  Sarah  Stokes,  of 
Woodhouse,  and  on  his  death  the  estates  passed  to  his  heir-at-law  and  nephew,  the 
present  William  Hemck,  Esq.,  only  son  of  Thomas  Bainbrigge  Herrick,  Esq.,  and  Mary, 
daughter  of  James  Perry,  Esq.,  of  Eardisley  Park,  Herefordshire,  who  is,  therefore,  the  eighth 
of  his  name  who  has  inherited  Beaumanor. 

The  first  mansion  was  erected  by  Henry  Lord  Beaumont,  about  the  year  1340.  The 
residence  of  the  previous  possessors  of  the  manor — the  Despensers — having  apparently  been 
at  Little  Haw — which  Nichols  erroneously  thought  was,  in  all  probability,  identical  with 
Beaumanor.*  In  a  survey  taken  in  16.50,  this  house  is  thus  mentioned : — "  This  ancient 
Manor  House  of  Beaumanor  standcth  and  is  seated  in  the  Park  called  Beaumanor  Park. 
The  Manor  House  is  moated  round  about  with  a  very  fair  and  clear  moat;  and  a  little  dis- 
tant from  the  said  moat  are  bam  and  stables,  and  all  other  useful  offices  standing  and  seated  ; 
about  which  said  building  is  a  second  moat ;  and  round  about  this  ancient  Manor  House 
lielh  the  said  Park."  This  moat  may  still  be  traced.  The  house,  from  the  view  of  it 
preserved  in  Nichols,  appears  to  have  been  somewhat  modernized  in  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  It  was  taken  down  in  172.5,  and  unfortunately  replaced  by  an  erection 
as  devoid  of  architectural  beauty  as  incongruous  with  the  scenery  that  surrounds  it.  This 
ill-contrived  and  tasteless  fabric,  ere  the  description  meets  the  reader's  eye,  will  also  have 
disappeared.  Mr.  Herrick  is  erecting,  from  the  chaste  designs  of  Mr.  Railton,  a  noble 
Elizabethan  mansion,  which,  when  completed,  will  have  few  equals  of  its  class.  The  offices 
are  already  erected ;  they  are  admirably  planned,  and  are  on  a  scale  of  great  magnitude. 
The  house  will  be  of  faced  brick ;  the  window-frames,  door-ways,  angles  and  parapets, 
being  of  Derbyshire  freestone. — Some  surprise  has  been  expressed,  that  one  of  the  many 
preferable  sites  which  the  estate  affords,  should  not  have  been  selected  for  so  noble  an  edi- 
fice. Attachment  to  a  spot  hallowed  by  so  many  recollections,  is  certainly  a  natural,  if  not 
a  commendable  feeling.  But  other  reasons  justify  the  continuance  on  the  old  site.  The 
noble  double  avenue — one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  that  now  almost  exploded  appendage 
to  a  Park — would  have  appeared  quite  out  of  place,  had  another  site  been  fixed  upon.  And, 
after  all,  low  as  is  the  situation  of  Beaumanor,  it  embraces  views  that  leave  on  the  mind  a 
charm  rarely,  if  ever,  imparted  by  an  extensive  prospect.  On  the  south  front,  the  avenue, 
so  appropriate  an  adjunct  to  a  Tudor  mansion,  forms  at  all  seasons  a  most  delightful  fore- 
ground. The  western  front  commands  scenery  of  such  extraordinary  diversity  and  beauty, 
as  to  have  elicited  the  admiration  of  every  writer  who  has  noticed  it.  The  eye  is  carried 
over  a  valley  studded  with  majestic  oaks,  to  some  of  the  boldest  prominences  of  the  eastern 
Forest,  especially  to  tlie  Hanging-stone  rocks,  which  form,  when  viewed  in  the  hues  of  de- 
parting day,  such  a  scene  as  the  lover  of  nature  cannot  view  without  delight.  Throsby 
says  of  it,  "those  who  have  not  leisure  to  see  the  whole  Forest,  hither  let  them  come  to 
behold  the  most  splendid  scene  in  it."t 

*  Nichols'  West  Goscote,  p.  119.  f  Views  in  Leicestershire,  p.  227. 


84  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

The  Great  Park  was  clispavked  by  Sir  William  Heyrick,  except  a  small  portion,  which 
remained  till  Iy90.  It  is  not  unlikely  that,  after  the  completion  of  the  new  Hall,  it  may 
again  be,  at  least,  partially  restored. 

An  old  familj'  coach,  built  about  a  century  ago,  is  still  preserved  at  Beaumanor.  It  is 
chiefly  built  of  carved  ash,  and  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  singular  curiosities  of  the  kind 
in  England  ;  it  is  believed,  too,  that  it  is  unique. 

At  the  Hall  door  lie  some  curious  specimens  of  natural  paintings  of  foliage,  formed  by 
water,  impregnated  with  ironstone,  insinuating  itself  between  the  cleavage  of  the  slate  rocks. 
There  is  also  a  portion  of  the  same  schistose  rock,  from  Mr.  Herrick's  Gale  House  quarry, 
in  which  a  rounded  granite  pebble,  of  three  inches  diameter,  is  imbedded.  I  am  not  aware 
that  a  stone  of  this  kind  has  ever  before  been  discovered  so  imbedded  in  slate.  There  are 
several  very  fine  family  portraits  at  Beaumanor,  particularly  those  of  Sir  William  and  Lady 
Heyrick.*  The  family  papers,  too,  of  which  Nichols  and  Throsby  so  largely  availed  them- 
selves, are  of  very  great  interest;  many  of  them  throw  great  light  on  the  history  of  the 
times.  Some  letters  from  Elizabeth  and  James  I.,  soliciting  Sir  William's  pecuniary  assist- 
ance, are  singularly  curious.  The  following  writ  of  Privy  Seal  furnishes  evidence  of  the 
state  of  the  Exchequer,  and  of  the  modes  adopted  to  replenish  it,  in  1596-7  : — 

"  Bv  THE  QUEENE. 

"  Trustie  &  wel-belovid,  we  greete  yow  well.  The  contynuall  greate  charges  which  wee 
have,  for  the  nccessarie  defence  of  and  preservacion  of  our  dominions  and  subiectes,  are  so 
notorious  as  neede  not  to  be  otherwise  declared  then  may  iustlie  be  conceaved  by  all  our 
loving  subiectes,  being  but  of  common  understanding.  And  therefore,  at  this  presente,  find- 
ing cause  of  increase  and  contynuaunce  of  suche  charges  exceeding  all  other  ordinary  meanes ; 
and  not  mynding  to  presse  our  subiectes  with  anie  presente  free  gift  of  monie,  but  only  to 
be  supplied  with  some  reasonable  pencion  by  waie  of  loane  for  onne  yeare's  space  ;  wee  have 
made  speciall  choice  of  suche  our  loving  subiectes  as  are  knowne  to  be  of  abilitie  ;  amongest 
which,  we  accompte  yow  one ;  and  therefore  we  require  yow,  by  these  presentes,  to  lend  us 
the  some  of  fyftie  poundes  for  the  space  of  one  yeare,  and  the  some  to  be  payd  unto  Benedict 
Baniham  or  Thomas  Looe,  aldermen  by  us  appointed  as  collectors  thereof,  which  we  promise 
to  repaye  to  yow  or  your  assignes,  at  the  end  of  one  yeare,  in  the  receipte  or  exchequer, 
upon  giving  of  this  privie  seale  subscribed  by  the  said  collectors,  testifieing  the  receipte 
hereof.  Geven  under  our  privie  seale,  at  our  pallace  Westm'r  the  xxvilh  dale  of  January, 
ill  the  xxxixth  year  of  our  raigne."  "  Tho.  Keky." 

In  the  Hall  is  a  remarkable  chair,  cut  out  of  a  single  tree  that  grew  in  the  Park.  It 
bears  the  date  1690,  and  is  inscribed  with  the  family  motto,  Virtus  omnia  nohilitat.  It  is 
always  crowned  with  a  garland  containing  two  rose-buds  and  a  spear,  presented  every 
Midsummer-day  to  the  Lord  of  Beaumanor,  by  Mr.  Farnham,  as  suit  and  service  for  Ruslia 
Fields  (?)  The  garland  always  graces  thechairtill  removed  forits  successorof  thefollowingyeai-. 

*  It  ought  previously  to  have  been  stated,  that  Sir  William  Heyrick  twice  represented  Leicester  in  Parliament, 
and  in  a  manner  that  obtained  for  him  the  grateful  acknowledgments  of  his  constituents. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY   OF  CHARNWOOD. 


The  Garland  and  Oaken  Chair  at  Beaumanor. 


In  the  Hall  of  old  Beaumanor 

Stands  a  giant  oaken  chair, 
Deftly  formed — and  who  the  planner 

Legends  of  the  Tale  declare. 
Well  it  tells  what  oaks  once  flourished 

In  Beaumanor's  woodland  vale  : 
Embryo  navies  there  were  nourished, 

Ere  our  navies  learnt  to  sail. 
Ere  the  Roses'  bloody  quarrel — 

Ere  the  Barons'  lengthen'd  feud — 
Ere  the  siege  of  high  Mountsorrel, 

That  brave  oak  was  "  King-o'-th'-Wood.' 
Ah  I  what  forms  of  by-gone  ages 

Sought  its  shade  from  noontide  rays ; 
Poets,  warriors,  statesmen,  sages, 

Glorious  Beaumonts — gallant  Greys. 

Bradgate's  early  blighted  beauty 
Sat  with  Aylmer  in  its  shade — 

List'ning  lore  of  faith  and  duty — 
Nymph  and  Druid  of  the  glade. 

Herrick,  fara'd  for  love-fraught  lyrics, 
Sang  his  love-songs  in  these  groves ; 

Half  Anacreon's  soul  was  Herrick's, 
And  the  other  half  was — Love's. 


Nail  or  joining  not  requiring ; 

Cut  from  out  one  solid  bole: 
Strangers  ask,  this  chair  admiring, 

"  This  the  fragment  I   what  the  whole  ?" 
Round  its  crown-like  summit  twining 

Hangs  a  garland,  green  or  sear : 
Kose-buds  wreathed  round  war-arm  shining, 

Beauty's  flower  on  Valour's  spear. 

Legends  say  how  old  Beaumanor 

Once  a  Koyal  Park  was  made ; 
How  a  Famhara  bore  a  banner 

Bravely  in  the  fierce  Crusade. 

How  a  grant  to  faithful  Farnham 
Then  was  made  for  service  done. 

Of  the  lands  of  false  de  Vamam, 
"  Long  as  Soar  to  Trent  shall  run." 

Suit  and  service  only  making 

At  Beaumanor,  year  by  year, 
Rose-buds  two — one  arrow  taking — 

Arrow  head,  or  shaftless  spear. 
Emblems  these  of  Knighthood's  duty. 

Due  from  loyal  liegemen  are  : 
Rose-buds — homage  vowed  to  beauty — 

Spear — the  ready  hand  for  war. 


Note. — The  following  extracts  will  account  for  this  customary  service : — On  the  decease  of  Thomas  Farnham, 
Esq.,  in  1574,  it  was  found  that  the  manor  of  Quomdon,  called  The  Over  Hall,  one  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  land 
and  forty  of  wood,  in  Quomdon,  were  held  of  the  Queen,  as  of  her  manor  of  Beaumanor,  in  free  socage,  by  the  rent  of 
one  garland  of  roses,  one  rose  flower,  and  one  barbed  arrow,  of  iron,  to  be  annually  paid  on  the  feast  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  in  lieu  of  all  other  services,  suits  of  Court,  &c.  In  a  rent-roll  at  Beaumanor  (1597)  occur  the  following 
entries : — Adrian  Farnham,  Esq.,  6rf.,  as  chief  rent  for  The  Hall  Carr,  and  1 U.  for  Turvile's  lands,  in  the  manor  of 
Hushall,  called  Rusha  or  Rushall  Fields,  in  the  liberty  of  Woodhouse. — "  Bundle  of  deeds  relating  to  the  manor  of 
Rushall,  Mr.  Vamham's  estate,"  is  a  sentence  quoted  by  Nichols,  under  Snarestone,  which  he  confesses  to  be  some- 
what unintelligible. 


86  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 


WOODHOUSE,  WOODHOUSE  EAVES,  AND  WOODTHORPE. 

The  names  of  these  sequestered  and  delightful  old  hamlets,  surrounding  Beaumanor, 
were,  doubtless,  first  given  to  some  solitary  lodges  in  the  "  vast  wilderness,"  which  at  one 
period  extended  from  the  Forest  to  the  Park  of  Quorn.*  The  two  former  are  in  the  parish 
of  Barrow,  the  latter  in  that  of  Loughborough.  I  class  them  under  one  head,  from  the 
similarity  of  their  derivation,  and  from  their  connexion  with  Beaumanor. 

Woodhonse  Proper,  lying  nearly  a  mile  east  of  the  Forest,  first  claims  notice.  It  is  not 
mentioned  in  Domesday  Book.  Nichols  thought  Urlecote  an  early  name  for  it,  but  he  was 
unquestionably  in  error.     That  place  is  situated  near  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

In  1427,  it  was  found  that  Elizabeth,  widow  of  Henry  Beaumont,  died  seised  of  Wood- 
house  as  a  member  of  Beaumanor.f 

The  Abbot  and  Convent  of  St.  Mary  de  Pratis,  at  Leicester,  possessed  the  great  tithes 
here — the  Monks  of  St.  Severus  the  small  tithes.  The  former  had  a  hercaria,  jjomarium, 
and  tithe-barn  in  Woodhouse.  Mr.  (shortly  afterwards  Sir)  William  Heyricke  purchased, 
in  1599,  the  tithes  here,  together  with  Garat's  Hay  and  Little  Wellows,  which  contained 
two  hundred  acres  of  land,  of  Henry  Best  and  Robert  Holland ;  Garat's  Hay,  however, 
passed  from  the  Herrick  family  to  the  Cooks — fi-om  the  Cooks  to  the  Hartopps — and  was 
sold  by  Chiverton  Hartopp,  Esq.,  father  of  the  first  Baroness  Howe,  to  Edward  Heanes, 
Esq.,  the  ancestor  of  the  present  owner.  Miss  Watkinson. 

A  very  superior  village  school  was  founded  here  in  1691,  by  a  benevolent  resident,  Mr. 
Rawlins,  who  lived  many  years  after  to  witness  the  good  effects  of  his  foundation.  Probably 
few  schools  of  similar  character  have  had  such  a  succession  of  excellent  masters. 

"  In  this  place,"  says  Burton,  "  Henry  Lord  Beaumont  and  Alice  his  wife,  by  the  license 
of  the  Abbot  of  Leicester,  built  a  very  fair  and  stately  Chapel,  of  Ashler  stone,  in  1388.  It 
was  again  repaired  in  1450,  for  I  have  seen  a  deed  of  covenants  made  between  Robert 
Farnham,  of  Quorndon,  of  the  one  part,  and  a  certain  Free-mason,  for  the  new  building  of 
the  steeple,  and  the  repair  of  the  Church,  dated  -28  Henry  VI.  It  was  then  new  glazed  and 
repaired,  as  I  should  guess,  by  the  arms  of  King  Henry  VI.  standing  in  the  cast  window  of 
the  Chapel ;  and  at  the  costs  and  charges  (for  the  most  part)  of  the  Viscount  Beaumont,  as 
it  should  seem,  by  the  coats  and  matches  in  the  said  windows." 

The  arms  of  Beaumont,  quartering  Jerusalem,  are  still  in  the  east  window. 

The  Chapel,  of  which  an  engraving  is  given,  is  one  of  those  unobtrusive  and  venerable 
fabrics,  that  of  themselves  awaken  holy  feelings.     I  visited  it  for  the  first  time  (if  an  author 

*  There  is  a  passage  in  Tanner's  Notitia  Monastica  (page  248),  which  I  deem  to  be  of  considerable  importance,  as 
explanatory  both  of  the  origin  of  the  name  of  Barrow,  and  of  that  of  these  members  of  that  extensive  lordship.  He 
says  of  Barrow  in  Lincolnshire,  "  Wulpher,  King  of  the  Mercians,  gave  to  that  pious  man,  Cead,  or  Chad,  about  the 
middle  of  the  seventh  century,  the  land  of  fifty  families,  as  Bede  tells  us,  to  build  a  Monastery  at  a  place  called  At 

Barwe,  that  is,  at  the  wood some  appearance  of  which  remained  in  his  time."     This  not  only  accounts  for  the 

name  of  Barrow,  but  for  Woodhouse,  Woodthorpe,  &c. 

t  8  Esch.  3  Edward  IV.,  No.  30,  Leic'. 


PAUOCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  87 

may  be  pardoned  for  introducing  any  thing  of  his  personal  history)  when  the  loss  of  one 
child  had  made  me  feel  that  "  man  was  made  to  moum."  Here  is  one  memorial  raised  to 
the  memory  of  sere ii  ' 

On  my  second  visit,  three  Imndred  cliildren,  with  happy  faces,  were  on  their  way  to 
Beaumanor.  On  inquiring  the  object  of  this  assemblage  of  healthy-looking  rustics,  1  learnt 
that  they  "  were  going  to  Beaumanor  for  a  Valentine :"  where,  I  understood,  each  child 
received  a  penny,  and  a  halfpenny,  on  their  returning,  from  Miss  Watkinson.  It  is  aston- 
ishing what  an  amount  of  happiness  can  be  conferred  by  such  a  trifling  sum  ;  every  face  was 
literally  beaming  with  joy.  This  custom  has  long  been  observed  here.  In  174.3  there  were 
only  thirty  recipients.  A  custom  of  offering  New  Year's  gifts  to  the  Lord  of  Beaumanor 
was  long  obsened  among  the  tenantry  ;  it  is  now,  I  believe,  laid  aside.  Whatever  tends  to 
increase  feelings  of  respect  between  a  resident  proprietor  and  those  living  on  the  estate,  is 
not  undeserving  of  notice. 

The  pen  of  Washington  Irving  might  do  justice  to  Woodhouse.  Its  situation  at  the  foot 
of  the  finest  scenery  of  the  Forest — its  modest  Chapel — its  rose-twined  cottages — its  shady 
lane — and  the  neatness,  comfort,  and  content,  that  seem  to  pervade  every  dwelling,  are  filter 
subjects  for  the  poet  than  the  historian.  Even  to  the  unpoetic  mind,  they  might  recal  that 
charming  and  just  description, 

"  The  cottage  homes  of  England  I  by  thousands  on  her  plains, 
They  are  smiling  o'er  the  silv'ry  brooks,  and  round  the  village  fanes ; 
Through  glowing  orchards  forth  they  peep,  each  from  its  nook  of  leaves. 
And  fearless  there  the  lowly  sleep,  as  the  birds  beneath  their  eaves." 

Nor  must  the  house  and  grounds  of  Miss  Watkinson  (a  considerable  proprietress  both  in 
Woodhouse  and  on  the  Forest)  be  omitted.  Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  page  133,  gives  an  engraving 
of  this  house,  as  having  been  the  birth-place  of  Baroness  Howe. 

WooDHorsE  Eaves  derives  the  addition  to  its  name  from  its  situation  on  the  edge  of  the 
Forest.  Though  the  Woodhouse  already  described,  from  its  having  long  had  a  Chapel,  has 
generally  been  considered  the  older  hamlet,  it  appears  that  the  part  called  the  Eaves  was, 
in  fact,  the  earliest  inhabited  spot.  From  a  few  straggling  cottages  or  sheilings,  built,  no 
doubt,  by  the  Forest  keepers  and  shepherds,  it  has  risen  to  be  of  considerable  extent.  One 
cause  of  its  rise  from  these  small  beginnings  may  be  attributed  to  there  having,  in  early 
times,  been  a  Royal  hunting  residence  in  this  place ;  at  least,  such  is  the  tradition  I  have 
gleaned  from  several  inhabitants. 

The  house  now  occupied  by  Mr.  Cradock,  but  belonging  to  Miss  Watkinson,  stands  on 
the  supposed  site  of  this  ancient  hunting  palace.  On  this  spot,  in  the  last  century,  stood  a 
mansion,  of  a  singularly  quaint  and  antique  style  of  architecture.  A  person  named  Fouldes, 
whose  ancestors  at  one  period  owned  it,  states,  that  it  was  formerly  accounted  a  parcel  of 
the  manor  of  Greenwich — and  held,  as  he  has  heard  his  father  say,  at  a  pepper-corn  rent. 
This  seems  to  conoborate  the  opinion  that  it  had,  in  all  likelihood,  been  a  Royal  residence. 
The  late  Mr.  Watkinson  discovered  many  remains  of  ancient  massy  walls,  which  he  believed 
to  have  been  parts  of  a  Chapel  connected  with  the  mansion ;  and  Mr.  Lester  informs  me 


88  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

that  gilt  bricks,  with  figures  in  relief,  and  many  other  ancient  relics,  have  been  found  on 
this  spot. 

No  class  of  persons  retains  traditions  with  more  tenacity  than  the  inhabitants  of  a  Forest 
or  thinly  peopled  district.  Their  isolated  situation,  naturally  somewhat  circumscribing  their 
range  of  thought,  leads  them  the  more  frequently  to  dwell  on  the  few  subjects  that  present 
themselves.  There  is,  besides,  amongst  such  a  peasantry,  a  peculiar  fondness  for  descanting 
on  the  W'onderful  past.  Each  Forester  is  peculiarly  a  "  laudator  iemporix  acti ;"  and  hence 
it  is  that  a  great  deal  of  the  history  of  the  Forest  may  be  gleaned  from  the  unwritten  testi- 
mony of  the  denizens.  The  late  Mr.  Watkinson,  of  Woodhouse,  a  gentleman  far  too  intel- 
ligent to  entertain  any  opinion  that  had  not  reason  for  its  basis,  was  at  considerable  pains 
in  investigating  the  prevailing  belief  of  a  Royal  hunting  seat  on  the  .spot  alluded  to :  and 
arrived  at  the  conclusion,  that  the  old  house  in  question  was,  undoubtedly,  at  one  time,  oc- 
cupied by  Edward  III. 

In  addition  to  this  house,  there  were,  in  the  last  century,  ten  or  eleven  others  of  a  very 
ancient  style  ;  only  one  of  which,  the  Bull's  Head,  now  remains.  Many  people  can  remember 
this  house  being  covered  with  pointed  gables  and  tall  chimneys.  It  is  supposed  these  old 
houses  were  built  for  the  accommodation  of  the  attendants  on  the  Court. 

A  beautiful  coin,  with  the  legend  HENRICVS  DEI.  GRA.  REX.  ANG.  FRANC,  and 
with  the  reverse  I.H.C.  AVTEM  TRANSIENS  PER.  MEDIVM  ILLORVM  IBAT,*  was 
discovered  in  repairing  a  well  belonging  to  Mr.  Cradock's  house.  It  is  now  in  Miss  Wat- 
kinson's  cabinet. 

WnonTHORPE  lies  about  a  mile  from  Beaumanor.  It  is  a  delightful  old  hamlet,  abound- 
ing in  many  of  the  true  characteristics  of  English  rural  life.  Three  or  four  respectable 
farm  houses — one  apparently  of  considerable  antiquity — and  a  few  neat  cottages,  make  up 
the  whole  of  this  quiet  place.  It  is  one  of  those  nooks  of  the  world,  over  which  one  feels 
disposed  to  say,  with  Moore,  that  if  Peace,  like  Astraea,  has  not  quitted  our  planet, 

"  The  heart  that  is  humble  might  hope  for  it  here." 

In  1463,  it  was  found  that  William  Viscount  Beaumont,  attainted  of  high  treason,  was 
seized  of  two  hundred  acres  of  wood,  at  Woodcote,  co.  Leicester.f  The  contiguity  of 
Woodthorpe  to  Beaumanor  is  one  reason  why  I  conclude,  without  much  hesitation,  that 
Woodcote  was  only  an  earher  name  for  it,  though  Nichols  thinks  it  may  have  been  either 
Woodhouse  or  Woodthorpe. 

It  has  frequently  occurred  to  me,  during  the  course  of  my  researches,  as  somewhat  sin- 
gular, that  a  Park  of  such  extent  as  that  of  Barrow  should  have  had  no  known  mansion  or 
hunting  residence  for  the  use  of  its  lord.  Several  expressions  in  ancient  deeds,  had,  it  will 
be  remembered,  led  me  to  look  in  Barrow  Proper  for  the  site  of  this  mansion.  Subsequent 
examination  both  of  Woodthorpe  and  the  records  connected  with  it,  has  convinced  me  that 

•  Jesus  passed  through  the  midst  of  them,  and  went  his  way. — Luke,  chap,  iv.,  Ter.  30. 
t  Esch.  3,  IV.,  No.  30,  Leic. 


L(C)'>!yEW     'CLij^'sf,    mi.ACQn     MUILIL 


PAROCHIAL   HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  89 

it  was  at  the  latter  place.  In  the  homestead  occupied  by  Mr.  Fletcher  are  the  evident  founda- 
tions and  terraces  of  a  very  ancient  and  extensive  building ;  below  these  is  an  artificial  lake 
(now  dry),  which  appears  to  have  been  supplied  both  by  a  runlet  and  a  feeder — exactly 
corresponding  with  the  description  "  aqueduciuni  laheutem  in  rivarinm  comitis,"  &c.  This 
expression,  if  correctly  applied  to  this  spot,  at  once  fixes  two  difficult  points — the  northern 
boundary  of  the  ancient  Park  of  (Juomdon,  and  the  site  of  the  occasional  abode  of  the  Earls 
of  Chester. 

Again,  the  tract  between  Woodthoqie  and  the  river  Soar  has  long  been  called  Searles- 
ihorpe — a  name  which  was  doubtless  a  corruption  of  Th'  Earl's  Thorpe — and  it  is  not  un- 
likely, when  the  latter  hamlet  became  obliterated,  and  Woodcote  the  only  hamlet,  that  the 
two  names  were  afterwards  contracted  into  Woodthorpe.* 

The  lover  of  "  rural  sights  and  sounds,"  or  of  nature  in  her  grand  or  quiet  features,  will 
find  sufficient  in  a  circuit  of  three  miles  from  Beaumanor  to  employ  a  long  summer's  day. 
The  midland  counties  contain  few  tracts  of  equal  extent  that  afford  a  more  delightful  excur- 
sion than  that  from  the  ancient  Chapel  at  Woodhouse — through  Woodhouse  Eaves — by  the 
beautiful  new  Chapel — over  the  hill — the  Broombriggs — Beacon — the  Hanging-stone  Rocks 
— and  Beaumanor.  The  Forest  peasantry,  so  different  in  their  modes  of  thought  and  ex- 
pression from  the  inhabitants  of  densely  peopled  districts,  will  not  fail  to  please  the  lover  of 
his  kind.  Many  of  them  are  fully  alive  to  the  wonders  by  which  they  are  sunounded.  One 
venerable  old  man,  at  work  in  the  Gate-house  quarry,  observing  me  searching  for  the  dip, 
asked  me,  with  a  smile  expressive  of  his  consciousness  of  superior  wisdom  in  such  matters, 
"  Which  way  is  Judaea  ?"  I  at  once  pointed  my  hand  in  a  south-easterly  direction.  "  You 
are  right,"  replied  my  Mentor ;  "  Find  Judaea,  and  you  will  find  the  direction  of  these  rocks. 
Find  the  dip,  and  you  will  point  to  Judaea.  This  is  the  case  over  the  whole  world,  and  has 
been  so  ever  since  the  Saviour's  resurrection."  I  found  professor  Sedgwick's  anticlinal  line 
theory  at  once  destroyed  ! ! !  Of  course  I  did  not  attempt  to  shake  a  belief  that  seemed  not 
unmixed  with  natural  piety.     On  the  contrary,  I  thought  with  Campbell, 

When  Science  from  Creation's  face  Enchantment's  veil  withdraws, 
What  lovely  visions  yield  their  place  to  cold  material  laws. 

1  was  conducting  the  reader  over  the  environs  of  Woodhouse.  The  new  Chapel,  founded 
on  a  romantic  rock,  with  a  Parsonage  and  School-house  beautifull}'  harmonizing  with  it  in 
architectural  character  and  aptness  for  the  site,  form  a  combination  of  singular  beauty.  The 
designs  are  very  chaste,  and  an  effect  is  produced  bj'  the  Forest  granite,  with  finials  of  free- 
stone, that  can  scarcely  fail  to  bring  this  somewhat  novel  style  of  building  into  favour. 
Mr.  Railton,  the  architect,  has  judiciously  placed  the  vestibule  beneath  the  belfry  tower. 

•  To  avoid  having  again  to  return  to  Searlesthorpe,  I  notice  here  a  discovery  made  a  short  time  ago  near  the  nur- 
sery grotmds  of  Mr.  Robinson,  lying  in  Searlesthorpe.  On  ploughing  up  an  ancient  inclosure,  the  foundations  of  a 
building,  which  had  all  the  appearance  of  having  been  those  of  a  Church  or  Chapel,  were  brought  to  light.  Nichols 
imagines  that,  near  the  foundations  above  described,  viz.:  on  the  site  of  the  present  pinfold,  was  an  ancient  Chapel. 
If  a  Chapel  ever  did  exist  in  Woodthorpe,  it  must  have  been  in  the  field  still  called  "  The  Church-yard  Piece,"  which 
is  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  hamlet.  Either  in  this  Church-yard  piece,  or  on  the  spot  in  the  nursery  grounds, 
the  Chantry,  mentioned  by  Nichols  as  belonging  to  Loughborough,  very  likely  stood. 


90  PAROCHIAL   HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

The  Parsonage  is  not  seen  in  the  engraving  of  the  Chapel.  The  door-way,  surmounted 
by  a  bell,  leads  to  the  school-house ;  the  cavern,  in  the  foreground,  has  been  a  quarry.  A 
spring  of  most  pellucid  water,  which  supplies  all  the  neighbouring  houses,  rises  in  the 
middle  of  the  excavation. 

At  a  short  distance  from  the  Chapel  lies  the  Brand — a  name,  it  is  supposed,  derived 
fi-om  its  having  been  the  spot  where  cattle,  about  to  be  turned  on  the  Forest,  were  previously 
branded  with  the  Forest  mark.*  Crossing  the  Sty  Hills,  and  leaving  Woodhouse  to  the 
right,  Broombriggs,  the  creation  of  the  late  "Six.  Charles  Allsop,  forms  a  fair  specimen  of  the 
agricultural  capabilities  of  the  Forest.  The  prospect  from  the  hill  above  the  house  is  of 
surprising  extent  and  interest.  A  mile  brings  the  tourist  to  the  summit  of  Beacon. 
Wonderful  at  all  times — lovely  beyond  expression,  at  sunrise  and  sunset,  are  views  from  this 
eminence.  The  beloved  Pastor  and  Poet  of  the  vale,  that  holds  my  home,  shall  describe 
the  ascent  and  the  reward  of  it. 

Over  a  hill  of  golden-blossomed  furze, 

Above  the  straggling  fern,  when  now  with  toil 

Of  straining  limbs  he  gains  the  beaconed  top — 

Looks  over  into  valleys  wonderful — 

Thick  timbered  valleys,  with  their  fair  Church  towers 

Stretched  into  hazy  distance,  till  a  bank 

Of  bright  blue  hills,  with  outline  gently  curved. 

Stands  up  before  the  sunset  If 

Those  " bright  blue  hills"  are  the  Peak  of  Derbyshire ;  and  from  the  " far  west"  the  eye 
travels  over  Nottinghamshire  and  Lincolnshire  to  the  towers  of  Belvoir — to  the  borders  of 
Rutland — to  Leicester — to  Bradgate — till,  wearied  with  the  countless  objects  that  crowd 
upon  it,  or  aiTested  by  some  underlying  town  or  holy  fane,  it  yields  a  while  its  functions, 
and  leaves  the  mind  to  enjoy  the  images  it  has  conveyed  to  it. 

The  fortifications  round  this  wonderful  hill  (mountain.  Professor  ^Vl^ewell  called  it)  will 
have  their  share  of  attention  from  every  intelligent  visitor.  The  land-slip  of  1679,  a  curious 
account  of  which  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix,  should  not  be  forgotten.  Its  traces  may 
still  be  found  in  a  field  at  the  north-west  foot  of  Beacon,  now  called  "  The  Falling-in."  The 
other  geological  peculiarities  of  the  hill  and  its  immediate  neighbourhood,  as  pointed  out 
under  the  article  Geology,  and  in  Mr.  C.  Allsop's  Paper  (both  of  which  will  also  be  found 
in  the  Appendix),  are  extremely  deserving  of  attention.  The  circumference  of  the  hill  will 
be  perceived  to  be  of  great  extent  at  its  base.  From  this  point  I  would  direct  the  tourist 
to  the  Hanging-stone  Rocks.  The  western  side  of  these  presents  a  landscape  that  contains 
many  elements  of  the  sublime  as  well  as  of  the  beautiful.  A  near  view  will  tend,  it  is  hoped, 
to  confirm  the  statements  already  advanced  with  regard  to  the  Druidical  remains. |  The  once 
Hanging-stone  is  an  object  that  cannot  be  contemplated  without  wonder.  The  Altar,  or 
Shepherd's  Table — the  circle  of  stones — and  abo\e  all,  the  fine  forms  of  the  rocks,  will  not 
fail  to  impress  the  beholder  with  surprise  that  such  scenery  has  hitherto  been  so  little  noticed. 

*  Thorpe  Brand  and  Brecdon  Brand  arc  the  names  of  two  other  places  said  to  have  been  used  for  the  same  purpose. 

t  School  of  the  Heart,  by  the  Rev.  Heniy  Alford,  M.A. 

t  Since  the  above  was  in  type,  I  have  been  informed  by  Mr.  Lester  that  another  Quern,  similar  to  the  one  found  on 

Kite  Hill,  was  discovered  in  this  neighbourhood,  and  that  it  is  now  in  a  wall  at  Woodhouse  Eaves ! 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  91 

LITTLE  HAW. 

Abbas  et  Conventus  Leyc'  concesserunt  Galfrido  Dispensatori  et  lieredibus  suis  construere  capellam 
in  fundo  suo  de  Littleiiawe  intra  parochiam  ecclesioe  de  Barowe,  et  in  eikdem  capellanum  divina  officia 
celebrantem  sine  campanrt'  pulsatione. — Ckaryte's  Rentale,fol.  15. 

Charyte's  Rentale  of  Leicester  Abbey,  an  extract  from  which  heads  this  section,  has 
preserved  the  name  of  a  place,  the  exact  situation  of  which  can  only  now  be  conjectured — 
LiTTLK  Haw.  That  this  Haw  was  in  the  parish  of  Ban-ow,  and,  from  its  having  been  the 
residence  of  Geoffrey  le  Despenser,  in  the  JVood/iuuse  diclsioii  of  it,  seems  evident  from  the 
Rentale.  Nichols  considered  that  ihe  fundus  of  Little  Haw,  and  the  present  Park  of  Beau- 
manor,  were  probably  identical ;  and  that  when  Henry  Lord  Beaumont  erected  Beaumanor 
on  the  same  site,  the  Chapel  was  destroyed — a  conjecture  utterly  at  variance  with  the  spirit 
of  those  limes.  Other  reasons  also  induce  me  to  believe  that  Little  Haw  was  situated  in  that 
part  of  the  Forest  now  called  New  Closes,  between  Bird  Hill  and  Broombriggs. 

This  spot,  in  the  boundaries  of  Barrow  parish,  is  called  Lihtelyes  and  Lytelhyes  (or 
Little  Heys),  and  is  at  this  day  called  Little  Hills.*  That  part  of  it  known  as  the  New 
Closes,  has  traditionally  been  considered  the  oldest  inclosure  on  the  Forest:  and  it  retains, 
at  the  present  day,  all  the  characteristics  of  a  spot  having  long  ago  been  brought  into  sub- 
jection and  tlien  abandoned ;  and,  further,  it  well  agrees  with  the  description— yMrt</«.>.'. 
Where  history  is  silent,  tradition  becomes  a  valuable  aid.  The  belief  that  a  Church  once 
stood  above  Woodhouse  Eaves,  and  near  or  upon  the  very  spot  to  which  I  assign  the  erec- 
tion of  this  Chapel  by  Geoffrey  le  Despenser,  is  still  entertained  amongst  the  inhabitants  of 
this  part  of  the  Forest. 

If  the  grounds  on  which  I  have  attempted  to  fix  this  locality  are  untenable,  there  is 
another  spot  which  far  more  closely  answers  to  the  description  than  Beaumanor,  viz. :  the 
old  mansion  now  occupied  by  Mr.  Cradock.  The  first  house  on  this  site,  as  has  already 
been  shown,  was  doubtless  the  nucleus  of  Woodhouse  Eaves :  and  it  may  be  that,  after  the 
attainder  of  the  Despensers,  it  was  for  a  time  retained  as  a  hunting  residence  by  the  Crown, 
from  its  contiguity  to  the  ancient  Forest. 

The  origin  of  the  family  of  Hugh  le  Despenser,  Earl  of  Winchester,  is  so  unknown  to 
antiquarians,  that  I  may  be  pennitted,  for  once,  to  deviate  fi'om  my  rule,  and  give  his  Pedi- 
gree, to  which  the  connexion  of  his  family  with  the  county  of  Leicester  enables  me  to  add 
four  generations.  Burke  conjectures  that  he  descended  from  Robert  Dispensator,  the  Stew- 
ard of  William  the  Conqueror.  But  in  that  case,  there  would  have  been  little  ground  for 
the  excessive  jealousy  of  the  Nobles  at  his  elevation  to  the  Earldom.  I  think  it  more  pro- 
bable that  his  great-grandfather  was  Steward  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  who,  with  his  Countess 
Petronilla,  condescended  to  become  witnesses  to  a  grant  from  him  to  Garendon  Abbey. 
Madox  ( Baronia  Anglica,p.  li'i)  states  that  "the  Earls  and  great  Lords  did  in  many 
particulars  imitate  the  form  and  fashion  of  the  King's  Court.     As  the  King  had,  so  had  they 

»  "  Inter  Lihtelyes  et  Brombrigge.  Et  de  Colweyforth  ex  transverse  Lyhtelyes  usque  Falconers  heye." — The  con- 
stant variations  of  orthography  occurring,  as  they  often  do,  in  the  same  page,  will  account  for  a  much  greater  change 
than  that  of  Lyhteleyes,  &c.,  into  Little  Haw. 


92 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD 


Dapifers  or  Seneschals,  Chamberlains,  and  other  officers  in  their  households."  In  the  case 
of  the  Earls  of  Leicester,  we  know  (Nichols,  Vol.  III.  p.  7S7J  that  tlieij  affected  this  splen- 
dour. Eniald  de  Bosco,  Steward  to  a  former  Earl  of  Leicester,  was  certainly  a  person  of 
some  wealth. 

PEDIGREE  OF  LE  DESPENSER. 

Thomas  le  Despenser.  In  a  grant  of  lands  at  Burton  to  the  Monks  of  Garendon  =  Recuare,  daughter  of  , 
(Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  810),  he  speaks  of  his  wife  Recuare,  and  his  son  Geoffrey. 
This  deed  must  have  been  executed  between  1168  and  1189,  because  Robert,  Earl 
of  Leicester,  and  his  Countess,  Petronilla,  were  witnesses.  In  another  deed  (p.  811) 
he  grants  to  them  lands  near  Holywell  Haw.  This  grant  was  afterwards  confirmed 
by  Ranulph  de  BlondeyUle,  who  was  Earl  of  Chester  from  II76  to  12.32. 


Geoffrey  le  Despenser.  In  a  grant  of  lands  in  Rampston  (p.  831),  he  is  called 
Geoffrey  le  Despenser,  of  Hickling. 

Thomas  le  Despenser.  In  grants  of  lands  at  Burton  and  Stanton  {p.  815  and 
817),  he  calls  himself  the  son  of  Geoffrey,  and  speaks  of  his  wife  and  sons,  with- 
out, however,  mentioning  their  Christian  names. 


daughter  of 


daughter  of 


Hugh  le  Despenser.  In  1220= 
he  was  patron  of  the  Church  of 
Loughborough;  and  in  1239, 
owner  of  Beaumanor.  In  1223, 
he  was  deputed,  with  his  brother- 
in-law,  Stephen  de  Scgrave,  to 
take  charge  of  the  Castles  of 
Chester  and  Beeston.  Justiciar 
of  England  in  1260.  Created 
Baron  le  Despenser  in  1264. 
Killed  at  the  battle  of  Evesham, 
1265.  Attainted.  This  is  the  first 
Le  Despenser  known  to  be  of  the 
family  of  the  Earl  of  Winchester, 
mentioned  by  Burke,  who  could 
not  discover  the  name  of  his 
father,  though  given  in  the  Se- 
graveChartulary  (Nich.,  Vol.  II., 
p.  112),  and  distinctly  stated  by 
Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  408. 


Aliva,  dau. 
of  Philip 
Basset,  of 
Wycombe. 


Geoffrey  le  De- 
spenser. He  had 
license  about  1235 
to  build  a  Chapel 
at  Little  Haw.  In 
the  reign  of  Ed- 
ward I.,  he  held 
lands  at  Arnesby 
and  elsewhere,  in 
Leicestershire. 

See  Testa  de 
Nevil,  Nichols, 
Vol.  I.,  p.  1,  and 
li. 


I 
.John  le 
Despen- 
ser.     He 
held 

Beauma- 
nor under 
his  bro- 
ther 
Hugh. 
Died  in 
1274. 


I 
Henry  le  De- 
spenser. With 
his  father  and 
his  brother 
Hugh,  he  was 
a  witness  to  a 
deedofStephen 
de  Segrave. 
Nichols,  Vol. 
HI.,  page  867. 
He  is  distinctly 
called  brother 
of  Hugh,  in 
another  deed, 
page  826. 


Rohcse,  or  Rose, 
married  to  Sir  Ste- 
phen de  Segrave, 
Justiciary  of  Eng- 
land, who  died  in 
1241.  She  was  en- 
dowed, by  her  father 
Thomas,  with  an 
annuity  charged  on 
lands  at  Burton-on- 
the-Wolds ;  and  by 
her  brother  Hugh, 
with  lands  in  Barrow 
and  Mountsorrel, 
See  Segrave  Char, 
tularv.  Nichoh 
Vol.11.,  p.  112, 113; 
and  117. 


Jolm  le  Despenser.  In  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  his  estate  was  ^  . . . 
larger  than  any  other  in  Leicestershire,  with  two  exceptions.  See  I  of 
Nichols,  Vol.  I.,  p.  xlv. 


Joan,  married  to  William  de 
Ferrars,  Baron  of  Groby,  who 
died  1287. 


Hugh  le  Despenser,  born  1235.     Restored  to  the  Barony  of  le  Despenser  in  1295.     Created  =  Isabel,  daughter  of 

Earl  of  Winchester  m  1322.     Hanged  at  Bristol,  1325,  aged  90.     Attainted.     Nichols  con-     ]  William        Beau- 

sidered  him  the  son  of  the  former  Hugh  (Vol.  III.,  p.  136).     Burke  calls  him  his  grandson,     •  champ,     Earl     of 

but  was  unable  to  ascertain  his  father's  Christian  name.     Called,  in  English  history,   "  The  Warwick. 
Elder  Spenser."                                                                                                                                          I 

Hugh  le  Despenser.*     Summoned  to  Parliament  in  1310,  as  "  Sir  Hugh  le  Despenser,  Junior,  =i  Alianora,  dau. 

Lord  Despenser."     Hanged  at  Hereford,  1.326.     Attainted.     He  is  often  styled  Earl  of  Gloucester,     I  of        Gilbert, 

from  having  married  Eleanor,  the  eldest  sister  and  co-heir  to  her  brother,  Gilbert  de  Clare,  Earl  of  Earl  of  Glou- 

Gloucester  and  Hertford.     Called  "  The  Yoimger  Spenser."  cester. 


*  His  son,  Hugh  le  Despenser,  was  restored  Ln  1339,  as  Lord  le  Despenser :  whose  son,  Thomas  le  Despenser,  was 
created  Earl  of  Gloucester  in  1398 ;  but  was  attainted  in  1400.  He  left  an  only  daughter,  his  heir,  who  carried  the 
Barony  of  le  Despenser  into  the  Beauchamp  family.  From  them  it  came  to  the  Nevilles;  from  them  to  the  Fanes; 
from  them  to  the  Dasliwoods ;  and  on  the  death  of  Lady  Austin,  Baroness  le  Despenser,  to  the  Staplctons. 


PAROCHIAL   HISTORY   OF  CHARXWOOD.  Q3 

MAPPLEWELL. 

(M(ii>ulw('U,  Mnpli'ncU,  Mapplcwell.) 

This  is  another  hamlet  in  the  extensive  lordship  of  Barrow:  forming,  in  fact,  the  south- 
western corner  of  it.  It  is  in  the  liberty  of  Woodhouse.  This  estate,  which  was  a  very 
early  inclosure,  belonged,  for  several  generations,  to  the  ancient  family  of  Whatton — from 
whom  it  passed  to  the  Raworths.  It  was  afterwards  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  Levett,  of 
Nottingham,  from  whom  it  passed  to  Mr.  Barber,  and  was  sold  by  him  to  Mr.  Crompton, 
of  Derby,  in  whose  family  it  still  remains. 

There  was,  in  1673,  a  good  mansion  here,  surrounded  by  a  moat  and  approached  by  a 
draw-bridge.  This  has  disappeared,  and  a  farm-house  has  been  erected  from  the  materials, 
which,  with  two  or  three  lone  cottages,  forms  the  whole  of  Mapplewell. 

Geoffrey  Whatton,  the  last  possessor,  of  that  name,  was  a  somewhat  eccentric  character ; 
he  refused  to  pay  levies  to  Woodhouse,  though  on  a  trial  at  the  Assizes  Mapplewell  was 
proved  to  be  in  that  constabulary.  On  this  refusal,  a  curious  petition,  signed  by  William 
Heyricke,  Ralph  Rivitt,  and  other  inhabitants  of  Woodhouse,  was  presented  to  the  Earl  of 
Huntingdon,  then  Lord-Lieutenant,  praying  him  "  to  convent  the  said  Whatton  to  answer 
the  premisses."  The  case  came  at  length  before  Judge  Crooke,  and  was  by  him  referred  to 
Sir  Arthur  Hazelrigge  and  Sir  Wolstan  Dixie. — I  mention  this  circumstance,  because  the 
grounds  of  Mr.  Whatton's  refusal  have  been  stated  to  me  to  have  been  founded  on  some  real 
or  supposed  privileges  and  immunities,  granted  to  the  owner  of  this  estate  by  one  of  our 
Kings,  when  residing  in  that  liberty. 

Not  having  been  able  to  discover  any  report  of  the  pleadings  in  this  case,  I  cannot  state 
whether  this  information  can  be  relied  on.  It  would,  if  correct,  considerably  strengthen  the 
reasons  for  believing  the  tradition  already  referred  to,  as  prevailing  at  Woodhouse  Eaves. 

The  earliest  name  of  this  hamlet,  Mapulwell  ( May-jwle-icell ) ,  inclines  me  to  think 
that  on  this  spot  the  Druids  were  accustomed  to  celebrate  the  Bel-tein,*  and,  subsequently, 
the  ancient  Foresters  to  offer  honours  to  Flora. 

The  author  of  "  The  Way  to  Things  by  Words,  and  by  Words  to  Things,"  has  some 
observations  on  these  raral  sacrifices  that  render  such  a  supposition  not  an  unnatural  one. 
He  says,  "  TIte  Column  of  the  May  (whence  our  May-pole)  was  the  great  standard  of  justice 
in  the  Ey-Commons  or  Fields  of  May.  Here  it  was  that  the  people,  if  they  saw  cause, 
deposed  or  punished  their  Governors,  their  Barons,  or  their  Kings.  The  Judges'  bough  or 
wand  (at  this  time  discontinued,  or  faintly  represented  by  a  nosegay),  and  the  staff  or  rod  of 
authority,  the  iiiave,  as  well  as  the  term  Mayor,  were  all  derived  from  this.  The  youths 
and  maidens  joined,  on  these  occasions,  in  singing  songs,  of  which  the  chorus  was,  "We 
have  brought  the  Summer  home."t 

Mapplewell  is  altogether  an  interesting  part  of  the  Forest. 

•  This  festival  may  still  be  traced  in  the  mountains  of  Cumberland  and  on  the  Cheviot  Hills.  Mr.  Pennant,  in  his 
"  Tour  in  Scotland,"  gives  a  particular  description  of  it.     Scott  says, 

"  Blooming  at  Beltane — in  winter  to  fade." 
Our  shepherds  still  retain  the  term. 

f  Ency.  Londiu,  Article  May. 


94  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

ALDERMAN'S  HAW. 

In  dispositione  Prioris  de  Bermondsey,  qui  consuerit  habere  ibi  tres  monachos. — Matriculus  of  Bp.   Welles. 

Situated  nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  Forest,  and  belonging  to  the  hamlet  of  Woodhouse, 
but  in  the  paiish  of  Barrow,  is  Alderman's  Haw.  A  small  farm-house,  standing  low  on  a 
brooklet,  surrounded  by  a  few  fields  of  old  inclosure,  presenting  to  the  casual  observer  little 
of  what  is  attractive  or  picturesque,  would  scarcely  seem  to  require  any  lengthened  notice. 
It  is,  however,  a  spot  of  considerable  interest,  on  account  of  the  ecclesiastical  disputes  which 
have  been  raised  respecting  it,  and  the  obscurity  which  still  seems  to  shroud  some  part  of 
its  history. 

In  the  year  1082,  Aylwin  Child,  a  rich  citizen  of  London,  founded  in  Southwark  a  fair 
Church  and  Monastery,  placing  therein  some  Chmiac  Monks,  who  were  procured  fi-om  the 
Priory  de  Charitate  in  France.  He  obtained  for  it  the  manor  of  Bermondsey,  and  by  his 
exertions  the  new  Monastery  w^as  enriched  with  many  benefactions,  amongst  \vhich  was  the 
villate  of  Andrffitesberie,  presented  to  the  Priory  by  William  de  Belmeis.  The  exact  site  of 
Andrffitesberie  is  now  unknown ;  but  it  appears,  fi'om  the  register  of  the  Priory  of  Bermond- 
sey, that  it  was  given  to  the  Monks  of  that  house,  in  exchange  for  the  manor  of  Wydeford, 
in  Hertfordshire,  by  Ivo  de  Grentesmaisnell.  But  as  it  is  proved,  by  Domesday  Book,  that 
Hugh,  the  father  of  Ivo,  possessed  seven  houses  in  Leicester  in  right  of  the  lordship  of 
Andrcetesherie,  there  is  still  some  ambiguity  about  this  exchange  ;  Nichols  tliinks  that,  as 
Ivo's  name  only  occurs  in  a  confirmation  grant,  the  original  exchange  was  made  with  Hugo 
de  Grentesmaisnell.  The  words  of  the  Confirmation  of  Henry  I.,  reciting  the  different 
donations  to  Bermondsey  Priory,  are : — "  Wydeford  quam  commutavit  cum  monachis  de 
Bermundseid  Ivo  de  GrentesmeisneU,  pro  Andnetesberyd  quam  dederat  eis  Willielmus 
de  Beimels.'''' 

Grentemaisnell's  having  possessed  that  part  of  the  Forest  adjoining  Alderman's  Haw— 
the  Haw  itself  having  been  in  the  patronage  of  the  Priory — and  an  Inquisition  subsequently 
to  be  noticed,  together,  perhaps,  with  some  long-entertained  tradition,  are  the  chief  reasons 
for  concluding  that  the  now  lost  Andraetesberie  was,  at  least,  in  the  vicinity  of  Alderman's 
Haw. — The  quest  of  the  inquisitors  in  the  case  to  be  referred  to,  having,  so  far  as  can  be 
ascertained,  been  directed  solely  to  the  Haw,  is  a  proof  that  the  Church  of  Andrsetesberie 
was  believed,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  to  have  stood  in  or  near  that  locality. 

I  have  attempted,  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  Antiquities  of  the  Forest,  to  show  the 
probable  origin  of  the  name  of  Andrajtesberie,  by  supposing  that,  on  the  remarkable  rock 
near  Baldwin  Castle,  which  overlooks  the  Haw,  an  idol  or  temple  of  Andrate,  or  Andraste, 
may  have  stood.  As  that  Druidical  goddess  was,  in  all  likelihood,  worshipped  on  some 
part  of  Charnwood,  this  derivation  is  by  no  means  strained.  Nothing  but  the  name  of 
Bawdon  or  Baldwin  Castle  remaining,  and  history  being  entirely  silent  about  it,  is  another 
"■round  for  the  hypothesis  that  this  neighbourhood  was,  at  one  time,  of  considerable  conse- 
quence. It  is  not  even  unreasonable  to  conclude,  that  some  Saxon  Ealderman,  or  Alderman, 
may  have  inclosed  the  Haw  adjoining,  and  given  it  its  name.     There  are  certainly  more 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  95 

rational  grounds  for  this  origin  than  the  fanciful  reasoning  given  in  Nichols,  who  imagined 
that  Ayhvin  Chikl,  the  founder  of  the  Monastery  to  which  the  Haw  was  given,  might  pos- 
sibly have  been  an  Alderman ;  and  that  the  place  was  so  called  from  him.  Unlbrtunalcly 
for  this  supposition,  it  does  not  appear  that  Aylvvin  had  the  slightest  connexion  with  the 
spot,  and  that  he  was  an  Alderman  appears  by  no  means  certain. 

Hugh  de  Grentesmaisnell  died  in  1094,  and  his  son  Ivo  joining  the  rebeUion  against 
Henry  I.,  was  obliged  to  take  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  from  which  he  never  returned: 
but  before  his  departure,  with  the  view  of  securing  his  possessions  from  confiscation,  he 
pledged  them  to  Robert  de  Belloraont,  Earl  of  Mellent  and  Leicester,  who,  on  Ivo's  death, 
became  the  actual  possessor.  At  his  death  (1118)  the  Earl  confirmed  both  Wydeford  and 
AndrKtesberie  to  the  Monks  of  Uermondsey.  Two  years  after  this.  Alderman's  Haw  was 
regularly  conveyed  by  Ranulph,  Earl  of  Chester,  to  Henry  I.,  who  re-granted  it  to  Robert 
Bossu.  At  all  events,  both  Andraetesberic  and  Alderman's  Haw  were  at  one  time  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Prior  of  Bermondsey ;  and  in  1220,  according  to  the  Matriculus  of  Bishop 
Welles,  the  Priory  was  accustomed  to  have  three  Monks  at  the  Haw.  It  had,  however, 
ceased  to  have  any  resident  religious  long  before  the  Dissolution. 

About  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  a  dispute  arose  between  the  Abbot  of  Leicester 
(claiming,  either  from  some  grant  of  Robert  Bossu,  or  from  the  place  being  in  the  parish  of 
Ban-ow)  and  the  Prior  of  Bermondsey  respecting  this  spot.  The  Prior  alleged  there  had 
been  a  parish  Church  here,  with  a  font  for  baptism,  and  also  a  right  of  burial.  On  this  a 
view  was  taken,  and  the  examiners,  after  diligent  search,  answered,  that  they  "  could  per- 
ceive no  Church,  nor  any  remaining  foundations  of  walls  of  a  Church,  in  Alderman's  Haw  ; 
but  rather,"  to  use  their  own  words,  "  cujusdam  heremetorii,  bovarii,  sive  ovilis" — (the  walls 
of  some  hermitage,  ox-house,  or  sheep-cote) — "  nor  had  there  been  any  fount  for  baptism." 
And  the  Prior  of  Bermondsey  was  denied  to  have  any  right  to  the  said  place,  or  to  any  tithes 
or  dues  proceeding  from  it.* 

Now  Mr.  Nichols  thinks  that  it  was  possibly  the  parish  Church  of  Andrastesberie  which 
the  Prior  was  in  quest  of,t  in  the  district ;  and  that  this  Church,  in  the  ruinous  civil  wars 
between  1220  and  the  lime  at  which  the  view  was  taken  (about  1450),  might  have  been 
completely  destroyed.  | 

*  These  Inquisitions  -were  often,  in  the  middle  ages,  most  iniquitous  proceedings;  see  the  first  note  of  page  66, 
respecting  one  at  Mountsorrel.  The  Abbot  of  Leicester  would,  in  this  case,  have  the  same  advantage  which  the 
King  had  in  that. 

t  The  Prior,  no  doubt,  wanted  to  find  a  parish  Church,  that  he  might  establish  a  right  to  tithes  in  the  district,  which 

the  Inquisition  denied  him. 

+  Gilbert  Wakefield  confutes  the  assertors  of  the  non-existence  of  Troy,  on  account  of  the  site  having  been  oblite- 
rated, by  mentioning  the  following  fact,  "  of  ocular  and  personal  experience:"—"  When  I  was  at  school,  in  1776, 
Flawford  Church,  about  five  miles  from  Nottingham,  was  in  a  ruinous  state,  but  the  burial  service  was  occasionally 
performed  in  it  by  my  master.  I  have  been  several  times  in  the  Church  to  see  some  ancient  monuments  of  Crusaders, 
mentioned  by  Thoroton.  To  prevent  accidents,  the  Church  was  entirely  demolished :  and  in  1784  or  5,  when  I  went, 
with  two  others,  to  contemplate  the  spot  where  the  romantic  pile  had  stood,  well  as  I  knew  the  place,  we  could  only 
ascertain  it,  after  much  diligent  speculation,  by  the  protuberant  lines  marking  the  main  walls." — Life  of  G.  W., 
p.  105,  Vol.  2. 


96  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

There  are  some  expressions  in  the  report  of  the  Inquisition  (a  copy  of  which  will  be 
found  given  in  the  Appendix)  which  may  throw  some  further  light  on  the  place. 

Thomas  ate  Reghos,  the  chief  inquisitor,  is  therein  styled  "  Major  villa; ;"  a  term  which 
Nichols  justly  considers  remarkable.  The  villa  in  which  Alderman's  Haw,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, Andrailesberie  were  situated,  was*  Barrow.  The  questmen,  therefore,  as  residents 
in  that  parish,  may  be  concluded  to  have  been  more  desirous  to  favour  the  Abbot  of  Leicester 
than  the  Prior  of  Bermondsey,  and  for  that  reason  to  have  confined  their  inquiry  to  the  strict 
letter  of  their  instructions — that  is,  aolehj  to  Alderman's  Ilaw. 

Further,  it  may  be  inferred  from  the  report,  that  the  Prior  of  Bermoudsey  had  certainly 
been  informed  that  there  were  remains  of  the  walls  of  a  Church  plainly  to  be  seen  in  that 

neighbourhood  (parietibus nunc  ibidem  existentibus  et  paldm  apparentibus ) .     The 

conclusion  at  which  I  arrive  from  all  this  is,  that  the  Prior  of  Bermondsey,  at  the  time  when 
the  revenues  of  the  Priory  began  to  decline  (which  we  have  express  evidence  was  the  case 
about  the  period  of  the  Inquisition),  began  to  look  closely  into  the  Register;  and  finding 
mention  of  AndraBtesberie,  and  making  further  inquiries  about  it,  was  told  of  the  remains  of 
walls  existing  near  Alderman's  Haw,  viz. : — those  described  in  the  plan  of  Beacon  Hill. 
The  Haw  having  been  known  to  have  been  an  old  religious  foundation,  led  him,  probably, 
to  conclude  at  once  that  the  site  of  the  lost  Church  was  there.  Hence  the  express  direction 
of  the  search  to  Alderman's  Haw.  It  is  singular,  that  though  nearly  four  centuries  have 
elapsed  since  the  Inquisition  alluded  to,  there  is  one  spot  amongst  the  many  foundations  of 
walls  on  Beacon  side,  which  might  easily  be  imagined  to  be  the  ruins  of  a  Church, 

Another  discovery,  not  noticed  in  my  previous  description  of  this  hill,  seems  to  favour 
the  idea,  that  at  one  period  there  were  many  inhabitants  located  on  the  ground  where  these 
singular  foundation  walls  are  situated. — A  hollow  and  much  worn  ancient  road  diverges  from 
what  I  take  to  have  been  the  Saltway,  a  little  above  Woodhouse  Eaves,  and  leads,  by  a 
gentle  sweep,  to  the  very  point  which  appears  to  have  been  the  entrance  of  this  ancient 
village. 

The  whole,  then,  of  these  speculations,  may  perhaps  amount  to  this  : — that  Beacon  Hill, 
instead  of  Baldwin  Castle  Hill,  may  have  held  the  idol  of  Andrate — that  an  ancient  British 
village  was  early  erected  below — that  the  Romans,  Saxons,  or  Danes,  took  possession  of, 
and  strengthened  this  commanding  station — that  a  hill  so  remarkable,  both  from  its  altitude 
and  extent,  must  have  had  a  name  previously  to  the  erection  of  the  Beacon — that  no  such 
name  is  now  known — and  that  it  was,  in  all  probability,  the  ancient  Andraetesberie.  The 
erection  of  a  Christian  Church  on  the  site  of  Druidical  or  Roman  idolatry,  and  its  destruc- 
tion in  a  neighbourhood  so  likely  to  have  been  the  scene  of  war,  will  not  appear  either  un- 
accountable or  unreasonable.t 

*  Quatuor  homines  (sive  liberi  sive  rustic!)  de  eidem. — Hoveden,  jiac/e  783. 
t  An  elevated  site,  like  the  one  this  would  have  been,  seems  to  have  been,  by  the  early  founders,  as  generally 
chosen  for  Churches,  as  a  low  one  was  for  Monasteries.     Thus  Breedon,  Tilton,  and  several  others  in  this  county,  are 
located  on  tlie  boldest  prominences  in  their  respective  neighbourhoods. 


PAKOCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHAIiNWOOD.  97 

CHARLEY. 

fCharnley,  Cerneley,  Cernelega.) 

In  Cernelega,  4  carucate  terrfe.     Vasta  est.     Require  yxcc'mm.— Domesday,  folio  237. 

The  westeni  portion  of  Barrow  lordsliip  is  comprised  by  the  extra-parochial  hamlet  of 
Charley.  This  secluded  domain  appears,  alter  having  been  in  cultivation,  to  have  returned, 
so  early  as  the  period  of  the  compilation  of  Domesday  Book,  to  the  state  of  open  Forest. 
The  wood  of  Challenge  has  been  before  shown  to  have  occupied  a  large  portion  of  it ;  which 
agrees  with  Nichols'  assertion  that  it  was  at  one  time  sun-ounded  by  a  thick  wood.  It 
formed  a  part  of  the  possessions  of  Hugh  Lupus  and  continued  in  the  family  of  the  Norman 
Earls  of  Chester  imtil  that  remarkable  covenant,  already  referred  to  under  Mountsorrel, 
between  Ranulph  de  Meschines  and  Kobert  Bossu,  Earl  of  Leicester.  As  a  part  of  this 
covenant,  Earl  Ranulph  granted  to  the  said  Earl  and  his  heirs  "  the  Lordship  of  Cerneley 
and  all  the  woods  adjacent  thereto,  adjoining  to  his  Forest  of  Leicester,  as  well  those  of  his 
fee  as  his  ov^-n  proper  woods,  excepting  his  Park  at  Barrow,  to  hold  and  enjoy  the  same  as 
Forest,  in  as  ample  a  manner  as  he  held  the  Forest  of  Leicester  of  the  King."* 

Robert  Bossu  dying  in  1168  Charley  descended  to  his  son,  Robert  Blanchmaines,  Earl 
of  Leicester,  who  in  the  reign  of  Henry  H.  built  in  this  most  quiet  vale  a  small  Priory 
and  dedicated  it  to  the  Virgin.  He  placed  in  it  three  Friars  Eremites  of  the  Order  of  St. 
Augustine. t 

The  Priory  seems  at  first  to  have  belonged  to  that  of  Luffield,  Northamptonshire,  which 
Robert  Bossu  had  founded  in  11'20 ;  for,  to  a  grant  to  that  place  he  adds,  "  et  de  alia  terra 
de  Cerneleid  tanium  ad  edijicandum  quantum  ego  convenienter  coiisiderabo  per  coiisilunii 
amicorum  meorum."  From  this  it  may  be  conjectured  that  Blanchmaines,  in  founding  the 
Priory,  merely  complied  with  his  father's  wishes  on  the  subject. 

The  Matriculus  of  Bishop  Hugh  Welles  (1220)  J  shows  that  the  Church  of  Ratcliffe-on- 
the-Wreke  was  in  the  patronage  of  the  Prior  of  Charley,  who  received  from  the  Vicar  of 
that  Church  an  annual  pension  of  three  shillings  ah  antique.  In  1334§  the  Prior  was  not 
only  Patron  but  held  it  "  in  proprios  usus." 

Saer  de  Quincy,  Earl  of  Winton,  about  1210,  conveyed  to  Robert  de  Ibstoke  a  house  at 

•  So  states  Dugdale ;  but  it  would  appear  by  the  following  record,  that  Ranulph,  in  order  to  make  assurance 
doubly  sure,  formally  conveyed  these  places  to  King  Henry  I,,  who  re-granted  them  to  Bossu: — "  Henricus,  Dei 
gratia,  rex  Anglic  &  dux  Nonnannie,  archiepiscopis,  episcopis,  &c.  salutem.  Sciatis  quia  Ranulphus  comes  de  Ces- 
tri4  dimisit  &  concessit  mihi  habere  in  dominio  Cemelegam,  &  Cemewodam,  &  Alderman-hagam,  in  defense,  sicut 
aliquod  defensum  cariis  habeo,  et  omnia  nemora  que  fuerunt  de  feodo  comitis  de  Cestrii,  que  attingunt  forestam 
Legrecestrie,  preter  parcum  suum,  habere  in  defenso,  de  wasli  &  de  bestii  salvagii :  sicut  autem  predictus  comes 
Ranulphus  mihi  hec  dimisit  et  concessit,  ita  et  ego  concede  Roberto  comiti  Legrecestrie  habere  hereditabiliter,  cum 
alio  feodo  suo ;  &  volo  &  pr^cipio  ut  bene  &  quiete  &  honorifice  teneat,  cum  omnibus  consuetudinibus  suis.  Testi- 
bus  Theobaldo  comite  Blesense,  &  Gualerano  comite  de  Mellento,  &  Willielmo  de  Tano,  &  Nigello  de  Albini,  & 
Willo  de  Luriaca,  &  Adamo  de  Portu,  &  Pagano  filio  Job's  &  Gaufrido  filio  Pagani,  &  Andrei  de  Baldement  &  Ro- 
berto de  Donestan-villi.     Apud  Haveringas." 

f  Tanner,  page  241.  +  Nichols,  Vol.  I.,  p.  Ix.  {  Ibid,  p.  Ixvii. 


gg  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

Donino-ton-on-the-Heath,  which  had  been  held  by  Gilbert  de  Seis,  under  William,  then 
Prior  of  Charley.*  He  obtained  Charley  by  his  marriage  with  Margaret,  sister  and  co-heiress 
of  Robert  de  Bellomont,  Earl  of  Leicester. 

His  son  Ro^er  de  Quincy,  Earl  of  Winton  and  Constable  of  Scotland,  was  the  next 
possessor.  He  procured,  in  1246,  a  confirmation  grant,  and  in  1270  died  seised  of  the  ad- 
vowson  of  the  Priory .f 

In  the  following  year  it  was  found  that  Eleanor  de  Vaux,  daughter  of  William  de  Fer- 
raiiis  Earl  of  Derby,  the  third  wife  and  relict  of  Roger  de  Quincy,  Earl  of  Winton,  held  the 
advowson  of  Charley  and  Ulverscroft  in  dower.  J 

The  Priory  now  obtained  a  new  benefactor  in  the  person  of  Sir  William  de  Ferrars, 
Kni"-ht,  brother  to  the  Countess  of  Winton :  who,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  became  seated 
at  Groby,  and  took  great  interest  in  the  religious  establishments  in  the  neighbourhood. 
Some  of  his  benefactions  to  this  Priory  were  noticed  in  page  19. 

After  the  death  of  Eleanor  de  Yaux,  Charley  became  one  of  the  possessions  of  the  re- 
nowned Alexander  Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan,  through  his  marriage  with  Elizabeth, §  one  of 
the  co-heiresses  of  Roger  de  Quincy.  To  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  the  manner  in  which 
this  marriage  was  brought  about,  as  well  as  to  clear  up  some  prevailing  misconceptions  respect- 
ing the  connexion  of  this  remarkable  Scotch  family  with  the  Forest,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
go  somewhat  at  length  into  subjects  but  slightly  bearing  on  the  History  of  Charnwood. 

The  probability  of  a  disputed  succession  to  the  throne  of  Scotland  having  early  sug- 
gested to  Edward  I.  some  hopes  of  being  able  to  annex  that  country  to  the  English  Crown, 
that  politic  Prince  took  every  possible  mode  to  league  the  most  powerful  Scotch  Barons  in 
his  interest.  The  Comyns,  Earls  of  Buchan  and  Badenoch,  from  the  extent  of  their  estates 
and  their  personal  influence  were,  perhaps,  inferior  to  no  family  in  Scotland.  To  bind 
these  by  grants  and  kind  offices  was  therefore  soon  a  part  of  Edward's  plans.  Elizabeth 
Quincy  daughter  of  Roger,  was,  with  her  sister  jNIargaret,  one  of  the  richest  co-heiresses  in 
the  kingdom.  The  Sovereign,  in  feudal  times,  had  the  disposal  of  all  heiresses  in  marriage, 
on  the  plea  that  women  were  incapable  of  performing  to  the  Sovereign  the  military  service 
by  which  their  lands  were  held.||     Nothing,  therefore,  was   more  easy  than  for  Edward  to 

*  Two  of  the  subscribing  witnesses  to  this  deed  were  Richard  Sarraseene  and  Robert  Sarascenus — names,  doubt- 
less  derived  from  the  Crasades,  and  still  frequently  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Forest,  in  the  abbreviated  form 

— Sarson. 

t  Kentale. 

*  Nichols  (Vol.  III.,  p.  121)  says,  "  and  Charnwood"— which  is  absurd.     In  p.  1086,  he  says  correctly,  "  in  dower." 

4  Nichols  (West  Goscote,  p.  121)  erroneously  calls  Alexander  Comyn's  wife  Helen,  who  was,  in  fact,  wife  of  Alan 

Lord  Galloway,  as  he  had  elsewhere  stated.     English  Historians  seem  greatly  at  fault  about  this  Elizabeth.     Burton 

(page  284)  mistaking  a  passage  in  Leland,  who  seems  equally  to  have  mistaken  another  in  the  Seala-Chronicon,  says, 

"  This  Elizabeth,  at  the  time  when  Robert  Bruce,  having  slam  John  Lord  Comyn,  of  Bodenaugh,  proclaimed  himself 

King  of  Scotland,  crowned  the  said  Robert  Bruce  at  Scone,  her  son  Alexander  being  then  absent  in  England,  at  his 

manor  of  Whitwick,  to  whom  that  office,  by  inlieritance,  appertained !"     It  will  be  sho^vn,  further  on,  that  it  was  not 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Roger  de  Quincy,  and  that  the  ofiice  did  not  ippci-taiu  to  her  son. 

II  On  the  same  pretence,  if  the  heir  to  a  feudal  tenure  was  abroad  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death,  the  estate,  and 

even  the  title,  were  often  granted  to  the  next  brother.     One  instance  of  this  has  been  given  before,  in  the  first  note 

to  page  22. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  99 

re«-ard  the  Earl  of  Buchan  for  some  past  services,  and  insure  his  readiness  for  future  ones, 
than  by  allying  him  with  the  English  nobility,  and  giving  him  a  large  stake  in  the  country, 
through  the  possessions  that  w^ould  accrue.  Elizabeth,  therefore,  uith  the  Royal  sanction, 
soon  became  Countess  of  Buchan. 

Alexander  III.,  King  of  Scotland,  was  killed  by  a  fall  from  his  horse,  March,  1285-6 
His  leaving  no  issue,  and  his  sister,  the  Queen  of  Norway,  dying  the  same  year,  leaving 
only  an  infant  daughter,  commonly  called  the  Maiden  of  Norway — who  was  grand-niece  to 
Edward,  gave  fresh  vigour  to  the  English  King's  long-cherished  designs  with  regard  to 
Scotland.  He  proposed  a  marriage  between  the  ilaiden  and  his  eldest  son ;  and  though 
there  were  some  terms  in  this  treaty  highly  objectionable  to  the  Scottish  Regency,  their 
scruples  were  overcome  by  Comyn,  who  was,  in  fact,  one  of  the  Regents,  and  the  marriage 
treaty  was  signed  at  Brigham,  June  18th,  1-290. 

The  prematiu-e  death  of  the  Maid  of  Norway  frustrated  one  hope  of  Edward,  but  only  to 
give  birth  to  another.  He  immediately  saw  bis  opening  in  the  numerous  competitors  that 
now  asserted  their  claims  to  the  Scottish  throne,  and  calmly  calculated  on  appropriating 
"  the  Lion's  share." 

The  origin  of  this  diversity  of  claim  is  extremely  simple.  William  the  Lion,  who  suc- 
ceeded to  the  Crown  in  1  KJo,  had  a  brother,  David,  Earl  of  Huntingdon.  In  1214,  William 
transmitted  the  Crown  to  his  son,  Alexander  II.,  who  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Alexan- 
der HI.,  in  1249.  Failing,  therefore,  the  descendants  of  this  Monarch,  the  Crown  reverted 
to  the  posterity  of  David,  Earl  of  Huntingdon.  By  referring  to  page  12,  it  will  at  once  be 
seen  that  the  issue  of  this  Earl's  marriage  with  Matilda,  sister  of  Ranulph  de  Blondeville, 
were : — 1.  Margaret,  married  to  Alan,  Lord  Galloway,  whose  daughter  Dervorgoil  married 
John  Baliol,  and  bore  to  him  another  John  Baliol.  2.  Isabella,  married  to  Robert  Bruce, 
Lord  of  Annandale,  whose  son  was  a  competitor  for  the  Crown.  3.  Matilda,  s.  p.  4.  Ada, 
married  to  Henry  de  Hastings,  grandfather  of  John  de  Hastings,  the  third  competitor. 
Besides  these,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  Pedigree,  given  in  a  note  on  the  following  page,  there 
were  many  other  claimants. 

Edward,  who  was  the  referee  or  mediator  in  this  dispute,  chosen  by  the  recommendation 
of  John  Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan  (Alexander,  his  father,  had  lately  died),  decided  in  favour 
of  Baliol,  or  rather  declared  himself  Lord  Paramount,  and  Baliol  his  deputy.  On  Baliol's 
resignation — brought  about  by  the  contumelious  conduct  of  the  English  King,  and  a  sus- 
picion of  his  latent  intentions — Bruce  expressed  hopes  of  being  allowed  to  supply  his  place. 
"  What !"  said  Edward,  "  have  we  nothing  to  do  but  to  conquer  kingdoms  for  you  ?" 

Amongst  the  principal  claimants  after  Baliol  were  Robert,  grandson  of  the  first  claimant 
of  that  name,  and  John  Comyn,  of  Badenoch,  commonly  called  the  Red  Comyn.  Both 
these  powerful  Barons  had  taken  part  with  William,  but  after  the  defeat  at  Falkirk,  with  the 
hope  of  preserving  their  English  estates,  both  had  submitted  to  Edward,  and  even  borne 
arms  against  their  countrymen. 

Bruce,  who  in  early  life  seems  to  have  had  no  fixed  principles,  subsequently  made  over- 
tures to  Comyn  to  join  in  a  common  eflbrt  to  expel  the  usurper,  and  afterwards  settle  the 
sovereignty  between  themselves.     This  John  Comyn,  whose  mother  was  Marjory  Baliol, 


100 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 


sister  of  the  King  of  Scotland,  and  who  was  by  his  marriage  (for  he,  too,  had  been  provided 
for  by  Edward)  connected  with  the  royal  family  of  England,  is  represented  as  a  person  of 
designing  and  treacherous  character,  and  under  an  exterior  of  the  most  finished  dissimula- 
tion, and  with  manners  polished  to  the  highest  degree  of  refinement,  concealing  all  the 
worst  features  of  the  feudal  character.  He  hated  Bruce  for  his  success  in  retaining  Edward's 
favour,  while  he  himself  had  endured  royal  frowns,  and  been  heavily  mulcted.  He  accord- 
ingly laid  a  letter  from  Bruce  before  the  King.  Edward  for  a  while  doubted  Comyn's 
information  but  resolved  to  probe  the  matter  to  the  bottom.  In  order,  therefore,  to  ensure 
Bruce's  presence  in  London,  unforewamed  by  any  suspicion  that  his  overtures  had  been 
betrayed,  the  King  convoked  a  Parliament,  to  wliich  he  summoned  Bruce  as  Earl  of  Car- 
rick.     Ignorant  of  Comyn's  treachery  he  attended  without  scruple.     Edward,  anxious  to 


David  I.,  King  of  Scotland,  died  1124.: 


Henry,  died  before  his  fatUer.:=  . 


Malcolm  IV.,  died 
in  1165,  s.p. 


William,  died 
in  1214. 


Florence,   Earl    of    Robert  Pynke- 
HoUand,  claimant,     ney,  claimant. 


David,  Earl  of= 
Huntingdon. 


Henry,  natural         Isabella. = Robert  de  Ros. 
son.  I 


I 
Margaret. 


Alexander  11.:^  . 


Patrick  Golithly,  |  | 

claimant.  Robert,     William. = Isabel,  of     claimant. 

obt.s.p.  I   Belvoir. 


Dunbar,  Earl    William  de  Vosci, 
of  March,  claimant. 


I 
William  de  Ros,  claimant. 


Marjory. 
Nicholas  de  Scules,  claimant. 


Alexander  III.  =  Margarct,  sister  of 
I  Edward  I. 


Alexander,  died  s.  r. 


David,  died  an  infant. 


Margaret. r^Eric,  King  of  Norway. 

I 


Margaret,  "the  Maid  of  Norway,"  betrothed  to  Prince  Edward,  died  an  infant. 


:  Matilda, 
eldest  dau. 
and        co- 
heiress   of 
Ranulph 
Blonde- 
ville,    Earl 
of  Chester. 


.John,  the  Scot,  Earl  of 
Huntingdon  and  Ches- 
ter, died  s.  p.,  1244; 
poisoned  by  his  wife, 
Helena  or  Avisa,  dau. 
of  Llewellyn,  Prince  of 
Wales. 


Margaret. = Alan,  of 
Galway. 


Isabella.^ Robert  Bruce. 

I 


Ada.  =  H.  Hastings. 


Robert  Bruce,  cteim-^  Isabel,      of        John  Hastings,  claim- 
ant. I  Gloucester.         ant. 


I 
Robert,  King  of  Scotland. 


Christiana,  mar.  Earl  of  Albe- 
marle; died  1219,  s.  p. 


Devorguilla.=  John  Baliol. 


Marjory,  died  s.  p.=John  Comyn,  claimant.- 


Hugh,  died  1272,  s.  p.  Alexander.  John  Baliol,  tiaiman*. 

'  John  Comyn  claimed  as  the  descendant  of  Donald  VII.  and  not  as  husband  of  Marjory  do  Galway. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  101 

judge  of  his  guilt  or  innocence  by  the  impression  the  unexpected  charge  might  make  upon 
him,  turning  suddenly  to  Bruce,  asked  if  he  knew  the  seal.  With  well-dissembled  astonish- 
ment the  Earl  calmly  replied  that  the  letter  was  a  forgery,  and  that  though  the  seal  was  a 
good  imitation,  he  could,  if  allowed  a  short  interval  to  send  for  his  seal,  at  once  prove  it, 
and  offered  to  pledge  his  whole  estates  to  prove  the  truth  of  his  denial.  The  King  was 
completely  deceived  by  this  seeming  integrity,  and  gave  him  leave  of  absence  from  Par- 
liament in  order  to  procure  the  documents  necessary  to  prove  the  forgery.  But  apprized 
by  his  kinsman,  the  Earl  of  Gloucester,  he  flew  with  all  speed  to  Scotland,  accompanied  by 
a  single  attendant.* 

On  the  borders  of  Scotland,  encountering  a  person  that  appeared  studious  to  avoid  him, 
Bruce  was  determined  to  ascertain  the  cause ;  a  sudden  suspicion  darting  into  his  mind 
that  the  stranger's  errand  concerned  himself.  He  immediately  seized  him  and  searching 
his  person  found  fresh  letters  from  Comyn,  inclosing  further  detail  of  the  conspiracy.  To 
slay  the  unhappy  envoy  and  to  possess  himself  of  the  despatches  was  the  work  of  a  moment. 
Hastening  with  all  speed  to  the  Castle  of  Lochmaben,  the  residence  of  his  brother  Edward, 
he  laid  before  him  his  discovery.  It  was  then  agreed  to  request  an  interview  with  Comyn. 
It  happened,  fortunately  for  Bruce,  as  explaining  his  sudden  return  to  Scotland,  that  the 
English  .Justiciary  was  about  to  hold  a  Court  at  Dumfries:  to  which  he,  as  Lord  of  Annan- 
dab,  and  Comyn,  as  Lord  of  Badenoch,  were  bound  to  attend.  They  met,  by  appointment, 
in  the  Chapel  of  the  Grey  Friars,  at  Dumfries,  February  4,  1305  ;  and  it  is  probable,  from 
the  place  fixed  upon,  that  Bruce  did  not  contemplate  the  horrid  act  which  resulted  and 
which,  ever  after,  was  a  source  of  extreme  bitterness  to  him.  Bruce  was  accompanied  by 
Sir  Christopher  Seton,  Sir  James  Lindesay  and  Gilpatrick  of  Kirkpatrick.  Comyn  only 
by  his  brother.  Sir  Robert  Comyn.  They  met  with  mutual  embraces.  Hemingford  says 
they  kissed  each  other ;  and  their  attendants  having  retired  outside,  they  walked  up  to  the 
high  altar,  where  Bruce  probably  thought  he  should  elicit  the  truth.  He  at  once  accused 
his  associate  of  having  betrayed  him  to  Ed\vard.  "  It  is  a  falsehood  you  utter,"  said  Comyn, 
and  Bruce,  without  another  word,  instantly  stabbed  him  with  his  dagger.  He  fell  on  the 
steps  of  the  altar ;  and  Bruce,  alarmed  at  the  atrocity,  hurried  to  his  friends  on  the  outside. 
"  Is  all  well  ?"  said  Seton,  observing  unusual  agitation  in  the  looks  of  Bruce.  "  Well  or  ill," 
replied  the  latter,  "  I  know  not — but  I  doubt  I  have  killed  Comyn."  "  And  is  that  a  thing 
to  be  left  in  doubt?"  cried  Gilpatrick.  "I  shall  make  surer  work."  Upon  which,  with 
Seton  and  Lindesay,  he  ran  back  into  the  Church ;  and  finding  Comyn  still  breathing,  and 
supported  by  the  Monks,  who  had  removed  him  behind  the  screen  of  the  altar,  they  barba- 
rously despatched  him  with  repeated  wounds  !  slaying,  at  the  same  time,  his  gallant  brother, 
vainly  endeavouring  to  defend  him.  Bruce's  course  was  decided  by  this  shocking  act.  He 
immediately  commenced  that  extraordinary  career  which  has  linked  such  military  glory  with 
his  name.  He  was  crowned  King  of  Scotland  at  Scone,  in  March,  1306  ;  and  now  occurs 
another  event,  which,  to  those  considering  the  recent  slaughter  of  Comyn,  will  appear  as 
strange  as  it  was  romantic. 

*  Wyulon's  Chronicle,  Vol.  II.,  page  121). 


102  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

The  Countess  of  Buchan,  the  wife  of  the  young  Alexander  Comyn,*  who  had  succeeded 
his  brother  John,  eloping  from  her  husband,  at  Charley  (whither  he  had  fled  out  of  the  way 
of  Bruce),  and  bringing  her  war  horses  and  a  train  suited  to  her  rank,  anived  in  Scotland, 
reached  Scone  two  days  after  Bruce's  coronation,  and  instantly  demanded  that  the  ceremony 
should  be  repeated.  She  claimed,  in  fact,  the  hereditary  right,  as  a  descendant  of  Macduff, 
of  placing  the  King  on  the  throne.  Bruce  at  once  complied  with  the  request,  and  the  repe- 
tition of  the  ceremony  infused  fresh  energy  into  his  followers.  A  most  ungenerous  and 
ungallant  act  of  our  exasperated  Edward  towards  this  high-spirited  woman  must  not  be 
omitted  here.  Having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  English  soldiers,  she  was  roughly  con- 
veyed to  the  Castle  of  Berwick.  On  an  outer  tun-et  of  this  Castle  Edward  immediately 
caused  a  cage  of  wood  and  iron  to  be  erected,  and  in  this  singular  prison,  most  strictly 
guarded,  and  forbidden  to  hold  communication  with  any  one  but  the  woman  to  whose  keep- 
ing she  was  intrusted,  did  this  high-spirited  lady  continue  for  four  years  !  "  Suspended," 
says  an  English  Historian,  "  as  a  spectacle  of  eternal  disgrace  to  all  passers  by."  There 
was  one  other  person,  at  least,  equally  disgraced  by  this  refinement  of  cruelty.  But  treachery 
or  cruelty  characterised  almost  every  act  of  this  heartless  usurper  in  Scotland.  One  of  the 
first  acts  of  his  son,  ashamed  of  this  barbarity  in  his  relentless  father,  was  to  remove  the 
Countess  of  Buchan  to  the  Monastery  of  Mount  Carmel. 

The  slaughter  of  the  Earl  of  Badenoch,  at  Dumfries,  had  naturally  roused  the  vengeful 
feelings  of  all  the  Comyus,  and  probably  Alexander  Comyn's  hatred  of  Bruce  was  consider- 
ably augmented  by  the  desertion  of  his  wife.  Hearing  of  Bruce's  illness,  at  Slaines,  he 
advanced  against  him  with  a  powerful  body,  comjjosed  of  English  and  his  own  retainers, 
and  with  that  fury  which  hatred  and  revenge  were  so  calculated  to  inspire.  Bruce,  all  worn 
as  he  was  by  disease  and  privations,  felt  all  his  energy  re-kindled  by  the  news  of  his  own 
nephew.  Sir  David  de  Brechin,  being  leagued  with  Comyn ;  and  ordering  his  armour  and 
war-horse,  neither  of  which  he  had  used  for  many  months,  he  was  lifted  into  the  saddle, 
and,  supported  by  a  soldier  on  each  side,  headed  himself  the  onset  on  Comyn.  The  conse- 
quence, says  Tytler,  was  a  total  rout  of  the  forces  of  the  latter — the  retreat  of  their  discom- 
fited leader  into  England,  and  his  shortly  subsequent  death — I  believe,  at  Charley. 

But  Bruce's  hostility  to  the  Comyns  did  not  stop  here.  He  conducted  his  army  into 
their  extensive  Highland  district,  Buchan,  wasted  it  with  fire  and  sword,  and  committed 
such  indiscriminate  havoc  that  for  fifty  years  aftervi'ards  men  talked  with  hoiTor  of  the 
hanging  or  depopulation  of  Buchan. t 

It  may  give  the  reader  a  fair  idea  of  the  cruelty  of  the  then  prevalent  system  of  warfare, 
to  say,  that  thirty  of  the  family  of  Comyn  were  beheaded  in  one  day  and  buried  in  one 

*  Nichols,  in  tlie  Quincy,  Comyn,  and  Beaumont  Pedigree,  omits  the  names  of  the  wives  of  both  John  and  Alex- 
ander Comyn  (the  sons  of  Alexander  Comyn  and  Elizabeth  de  Quincy).  The  wife  of  the  latter,  however,  as  may  be 
seen  in  Mr.  Fraser  Tytler's  valuable  History  of  Scotland  (from  which  I  glean  much  of  the  above  account)  was  Isabella, 
sister  of  the  Earl  of  Fife.  Her  brother -wns  of  the  English  party,  and  consequently  Bruce's  first  coronation  had  lacked 
that  part  of  the  ceremony  always  performed  by  the  descendants  of  Macduff, 
t  Barbour,  in  his  "  Bruce,"  says : — 

"  That  eftcr  that  weill  fifty  yer 
Men  menyt  the  herschip  of  Bowchane." 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  103 

grave.  Scott  (Tales  of  a  Grandfather)  says  the  spot  was  marked  by  a  stone  inscribed 
"  The  Grave  of  the  PIeadless  Comvns." 

The  foregoing  account — not  wholly  irrelevant,  it  is  hoped — will  explain  what  I  have 
often  found  very  imperfectly  understood,  viz. :  that  it  was  not  Comyn  of  Buchan — our  Forest 
Comyn — but  his  relative  of  Badenoch,  who  was  Brace's  victim;  and  that  it  was  not  Eliza- 
beth de  Quincy,  Countess  of  Buchan  (as  has  often  been  supposed),  but  Elizabeth  or  Isa- 
bella, daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Fife,  and  wife  of  Elizabeth  de  Quincy's  son  Alexander,  who 
re-crowned  Bruce  at  Scone  and  suffered  the  shameful  punishment  of  being  confined  in  a 
cage. 

In  1306,  Alan  la  Zouch  (husband  of  Helen,  at  whose  house  at  Tranent  Eleanor  de  Fer- 
rars  was  staying  when  carried  otlby  Douglas)  confirmed  to  the  Prior  of  Charley  a  messuage 
at  Sheepshed,  the  Milneleghs  juxta  Charley  and  thirty  acres  of  land  there.* 

Three  years  after  this  William  de  Segrave  was  elected  Prior ;  the  permission  of  Sir 
William  de  Ferrars  having  been  first  obtained. f 

In  1346,  the  Prior  (on  the  aid  granted  for  knighting  Edward  of  Woodstock)  was  assessed 
for  half  a  quarter  of  one  Knight's  fee,  in  Charley,  parcel  of  the  Honour  of  Winton.J 

In  1371,  Sir  William  de  Ferrars,  of  Groby,  Knt.,  died  seised  of  the  advowson. 

In  1383,  Richard  llatley  was  presented  to  the  Priory  by  Richard  II.,  as  guardian  of  the 
lands,  and  heir  of  Sir  Henry  de  Beaumont,  Knight.,  deceased ;  and  in  the  next  year,  John 
Lord  Beaumont,  the  heir  mentioned,  had  livery  of  his  lands. § 

In  1387,  Sir  Henry  de  Ferrars,  of  Groby,  Knight,  held,  at  his  death,  the  advowson  :  and 
six  years  afterwards,  Joan,  his  widow,  died,  having  held  the  advowson  in  dower,  of  the 
King,  by  Knight's  service. || 

In  1444,  Sir  William  de  Ferrars  of  Groby,  Knight,  died  seised  of  the  advowson ;  and 
in  1457,  Edward  de  Grey,  Knight,  Lord  Ferrars  of  Groby,  was  seised  of  it.  It  was  then 
valued  at  five  marks.  Sir  John  Bourchier,  Knight,  who  married  Elizabeth,  widow  of 
Edward  Lord  Fen'ars,  consented,  in  1465,  with  his  Lad}-,  to  the  union  of  this  Priory  with 
that  of  LTverscToft.1I 

For  the  tithes  of  sheaves  and  hay,  in  Oldfield,  Dunthorne-hill,  and  the  old  Birchwode 
(parts  of  Charley  situated  in  Barrow)  a  composition  of  (is.  8d.  had  been  paid  by  the  Prior 
of  Charley  to  the  Abbot  and  Convent  of  St.  Mary  de  Pratis,  in  Leicester,  ever  since  1307  ; 
and  after  the  union  it  was  agreed,  as  appears  fi-om  Charyte's  Rentale,  that  the  Prior  of 
Ulverscroft  should  in  future  pay  this  composition.** 

Oldfield  and  Long-wong,  together  sixty  acres,  were  in  1466  demised  by  Sir  Thomas 
de  Erdington,  of  BaiTow,  Knight,  to  the  Abbot  and  Convent  of  St.  Mary  de  Pratis,  Leicester, 

•  Esch.,  .34  Edward  I.,  No.  187.  t  Reg-  D.ilderby,  Ann.  9.  %  Rot.  Aux.,  20  Edward  III. 

§  Rex  priESentat  Ricardum  Hatley  ad  prioratum  de  Charley,  Line.  dicEC.  ratione  custodis  terrarum  et  haeredis  Henrici 
de  Beaumont,  chevalier,  defuncti. — Pat.  6  Ric.  II.,  p.  1. 

II  Esch.  17  Richard  II.,  No.  24,  Leic. 

H  Dr.  Hutton,  ex  Libro  Memorandoram  temp.  Johaimis  Chedworth,  Episcopi  Lincoln. 

**  6s.  8d.  was  paid  as  a  pension  to  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  from  the  Priory  of  Charley. 


104  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CIIARNWOOD. 

for  a  term  of  forty  years,  on  the  annual  rent  of  one  red  rose — a  tenure  which,  as  Nichols 
suggests,  arose  from  the  political  principles  of  the  granter;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  the 
grant  continued  till  the  very  year  of  the  restoration  of  the  House  of  Lancaster. 

Thomas  Massey,  Clerk  of  the  Priory  of  Ulverscroft,  was  the  last  Priest  who  celebrated 
mass  at  Charley. 

Sir  Andrew  Judd*  afterwards  purchased,  from  the  Crown,  a  lease  of  Charley,  and  soon 
transferred  it  to  Henry  Grey,  Duke  of  Suffolk  (beheaded  in  1553).  After  this  a  capital 
mansion  called  Charley,  with  waters,  royalties,  &c.,  belonging  to  it,  which  had  formed  part 
of  the  possessions  of  Ulverscroft  Priory,  were  leased  to  William  and  Richard  Standish,-  for 
a  fine  of  £'50.  and  an  annual  rent  of  £9.  19.s.  4d.,  for  the  term  of  eighty  years. 

It  is  not  quite  clear  how  Charley  came  into  the  hands  of  its  next  possessor,  Mr.  Bennett 
Wilson,  who  sold  it  to  Henry  Turvile,  Esq.,  of  Aston  Flamvile — who  sold  it,  about  1605, 
to  his  relative.  Sir  Richard  Waldron,  Knight.  Sir  Richard  died  here,  February  16,  1617, 
seised  of  the  lordship.  His  eldest  son,  Thomas  (afterwards  knighted)  died  seised  of  it, 
January  11,  16'27-8,  leaving  by  Elizabeth  his  wife,  daughter  of  Viscount  Beaumont,  Thomas, 
son  and  heir,  aged  three  years  and  a  half — three  other  sons,  Edward,  Charles,  and  Richard, 
and  one  daughter,  Mary,  afterwards  wife  of  Thomas  Farnham,  Esq.,  of  the  Nether  Hall, 
Quorndon.f  The  last  Thomas  (afterwards  knighted)  was  the  owner  in  1647.  His  daugh- 
ter Frances  mamed  her  cousin,  Thomas  Farnham,  Esq. 

In  1689,  Thomas  Cosyn,  Esq.,  of  Hillesley,  Gloucestershire,  died  Lord  of  the  Manor  of 
Charley,  aged  eighty-eight.  He  married  Frances,  eldest  daughter  of  William  Trye,  of 
Hardwick,  Gloucestershire,  great-grandson  of  John  Trye,  Esq.,  whose  wife  was  Elizabeth, 
one  of  the  co-heiresses  of  Charles  Brandon,  Duke  of  Suffolk. 

Charley  afterwards  became  the  property  of  George  Wrighte,  Esq.,  of  Gothurst,  Bucking- 
hamshire, son  of  Sir  Nathan  Wrighte,  of  Brookesby,  the  Lord  Keeper.J  From  Mr.  Wrighte, 
the  manor,  with  all  its  rights  and  privileges,  was  purchased,  about  1770,  by  .John  Vickars, 
Esq. ;  from  whom,  by  a  marriage  with  his  daughter  Mary,  it  descended  to  George  Bosworth, 
Esq.,  of  Brampton,  whose  grandson  is  the  present  possessor. 

Doubts  have  frequently  been  expressed  whether  the  Earl  of  Buchan  actually  erected 
any  mansion  at  Charley.  It  has  even  been  supposed  that  he  merely  occupied  a  part  of  the 
Priory.  This  supposition  seems  hardly  reconcileable  with  the  name  long  applied  to  the 
place — Erleshall^  — or  with  some  appearances  of  ancient  foundations  distinct  from  the 
Priory ;  neither  is  it  probable  that  a  small  religious  house,  erected  for  only  three  Friars 
Eremites,  should  afford  accommodation  for  such  a  person  as  the  Earl  of  Buchan.  Exten- 
sive artificially-formed  mounds  and  terraces  (rarely  the  accompaniments  of  a  Monastic 
foundation)  still  to  be  traced,  afford  further  reason  for  concluding  that  the  Earl's  Hall, 
though  very  near  to  the  Priory,  was,  in  fact,  a  distinct  and  a  much  larger  edifice.  The 
foundations  of  a  circular  building,  probably  a  tower,  are  still  perceptible  on  the  western  side 
of  the  lake,  and  here,  I  conjecture,  the  ancient  Hall  stood.     So  late  as  1553,  as  appears 

•  Lord  Mayor  of  London  in  1550. 

f  One  of  tins  lady's  daughters  was  married  to  Henry  Waldron,  Esq.,  of  Farnham  Castle,  Co.  Cavan,  Ireland. 

X  His  sister  Dorothy  married  Harry  Grey,  third  Earl  of  Stamford.         \  So  called  in  Charyte's  Rentale. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  105 

from  what  has  alread3'  been  stated,  Sir  Andrew  Judd  had  a  "  capital  mansion"  here. 
Whether  this  could  have  been  that  erected  by  Comyn,  cannot  be  ascertained.  The  house, 
in  the  time  of  the  Waldrons,  was  evidently  one  of  no  mean  pretensions.* 

The  present  house,  called  Charley  Hall,  is  evidently  an  erection  of  the  last  century.  It 
may  be  then  that  Whitwick  Castle,  another  possession  of  the  Comyns,  becoming  untenant- 
able, or  the  quiet  little  glen  of  Charley,  and  the  spiritual  comfort  to  be  derived  from  the  holy 
Monks,  presenting  to  Comyn  (long  harassed  by  the  factions  in  Scotland)  a  more  congenial 
retirement,  that  he  then  erected  the  mansion  called  the  Earl's  Hall.  Be  this  as  it  mav,  I 
cannot  believe  that  such  a  name  could  possibly  have  originated  from  the  mere  occupancy 
of  rooms  in  the  Priory  ;  and  a  careful  examination  of  the  place  itself,  and  of  the  records  con- 
nected with  it,  can  scarcely  fail  to  impress  any  one  that  the  Hall  was  a  separate  mansion. 
However,  whether  contemplated  as  an  ancient  monastic  foundation,  or  as  the  residence  of 
the  Comyns  and  many  other  distinguished  persons,  Charley  is  a  place  of  great  interest  to 
the  topographer,  the  tourist,  and  the  antiquarian.  Embosomed,  as  it  once  was,  in  majestic 
woods,  with  the  Priory  and  Earl's  Hall  as  its  centre,  it  must  at  one  time  have  been  the 
Chartreuse  of  the  Forest ;  even  now,  the  scene  is  full  of  beauty.  The  lake — the  streamlet 
that  feeds  it — the  remaining  woods  and  rocks,  and  the  few  farm  houses  and  cottages  that 
form  the  hamlet,  render  the  little  dell  one  of  the  most  charming  spots  imaginable. 

Several  stone  coffins,  and  I  believe  one  of  lead,  have  been  discovered  at  various  times 
near  the  spot  on  which  the  Priory  stood.  One  was  taken  up  from  beneath  the  floor  of  Mr. 
Orgill's  kitchen,  a  very  short  time  ago.  A  spot  very  near  is  called  the  Giants'  Graves.  The 
coin  of  Robert  Bruce,  engraved  below,  now  in  my  possession,  was  found  in  making  a  drain 
near  the  Hall.     The  locality  in  which  it  was  discovered  renders  it  historically  valuable. 

Mr.  Mackay,  who  published  a  "  Tour  through  England"  in  the  time  of  George  I.,  says, 
"  by  the  coats  of  arms  in  the  windows  of  most  of  the  Churches  in  this  county,  and  some  old 
monuments,  I  perceived  that  gieat,  noble,  and  ancient  families,  had  their  residence  here  : 
and  was  particularly  pleased  at  Loughborough  and  Charley,  to  see  the  arms  of  Comyn,  Earl 
of  Buchan,  to  whom  Edward  I.  gave  the  lordship  of  Charley,  with  a  Forest  twenty  miles' 
circumference,  for  his  assistance  to  his  designs  in  Scotland,  and  married  to  one  of  the  co- 
heiresses of  Roger  de  (Juincy  *  *  *  but  the  family  being  entirely  rooted  out  of  Scotland  by 
the  Bruces,  for  their  treachery  to  their  native  land,  the  son  of  the  great  Comyn  retired  to 
his  estate  at  Charley :  and  having  an  only  daughter,  married  her  to  Lord  Beaumont,  a  great 
family  in  these  days  *  *  *.  They  inclosed  Beaumont  Park,  in  Charley  Forest.  They  were 
pretty  even  with  the  Bruces  for  extirpating  them  from  Scotland,  for  as  Robert  de  Bruce  was 
Earl  of  Huntingdon  before  he  was  King  of  Scotland,  and  that  county  joining  this,  the 
Comyns  plagued  the  Bruces  so  that  they  were  forced  to  change  their  names  to  Cotton." 


'  A  gentleman  informs  me  that  he  finds,  in  the  note-book  of  an  ancestor,  accoimts  of  sums  of  money  lost  at  cards, 
at  Charlev,  to  Lord  Swords,  brother-in-law  to  Sir  Tlmmas  \Valdron. 


106  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

GROBY. 

(Groohy,  anciently  Grobi.J 

Hugo  de  Grentemaisnell  tenet  in  Grobi  6  carucatas  terre,  3  bovatis  minus.  Terra  est  4  carucarum. 
In  dominico  sunt  duae;  et  10  villani  cum  1  sochmanno  et5  bordariis :  habent  3  Caracas.  Silva  ibi  2  leu- 
caram  longitudinis  et  dimidia;  leucffi  latitudinis.  Valuit  20  sulidos  :  modo  60  solidos.  Ulf  tenuit  has  2 
terras  (Ralebi  et  Grobi)  cum  sac^  et  socS.. — Domesday,  jol.  232,  a.  b. 

Here  was  an  ancient  Castel,  whose  walls,  as  I  find  in  old  records,  were  beaten  down  by  command- 
ment of  Henry  II.  Here  also  had  been  a  very  faire  Chappell,  but  all  these  goodly  buildings  are  now 
rainated  and  gone. — Burton. 

Groby,  the  head  of  the  second  division  adopted  in  the  aiTangement  of  the  Parochial 
History  of  the  Forest,  is  situated  on  the  Via  Devana,  in  the  parish  of  Ratby,  and  nearly  in 
the  centre  of  the  tract  lying  between  the  Forests  of  Charnwood  and  Leicester.  Its  antiquity, 
its  privileges,  and  its  connexion  with  the  noble  families  of  FeiTars  and  Grey,  render  it  a 
place  of  peculiar  interest.  In  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  six  plough  lands  minus 
three  oxgangs*  with  sac  and  soc,  were  held  by  Ulfi  and  valued  at  twenty  shillings.  These, 
in  Domesday  book,  were  stated  to  be  worth  sixty  shillings,  and  were  then  held  by  Hugh 
de  Grentesmaisnell,  afterwards  created  by  King  William  Rufus  Baron  of  Hinckley  and 
High  Steward  of  England. 

From  Hugh  Grentemaisnell  this  manor  passed  to  Robert  Blanchmaines,  by  his  marriage 
with  Petronella,  daughter  of  Hugh.  Robert  Fitz  Parnell,  son  of  Blanchmaines,  had  two 
daughters,  one  of  whom,  Margaret,  carried  the  manor  by  marriage  to  Saer  de  Quincy,  Earl 
of  Winchester,  to  one  of  whose  granddaughters  it  came  as  her  portion  of  the  inheritance 
when  that  noble  family  failed  in  the  male  line.  She  married  AVilliam  de  Ferrars,  Earl  of 
Derby,  and  bestowed  this  manor  on  her  second  son  William  de  Ferrars,  who  was  in  conse- 
quence created  Baron  of  Groby  by  Edward  I.f 

The  Baron  paid  the  King  a  fine  of  forty  marks,  and  held  the  lordship  in  capite  by  the 
accustomed  services.  He  also  assumed  the  arms  of  his  maternal  grandfather,  Roger  de 
Quincy,  till  the  male  line  of  the  elder  house  (the  Lord  Ferrars  of  Chartley)  became  extinct. 
He  married  Joan,  daughter  of  Hugh  le  Despenser,  and  had  issue  by  her  William  his  son 
and  heir,  and  Anne,  married  to  John  Lord  Grey  of  Wilton.     He  died  in  1287,  leaving  his 


'  Yeoman,  earle  or  vassal  knave, 
That  was  of  wealth  an  ox  to  have, 
He  made  them  all  to  keep  a  plough, 
So  that  the  realme  had  com  enow. 
And  so  arose  from  such  command 
That  oxgang  measure  was  of  land. 


The  mightier  and  the  wealthier  peers 
That  herds  of  oxen  had  and  steers. 
Drove  many  ploughs,  and  hence  appears 
A  ploughgate  land  for  aye  synsyne, 
A  certain  measure  was  of  kinc. 

Wijnton. 


t  Groby  est  de  feodo  Wintonise,  quie  est  pars  Leicestrie ;  et  Dominus  Wilhelmus  de  Ferrer  tenet  manerium  de 
Groby  et  habet  in  dominico  tres  carucatas  terre  in  eadem  et  duo  moleudina  aquatica  et  duo  vivaria  et  quatuor  parca 
•  *  »  *.  Item  partem  bosci  de  Chemewode  in  quo  est  libera  chacea.  Et  dictus  Willielmus  tenet,  &c.  »  •  de  douo 
Margarete  de  Ferrer,  comitisse  de  Ferrer  faciendo  inde  servicium  debitum  et  consuetum  :  Habet  etiani  visum  fraiici- 
plcgii  pertincns  ad  regale,  retoma  brevium,  et  omnes  alias  libertates,  sicut  et  Comes  Leicestrie. — Jm/uisitio,  1279. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  107 

son  William,  then  aged  seventeen,  and  Eleanor*  his  second  wife  surviving.  The  jurors 
found  that  the  said  William  held  the  manor  of  Groby  with  the  appurtenances,  of  the  King 
in  capife,  by  the  service  of  half  a  Knight's  fee,  and  that  the  capital  messuage  in  Groby, 
with  the  gardens  in  Groby  and  Ratby,  and  dovecots,  were  worth  yearly  20.9.  And  there 
were  at  Groby  -204  acres  of  demesne  arable  land,  and  at  Burgh,  which  is  part  of  the  manor 
of  Groby,  four  acres  of  arable  land,  every  acre  of  which  was  worth  yearly  (id. ;  also  there 
were  badlands  worth  2*. ;  15  acres  of  meadow  worth  30.?. ;  and  a  piece  of  meadow  called 
Ley  Field  worth  yearly  40.v. ;  also  at  Groby  a  Park,  the  pasture  and  pannage  of  which  was 
worth  yearly  ti().s-.  8f/.,  and  the  underwood  of  the  said  Park  was  worth  yearly  6.v.  8d.  ■  also 
at  Bradgate  a  Park,  the  herbage  and  underwood  whereof  was  worth  yearly  40.?.;  also  there 
were  certain  outwoods  in  the  Forest  of  Chamwood,  the  pasture  of  which  was  common  and 
the  pannage  was  worth  ;35«. ;  two  pools,  the  fishing  of  which  was  worth  yearly  40.?.,  two 
mills  upon  the  said  pools  worth  46.?.  8f/. ;  a  rent  of  assize  of  the  freeholders  there  at  three 
times  in  the  year,  of  £7.  5s.  id. ;  a  rent  of  assize  of  the  Forest  of  Chamwood  of  new  grubbed 
up  ground,  of  £7.  6.?.  4rf. ;  a  rent  of  hens  of  the  said  Forest  9.v. ;  five  pounds  of  pepper,  nine 
pounds  of  cummin  seed,  five  pairs  of  gloves,  one  ounce  of  silk,  one  dozen  of  knots  of  kal- 
cedon,  six  dozen  of  iron  arrows,  one  clove  gillyflower,  worth  yearly  7*.  7d. ;  and  also  48 
vergerers,  who  held  43  yard  lands  and  a  half  in  villanage ;  25  of  which  yard  lauds  and  a 
half  pay  yearly  13.v.  id,,  and  the  18  residue  thereof  pay  yearly  lO.v.,  making  the  sum  of  £-26. ; 
and  every  one  of  the  said  customary'  tenants  ploughed  once  in  the  winter  time  and  once  in 
Lent  with  his  neighbour,  the  lord  finding  them  victuals,  and  every  ploughing  is  worth  3^.  ; 
and  every  one  of  them  gardened  at  the  said  seasons,  and  every  gardening  was  worth  Id. ; 
also  the  copyholders  used  to  reap,  cut,  and  carry  the  hay  of  15  acres  of  meadow  in  Groby, 
the  same  being  worth  -id. ;  and  they  used  to  mow  and  lay  together  the  lord's  demesne 
lands,  which  were  reputed  to  be  nine  score  and  six  acres,  yearly,  which  service  was  valued 
at  62.?. ;  also  they  used  to  carry  the  com  in  the  autumn,  which  was  6s.  Sd. ;  there  were  two 
customary  tenants  who  held  two  yard  lands  and  paid  yearly  26?.  8d. ;  cottagers  who  paid 
yearly  61*.  lOd. ;  also  there  were  17  acres  of  arable  land  in  Middlehani,  which  the  customary 
tenants  farmed  at  lis.  4f/. ;  also  the  pleas  and  perquisites  of  the  Court  of  Groby  and 
Leicester,  which  was  the  share  of  the  said  William,  were  valued  yearly  at  £S. 

William,  the  second  Baron,  was  summoned  to  Parliament  in  1293  as  Baron  Ferrars  of 
Groby,  and  died  in  1324,  leaving  his  son  Henry  heir. 

This  Henry  married  Isabel,  youngest  daughter  and  one  of  the  co-heiresses  of  Theobald 

*  Mr.  Fraser  Tytler,  generally  so  accurate  in  his  facts,  and  other  Historians  seem  at  fault  about  this  lady.  Mr. 
Tytler  appears  to  have  considered  her  a  daughter  of  Lord  Ferrars.  Her  maiden  name  was  Poynings.  To  this 
Eleanor  (16  Edward  I.)  the  King  assigned  the  manors  of  Stubbing  and  Woodham  Ferrars,  Co.  Essex,  till  she  should 
have  her  dowry  set  forth.  This  being  soon  after  assigned  her  (on  her  taking  oath  that  she  would  not  re-marry  without 
license)  she  went  into  Scotland  there  to  obtain  her  dowry  of  such  lands  as  belonged  to  her.  Bemg  at  Tranent  (the 
Manor-house  of  her  kinswoman  Helen  la  Zouch  in  that  realm)  William  de  Douglas,  the  companion  of  Wallace,  took 
her  thence  against  her  will  and  carried  her  to  another  place.  On  this,  a  complaint  being  made  to  Edward,  he  sent  his 
precept  to  the  Sheriff  of  Northumberiand  to  seize  the  goods  and  chattels  of  the  said  William  de  Douglas  which  were 
then  in  that  bailiwick.  But  shortly  after  (19  Edward  I.),  in  consideration  of  £100.  fine,  the  King  granted  Douglas 
the  benefit  of  her  marriage. — See  Dugdale's  Baronage,  page  277. 


108  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

de  Verdon.  He  procured  the  privilege  of  a  market  at  Groby,  to  be  held  every  Friday,  and 
a  yearly  fair  on  the  eve  and  day  of  St.  George  and  two  days  after,  which  grant  is  dated 
March  1-2,  1337-8,  and  dying  in  1343  was  succeeded  by  his  son  William. 

This  William  dying  in  1371  the  estate  came  to  his  son  Henry,  who  died  in  1388, 
leaving  a  son  William,  who  died  without  issue  male  in  1444,  his  only  son  Henry  having 
predeceased  him.  This  Henry  left  an  only  daughter  Elizabeth,  married  to  Sir  Edward 
Grey,  eldest  sou  by  the  second  wife  (Joan,  daughter  and  heir  of  William  Lord  Astley,  of 
Broughton  Astley)  of  Reginald  de  Grey,  Lord  Grey  de  Ruthyn,  who  in  1410  recovered  in 
the  Court  of  Chivalry  against  Sir  Edward  Hastings,  the  right  to  the  name  and  arms  of 
Lord  Hastings.  It  is  singular  that,  after  a  lapse  of  more  than  four  hundred  years,  these 
families  and  honours  should  unite  in  the  person  of  the  present  Earl  of  Rawdon,  son  of  the 
Marquis  and  Marchioness  of  Hastings. 

Edward  Grey,  Lord  FeiTars  of  Groby,  died  December  18th,  1458,  seised  of  the  manor 
of  Groby  with  the  appurtenances,  held  of  the  King  as  of  the  honour  of  Tutbury,  by  the 
service  of  half  a  Knight's  fee,  and  Sir  John  Grey,  Knight,  his  son  and  heir,  was  then  aged 
more  than  twenty-five  years.*  The  inquisition  states  that  Edward  Grey,  Lord  Ferrars,  held 
the  manor  of  Groby,  &c.,  in  right  of  Elizabeth  his  wife,  by  the  gift  of  Margaret  de  Ferrars 
to  William  her  son,  whose  cousin  and  heiress  the  said  Elizabeth  was,  viz. : — son  of  William 
the  son  of  Henry — the  son  of  William,  son  of  the  said  William  the  son  of  the  said  Margaret. 

The  issue  by  the  marriage  of  Edward  Grey  with  the  heiress  of  Grobj'  were  Sir  John 
Grey,  Knight,  who  married  the  celebrated  Elizabeth  Widvile  or  Woodville,  Edward  the 
second  son  (created  Lord  Lisle  by  Edward  IV.  in  1475,  in  right  of  his  wife,  daughter  of 
Sir  John  Talbot,  and  sister  and  heir  of  Thomas  Viscount  Lisle,  and  advanced  by  Richai-d  HI. 
to  the  same  dignity),  Reginald  and  Anne. 

Strongly  attached  to  the  House  of  Lancaster,  Sir  John  Grey  (for  he  is  little  known  as 
Lord  Ferrars — probably  from  his  not  surviving  his  mother)  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  St. 
Albans,  February  17,  1460).  He  left  two  sons — Sir  Thomas  Grey,  who  in  1460  succeeded 
as  Lord  Ferrars  of  Groby,  and  eleven  years  afterwards  was  created  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  and 
subsequently,  viz.  in  1475,  Marquis  of  Dorset,  K.G. — and  Sir  Richard  Grey,  whose  melan- 
choly fate  we  shall  shortly  have  to  record.  The  vicissitudes  of  their  illustrious  and  high- 
minded  mother  seem  first  to  require  notice. 

To  trace  Elizabeth  Widvile  from  her  girlhood,  when  she  wrote  that  remarkable  journal 
of  her  daily  duties  and  daily  feelings,t  to  her  closing  scene,  would  occupy  too  much  space. 

•  Lady  Ferrars  survived  her  husband,  Sir  Edward  Grey,  and  afterwards  formed  a  second  alliance  with 
Sir  John  Bourchier,  Knight. 
t  Thursday  Morning  (May  10,  1451). — Rose  at  four  o'clock,  and  helped  Katherine  to  milk  the  cows :  Rachael, 
the  other  dairy-maid,  having  scalded  one  of  her  hands  in  a  very  sad  manner  last  night.  Made  a  poultice  for  Rachael, 
and  gave  Robin  a  penny  to  get  her  something  comfortable  from  the  apothecary's.  Six  o'clock. — Breakfasted.  The 
buttock  of  beef  rather  too  much  boiled,  and  the  ale  a  little  the  stalest.  Memorandum  to  tell  the  cook  about  the  first 
fault,  and  to  mend  the  second  myself,  by  tapping  a  fresh  barrel  directly.  Seven  o'clock. — Went  out  with  the  Lady 
Duchess,  my  mother,  into  the  court-yard ;  fed  five  and  thirty  men  and  women ;  chid  Roger  very  severely  for  express- 
ing some  dissatisfaction  in  attending  us  with  the  broken  meat.  Eight  o'clock. — Went  into  the  paddock  behind  the 
house  with  my  maiden  Dorothy  :  caught  Stump,  the  little  black  pony,  myself,  and  rode  a  matter  of  six  miles,  without 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  109 

A  mere  sketch  must  therefore  suffice : — Daughter  of  tlie  Duchess  of  Bedford  by  her  second 
liusband,  Sir  llicliard  Widvile,  Ehzabeth  in  her  nineteenth  year  entered  into  an  alliance  of 
pure  affection  with  Sir  John  Grey,  and  no  period  of  her  chequered  life  was  perhaps  so  free 
from  care  as  the  few  years  she  passed — chiefly  at  Grobj — with  the  husband  of  her  choice. 
After  his  untimely  death,  the  overthrow  of  his  party  and  the  forfeiture  of  his  estates,  the 
situation  of  this  widowed  lady  and  her  two  youthful  sons  was  one  of  extreme  hardship. 
She  was  sojourning  with  her  parents  at  Grafton,  in  Northamptonshire,  when  Edward  IV., 
hunting  in  that  neighbourhood,  chanced  to  pay  the  Duchess  a  visit  of  respect :  and  the 
opportunity  of  presenting  herself  before  the  King,  and  entreating  his  pity  for  her  impoverished 
and  fatherless  boys,  seemed  too  good  to  lose.  The  sight  of  so  much  beauty,  heightened  by 
her  diffidence  and  her  tears,  at  once  made  way  to  the  Monarch's  too  susceptible  heart.  He, 
in  turn,  became  the  suppliant,  and  his  advances  being  repulsed  with  that  dignity  and  pro- 
priety which  inflexible  virtue  was  sure  to  prompt,  only  served  to  bind  him  more  closely  in  her 
chains.  He  that  evening  informed  the  Duchess  that "  the  red  rose  had  again  been  victorious." 
The  marriage,  very  shortly  after  (May  1,  1464),  was  privately  solemnized  at  Grafton, 
and  not  publicly  avowed  for  some  months.  In  the  following  year  she  was  solemnly  crowned 
at  Westminster,  and  in  14(j6  obtained  the  King's  license  to  complete  the  foundation  of 
Queen's  College,  Cambridge,  begun  by  the  Queen  of  Henry  VI.  That  Edward,  during  the 
nineteen  years  of  their  union,  loved  her  with  all  the  affection  of  which  his  volatile  nature 
was  capable,  is  shown  by  the  gentle  influence  she  exercised  over  him,  and  by  the  favours 
and  dignities  he  conferred  on  her  relatives.  Her  father,  in  the  year  after  the  marriage,  was 
created  Earl  of  Rivers,  and  this  and  other  distinctions  showered  on  her  family  appear  to 
have  given  the  Earl  of  Warwick  and  many  of  the  old  nobility  great  dissatisfaction,  and  to 
have  been  the  source  of  much  prejudice  and  rancour  against  the  Queen.  Her  father  and 
her  brother  John  fell  victims  to  this  envious  feeling,  being  summarily  executed  by  the  rabble 
headed  by  Sir  John  Conyers  and  Sir  Henry  Nevil,  in  14tt8-9.* 

either  saddle  or  bridle.     Ten  o'clock Went  to  dinner.      John  Grey  one  of  our  visitants— a  most  comely  youth—but 

what's  that  to  me  ?     A  virtuous  maiden  should  be  entirely  under  the  direction  of  her  parents.     John  ate  very  little 

stole  a  great  many  tender  looks  at  me — said  a  woman  never  could  be  handsome,  in  his  opinion,  who  was  not  good- 
tempered.  I  hope  my  temper  is  not  intolerable ;  nobody  finds  fault  mth  it  but  Roger,  and  Roger  is  the  most  disor- 
derly serving  man  in  our  family.     John  Grey  likes  white  teeth— my  teeth  are  of  a  pretty  good  colour,  I  think,  and  my 

hair  is  as  black  as  jet,  though  I  say  it— and  John,  if  I  mistake  not,  is  of  the  same  opinion.     Eleven  o'clock. Rose  from 

table,  the  company  all  desirous  of  walking  in  the  fields.  John  Grey  would  lift  me  over  every  stile,  and  twice  he 
squeezed  my  hand  with  great  vehemence.  I  cannot  say  I  should  have  any  aversion  to  John  Grey :  he  plays  prison- 
bars  as  well  as  any  gentleman  in  the  country,  is  remarkably  dutiful  to  his  parents,  and  never  misses  church  of  a  Sunday. 
Three  o'clock. — Poor  farmer  Robinson's  house  burnt  down  by  an  accidental  fire.  John  Grey  proposed  a  subscription 
among  the  company,  and  gave  a  matter  of  no  less  than  five  pound  himself  to  this  benevolent  intention.  Mem.  Sever 
saw  him  look  so  comely  as  at  that  ?noment.  Four  o'clock. — Went  to  prayers.  Six  o'clock. — Fed  the  poultry  and  hogs. 
Seven  o'clock — Supper  at  the  table ;  delayed  on  account  of  farmer  Robinson's  fire  and  misfortune.  The  goose  pie  too 
much  baked,  and  the  loin  of  pork  almost  roasted  to  rags.  Nine  o'clock. — The  company  almost  all  asleep.  These  late 
hours  are  very  disagreeable.  Said  my  prayers  a  second  time,  John  Grey  disturbing  my  thoughts  too  much  the  first. 
Fell  asleep  about  ten,  and  dreamt  that  John  had  come  to  demand  me  of  my  father." 

•  Nichols  states  that  it  was  the  Northamptonshire  men  who  committed  this  barbarous  outrage  on  the  Widviles  : 
the  Encyp.  Lond.  (Art-  England)  says  the  bad  feeling  of  the  populace  against  them  was  roused  by  their  appropriation 
of  the  revenues  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  Leonard,  at  York. 


110  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

The  Queen  herself  was  obliged,  from  the  troubles  of  the  times,  to  take  sanctuary  at 
Westminster  two  years  after,  and  it  was  during  her  seclusion  here  that  her  son  Edward  was 
born.  A  few  years  of  comparative  quiet  were  now  enjoyed  by  this  illustrious  Lady,  but  in 
1483  it  was  suddenly  interrupted  by  the  King's  death.  Scarcely  had  the  first  gush  of  grief 
for  her  royal  consort's  departure  abated,  when  her  maternal  sensibilities  were  called  upon 
to  endure  most  severe  trials.  The  Protector  seized  her  son,  the  young  King,  her  brother, 
Lord  Rivers,  and  her  son  by  her  previous  marriage.  Sir  Richard  Grey,  and  conveyed  them 
to  Pomfret  Castle.  On  learning  this  painful  intelligence,  attended  by  her  eldest  son,  the 
Marquis  of  Dorset,  and  taking  with  her  the  Duke  of  York  and  the  five  Princesses,  she  again 
sought  the  sanctuary  of  Westminster.  Her  sorrows  were  but  in  their  commencement !  She 
had  now  the  affliction  of  losing  by  death  the  lovely  Princess  Mary,  who  had  been  betrothed 
to  the  King  of  Denmark.  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  won  over  b}'  the  Protector's 
cajolery,  soon  after  induced  her  to  surrender  the  Duke  of  York,  on  the  specious  pretext  of 
his  being  wanted  at  his  brother's  inauguration.  The  Queen  parted  with  him  with  undis- 
guised reluctance,  having  a  strong  presentiment  of  his  fate,  and  bedewing  him  with  tears 
bade  the  almost  heart-broken  boy  an  eternal  adieu !  The  cool-blooded  assassination  of  her 
two  near  relatives.  Sir  John  Grey  and  Lord  Rivers,  at  Pomfret  Castle,  and  that  of  her  sons, 
the  King  and  Duke  of  York,  in  the  Tower,  followed  in  quick  succession.     AVell  might  she  be, 

"  Like  Niobe — all  tears." 

The  marriage  of  her  daughter  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  with  Henry  VII.,  might  have  beeu 
expected  to  restore  her  to  her  position  and  influence  in  society,  but  it  did  not.  Henry,  in 
fact,  could  never  forgive  some  apparent  vacillations  in  her  conduct  in  having  lent  herself  as 
an  instrument  to  the  abandoned  Richard  HI.,  to  procure  a  Papal  dispensation  for  the  mar- 
riage of  the  latter  with  that  daughter  whom  the  politic  but  heartless  Henry  had  now  made 
his  Queen.* 

For  a  short  period  after  the  battle  of  Bosworth  Field,  the  Queen  Dowager  left  her  asylinn 
at  Westminster,  but  being  condemned  in  a  pr(emunire  by  her  royal  son-in-law,  for  this 
alleged  consent  to  Richard's  views,  and  on  other  frivolous  charges,  she  was  confined  to  tlie 
Monastery  of  Bermondsey,  where  in  149-2  she  ended  her  varied  and  most  eventful  life,  and 
at  length  found  "  a  quiet  portion"  beside  the  remains  of  her  royal  husband,  in  St.  George's 
Chapel,  at  Windsor.  Her  last  will,  which  appears  to  be  a  true  transcript  of  her  feelings,  as 
well  as  a  faithful  description  of  her  situation,  is  here  given  : — 

Will  of  Elizabeth,  JVidoiv  of  Edward  IV. 
"  In   Dei  nomine.     Amen.     The  xth  dale  of  Aprill,  the  year  of  our  Lord  Gode 

JMCCCCLXX.XXII." 

"  I  Elisabeth,  by  the  grace  of  God  quene  of  England,  late  «if  to  the  most  victoroiuse 
prince  of  blessed  meraorie  Edward  the  Fourth,  being  of  hole  mynde,  seyiug  the  worlde 

*  It  is  asserted  that  the  Queen  Dowager,  eager  to  recover  her  lost  authority,  neither  scrupled  at  this  proposed  in- 
cestuous alliance,  nor  felt  any  horror  at  marrying  her  daughter  to  the  murderer  of  her  three  sons  and  brother,  and  that 
she  even  wrote  to  her  son,  the  Marquis  of  Dorset,  and  to  all  her  partisans,  desiring  them  to  withdraw  from  the  Earl  of 
Richmond.  But  it  is  more  than  probable  that  Richard,  steeped  in  guilt  as  he  was,  procured  this  seeming  sanction  by 
threats  and  promises  with  regard  to  her  other  children. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  Ill 

SO  transitorie,  and  no  creature  certayne  whanne  they  shall  departe  frome  hence,  havyng 
Almyghty  Gode  fressh  in  m3'nde,  in  whome  is  all  mercy  and  grace,  bequeith  my  sowle  into 
his  handes  ;  beseechyng  him,  of  the  same  mercy,  to  accept  it  graciously,  and  our  blessed 
Lady  queue  of  comforte,  and  all  the  holy  company  of  hevyn,  to  be  good  meanes  for  me. 
Il'm,  I  bequeith  my  body  to  be  buried  with  the  bodie  of  my  lord  at  Windessore,  according 
to  the  will  of  my  saide  lorde  and  myne,  without  pompes  entreing  or  costlie  expensis  donne 
thereabought.  It'm,  where  I  have  no  wordely  goodes  to  do  the  queue's  grace,  my  derest 
doughter,  a  pleaser  with  nether  to  reward  any  of  my  children,  according  to  my  hart  and 
mynde,  I  besech  Almyghty  Gode  to  blisse  her  grace,  with  all  her  noble  issue  :  and,  with  as 
good  hart  and  mynde  as  is  to  me  possible,  I  gave  her  grace  my  blessing,  and  all  the  forsaide 
my  children.  It'm,  I  will  that  suche  smale  stufe  and  goodes  that  I  have  be  disposed  truly 
in  the  contentacon  of  my  dettes  and  for  the  helth  of  my  sowle,  as  farre  as  they  will  extende. 
It'm  yf  any  of  my  bloode  wille  any  of  my  said  stufe  or  goodes  to  me  perteyning,  I  will  that 
they  have  the  prefermente  before  any  other.  And  of  this  my  present  testament  I  make  and 
ordeyn  myne  executors,  that  is  to  sey,  .John  Ingilby,  priour  to  the  Chartour-house  of  Shene, 
William  Sutle  and  Thomas  Brente,  doctors.  And  I  besech  my  said  derest  doughter,  the 
queue's  grace,  and  my  sone  Thomas  marquis  Dorsett,  to  putte  there  good  wills  and  help  for 
the  performans  of  this  my  testamente.  In  witness  whereof  to  this  my  present  testament 
I  have  sett  my  scale  ;  these  witnesses,  .Tohn  Abbot  of  the  monastry  of  sainte  Saviour  of 
Bermondesley,  and  Benedictus  Cun,  doctor  of  fysyk.     Geven  the  day  and  yere  abovesaid." 

The  other  children  of  Elizabeth  and  Edward,  not  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  account, 
were  Cicely,  married  to  John  Lord  Wells ;  Anne,  to  Thomas,  Uuke  of  Norfolk ;  Catherine, 
to  William  Courtney,  Earl  of  Devon ;  Margaret  and  George,  who  died  infants,  and  Bridget, 
who  became  a  Nun  at  Dartford. 

I  return  to  Elizabeth's  son  by  her  former  marriage — the  Marquis  of  Dorset.  From  this 
young  nobleman's  near  relation  to  Edward  V.,  the  Usurper  had  procured  his  attainder,  and 
had  conferred  his  estates  on  his  brother  the  Viscount  Lisle.  Having  taken  sanctuary,  he 
privately  quitted  the  country  and  fled  to  Bretagne,  and  subsequently  joined  the  Earl  of 
Richmond  in  Paris,  where  he  assisted  in  devising  the  plan  of  the  descent  of  the  latter  upon 
England.  After  the  battle  of  Bosworth  Field  he  was  restored  to  his  estates,  but  neither  the 
services  he  had  rendered  the  Crown  nor  his  relationship  to  the  Queen  consort  secured  him 
from  the  jealousy  of  Henry,  who  committed  him  to  the  Tower :  but  shortly  released,  took 
him  again  into  favour,  and  honoured  him  with  the  Garter.  The  Marquis  afterwards  ren- 
dered important  services  in  the  army.  By  his  mamage  with  Cicely,  daughter  and  heiress 
of  William  Bonvile,  Lord  Harrington,  he  had  seven  sons :  Edward  and  Anthony,  who  died 
young ;  Thomas,  who  succeeded  him  in  his  titles  and  estates ;  Richard,  John,  Leonard 
(Deputy  of  Ireland  in  1536,  beheaded  in  1541),  and  George,  a  Clergyman ;  and  eight  daugh- 
ters. This  Marquis  began  some  new  works  both  here  and  at  Bradgate.  He  died  Sep- 
tember 20,  1501. 

Thomas,  the  second  Marquis,  took  up  his  chief  residence  at  Bradgate,  preferring  that 
situation  both  to  Groby  and  Astley ;  I  therefore  reserve  the  remaining  notices  of  this  noble 
family  for  their  more  appropriate  place,  under  Bradgate. 


112  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

In  "  The  laborious  journey  and  serch  of  Johan  Leylande  for  Englande's  antiquities  geven 
of  hyra  as  a  newe  yeare's  gyfte  to  King  Henry  VIII.  in  tlie  xxxvii  yeare  of  his  raygne" — is 
the  following  mention  of  Groby: — "From  Brodegate  to  Groby  a  mile  and  a  half  much  by 
Woddenlande.  There  remayne  few  tokens  of  the  olde  castelle  more  then  that  yet  is  the 
hille  that  the  kepe  of  the  castelle  stoode  on — very  notable  but  there  is  now  no  stone  worke 
upon  it.  And  the  late  Thomas  [marquesh  filled]  up  the  diche  of  it  [with  earth,  entending] 
to  make  a  herbare  there.  The  ould  part  of  the  worke  that  now  is  at  Groby  was  made  by 
the  Ferrares.  But  newer  workes  and  buildings  ihere*  were  erectid  by  the  lorde  Thomas 
first  Marquis  of  Dorset :  eniong  which  workes  he  began  and  erected  the  fundation  and 
waulles  of  a  greate  gate-house  of  brike  and  a  tour  but  that  was  left  onfinished  of  hym  and 
so  it  stondith  yet.  This  lorde  Thomas  erectid  also  and  almost  finished  ij  tomes  of  brike  in 
the  fronte  of  the  house,  as  respondent  on  eche  side  to  the  gate-house.  There  is  a  faire  large 
parke  by  the  place  a  vi  miles  in  cumpase.  There  is  also  a  poore  villagef  and  a  little  broke 
by  it.  And  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  place,  in  the  botom,  there  is  as  faire  and  large  a 
pole  as  lightely  is  in  Leyrcestershire.  There  issueth  a  broket  out  of  this  lake  that  efter 
cummith  by  Groby  and  dryvith  a  mylle  and  efter  resortith  to  Sore  river."J 

No  vestiges  of  the  Castle  of  which  Leland  speaks  are  now  visible,  except  perhaps  the 
mount  on  which  it  stood,  which  rises  about  twenty  feet  above  the  level  of  the  adjoining 
ground,  and  is  of  an  oblong  shape,  sixty-two  feet  in  length  and  forty  in  breadth  :  the  moat 
or  fosse  which  surrounded  it  is  now  filled  up,  though  traces  of  it  are  still  discernible  on  the 
north  side.  The  Castle  which  stood  on  this  mount,  like  most  of  the  Norman  Castles,  must 
have  consisted  of  a  square  or  oblong  tower  or  keep  only  :  and  as  it  was  demolished  by  the 
command  of  Henry  II.,  in  1176,  it  was  probably  one  of  those  small  Castles  (exceeding  in 
number  eleven  hundred)  which  were  erected  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom  during  the  turbulent 
reigns  of  Stephen  and  his  predecessors.  It  is  however  probable  that,  notwithstanding  the 
destruction  of  the  Castle,  the  Ferrars  still  continued  to  reside  at  Groby;  for  in  the  orchard 
adjoining  the  present  mansion  are  the  ruins  of  a  wall  and  arched  door-way,  seemingly 
belonging  to  a  more  ancient  edifice  than  the  present  house.  Massive  fragments  and  remains 
of  mullioned  windows  are  also  lying  about.  These,  from  the  shape  and  ornaments,  evidently 
belonged  to  a  jjeriod  colemporary  with  the  present  building.  The  house,  as  it  now  stands, 
is  built  partly  of  brick  and  partly  of  stone,  with  square-headed  mullioned  windows.  The 
tower,  which  is  described  by  Leland  as  having  been  left  unfinished,  sliU  remains  in  the 

*  It  is  singular  that  after  the  word  "there"  Nichols  adds,  from  Mr.  Burton's  transcript  of  Leland,  "  at  Bradgate ;" 
and,  strange  to  say,  arrives  at  the  conclusion,  "from  personal  inspection  of  the  ruins  at  both  places,"  that  Bradgate 
was  the  place  meant ;  though  Leland's  printed  editions  and  manuscript  have  only  the  single  word  "there";  The 
wonder  is,  that  any  person  having  seen  the  two  places,  and  compared  them  with  Leland's  description,  could  for  a 
moment  doubt  that  Groby  was  meant ;  or  that  Burton  could  interpolate,  and  Nichols  adopt,  words  so  utterly  at  vari- 
ance with  the  description, 
t  Nichols  erroneously  supposes  this  to  be  Newtown  I^inford,  instead  of  Groby.     He  appears  to  have  been  chiefly  led 

wrong  by  the  Park  of  "  vi  miles  in  compase ;"  forgetting,  perhaps,  that  Groby  had  at  one  period/our  Parks. 
J;  The  description  seems  to  show  that  in  Leland's  time  the  pool  was  of  much  greater  extent.     It  probably  extended 

nearly  to  Toot  Hill. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  113 

same  state ;  there  are  also  two  other  towers  in  a  more  perfect  state."*  It  is  occupied  by  a 
highly  respectable  tenant  of  the  Earl  of  Stamford,  and  the  Courts  of  the  Barony  are  still  held 
in  the  old  hall,  which  is  very  capacious  and  in  excellent  preservation.  The  ancient  Chapel 
belonging  to  the  mansion  was  once  celebrated  as  a  piece  of  beautiful  architecture,  but  so 
mingled  are  the  ruins  that  its  precise  site  cannot  now  be  correctly  ascertained.  Mr.  Cartef 
mentions  a  tradition  respecting  a  vaulted  passage  from  the  Castle  to  Bradgate.  There  is 
another  respecting  a  similar  subterranean  communication  with  Leicestei',  and  the  villagers 
of  Newtown  Linford  still  give  credence  to  the  tradition  of  another  with  Ulverscroft  Priory. 
"  In  these,"  adds  Mr.  Bloxam,  "  I  can  find  no  foundation  except  in  that  love  of  the  mar- 
vellous so  common  in  Roman  Catholic  times,  and  so  peculiar  to  the  lower  classes  of  this 
kingdom."  ■* 

Some  facts  which  have  come  under  my  notice  in  the  course  of  my  researches  into  the 
Forest  history,  induce  me  to  suppose  that  Charnwood  and  Leicester  Forests  were,  at  a  very 
early  period,  one  Forest :  or  if  not,  that  they  together  embraced  the  whole  tract  which  is 
now  intermediate,  and  that  the  ancient  Castle  of  Groby  was  oriyinallij  rather  a  hunting 
tower  than  a  baronial  fortress. ;];  One  reason  for  such  a  conjecture  is  the  Peculiar  Exempt 
Ecclesiastical  Jurisdiction,  never  yet  satisfactorily  accounted  for,  which  has  from  time  im- 
memorial appertained  to  Groby.  This,  I  imagine,  may  possibly  have  originated  in  the 
following  cause  stated  by  Sir  Henry  Spelman : — "  In  agrorum  dimensionibus  Foreslee  olini 
non  veniebant.  Perinde  nee  villas  proprie  accepere  nee  paraecias :  nee  de  corpoi'e  alicujus 
comitatus  aut  Epixcoputus^  habita;  sunt."  If,  then,  this  conclusion  is  well  founded,  the 
origin  of  the  Peculiar,  and  the  absence  of  villages  within  the  present  boundaries  of  the 
Forest,  will  at  once  be  explained. ||  The  name  of  the  village  itself,  which  is  derived  from 
Grove,  and  the  present  woodland  character  of  a  great  portion  of  this  intermediate  tract, 
parts  of  which,  as  Martenshaw,  Sheet  Hedges,  &c.,  seem  never  to  have  been  subdued,  have 
also  weight  in  leading  me  to  hazard  this  opinion.  There  is  another  reason — Toot  Hill  is 
the  name  of  a  hill  in  the  heart  of  the  Forest  near  Charley ;  it  is  also  the  name  of  one  near 
Groby.     The  word  "  Toot"  signifies  to  peep — to  spy — to  watch.     On  these  spots,  in  early 

•  From  "  A  Description  of  Bradgate  Park  and  the  adjacent  country,"  by  the  Rev.  Andrew  Bloxam,  M..\.,  late  Fellow 

of  Wadham  College,  Oxford — an  interesting  little  work,  of  which  it  is  impossible  to  speak  too  highly. 

f  Carte's  MS.,  British  Museum. 

J  It  is  suggested  to  me  by  a  gentleman  to  whom  this  conjecture  has  been  submitted,  that  "  the  deed  given  under 
Charley,  by  which  Ranulph  de  Meschines  conveyed  to  King  Henry  I.  Charnwood  Forest  and  his  woods  adjoining 
Leicester  Forest,  shows  that  these  Forests  were  distinct  so  early  as  the  reign  of  that  Monarch."  If,  however,  as  has 
before  been  shown,  they  were  parts  of  the  ancient  Forest  of  Arden,  this  deed  rather  favours  the  idea  of  a  previous 
subdivision  than  militates  against  it.     See  Addition  to  Groby  in  page  116  of  this  work. 

§  Forests  were  not  formerly  reckoned  in  the  admeasurement  of  lands  :  as  they  could  not,  properly  speaking,  con- 
tain either  villages  or  parishes,  or  be  member  of  any  County  or  Bishopric.  "  If  tythes  doe  lye  in  any  Forrest,  as  the 
Forrest  of  Windsor,  Rockingham,  Sherwood,  &c.,  which  is  out  of  any  parish,  the  King  shall  have  them  by  his  pre- 
rogative, and  not  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocesse  or  the  Metropolitan." — Hughes'  Parson's  Law,  p.  68.     Ed.  Land.  1641. 

II  This  absence  of  villages,  and  the  assignment  of  the  Forest  to  the  parishes  of  Barrow,  Groby,  \VTiitwick  and 
Sheepshed,  will  have  before  occurred  to  the  reader.  The  Forest  was,  doubtless,  so  assigned,  soon  after  the  Forest 
rights  passed  from  the  Crown  to  Lords  of  Manors,  on  the  disafforestation  of  Charnwood  by  King  Henry  111.,  12.34. 

Q 


114  PAKOCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

times,  the  ladies  and  the  less  active  spectators  of  the  chase  used  to  place  themselves,  to 
obtain  glimpses  of  the  Forest  hunting.* 

Whatever  weight  these  conjectures  may  have  with  the  reader,  the  whole  tract  between 
the  two  Forests,  including,  as  it  does,  the  site  of  an  ancient  Castle — this  Peculiar  Exempt 
Jurisdiction — the  great  lake — the  altar-stone  at  Markfield,  and  the  ancient  encampment  at 
Ratby,  will  be  found  full  of  topographical  and  antiquarian  interest.  Every  thing  combines 
to  show  that  Groby  and  the  surrounding  district  was  of  great  consequence  long  before  the 
Conquest — most  likely  in  the  times  of  the  Mercian  Kings — and  to  so  remote  a  period  as  that 
am  I  inclined  to  refer  its  Peculiar  Jurisdiction,  hereafter  to  be  described. 

An  Act  was  passed  in  1789  for  inclosing  about  500  acres  of  open  fields  in  the  liberty  of 
Groby,  in  the  parish  of  Ratby.  The  manor  is  of  gfeat  extent,  comprising  Groby,  Newtown 
Linford,  Bradgate,  Holgate,  Mapplevvell,  Swithland,  Rothley  Plain,  Cropston,  Ansty,  Glen- 
field,  Ratby,  Newtown  Unthank,  Botcheston,  Stanton-under-Bardon,  parts  of  Desford  and 
Markfield,  and  a  large  tract  of  Charnwood  Forest.  The  Earl  of  Stamford  exercises  a  right 
of  free  warren  throughout  nearly  the  whole  of  it.  It  is  held  of  the  King  by  the  service  of 
half  a  Knight's  fee,  as  of  the  Honour  of  Tutbury.f  Steward's  Hay,  the  residence  of  William 
Mai'tin,  Esq.,  is  the  abode  of  the  Earl  of  Stamford  during  his  occasional  visits  to  the 
neighbourhood.  His  Lordship  is  said  to  have  great  attachment  to  the  ancient  abodes  of  his 
noble  ancestors;  and  the  late  Lord  Grey  was  so  devoted  to  Bradgate  and  Groby,  which 
their  memories  have  almost  consecrated,  as  to  have  entertained  the  idea  of  restoring  at  least 
one  of  them.  The  Pool — it  deserves  the  name  of  Lake — forms  a  very  fine  sheet  of  water ; 
it  was  formerly  about  eighty'  acres  in  extent,  but  has  been  reduced  by  successive  encroach- 
ments of  reeds  to  about  half  that  size.  It  is  of  an  oval  form,  with  slightly  indented  bays 
and  projecting  points  of  sienitic  rock  on  its  margin.  With  its  little  island,  its  fringe  of  sedge, 
and  the  numerous  varieties  of  aquatic  birds  that  frequent  it,  the  Pool  at  all  times  presents  a 
most  pleasing  object.  By  the  inhabitants  of  a  district  affording  no  other  expanse  of  equal 
size  and  beauty,  it  is  naturally  regarded  as  a  wonder,  and  various  legends  respecting  its 
original  formation  are  current  in  the  surrounding  villages.  The  Abbot  and  Monks  of  St. 
Mary  de  Pralis,  at  Leicester,  enjoyed,  from  the  gift  of  their  founder,  the  privilege  of  fishing 
in  Groby  Pool  four  stated  days  in  a  year.  J  These  days,  by  admirable  forethought,  were 
fixed  to  be  on  the  eves  of  the  four  great  festivals  of  their  patron  Saint. 

The  delightful  summer  residence  of  Miss  Pares,  situated  near  the  Pool  Head,  has  many 
of  the  charms  of  a  dwelling  by  the  Cumberland  Lakes.  The  village  is  of  a  very  neat  and 
picturesque  character,  and  the  scenery,  particularly  on  the  western  side,  where  the  sienite 

«  Benscliif,  on  the  Forest,  and  Baun  Hill,  near  Groby,  are  also  cognate  words ;  derived,  perhaps,  from  some  ancient 

Forest  custom. 

t  An  account  of  this  Honour  may  be  found  in  Sir  Oswald  Mosley's  "  History  of  Tutbury" — one  of  the  most  pleasing 
monographs  the  Midland  Counties  have  produced. 

t  Item  habemus  ex  dono  Fundaloris  nostri  singulis  annis  unum  cervum  die  Assumptionis  Beatae  Mariae  :  et  alium 
cervum  in  Nativitate  Dei  Genetricis  Mariie ;  et  licentiam  piscandi  in  magno  vivario  suo  de  Groby  quatuor  diebus  per 
ann:  scilt.  vigilii  Purificationis  B.  Mariae,  Annunciationis  B.  M.,  Assumptionis  B.  M.,  et  Nativilatis  ejusdem. — Dug- 
dale's  Monasticon,  Vol.  I.,  page  309. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHAUNWOOD. 


115 


protrudes  in  wild  irregular  masses  amongst  rich  herbage  and  foliage,  is  of  a  very  varied  and 

pleasing  nature.     The  extensive  quarries  of  granite,  slightly  varying  in  its  texture  from  that 

of  Mountsorrel,  are  well  deserving  attention.     The  geology,  however,  as  well  as  the  botany 

of  this  neighbourhood,  will  be  found  noticed  at  length  under  their  respective  heads  in  the 

Appendix. 

PECULIAH  OF  GROBY. 

The  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Groby  is  entitled  to  an  exempt  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction, 
which  he  exercises  by  a  Commissary  or  Conservator,  who  is  empowered  to  appoint  Surro- 
gates, Proctors,  and  Apparitors.  The  Court  of  the  Peculiar  has  cognizance  in  all  spiritual 
and  ecclesiastical  causes,  and  in  matrimonial  causes  and  divorces,  and  all  other  causes  of 
which  cognizance  belongs  to  the  Ecclesiastical  Courts,  according  to  the  laws  of  this  realm  ; 
and  the  correction  and  punishment  of  excesses  and  crimes  of  all  persons  in  the  Peculiar,  as 
well  Clergj'  as  Laity,  whose  reformation  belongs  to  the  Ecclesiastical  Court.  The  Commis- 
sary is  also  empowered  to  hold  synods,  and  visitations  of  the  Clergy  and  Laity ;  and  to  grant 
matrimonial  licenses,  faculties,  and  lawful  dispensations.  Also  the  proving  or  disproving  of 
the  testaments  or  last  wills  of  all  persons  dying  within  the  Peculiar,  and  the  committing  of 
the  administration  of  the  goods  of  deceased  persons  belonging  to  the  Court  of  this  Peculiar ; 
which  is  entirely  exempt  from  the  authority  or  interference  of  the  Bishop  and  Archdeacon, 
and  the  appeal  therefrom  immediately  lies  to  the  Court  of  Arches. 

The  Rectors,  Ministers,  and  Churchwardens  of  the  following  places,  attend  at  the  Com- 
missary's ordinary  visitations : — Glenfield,  Anstey,  Ratby,  Newtown  Linford,  Swithlandj 
Cropston,  Stanton-under-Bardon,  and  the  Oaks  Chapel,  on  Chamwood  Forest. 

By  the  Act  for  inclosing  this  Forest,  the  Commissioners'  award  is  directed  to  be  deposited 
in  the  Registry  of  this  Court. 

The  records  of  the  Peculiar  are  extant  from  the  year  loG5 ;  and  the  following  persons 
appear  to  have  held  the  offices  of  Commissary,  Surrogate,  and  Registrar : — 


Commissaries. 

1565  Richard  Browne,  1st. 

1575  William  Stoughton. 

1591  John  Chippendale,  L.L.D. 

1622  John  Presgrave,  Clerk. 

1646  John  Angel,  M.A. 

1G66  Thomas  Case,  L.L.D. 

1670  Richard  Werge,  M.A. 

1672  William  Foster,  L.L.D. 

1701  George  Newell,  L.L.B. 

1741  John  Wilson,  B.D. 

1751  Joseph  Hooley,  M.A.* 

1784  George  Iliffe  Foster,  M.A. 

1799  William  Pares,  L.L.B. 

1810  Robert  Martin,  M.A. 

1827  The  Hon.  and  Rot.  H.  D.  Ers- 

kine,  M.A. 

1835  Robert  Martin,  M.A. 

•  Father  of  the  preseDt  .\rchbishop  of  Cau- 
terbury.  who  spells  the  Dame  "  ex  antiquo" 
Howley. 


Sl'rrogates. 
1595  William  Ludyard. 
1608  GUbert  Smith,  M.A. 
1672  John  Herrick. 
John  Rogers. 
1675  Nicholas  Folkingham,  M.A. 
1679  John  Burrows,  M.A. 
1682  Theophilus  Tapper,  B.D. 
168.3  Samuel  Collins,  M.A. 
1685  Joseph  Darby,  M..A. 
1687  Robert  Alefounder,  M.A. 
1689  John  Coleman. 
1697  William  Fox. 
1705  Edward  Stokes. 
1715  Reuben  Clark. 
1735  A.  Brooksby. 
1741  John  Tomlinson. 
1747  Walter  Crompton. 
1750  Joseph  Hooley. 
1799  Robert  Martin. 


Registrars. 
1609  Henry  Presgrave. 
1658  William  He)-ward. 
1666  Edward  Nowell. 
1672  George  Saville. 
1672  John  Birkhead. 
1 683  Thomas  Wadland. 
1 698  Thomas  Levet. 
1720  John  Ward. 
1731   Richard  Stephens. 
1745  Norrice  Cradock. 
1764  Thomas  Pares. 
1801  Samuel  Miles.* 


*  By  the  recent  death  of  this  respected  [uan 
and  able  antiquary,  this  office  is  at  the  present 
time  vacant.  He  rendered  Mr.  Nichols  very 
valuable  aid  in  his  ?Teat  Work,  and  had  at  one 
period  the  intention  of  favouring  the  public  with 
his  own  collections  on  the  antiquities  of  the 
county. 


116  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

In  a  state  of  the  Archdeaconry,  taken  in  1564,  Groby  and  its  dependencies  are  thus 
mentioned : — 

(  Dominus  Robcrtus  Grace,  vicarius  de  Whitwyck,  liabet  iurisdictionem  1  Parochia   de  Rotbie  in  qu^ 

(iROWBYE.   s  ,  / 

(  peculiarcm  ejusdem,  et  est  manerium  consistens  de 1  sunt  familiffi 21 

/Dominus    Edmundus   WooUaston,    vicarius    insfitutus    ibidem,    non ) 

1       ■ ,  >  in  qu4  parochia  sunt  familioe  27 

Rotbie. —  '  r^^iaet J 

\  et  dicta  parochia  consistit  de ["  hamlet'  de  Bocheston  in  qua 

sunt  familiae 5 

Newton    Parva    hamlet'    in 

quSl  sunt 4 

Capella  de  Newton  Lynford 
1^  in  qu&  simt  familia; 27 

SwyxHLAND — in  qua  sunt  familia; 30 

I  Anslye  Capella — in  quk  sunt  familia? 24 

THURC ASTON.   I 

(  Hamlet'  de  Cropston — in  qua  sunt  familiffi 13 

Stanton. — Hamlet'  de  Stanton  (subtus  Bardon)  in  quS.  sunt  familiae   14 

( Consistit  in   Manerio   de   Growbie,    Howlegates,   et   Hoi- )  in  qua  sunt  familia'  prfeter 
Newtonne  Lilford.  i  1      ■  ■  ,-, 

I  gatewarde I  manerium  dommte  regmse  . .   47 

Addition  to  Groby. 

Since  the  foregoing  notice  of  Groby  was  sent  to  press,  the  Rev.  Robert  Martin,  of  Anstey 
Pastures,  has  most  obUgingly  communicated  to  me  a  valuable  original  document  from  tlie 
pen  of  the  late  learned  Antiquary,  Mr.  Samuel  Miles — the  result  of  that  gentleman's 
researches  in  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  Office  in  1806.  This  document  so  strongly  confirms 
the  opinions  advanced  in  pages  11.3  and  114,  respecting  the  Forests  of  Charnwood  and 
Leicester  having,  at  an  early  period,  been  one  Forest,  that  I  most  gladly  avail  myself  of  the 
opportunity  of  making  one  or  two  extracts  from  it  here.  Mr.  Miles  says,  "  A  grant  of  very 
extensive  privileges  was  made  by  King  John  in  1199,  to  Robert  Fitz  Parnell,  the  last 
Norman  Earl  of  Leicester,  which  I  find  is  designated,  in  the  Records  of  the  Duchy  Office, 
'  The  Creation  of  the  Honour  of  Leicester :'  to  which  Honour  a  Forest  of  very  larr/e  e.ttefit 
was  most  unquestionably  appendant,  comprising  (as  I  am  well  satisfied)  the  Woodlands  of 
Whitwick,  Groby,  and  Sheepshed,  with  their  members,  besides  other  woodlands  exiendiu<i 
fo  Hinckley,  and  inrlndiiKj  various  intermediate  places ;  to  which  Forest  it  appears  that 
Charley,  or  Charnwood,  comprising  (as  I  conceive)  a  small  part  of  what  is  now  known  by 
that  name,  was  afterwards  annexed."  Again — "  It  is  clear  that  part  of  the  Forest  or  Chace 
which  belonged  to  the  Honour  of  Leicester,  was  held  by  Simon  de  Montford  as  distinct 
Forest  or  Chace,  and  continued  to  be  called  Leicester  Forest :  and  the  other  part  of  it, 
which  was  allotted  to  Saer  de  Quiucy,  appears  to  have  been  afterwards  usually  called 
Charley  or  Charnwood  Forest,  though  it  for  some  time  certainly  was  also  called  Leicester 
Forest." — The  manor  of  Groby  has  continued  in  one  family  ever  since  the  Norman  Conquest ! 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY   OF  CHARNVVOOD.  117 

BRADGATE. 

Oh !  there  are  souls  that  come, — and  such  -was  thine — 

So  clothed  in  greatness  from  the  Almighty's  hand, 
They  breathe  and  are  immortal  I     All  divine. 

In  starry  brightness  on  the  earth  tliey  stand ; 
Pure  spirit-flames ;  then  back  to  their  own  land  ! 

Leaving  to  Time's  succeeding  tribes  to  greet 

The  spot  once  touched  and  hallowed  by  their  feet. —  W.  Howitt. 

Bradgate,  to  which,  perhaps,  greater  celebrity  attaches  than  to  any  other  place  in  con- 
nexion with  Charnwood,  adjoins  the  south-east  corner  of  the  Forest.  The  manor  having 
formed  part  of  the  possessions  of  the  Earls  of  Leicester,  passed  to  the  Ferrars,  and  from  the 
latter  to  the  Greys,  so  nearly  in  the  same  manner  as  Groby  as  to  render  any  description  of 
the  mode  in  which  it  passed  wholly  unnecessary. 

The  name  appears  to  be  derived  from  the  Broad  Gate,  which  was  in  early  limes  the 
principal  entrance  of  the  Earls  of  Leicester  into  the  Forest,  and  which  stood  on  the  spot 
now  called  Holgates,  but  anciently  the  OUIgaten,  and  latterly,  when  the  Park  became  of 
greater  importance  than  the  Forest,  and  had  an  entrance  at  that  point,  was  very  naturally 
changed  into  Hallgates,  which  last  name  I  have  retained  in  the  map  that  accompanies  this 
book.  The  road  from  Leicester  Castle  to  the  ancient  Forest  would  thus  seem  to  have  lain 
through  Thurcaston,  the  appropriately-situated  residence  of  the  Falconers,  who  appear  to 
have  attended  the  Norman  Kings,  and  subsequently  the  Earls  of  Leicester,  in  the  chase.* 

Bradgate  Park — for  there  never  was  any  village  of  that  name — forms  one  of  the  belt  of 
Parks  which  almost  wholly  encircled  the  Forest ;  to  which,  indeed,  they  owed  their  origin, 
either  as  offering  facilities  for  more  champaign  or  free  hunting  than  the  thick  woodland  per- 
mitted, or  as  furnishing  additional  protection  to  the  Forest  itself.  This  belt  was  formed  by 
the  Parks  of  Groby,  of  which  there  were  four,  extending  altogether  several  miles  on  the 
southern  border — of  Bardon,  Whitwick,  Graeedieu,  Garendon,  Burleigh,  Loughborough 
(two),  Beaumanor,  Quorndon,  Swithland,  and  Bradgate.  Groby  and  Bradgate,  from  their 
greater  contiguity  to  Leicester  Castle,  may  be  presumed  to  have  been  the  first  inclosed ; 
the  latter  is  certainly  of  great  antiquity.  The  following  agreement  made  between  Roger  de 
Quincy,  Earl  of  Winchester,t  and  Roger  de  Somerj',  Baron  of  Dudley,  about  their  mutual 
hunting  in  Charnwood  Forest  and  Bradgate  Park,  will  show  that  it  was  imparked  previ- 
ously to  1-217 : — 

"This  is  the  Agreement  made  at  Leicester  on  the  day  of  St.  Vincent  the  Martyr,  in  the 
•■Jlst  year  of  the  reign  of  king  Henry,  the  son  of  king  John  (before  sir  Roger  de  Turkilby, 
master  Simon  de  Walton,  sir  Gilbert  de  Preston,  and  sir  John  de  Cobham,  justices  then 
there  itinerant),  between  Roger  de  Quincy,  earl  of  Winlon,  and  Roger  Somery  :  To  wit ; 
that  the  aforesaid  Roger  de  Somery  hath  granted  for  him  and  his  heirs,  that  the  aforesaid 

*  See  under  Thurcaston. 
f  For  "Earl   of  Winchester"   Nichols  writes  " 'Ea.rl  oi  Leicester ,"   and  for  "Charnwood  Forest"   "Leicester 
Forest,  which  are  manifestly  wrong,  both  from  the  body  of  this  deed  and  its  reference  to  that  given  in  page  16  of 
this  work. 


118  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

earl  and  his  heirs  may  have  and  hold  his  park  of  Bradgate  so  inclosed  as  it  was  inclosed  in 
the  Octaves  of  St.  Hilary,  in  the  31st  year  of  the  aforesaid  king  Henry,  with  the  deer -leaps 
[saltatoriis]  then  in  it  made.  And  for  this  agreement  and  grant,  the  same  earl  hath  granted, 
for  him  and  his  heirs,  that  the  same  Roger  de  Somery  and  his  heirs  may  enter  at  any  hour 
on  the  forest  of  him  the  earl,  to  chase  in  it  [ad  bersandum]  with  nine  bows  and  six  hounds, 
according  to  the  form  of  a  cyrograph  before  made,  between  the  aforesaid  Roger  earl  of 
Winton  and  Hugh  de  Albiniaco  earl  of  Arundel,  in  the  court  of  the  lord  the  king  at  Lei- 
cester. And  if  any  wild  beast,  wounded  by  any  of  the  aforesaid  bows,  shall  enter  the  afore- 
said park  by  any  deer-leap  or  otherwise,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  aforesaid  Roger  de  Somery 
and  his  heirs  to  send  one  man  or  two  of  his,  who  shall  follovv  the  aforesaid  wild  beast,  with 
the  dogs  pursuing  that  wild  beast  within  the  aforesaid  park,  without  bow  and  arrows,  and 
may  take  it  on  that  day  whereon  it  was  wounded,  without  hurt  of  other  wild  beasts  in  the 
aforesaid  park  abiding ;  so  that,  if  they  be  footmen,  they  shall  enter  by  some  deer-leap  or 
hedge ;  and  if  they  be  horsemen  they  shall  enter  by  the  gate,  if  it  shall  be  open  ;  and  other- 
wise shall  not  enter  before  they  wind  their  horn  for  the  keeper,  if  he  will  come.  And  far- 
ther, the  same  earl  hath  granted  for  him  and  his  heirs,  that  they  for  the  future  shall  every 
year  cause  to  be  taken  a  brace  of  bucks  in  the  buck-season,  and  a  brace  of  does  in  the  doe- 
season,  and  them  cause  to  be  delivered  at  the  gate  of  the  aforesaid  park  to  any  one  of  the 
men  of  the  aforesaid  Roger  de  Somery  and  his  heirs,  bringing  their  letters  patents  for  the 
aforesaid  deer.  The  aforesaid  earl  hath  also  granted  for  him  and  his  heirs,  that  they  for  the 
future  shall  make  no  park,  nor  augment  the  park  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  hunting  ground 
of  the  aforesaid  Roger  and  his  heirs,  besides  the  antient  enclosures  of  the  aforesaid  forest. 
And  the  aforesaid  Roger  de  Somery  hath  granted  for  him  and  his  heirs,  that  they  for  the 
future  shall  never  enter  the  aforesaid  forest  to  chace,  save  with  nine  bows  and  six  hounds ; 
and  that  their  foresters  shall  not  carry  in  the  wood  of  the  aforesaid  Roger  de  Somery  and 
their  heirs,  barbed  arrows,  but  [sagittas  barbatas,  sed  pilettas].  And  that  his  men  of  Barwe 
and  foresters,  within  the  Octaves  of  St.  Michael,  at  the  Park  ford,  shall  do  fealty  every  year 
to  the  bailiffs  of  the  aforesaid  earl  and  his  heirs,  and  other  things  which  to  the  aforesaid 
forest  belong,  according  to  the  purport  of  the  cyrograph  between  the  aforesaid  earls  of  Win- 
chester and  Arundel  before  made.  And  this  agreement  is  made  between  the  aforesaid  earl 
and  the  aforesaid  Roger  de  Somery,  saving  to  the  same  earl  and  his  heirs,  and  to  the  afore- 
said Roger  de  Somery  and  his  heirs,  all  the  articles  in  the  aforesaid  cyrograph  made  between 
the  aforesaid  earls  of  Winchester  and  Arundel  contained.  And  farther,  the  said  earl  hath 
granted  for  him  and  his  heirs,  that  the  one  or  two  of  the  men  of  the  aforesaid  Roger  de 
Somery  and  his  heirs,  who  shall  follow  the  aforesaid  wild  beast  wounded,  with  the  dogs 
pursuing  it  into  the  aforesaid  park,  with  the  aforesaid  wild  beast,  whether  they  shall  have 
taken  it  or  not,  may,  with  the  aforesaid  dogs,  freely  and  without  hindrance,  go  out  through 
the  gate  of  the  aforesaid  park.  And  the  aforesaid  earl  and  his  heirs  shall  cause  some  one 
of  their  servants  to  give  notice  to  the  aforesaid  Roger  de  Somery  and  his  heirs  at  Barwe,* 

•  "  At  Barwe." — This  expression  seems  strongly  confirmatory  of  the  correctness  of  the  opinion  previously  hazarded 
respecting  the  probability  of  a  mansion  having  been  situated  in  the  Park  of  Barrow,  or  at  least  somewhere  in  that 
extensive  parish. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  119 

on  what  day  he  shall  send  for  the  abovesaid  deer  to  the  aforesaid  place  at  the  aforesaid 
times ;  and  this  notice  they  shall  cause  to  be  given  to  them  six  days  before  the  aforesaid 
day.  In  witness  whereof  each  to  the  other's  writing  hath  put  to  his  seal.  And  it  is  to  be 
observed,  that  the  time  of  buck-season  [tempus  pinguedinis]  here  is  computed  between  the 
feast  of  St.  Peter  ad  vincula  [August  1st.]  and  the  exaltation  of  the  Holy  Cross  [Sept.  14]  ; 
and  the  time  of  doe-season  [tempus  firmationis]  between  the  feast  of  St.  Martin  and  the 
purification  of  the  Blessed  Virgin." 

The  present  Park  is  bounded  by  a  wall  of  nearly  seven  miles  in  length,  and  is  also  sub- 
divided into  several  walled  lawnds,  some  of  which  are  of  very  ancient  inclosure.  The 
whole  surface  is  of  a  very  varied  character,  in  which  wildness  greatly  predominates.  The 
little  glen  on  the  south-western  side,  called  the  Hocky  Valley,  is  extremely  romantic.  The 
mansion,  of  which  the  ruins  still  form  an  object  of  such  interest,  is  deserving  of  particular 
notice.  Of  this  Leland  makes  the  following  remarks  : — "  From  Leicester  to  Brodegate,  by 
ground  well  woodded,  3  miles.  At  Brodegate  is  a  faire  Parke  and  a  logge  lately  builded 
there  by  the  Lorde  Thomas  Gray,  Marquise  of  Dorsete,  father  to  Henry  that  is  now  Mar- 
quise." Hence  it  may  be  concluded  that  the  mansion  was  erected  about  the  year  1530. 
The  former  Marquis,  however,  began  some  buildings  here  in  1501.  This  house,  according 
to  the  same  authority  (Lehuid),  was  chiefly  erected  out  of  the  materials  of  the  Manor  House 
of  the  Earls  of  Warwick  at  Sutton  Coldfield  ;  for  he  says,  "  After  that  the  Earldom  of  War- 
wicke  was  attainted  and  came  to  the  Kinge,  the  toune  of  Sutton,  standinge  in  a  barren 
soyle,  fell  daily  to  decay,  and  the  market  was  cleane  forsaken.  Wingston,  by  authoritie  of 
his  ofBce,  soidd  the  tymbre  of  the  Mannour  place,  and  had  part  of  it  himselfe.  The  hall 
selfe  was  after  sett  up  at  Brodegate,  the  Marquise  of  Dorsett's  house  at  Leicester,  and  there 
yet  stondeth."* 

It  was  inhabited  by  the  family  and  their  successors  until  the  early  part  of  the  last  cen- 
tury-, when  it  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  left  in  the  state  in  which  it  now  stands.  Throsby, 
in  his  "  History  of  Leicestershire,"  mentions  that  James  the  First  was  entertained  here  for 
some  days ;  but  there  are  no  certain  accounts  respecting  his  visit.  Nichols,  who  published 
a  description  of  the  progresses  of  this  King,  in  mentioning  the  various  palaces  and  houses 
of  the  nobles  where  he  sojourned,  takes  no  notice  of  Bradgate  ;  and  it  is  therefore  most  pro- 
bable that  he  never  visited  it.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  King  William  was  entertained 
here  for  some  days :  the  account  states  that  he  rode  from  Leicester  through  the  open  fields 
by  Anstey,  which  was  also  then  uninclosed.  The  following  account  of  the  destruction  of 
the  house  is  taken  from  Throsby's  Leicestershire : — "  It  is  said  of  the  wife  of  the  Earl  of 
Suff"olk,  who  last  inhabited  Bradgate  Hall,  that  she  set  it  on  fire,  at  the  instigation  of  her 
sister,  who  then  lived  in  London.  The  story  is  thus  told: — Some  time  after  the  Earl  had 
married,  he  brought  his  lad)' to  his  seat  at  Bradgate;  her  sister  wrote  to  her,  desiring  to 
know  how  she  liked  her  habitation,  and  the  country  she  was  in :  the  Countess  of  Suffolk 
wrote  for  answer,  '  that  the  house  was  tolerable,  that  the  country  was  a  forest,  and  the 
inhabitants  all  brutes.'     The  sister  in  consequence,  by  letter,  desired  her  to  set  fire  to  the 

•  Leland,  Vol.  IV.,  page  187. 


120  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

house,  and  run  away  by  the  light  of  it :  the  former  part  of  the  request,  it  is  said,  she  imme- 
diately put  in  practice,  and  thus  this  celebrated  and  interesting  mansion  was  consigned  to 
the  flames." 

PRESENT  APPEARANCE  OF  BRADGATE. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  give  a  detailed  account  of  the  ruins,  as  they  exist  at  the  present 
day.  On  approaching  them  from  the  west,  we  perceive  the  remains  of  two  towers,  one  of 
a  square  form,  the  other  an  irregular  polygon ;  these  are  now  only  connected  together  by  a 
low  ruinous  wall ;  they  and  the  rest  of  the  edifice  are  built  of  brick,  with  coins  at  the  angles, 
and  cornice  mouldings  of  soft  red  sandstone ;  the  mullions  and  facings  of  the  windows, 
which  are  square  headed,  are  also  of  the  same  materials.  To  the  south  of  these  towers  are 
the  remains  of  the  bakehouse,  the  ovens  of  which  may  still  be  discerned ;  over  it  were  pro- 
bably the  servants'  chambers,  the  fire-places  of  which  still  exist  to  the  height  of  three 
stories,  and  this  part  of  the  ruin  is  surmounted  by  a  large  angular-shaped  chimney,  with  a 
projecting  cornice  of  brick.  A  few  feet  to  the  north-east  of  the  bakehouse  are  the  remains 
of  the  kitchen  ;  of  this  nothing  more  is  now  apparent  than  the  capacious  fire-place,  and  a 
portion  of  the  wall.  The  above  buildings  are  evidently  of  older  date  than  other  portions  of 
the  ruins,  and  formed  part  of  the  mansion  existing  during  the  period  of  Lady  .Jane  Grey's 
residence  here.  The  great  hall  appears  to  have  been  on  the  north  side  of  the  house ;  and 
here  the  remains  of  a  wall  and  square-headed  windows,  partly  overgrown  with  ivy,  are  still 
to  be  seen.  What  a  casual  observer  would  probably  take  for  the  entrance  door,  appears  to 
have  been  a  bay  or  projecting  window  reaching  down  to  the  gi-ound;  all  the  mullioned  tra- 
cery, however,  is  demolished.  The  entrance  door,  which  likewise  projected,  was  much  to 
the  westward  of  these  windows,  and  may  still  be  traced  out.  Eastward  of  the  hall  a  long 
range  of  buildings  extended  towards  the  north,  the  foundations  only  of  which  now  remain ; 
these  inclosed  the  court  on  the  east,  the  great  hall  and  other  oifices  on  the  south.  The  east 
front,  the  foundations  of  the  buildings  of  which  may  be  traced,  looked  out  on  the  Plaisance, 
and  here  no  doubt  were  the  more  private  and  most  comfurtable  apartments  of  the  family. 
At  the  south-eastern  corner  of  the  mansion,  and  connected  formerly  on  the  north  and  east 
with  other  buildings,  are  the  remains  of  an  octagonal  tower,  with  square-headed  windows, 
mostly  divided  by  a  niullion,  the  facings  and  architrave  mouldings  of  which  are  of  stone ; 
and  a  little  to  the  westward  of  this  is 

THE  CHAPEL. 

This  is  the  only  part  of  this  once  extensive  mansion  which  is  now  covered  in;  it  joined 
other  buildings  on  the  east  and  north  sides,  and  was  formerly  lighted  by  a  large  square- 
headed  window  on  the  south,  divided  into  twelve  compartments  by  mullions  and  transoms, 
the  six  lowest  of  which  are  now  bricked  up;  and  on  the  west  by  two  square-headed  win- 
dows of  smaller  dimensions,  both  of  which  are  also  bricked  up,  and  the  mullions  of  them 
destroyed ;  above  the  large  window  on  the  south  side  is  a  smaller  one,  which  like  the  rest 
is  now  blocked  up.     All  these  windows  have  stone  dressings,  and  a  horizontal  moulding  of 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  121 

stone  runs  along  the  west  and  south  sides  of  the  building.  On  entering  the  Chapel,  wc  find 
the  interior  to  be  quite  plain,  the  length  from  north  to  south  thirty-five  feet,  the  breadth 
twenty-one  feet.  It  was  repaired  by  order  of  the  present  Earl  of  Stamford,  and  in  a  vault 
beneath  the  pavement  the  remains  of  several  of  his  ancestors  are  deposited ;  but  with  the 
e.\ception  of  a  monument  on  the  east  side,  the  Chapel  contains  nothing  worthy  of  observa- 
tion, and  is  totally  devoid  of  pews  or  ornament  of  any  kind. 

An  oblong  slab  of  blue  slate,  divided  into  long  hexagonal  pieces,  lies  over  the  entrance 
to  a  vault,  on  which  is  the  following  inscription : — 

p.  <5. 

CTjc  rt  Ijonblc  STfjos  (Stev 

bavon  of  ®rotit>  bisct.  ilStoolJbil  anD  tarl  of  Stamforfl 

late  5.orI(  Iteut  of  Srbonsfjirc  anB  Somcrsctsijire 

B  teD  JTanp  ti)c  3 1  st  1 7 1 9  agcD  6  7  gears 

tift  rt  f)onb\e 

i«aro  countfSB  Ootoager  of  StamforU 

Bicti  ilol)  loti)  1722  aecD  oi  wears 

This  vault  likewise  contained  the  body  of  Lady  Diana  Grey,  daughter  of  Thomas,  Earl  of 
Stamford,  by  his  first  wife  Elizabeth. 

On  a  table  tomb  on  the  east  side  of  the  Chapel,  beneath  an  enriched  pediment,  supported 
by  two  Ionic  pillars  richly  carved,  and  under  a  covered  arch,  the  soffit  of  which  is  panelled 
and  carved,  repose  the  recumbent  effigies  of  Henry  Grey,  created  Baron  of  Groby  by  King 
.James  the  First,  and  of  Anne  his  wife,  daughter  of  the  celebrated  Lord  Burleigh.  He  is 
represented  as  equipped  in  a  complete  suit  of  plate  armour,  over  which  is  a  rich  mantle 
with  a  funded  cape,  fastened  by  a  clasp  in  front  over  the  breast,  below  which  it  falls  open 
to  expose  the  armour.  He  is  bare-headed  with  mustachios  and  a  long  beard,  and  his  head 
reclines  upon  a  helmet  surmounted  by  a  crest.  His  armour  consists  of  a  gorget  and  breast- 
plate, with  taces  and  tassels  attached,  cuisses  or  thigh  pieces,  genouilleres  or  knee  caps,  and 
jambs.  The  lower  parts  of  his  legs  are  destroyed;  at  the  bottom  where  his  feet  rested,  are 
his  gauntlets,  composed  of  over-lapping  plates ;  his  arms  and  shoulders  are  likewise  cased 
in  plate  down  to  the  wrist,  but  the  gi-eater  part  of  the  right  arm  is  destroyed.  The  whole 
of  the  suit  is  richly  ornamented.  His  lady  is  represented  as  habited  in  a  long  bodiced  goH  n 
closely  fitting  to  the  waist,  and  from  thence  falling  in  ample  folds  to  the  bottom  of  the  feet ; 
over  this  is  a  large  mantle,  with  a  fuiTcd  cape  open  in  front ;  her  head  is  covered  with  an 
ornamented  cap,  and  rests  on  a  double  cushion,  and  a  long  veil  falls  behind ;  her  neck  is 
encircled  by  a  raff,  and  from  it  are  suspended  ornaments  reaching  nearly  to  her  feet ;  her 
sleeves  are  loose,  with  close  cuffs  at  the  wrist.  The  hands  of  this  figure  are  destroyed, 
but  they  seem  to  have  been  held  up  in  prayer.     The  west  side  of  the  tomb  is  divided 


122  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

into  three  compartments,  within  which,  surrounded  by  scroll  work,  are  many  armorial 
bearings.* 

The  plaisance  or  pleasure  ground  (mistaken  by  Throsby,  and  often  miscalled  a  tilt  yard) 
lies  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  house,  and  is  about  ninety  yards  in  length  by  eighty  in  breadth, 
surrounded  by  a  raised  ten'ace,  the  broad  walks  of  which,  though  now  covered  with  verdant 
turf,  may  be  still  traced  out.  A  moat,  which  is  crossed  by  a  stone  bridge  of  two  arches, 
separates  the  plaisance  from  what  was  formerly  a  garden  or  orchard,  though  few  traces  of 
its  having  been  such  now  remain.  To  the  north  of  the  house  is  a  fish-pond ;  and  adjoining 
to  this,  running  in  a  parallel  line  with  the  north,  is  a  moat,  beyond  which  is  a  straight  walk 
beneath  an  avenue  of  beautiful  Spanish  chesnuts ;  there  are  also  some  aged  mulbeiTy  trees 
about  the  ruins,  and  a  great  variety  of  scarce  wild  plants. 

Having  given  this  description  of  the  ruins,  which  I  chiefly  glean  fi'om  the  Rev.  Andrew 
Bloxam's  work  already  referred  to,  I  resume  my  notices  of  the  noble  family  of  the  proprietor. 

Henry,  the  third  Marquis,  was  only  thirteen  when  he  succeeded  his  father.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1540-7,  on  the  coronation  of  Edward  VI.,  he  was  appointed  Lord  High  Constable  of 
England  for  three  days  only  :  in  1550,  Justice  Itinerant  of  aU  the  King's  Forests.  His  first 
wife  was  Catherine,  daughter  of  William  Fitz-Alan,  Earl  of  Arundel,  by  whom  he  had  no 
issue.  He  married  secondly  Frances,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Charles  Brandon,  the  gay  Duke 
of  Suffolk,  by  his  third  wife,  Mary,  daughter  of  Henry  VII.,  and  widow  of  Louis  XII.,  King 
of  France.  In  compliment  to  the  Lady,  he  was  in  1551  created  Duke  of  Suffolk.f  Here 
were  born,  issue  of  this  marriage,  the  Ladies  Jane,  Mary,  and  Katherine  Grey.  The  fate  of 
two  of  these  interesting  sisters  has  already  been  briefly  noticed  under  Beaumanor ;  that  of  the 
eldest.  Lady  Jane,  has  been  so  fruitful,  so  sad,  and  yet  so  delightful  a  theme  for  historians, 
poets,  and  biographers,  that  little  that  is  new  can  be  said  upon  it,  and  probably  that  little 
would  not  have  been  deemed  necessary,  but  for  the  late  attempt  of  an  anonymous  writer  to  de- 
tract fi-om  the  rare  merits  and  extraordinary  attainments  of  this  most  gifted  and  guileless  girl.J 

*1.  Arms  of  Grey.    Barry  of  six,  argent  and  azure,  in  chief  three  torteauxes,  and  label  of  five  points  ermme. 

2.  Grey,  impaling  Windsor.     Gules,  a  saltire  argent,  between  twelve  cross  crosslets,  or. 

3.  Windsor. 

The  pediment  of  this  monument  is  surmounted  by  an  escutcheon  or  shield,  surrounded  by  scroll  work, 
containing  the  following  quarterings,  surrounded  by  a  crest : — 

1.  Grey  (before  described.) 

2.  Hastings.     Argent,  a  maunch  sable. 

3.  Valence.    Barry  of  eight,  argent  and  azure,  an  orle  of  martlets,  gules. 

4.  Ferrars,  of  Groby.     Gules,  seven  mascles  conjoined,  or,  three,  three,  and  one. 

5.  Astley.     Azure,  a  cinquefoil  ermine. 

6.  Woodville.     Argent,  a  fess  and  canton  gules. 

7.  Bonvilc,  sable,  6  mullets  argent,  round  pierced  gules. 

8.  Harrington,  sable,     A  fret,  argent. 

Supporters,  two  unicorns  ermine,  armed,  crested,  and  hoofed  or,  motto,  "A  ma  puissance." 
t  Trin.  Rec.,  6  Edward  VI.,  m.  9. 
1  The  writer  alluded  to  thinks  the  statements  respecting  Lady  Jane  "  exceed  the  grounds  of  credibility,  and  are 
nearly  allied  to  those  Monkish  romances  of  Saints  and  Martyrs  invented  by  craft  to  impose  on  credulity."     He  calls 
Ascham's  encomiums  "  indiscriminate  and  garrulous,"  and  strongly  questions  his  veracity. — Beauties  oj  England  and 
Wales,  Vol.  IX.,  page  398. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 


123 


Linked  in  our  memories  with  every  name  distinguished  for  feminine  excellence,  that  of 
Lady  Jane  has  by  most  people  been  regarded  as  synonymous  with  all  that  is  eminently 
talented  and  virtuous.  The  critic  that  attempts  to  prove  Troy  a  poetical  figment,  and  the 
topogi'apher  who  wishes  to  lower  the  general  estimate  of  the  character,  talents,  and  acquire- 
ments of  Lady  Jane  Grey,  are  equally  the  object  of  one's  dislike.  Fortunately,  her  reputa- 
tion rests  on  better  authority  than  that  of  the  cynic  who  wrote  the  notice  in  the  lieautiea 
of  England.  It  may,  indeed,  be  with  truth  asserted,  that  the  biography  of  no  nation  can 
produce  a  female  character  combining,  at  so  early  an  age,  such  transcendant  attainments 
with  such  exalted  virtues.* 


SHORT  PEDIGREE  OF  LADY  JANE  GREY. 

Showing  her  descent  from  Edward  IV.;  and  that  of  both  her  parents  (Henry  Grey,  3rd  Marquis  of  Dorset, 
and  Frances  his  wife),  from  Elizabeth  Widvile. 

Sir  Jolin  Grey,  succeeded  as  Lord  Ferrars  of=Elizabeth  Widvile,  eldest  daughter^ Edward  IV.; 
Groby,  1458;  and  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  I  and  co-heir  of  Sir  Richard  Widvile,  I  2nd  husband. 
St.  Albans,  Feb.  17th,  1460-61 ;  1st  husband,      afterwards  Earl  Rivers. 


Anne,  only=Sir  Thomas  Grey,  suc-=Cicely,  dau.  Sir  Rich' 
daughter  cecded  as  Lord  Ferrars  and  heir  of  ard  Grey 
of  Groby  1461 ;  created 
Earl  of  Huntingdon 
August  24,  1471,  and 
first  Marquis  of  Dorset 
of  the  family  of  Grey, 
Apr.18,1475;  K.G.and 
a  Privy  Counsellor  to 
Henry  VII.  Died  Apr. 
10, 1501 ;  bui-.  atAstley. 


of  Henry 
Holland, 
Earl  of  Ex- 
eter ;  died 
s.  p.  — 1st 
wife. 


Wm.    Lord  beheaded 

Bonvile  and  at  Ponte- 

Harrington.  fractCas- 

—2nd  wife,  tie,  1483. 


4.  Eliza- 
beth. 


: Henry  VIL 


1.  Edward  V.  j  smothered 

2.  Richard.      |  1483. 

3.  George. 

5.  Catherine. 

6.  Cicely. 

7.  Ann. 


9.  Mary. 
10.  Margaret. 


Eleanor,= 
dau.  of 
Oliver 
St.John, 
died  s. p. 
1  St  wife. 


I 
: Thomas  Grey,  sue-: 
ceeded  as  second 
Marquis  of  Dorset, 
&c.,  1501;  Chief 
Justice  of  all  the 
King'sforestsl524, 
K.G.;  died  1530; 
buried  at  Astley. 

r 


:  Margaret,  dau. 
of  Sir  Robert 
Wotton,ofBoc- 
ton,  in  Kent, 
and  widow  of 
WilUam  Med- 
ley.— 2nd  wife. 


I 
Arthur, 
mar.  to 
Cathe- 
rine   of 
Arra- 
gon. 


I 
Henry  VIII. 


Margaret, 
married 
James  IV., 
of  Scot- 
land, in 
1502. 


Louis  XII. = 
of  Prance, 
died  s.p. — 
1st       hus- 
band. 


I 
:  Mary. = Charles 
I  Bran- 
I  don, 
Duke  of 
Suffolk. 
2d  hus- 
band. 


Catharine,  daughter  of=  Henry  Grey,  succeeded  as  third  Marquis  of  Dorset,  &c.,^ Frances,  eldest  daughter  and 


William     Fitz     Alan,      1530;  Constable  of  England  1547  ;  Justice  of  the  King's 
t  Earl  of  Arundel ;  died     Forests  1550;  Warden  of  the  East,   West,  and  Middle 
s.p. — 1st  wife.  Marches  1551 ;  cre.ated  Duke  of  Suffolk  Oct.  5,   1551; 

K.G. ;  attainted  and  beheaded  Feb.  23,  1553-4. 


heir  of  Charles  Brandon,  Duke  of 
Suffolk;  died  Nov.  21,  1559; 
buried  in  Westminster  Abbey. — 
2nd  wife. 


Lady  Jane  Grey,  married  Guilford  Dudley,  Catherine,  mar.  1st,  Henry  Herbert,  eld.  son  of  William,  Mary,  married 

4th  son  of  John,  Duke  of  Northumberland ;  Earlof  Pembroke;  divorced. — 2ndly,  Edward  Seymour,  Martin    Keys, 

was  proclaimed  Queen  on  the  death  of  Ed-  Earl  of  Hertford,  by  whom  she  had  3  sons  and  a  daugh-  of  Kent ;  died 

ward  VI.,  and  beheaded  Feb.  12,  155.3-4.  ter,  and  died  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower,  Jan.  26,  1567.  1578. 

*  Aschara,  the  tutor  of  Elizabeth,  in  his  Latin  Epistles,  speaks  of  her  as  the  most  erudite  and  accomplished  woman 
of  the  times,  and  frequently  dwells  on  the  surprise  he  felt  when  visiting  Bradgate,  on  finding  her  reading  the  Phcedo 
of  Plato,  while  the  rest  of  the  company  were  hunting  in  the  Park.  Aylmer,  her  own  tutor,  the  chief  pillar  of  early 
Protestantism  in  Leicestersliire,  bears  equally  strong  testimony  to  her  virtues  aud  erudition.  Sir  Thomas  Chaloner, 
also  her  contemporary,  states  that  "  she  was  well  versed  in  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  and  Arabic ;  and  that  she  excelled  also 
in  the  various  branches  of  ordinary  feminine  education — played  well  on  instrumental  music,  sang  exquisitely,  wrote 
an  elegant  hand,  and  excelled  in  curious  needlework ;  and  with  all  these  rare  endowments,  was  of  a  mild,  humble,  and 
modest  spirit."  Fuller,  the  historian,  who  lived  about  a  century  after  her,  says,  "  She  had  the  innocency  of  child- 
hood, the  beauty  of  youth,  the  solidity  of  middle,  the  gravity  of  old  age,  and  all  at  eighteen ;  the  birth  of  a  Princess 
the  learning  of  a  clerk,  the  life  of  a  saint,  and  the  death  of  a  malefactor  for  her  parents'  offences." 


124  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

Admiration  of  the  life,  and  pity  for  the  unmerited  death  of  this  extraordinary  Lady,  have 
been  evinced  by  the  thousands  of  pilgrimages  to  the  place  of  her  birth — pilgrimages  which 
will  be  continued  while  a  love  for  what  is  greatly  good  shall  animate  British  bosoms.  For 
what  but  "  the  sweet  memory"  of  Lady  Jane  has  invested  Bradgate  with  such  a  charm  ? 
It  is  not,  confessedly,  the  ruins — it  is  not  the  Oaks — or  the  scenery  of  the  Park — it  is  mainly 
the  association  of  the  spot  with  the  name  of  the  ten  days'  Queen — whose  character  will  con- 
tinue to  be  a  theme  for  praise  when  "  The  Beauties"  are  forgotten;  and  whose  fate,  in  all 
gentle  breasts,  will  be  mourned 

"  Till  Pity's  self  be  dead!" 

There  prevails,  even  amongst  educated  persons,  a  singular  confusion  of  ideas  respecting  the 
grounds  on  which  Lady  Jane  was  induced  to  lay  claim  to  the  Crown*  Many  look  upon  it 
merely  as  a  baseless  scheme,  concocted  by  the  ambitious  Dudleys  and  the  Duke  of  Suffolk. 
Her  right,  perhaps,  has  never  been  so  prominently  put  forward  as  it  deserves.  It  was 
grounded  on  her  direct  descent  from  Edward  IV.  and  Henry  VII. — (see  Pedigree  on  pre- 
ceding page) — on  Henry  VIII.  having,  by  statute,  declared  the  illegitimacy  of  his  daugh- 
ters, Mary  and  Elizabeth,  and  excluded  the  descendants  of  his  sister  Margaret  (wife  of 
James  IV.  of  Scotland),  and  on  the  will  of  Edward  VI.,  in  which  he  named  Lady  Jane  Grey 
his  successor. 

Further,  either  Mary  or  Elizabeth  must  have  been  illegitimate  by  the  canon  law,  and 
both  had  been  declared  so  by  Act  of  Parliament :  it  became,  therefore,  a  question  for  the 
casuist  to  decide  whether  Lady  Jane  Grey  was  not  the  rightful  claimant.  Certain  it  is,  her 
claims  did  not  rest  on  grounds  so  frivolous  as  they  have  sometimes  been  described,  but  were 
of  a  nature  at  least  to  command  attention  at  such  a  juncture. 

Queen  Mary  herself  seems,  indeed,  to  have  tacitly  acknowledged  this,  for  it  is  nearly 
certain  that  she  would  have  spared  the  lives  of  Lady  Jane  and  Lord  Guilford  Dudley  but 
for  Sir  Thomas  Wj'att's  ill-timed  and  unfortunate  demonstration  in  her  favour.  If,  therefore, 
allowance  be  made  for  parental  feeling — for  a  natural  anxiety  to  favour  infant  Protestantism 
— and  for  the  uncertainty  about  the  rightful  successor — the  Dukes  of  Northumberland  and 
Suffolk  will  appear  far  less  culpable  in  their  attempt  to  secure  the  Crown  for  Lady  Jane  than 
they  have  generally  been  represented.  It  may  even  be  questioned  whether  they  were  not 
actuated  much  more  by  a  sense  of  duty,  than  by  the  promptings  of  ambition.  But  I  am 
anticipating : — Lady  Jane  and  her  husband,  to  whom  she  had  been  married  about  a  year, 
were  at  Sion  House  at  the  time  of  the  young  King's  death.  Her  consent  to  her  own  pro- 
clamation was  only  extorted  by  the  most  earnest  parental  entreaties.  Her  philosophy  on 
this  occasion  was  no  less  wonderful  than  the  fortitude  with  which  she  endured  the  last  most 
trying  scene.  Had  she  been  dazzled  with  the  splendours  of  a  throne,  and  mounted  it  with 
the  eagerness  so  natural  to  her  youth,  half  the  glory  that  invests  her  name  would  have  been 
dimmed. 

The  night  before  her  execution,  after  having  long  been  engaged  in  her  devotions,  she 

•  I  remember  the  question  being  asked  on  the  spot  so  hallowed  by  her  memory,   and  in  a  party  consisting  of  several 
not  unknown  to  literature,  and  all  confessed  they  had  no  clear  conception  on  the  subject. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  ClIARNWOOD.  l->!'> 

took  up  a  Greek  Testament,  and  having  attentively  perused  it  for  some  time,  she  wrote,  on 
some  blank  pages  at  the  end,  that  "  most  godly  and  learned  exhortation"  to  her  sister,  Lady 
Katherine,  which  has  justly  been  admired  as  one  of  the  most  surprising  epistles  ever  penned 
by  a  person  on  the  very  verge  of  eternity.*  She  also  wrote  a  letter  to  her  father,  full  of 
tenderness,  respect,  and  affection,  and  having  performed  this  last  sisterly  and  filial  duty,  she 
again  knelt  in  prayer,  and  then  sank  into  a  tranquil  sleep. 

Heylin  thus  describes  her  conduct  on  the  last  morrow: — "The  fatal  morning  being 
come,  the  Lord  Guilford  earnestly  desired  the  officers  that  he  might  take  his  farewell  of  her  : 
which,  though  they  willingly  permitted,  yet  upon  notice  of  it  she  advised  the  contrary, 
assuring  him  that  such  a  meeting  would  rather  add  to  his  afflictions  than  increase  that  quiet 
wherewith  they  had  possessed  their  souls  for  the  stroke  of  death,  *  *  *  that  it  was  to  be 
feared  her  presence  would  rather  weaken  than  strengthen  him ;  that  he  ought  to  take  courage 
from  his  reason  and  derive  constancy  from  his  own  heart ;  that  if  his  soul  were  not  firm  and 
settled,  she  could  not  settle  it  by  her  eyes  nor  confirm  it  by  her  words ;  that  he  should  do 
well  to  remit  this  interview  to  the  other  world ;  that  there,  indeed,  friendships  were  happy 
and  unions  undissolvable.*  *  *  All  she  could  do  was  to  give  him  a  farewell  out  of  a  window 
as  he  passed  towards  the  place  of  his  dissolution." 

This  farewell — the  spectacle  of  her  husband's  headless  body,  and  all  the  other  most 
mournful  trials  of  that  hour,  were  endured  with  a  serenity  and  fortitude  which  Christian 
hope  alone  could  impart.  "  She  knew,"  she  said,  "  she  was  upon  the  point  of  meeting  with 
him  in  a  better  conjuncture,  where  they  should  never  find  the  like  intermission  of  their  joys." 

Another  writer  thus  depicts  her  closing  scene : — "  The  Lady  Jane,  whose  lodging  was 
in  Master  Partridge's  house,  did  see  his  [her  husband's]  dead  carcasse  taken  out  of  the  cart 
as  well  as  she  did  see  him  before  alive  going  to  his  death — a  sight,  as  might  be  supposed, 
to  her  worse  than  death.  By  this  time  was  there  a  scaffold  made  upon  the  greene  over 
against  the  White  Tower,  for  the  Ladie  Jane  to  die  upon,  who  being  nothing  at  all  abashed, 
neither  with  fear  of  hir  own  death,  which  then  approached,  neither  with  the  sight  of  the 
dead  carcasse  of  her  husband  when  he  was  brought  to  the  chappell,  came  forth,  the  lieutenant 
leading  hir,  with  countenance  nothing  abashed,  neither  her  eies  any  thing  moistened  witli 
teares,  with  a  booke  in  her  hand  wherein  she  praied  untill  she  came  to  the  said  scaffold : 
whereon  when  she  was  mounted,  this  noble  young  ladie,  as  she  was  indued  with  singular 
gifts  both  of  learning  and  knowledge  so  was  she  as  mild  and  patient  as  anie  lamb  at  hir 
execution,  and  a  little  before  her  death  uttered  these  words :  '  Goode  people,  I  come  hether 
to  die,  and  by  lawe  I  am  condemned  to  the  same.  The  facte,  indeede,  against  the  Queue's 
highnes  was  unlawful  and  the  consenting  thereunto  by  me ;  but  touching  the  procurement 
and  denyne  thereof  by  me,  or  on  my  halfe,  I  doo  wash  my  hands  thereof  in  innocencie  before 
God  and  the  face  of  you  good  Christian  people  this  day.'  (And  therewith  she  wrung  hir 
hands  in  which  she  had  hir  booke.)  Then  she  sayd, '  I  pray  you  all,  good  Christian  people, 
to  here  me  wj'tness  that  I  dye  a  true  Christian  woman,  and  that  I  looke  to  be  saved  by  none 
other  mene,  but  only  by  the  mercy  of  God  in  the  merites  of  the  blond  of  his  only  sonne 

•  I  have  been  informed  that  the  Greek  Testament,  -n-ith  this  most  interesting  autograph,  is  still  in  the  possession  of 

the  Earl  of  Stamford. 


126  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

Jesus  Christ :  and  I  confesse  when  I  dyd  know  the  word  of  God  I  neglected  the  same,  and 
loved  myselfe  and  the  world,  and  therefore  this  plage  and  punyshment  is  happely  and  wor- 
thely  happened  unto  me  for  my  sinnes.  And  yet  I  thank  God  of  his  goodness  that  he  hath 
thus  given  me  a  tyme  and  respet  to  repent.  And  now,  good  people,  while  I  am  alyve  I 
praie  you  to  assyst  me  with  your  praiers.'  And  then  she  knelyng  dovm  she  turned  to 
Fecknam,  saying,  '  Shall  I  say  this  psalm  ?'  And  he  said  '  Yes.'  Then  she  said  the  psalm 
of  Miserere  mei  Deux  in  English,  in  most  devout  manner  to  the  ende.  Then  she  stoode  up 
and  gave  hir  mayde.  Mistress  Tylney,  hir  gloves  and  handkercher :  and  hir  booke  to  Maister 
Thomas  Bridges,  the  lyvetenante's  brother.  Forthwith  she  untyed  hir  gowne.  The  hang- 
man went  to  hir  to  have  helped  her  of  thervvith,  then  she  desyred  him  to  let  her  alone ; 
turning  towardes  hir  two  gentlewomen  who  helped  hir  of  thervvith,  and  also  hir  frose  paste 
and  neckercher,  geving  to  her  a  faire  handkercher  to  knytte  about  hir  eies.  Then  the 
hangman  kneeled  down  and  asked  hir  forgeveness,  whome  she  forgave  most  willingly.  Then 
he  willed  hir  to  stand  upon  the  strawe,  which  doing  she  sawe  the  block.  Then  she  said,  '  I 
pray  you  dispatche  me  quickly.'  Then  she  kneeled  down,  saying, '  Wil  you  take  it  of  before  I 
lay  me  downe  ?'  And  the  hangman  answered  her,  '  No,  Madame.'  She  tyed  the  kercher 
about  hir  eies ;  then,  Ji>eliii(/  for  the  hlocke,  said, '  What  shall  I  do  ?  Where  is  it  ?'  One  of 
the  standers-by  guyding  hir  iherunto,  she  layde  hir  head  downe  upon  the  blocke  and 
stretched  forth  hir  body,  and  sayde, '  Lord,  into  thy  handes  1  commend  my  spirite.'*  Thus 
perished,  in  the  bloom  of  youth,  this  most  amiable  and  gifted  lady — (on  the  12th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1554) — over  whose  fate  we  may  well  exclaim,  in  the  words  of  a  modem  poet — • 

"  Oh  deeply  ^v^onged,  yet  unresenting !  wise 

Beyond  thy  day  and  people — it  is  past  1 
What  now  are  all  thy  sorrows  ?     Centuries 

Of  death's  enduring  calm  are  on  them  cast. 

Hushed  in  thy  bosom,  yet  in  ours  they  last ; 
And  to  the  youthful  eye  thy  name  appears 
A  household  word, — still  honoured  by  its  tears." — Howitt's  Lady  Jane  in  the  Tower. 

The  Duke  of  Suffolk,  the  father  of  the  Lady  Jane,  was  beheaded  on  the  Saturday  follow- 
ing :  and  on  the  28th  of  the  following  April,  her  uncle,  "  the  Lord  Thomas  Greie,  was  be- 
headed on  Tower  Hill ;  a  proper  gentleman,  and  one  that  had  served  right  valiantlie  both 
in  France  and  Scotland,  in  the  dales  of  the  late  Kings,  Henry  and  Edward. "f  The  Lord 
John  Grey,  now  become  the  head  of  the  family,  was  soon  after  taken,  tried,  and  condemned, 
but  "  through  the  painful  travail  and  diligent  suit  of  the  Lady  Mary  Grey,  his  wife  (who,  as 

*  The  portrait  of  Lady  Jane  engraven  in  Nichols,  from  Vertue,  owing  partly  to  the  unbecoming  hat  and  inelegant 
dress  in  which  she  is  painted,  gives  a  very  poor  idea  of  her  personal  loveliness.  There  is  an  original  at  Althorpe,  by 
Lucas  de  Heere,  which  Dibdin  had  engraved  for  his  Bibliographical  Decameron,  and  which  he  pronounced  one  of  the 
most  precious  cabinet  pictures  in  the  kingdom.  The  Earl  of  Stamford  has  also  a  very  fine  original  painting  of  her, 
which  is  engraved  in  Lodge's  Illustrious  Portraits.  One  of  exquisite  beauty  was,  in  1807,  in  the  possession  of  the  late 
Mr.  Harrington,  of  Breaston,  Derbyshire,  who  procured  it  from  Risley  Hall,  a  seat  of  a  branch  of  the  Greys.  It  was 
probably  the  same  picture  that  attracted  such  general  admiration  in  the  late  Mechanics'  Exhibition  at  Derby. 

t  Holinsbed,  Vol.  III.,  page  1117. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  127 

a  sister  of  Anthony  Viscount  Montacute,  had  peculiar  interest  with  the  Court),  his  pardon 
was  obtained."*  He  was  also,  as  if  in  acknowledgment  of  the  wrongs  done  to  his  family, 
soon  afterwards  received  into  gi'eat  fa\our  with  Queen  Mary — had  a  grant  of  the  herbage 
of  Bardon  Park — and  on  the  4th  of  April,  1559,  another  of  the  site  of  a  capital  messuage 
called  Pergorc  or  Pergoe,  in  Essex,  with  Pigge's  Grange  and  a  Park — part  of  the  ancient 
and  royal  manor  of  Hovering  at  Bower.  In  1504,  being  suspected  of  having  encouraged 
Hales  in  the  publication  of  an  obnoxious  pamphlet,  he  was  for  some  time  kept  in  confine- 
ment at  the  Court,  and  did  not  long  survive  it.  He  was  buried  at  Pirgo,  having  left  sur- 
viving Sir  Henry,  his  successor,  then  aged  seventeen,  Margaret,  married  to  Sir  Henry  Capel, 
Knight,  and  Frances,  to  Sir  William  Cook,  Knight,  of  Gidea  Hall,  Essex. 

Sir  Henry  Grey,  who  had  the  advantage  of  being  pupil  to  the  learned  Erasmus,  married 
Anne,  daughter  of  William  Lord  Windsor,  of  Bradenham,  by  whom  he  had  four  sons — 
John,  Henry,  Ambrose,  and  George,  and  two  daughters. 

He  continued  to  reside  at  Pirgo  till  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  .lames  I.,  when  being 
already  (by  failure  of  issue  to  the  daughters  of  his  uncle  Henry  Grey,  Duke  of  Suffolk)  Lord 
Bonvile  and  Harrington  by  descent,  he  was  created  Baron  of  Groby,  by  letters  patent, 
July  21,  1603.  Having  sold  his  property  at  Pirgo,  he  fixed  his  residence  at  Bradgate; 
here  he  long  enjoyed  all  the  pleasures  of  retirement,  and  dying  in  1614  was  interred  at 
Bradgate,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson  Henry,  son  of  his  eldest  son  Sir  John  Grey, 
and  of  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Edward  Nevil,  Lord  Abergavenny.  This  Henry,  Lord  Grey 
of  Groby,  married  Anne,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  William  Cecil,  Earl  of  Exeter,  in  whose 
right  he  became  possessed  of  the  Castle,  borough,  and  manor  of  Stamford,  whence  he  took 
the  title  of  the  Earldom,  with  which  he  was  honoured  by  Charles  I.,  March  26,  16-28.  In 
the  following  year  he  obtained  from  the  King  a  gi'aut  to  himself  and  Daniel  Britton,  of  cer- 
tain lands  in  Chamwood  Forest  adjoining  his  Park  of  Bradgate;  and  continued,  says 
Nichols,  to  enjoy  in  this  dehghtful  retirement  the  comforts  of  domestic  felicity,  till  the  fatal 
disturbances  of  the  times  called  forth  his  exertions  in  far  diiferent  scenes.  The  Earl  took, 
indeed,  a  most  prominent  and  decided  part  on  the  side  of  the  Parliament,  and  his  eldest 
son,  the  Lord  Thomas  Grey,  was  one  of  the  most  zealous  and  active  military  supporters  of 
the  same  cause,  while  one  of  the  younger  sons  was  not  less  zealous  in  that  of  his  Royal 
master.  The  services  rendered  to  the  Parliamentary  forces  by  die  Earl  and  Lord  Grev, 
naturally  drew  down  upon  them  the  resentment  of  the  lloyalists — accordingly,  we  find  the 
Countess  of  Stamford  stating  in  a  petition,  Dec.  10,  1645,  that  "  her  husband's  estates  in  the 
counties  of  Lincoln,  Rutland,  Northampton,  and  Leicester,  had  been  plundered  and  spoiled 
by  the  enemy,  whereby  she  was  in  great  want,  and  requested  some  maintenance  for  herself 
and  her  children."  The  sum  of  £'500.  a  year  was  accordingly  voted  by  the  House  of  Com- 
mons for  their  support,  out  of  the  estate  of  Sir  Henry  Bedingfield.f 

Thomas  Lord  Grey  far  outwent,  though  he  probably  greatly  led,  his  father  in  zeal  for 

•  The  Duchess  of  Suifolk,  the  daughter  and  mother  of  a  Queen,  formed,  as  has  been  shown  under  Beaumanor,  a  second 
marriage  -with  Mr.  Adrian  Stocks,  and  died  in  1559. 

t  Journals  of  the  H.  C,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  376. 


128  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

the  interest  of  the  Parliamentarians.  He  was  by  far  the  most  strenuous  supporter  of  that 
side  in  the  county  of  Leicester,  in  which  he  had  the  chief  military  command.  He  sat  in 
the  Painted  Chamber  on  the  1st,  15th,  17th,  18th,  20th,  ^^nd,  -iSrd,  24th,  26th,  27th,  and 
29th  of  .January,  and  every  day  in  Westminster  Hall,  on  the  trial  of  the  King,  tlie  warrant 
for  whose  execution  he  also  signed.  He  appears,  however,  cordially  to  have  hated  Crom- 
well, who  was  equally  distrustful  of  him,  and  had  him  anested  by  Col.  Hacker,  as  a  dan- 
gerous person,  and  conveyed  to  Windsor  Castle.  On  again  recovering  his  liberty,  he  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  fanatics,  called  "  Fifth  Monarchy  Men,"  who  confederated  to 
seize  Thirsk  in  Scotland,  and  proclaim  the  Kingdom  of  Christ !  He  was  again  arrested, 
with  several  of  his  associates,  on  the  eve  of  the  day  on  which  they  intended  to  announce 
"  the  new  Kingdom" — and  only  obtained  his  freedom  by  giving  security  for  the  payment  of 
a  very  large  penalty,  should  he  ever  again  act  against  the  Government.*  His  turbulent 
spirit,  however,  was  soon  afterwards  (in  1657)  quieted  by  death. 

The  Earl  of  Stamford  survived  his  son  many  years,  and  appears  greatly  to  have  regretted 
the  last  violent  measure  of  his  party.  He  was  walking,  says  Throsby,  in  the  Park  at  Brad- 
gate,  anxiously  waiting  the  return  of  a  messenger  sent  to  Leicester  to  inquire  the  result  of 
the  King's  trial — "  Well,  Thomas,"  earnestly  asked  he  on  meeting  him,  "  King  or  no  King  ?" 
"  No  King"  was  the  reply — "then,"  added  the  Earl,  "  no  Lord  Grey  !"  The  Earl  died  in 
1673,  and  was  interred  at  Bradgate.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson,  Thomas  Lord 
Grey,  the  son  of  the  nobleman  above  described,  and  of  Dorothy,  second  daughter  and  co- 
heir of  Edward  Bourchier,  fourth  Earl  of  Bath. 

The  second  Earl  of  Stamford  became  a  strenuous  opponent  of  Popery  and  arbitrary 
power.  He  opposed  the  rescinding  of  the  order  for  the  impeachment  of  the  three  impris- 
oned Lords,  and  voted  against  the  reversal  of  the  attainder  of  the  Viscount  Stafford.  Having 
by  these  and  other  acts  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  King,  he  was  arrested  at  Bradgate, 
early  in  1685,  on  a  charge  of  High  Treason,  and  conveyed  to  the  Tower;  "  but  where, 
when  or  how,  or  upon  what  evidence,  or  for  what  matters,"  he  states,  in  his  petition  to  the 
House  of  Peers,  "  he  knows  not."  A  day,  however,  at  his  earnest  request,  was  fixed  for  his 
trial,  but  in  the  interim  the  Parliament  was  prorogued  and  he  obtained  his  liberty  on  bail, 
and  was  included  in  the  general  pardon  of  March  10,  1685-6. 

The  Earl  married  Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of  Sir  Daniel  Harvey,  of  Combe  House, 
Surrey,  from  whom  he  was  separated,  in  consequence,  it  is  said,  of  her  unpardonable 
folly  in  setting  fire  to  Bradgate  Hall,  as  already  menlionedf — and  married  secondly,  about 
1695,  Mary,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Joseph  Maynard,  Esq.  Having  been  a  zealous  pro- 
moter of  the  Revolution,  he  was  in  great  favour  with  William  HI.,  by  whom  he  was  made 

*  Ludlow  pays  Lord  Grey  the  compliment  to  ascribe  this  engagement  to  pay  a  penalty,  to  an  honourable  feeling. 
He  says,  "this  he  chose  to  do  rather  than  engage  his  parole,  thereby  hazarding  only  the  loss  of  so  much  money,  and 
preserving  his  honour  and  integrity." 

f  Nichols  states  that  only  a  small  portion  of  the  house  was  injured,  as  the  fire  began  in  the  north-west  tower,  over 
which  was  a  reservoir,  supplied  by  leaden  pipes  from  a  fine  spring  in  Lea  Wood,  about  two  miles  across  the  Forest. 
The  Countess,  with  her  infant  daughter.  Lady  Diana,  however,  narrowly  escaped  with  their  lives. —  Wesl  Goscote, 
l>.  G70,  from  which  portion  of  his  work  a  great  part  of  the  account  of  the  family  is  taken. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  129 

a  Privy  Counsellor,  and  appointed  Lord  Lieutenant  and  Custos  of  Derbyshire.  He  was 
also  honoured  in  1696  by  a  visit  from  his  Sovereign,  at  Bradgate,  for  whose  better  passage, 
according  to  a  still  current  tradition,  a  bridge  was  erected  over  Anstey  brook,  and  a  large 
room  with  a  bow  window  fitted  for  the  reception  of  his  royal  guest.  The  stables  were  also 
erected  on  this  occasion,  in  the  short  space  of  nineteen  days.*  In  the  year  following  he 
was  made  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  and  Lord  Lieutenant  and  Custos  of 
Leicestershire,  and  at  the  funeral  of  Queen  Mary  he  bore  one  of  the  banners.  After  having 
gi-eatly  impoverished  his  estates  by  his  zeal  and  attention  to  the  public  service,  the  Earl 
died  January  ."31,  1719--20,  in  the  67th  year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried  at  Bradgate.  He 
had  four  children  by  his  two  marriages,  but  all  having  died  infants  the  title  and  estates 
descended  to  Harry  Grey,  eldest  son,  by  the  second  wife,  of  John  Grey,  third  son  of  Henry 
the  first  Earl.  The  third  Earl  of  Stamford  married  Dorothy,  daughter  of  Sir  Nathan 
Wrighte,  the  Lord  Keeper,  and  dying  in  1739  left  two  surviving  sous,  Harry  his  successor, 
and  .John,  Member  for  Bridgnorth  in  1754,  again  in  1761,  and  for  Tregony  in  1768.t 

Hany  Lord  Grey,  who  succeeded  his  father  as  fourth  Earl  of  Stamford,  had  previously, 
viz.  in  1737-8,  been  elected  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  county  of  Leicester.  He 
mamed  Mary,  daughter  and  heir  of  George  Booth,  Earl  of  Warrington,  and  dying  in  1768 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  George  Harry  Grey,  the  fifth  Earl,  born  October  1,  1737.  This 
nobleman,  while  Lord  Grey,  had  twice  represented  the  county  of  Stafford  in  Parliament, 
and  at  the  coronation  of  George  HL  was  one  of  the  six  eldest  sons  of  Peers  who  supported 
the  King's  train :  while  his  sister.  Lady  Mary,  assisted  in  bearing  that  of  Queen  Charlotte. 
He  manned,  in  1763,  Henrietta  Cavendish  Bentinck,  second  daughter  of  William,  Duke  of 
Portland,  and  was  created  Baron  Delamere  of  Dunham  Massey  in  1768,  and  Earl  of  War- 
rington in  1796. 

Having  now  traced  this  distinguished  and  interesting  noble  famil_y  through  its  heads 
and  some  of  its  ramifications  down  to  the  present  excellent  and  venerable  Peer,  I  again 
briefly  notice  the  Park,  and  then  proceed  to  describe  the  other  members  of  Groby. 

A  passing  notice  of  the  Park  must  now  suffice.  Its  extent  has  akeady  been  described ; 
its  varied  features  of  stem  moorland  wildness — its  venerable  and  gnarled  oaks — its  undu- 
lating surface,  interspersed  with  rock,  and  wood,  and  streamlet — the  beautiful  views  afforded 
fi'om  its  Prospect  Tower,  called  "  Old  John"| — and  above  all,  the  quiet  beauty  of  the  Rocky 
Valley — are,  truly,  objects  that  no  pilgrim  tourist  can  behold  without  delight;  and  when  to 

•  In  this  Royal  Progress  his  Majesty  was  at  the  Duke  of  Newcastle's,  at  Welbeck,  Monday,  November  4;  at  the 
Earl  of  Stamford's,  at  Bradgate,  November  5 ;  at  the  Duke  of  Shrewsbury's,  at  Egford,  on  the  6th;  at  Barford  on 
the  7  th ;  at  Oxford  on  the  8th,  and  at  Windsor  on  the  9th. 

f  He  married  Lucy,  second  daughter  of  Sir  John  Danvers,  of  Swilhland,  Bart.,  but  left  no  issue. 

];  A  windmill  formerly  stood  here,  and  like  the  present  building  served  as  a  distinguished  land-mark  in  the  county. 
The  origin  of  its  name  was  this  : — when  the  mill  was  in  existence,  an  aged  man,  who  usually  went  by  the  name  of  Old 
John  among  the  villagers,  was  its  occupant,  and  met  his  death  in  the  folio-wing  unfortunate  manner : — at  the  coming 
of  age  of  the  present  Earl,  an  immense  bonfire  was  made  in  the  Park,  in  the  middle  of  which  was  erected  a  large  tree 
or  pole,  surrounded  by  tar  barrels,  faggots,  &c. ;  the  pole  being  burnt  through  at  the  bottom,  suddenly  fell  among  the 
surrounding  crowd,  and  accidentally  striking  the  poor  old  man,  killed  him  upon  the  spot.  The  building  was  therefore 
named  in  remembrance  of  him. 

S 


130  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

all  is  superadded  the  remembrance,  "  amid  these  scenes  the  Lady  Jane  strayed — studied — 
wept" — that  person  must  be  a  stranger  to  the  sensibilities  of  our  nature  whose  mind  fails  to 
derive  deep  enjoyment  from  such  a  spot.  The  author  of  the  "  School  of  the  Heart" — the 
Hulsean  Lecturer  of  the  last  and  present  year— thus  rapturously  speaks  of  a  visit  to  Bradgate 
in  that  month  in  which  Englishmen  have  been  said  to  "  hang,  drown,  shoot."  "  The  glooms 
of  November  ! ! — Take  us  to  our  Forest  scenery — set  us  down  in  the  deep  valley  of  Ulvers- 
croft,  or  in  the  fantastic  glen  on  the  Newtown  Linford  side  of  Bradgate.  Look  at  that 
ruined  tower — how  its  sombre  majesty  is  set  off  and  duly  cinctured  by  ash,  and  elm,  and 
oak,  with  their  gloomy  masses  of  colour ;  the  yet  unscattered  mist  just  frames  the  picture  for 
you — the  bare  hills  are  all  shut  out — and  alone  in  their  beauty — the  Abbey  and  its  nursling, 
the  fann,  and  their  old  ancestral  woods  lie  there  in  quiet  decay ;  the  leaves  ever  and  anon 
floating  down,  and  the  slow  winding  cattle  being  the  only  moving  objects  in  this  vale  of 
peace.  Now  to  Bradgate. — Did  gilding  ever  surpass  the  glories  of  those  fern-covered  hills  ? 
— Yon  oaks,  of  a  thousand  shapes  and  hues — (and  under  them,  in  all  her  beauty  and  inno- 
cence, the  Lady  Jane  has  wandered) — this  fragrance  from  the  decaying  year — this  babbling 
stream,  that  collects  the  brooding  mist — yon  old  crumbling  gables  and  turrets  that  pierce 
the  dull  distance — these  are  your  November  glooms.  And  look  at  the  deer — not  fhe  smooth, 
sleek  ijentlemen  of  the  undulating  paddock,  misnamed  a  Park — but  wild,  and  bold,  and 
stately  as  they  move  among  the  bright  fern  or  under  the  ancient  oaks ;  and  the  tivinkle, 
twinkle  of  innumerable  rabbits,  as  they  hide  themselves  at  our  approach.  Now  the  curtain 
of  mist  has  been  lifted :  the  glorious  sun  is  high.  Mount  you  pile  of  grey  rocks — ^look 
round  you  on  wood  and  wold — on  tower  and  town — on  many  a  happy  home,  with  its 
coloured  fringe  of  timber — on  the  cloudless,  boundless,  and  all-covering  sky,  and  then  tell 
us  of  the  glooms  of  November  !"* 

I  cannot  dismiss  this  unavoidably  long  notice  of  Bradgate  without  mentioning  the  kind- 
ness and  liberality  of  the  noble  proprietor,  in  allowing  the  public  free  ingress  into  the  Park 
on  two  days  a  week.  Till  lately  no  such  limitation  was  made ;  but  after  the  wanton  mis- 
chief and  shameful  improprieties  that  have  been  perpetrated,  (when  will  English  people 
learn  better  ?)  it  is  rather  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  gates  should  be  open  at  all,  than  that 
there  should  be  such  a  needful  limitation. 

*  This  very  just  description  of  the  noble  deer  that  adorn  this  domain  reminds  me  of  a  beautiful  volume,^  lately 
published  under  the  title  of  "  Sketches  of  Deer  in  Bradgate  Park,  by  an  Amateur" — a  work  of  which  the  neighbour- 
hood may  well  be  proud.  It  is  in  the  highest  style  of  tinted  lithography,  and  the  subjects  have  all  Landseer's  happy 
closeness  to  nature.  It  is,  I  believe,  the  production  of  John  Martin,  Esq.,  of  Stewards  Hay,  who  has  not  only  evi- 
dently made  companions  of  the  denizens  of  the  Forest,  but  deeply  studied  their  habits  and  the  peculiar  scenery  of  the 
Park.  There  is  also  a  beautiful  vignette  to  the  volume,  presenting  a  very  faithful  representation  of  the  ruins  of  the 
mansion : — 

"  .\  merry  place,  they  say,  in  days  of  yore. 
But  something  ails  it  now." 


PAROCHIAL  HISTOKY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  131 

THURCASTON. 

(Titrchitek'nfone,  Tltiirkiteleslon,  Thurkeston.) 

Luw  Thuicaston's  sequestered  bower.  —  Mason's  Address  to  Hurd. 

This  lordship  was  also  one  of  sixty-seven  which  Grentesmaisnell  held  in  this  county. 
From  him  it  came  by  marriage  to  Robert  Bossu,  Earl  of  Leicester.  In  the  Itinerary  of  r2H0, 
this  place,  with  Wanlip,  Bradgate,  Cropston,  and  Newtown  Linford,  answered  collectively 
as  one  vill. 

''  The  manor,"  says  Burton  in  his  manuscript  "  (as  is  evident  from  an  old  Feodary  book), 
was  gianted  by  Robert,  Earl  of  Leicester,  about  the  time  of  Henry  XL,  to  William,  one  of 
his  followers,  to  hold  of  him  by  this  service,  viz. : — to  keep  his  falcons ;  which  office  gave 
unto  his  posterity  the  surname  of  Falconer,  who  thereupon  bore  Argent  three  falcons,  gules." 
It  will  appear,  however,  that  this  "  old  Feodary  book,"  cited  by  Burton,  is  at  variance  with 
the  real  fact;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  the  error  should  have  escaped  our  later  County  His- 
torian. The  Falconers  did  not,  as  will  be  seen,  derive  their  name  from  one  of  the  family 
having  held  the  office  of  Falconer  to  Bossu  :  on  the  contrary,  it  seems  plain  both  from  the 
Pedigree  subjoined,  and  from  a  statement  of  the  tenure  of  the  manor,  shortly  to  be  given, 
that  they  bore  that  name  in  the  time  of  the  Conqueror.  Should  this  view  be  correct,  it  will 
sei-ve  to  show  the  high  importance  of  the  Forest  at  the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest ;  as  it 
may  fairly  be  inferred  that  it  was  either  William  himself,  or  Hugh  Grentesmaisnell,  who 
conferred  the  office  which  gave  the  Falconers  their  name  and  the  grant  by  which  they  held 
the  manor,  and  that  Robert  Bossu's  grant  was  only  a  confirmation. 

"  In  1344,  John  Fauconer,  Knt.,  was  the  owner  of  Gayton,  co.  Stafford,  Bretrichfield, 
Little  Longden,  Tolynsey,  Yeldersley,  Oxendon,  Raynham,  and  tenements  called  Mapple- 
well,  CO.  Derby."*  This  John  Falconer,  who  was  of  Thurcaston,  occurs  as  a  witness  to 
four  deeds  of  William  de  Ferrariis,  without  date,  of  lands  in  Charnwood  Forest,  and  is  there 
called  Miles.f 

In  1346,  Thomas  le  Falkener,  on  the  aid  then  granted  to  Edward  of  Woodstock,  the 
King's  eldest  son,  was  assessed  lO.s.  for  a  quarter  of  a  Knight's  fee  in  Thurcaston,  parcel  of 
the  honour  of  Leicester.  J 

In  1355,  William  Stoke,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  gave  to  John  Falconer  the  manors  of 
Thurcaston,  Bretrichfield,  and  Clayham,  and  tenements  in  Maplewell,  co.  Derby. 

In  1384  occurs  the  statement  already  alluded  to,  as  proving  that  the  name  and  office 
were  antecedent  to  the  times  of  Robert  Bossu : — "  By  the  grave  advise  of  the  counsel!  of  the 
most  dreade  lorde  the  kinge  of  Castile  and  Ligion,  duke  of  Lancaster,  &c.,  it  is  declared 
that  his  tennant  and  servant  John  Fawconer,  of  Thurcaston ;  that  whereas  he  houldeth  the 
maunor  of  Thurcaston  of  the  said  lord,  as  of  the  honour  of  Leicester,  contayning  fower  yard 
lands  holden  of  the  Forest  of  Weynostre,  by  petty  serjeaucy :  that  is  to  say,  to  keep  two 

«  Esch.,  18  Edward  III.  f  Le  Neve,  Norroy,  17-22.  X  Nichols,  VoL  III.,  page  1055. 


132 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 


falcons  gemell  of  the  sayde  lord's ;  so  that  he  the  sayde  John  Fawconer  doe  bring  to  the 
sayde  dreade  lorde  for  every  falcon  lid.  the  day,  and  a  pu3Tie  liverey  hound  a  halfpeny  a 
day :  and  doe  find  to  his  oune  body  III  suites  of  apparell  by  the  year,  and  for  his  portion 
II  rokes.  And  when  he  shall  be  in  the  howse  of  his  sayde  lord,  he  shall  have  for  himself 
and  his  people,  meat,  drinke,  wine,  hay,  and  otes  for  three  horses,  &c.  If  none  of  the  said 
three  horses  remayne  in  the  howse,  in  his  said  lord's  service,  he  shall  have  the  valewe ;  and 
if  he  be  in  flight  with  the  falcons  with  his  lord,  he  shall  find  every  XV  dayes  a  quarter  of 
wheat  and  a  quarter  of  pees  and  Cs.  in  money  pour  la  cidsijne.  And  it  hath  pleased  the 
said  counsell  to  declare,  that  the  said  services  hath  bin  done  to  the  said  lorde  and  Ahee 
senvoure  de  Mounteford,  countesse  of  Leicestre,  by  Thomas  Fawknor  and  his  auncestors  at 

PEDIGREE  OF  FALCONER,  OF  THURCASTON. 

(from    NICHOLS.) 

Arms  : — Argent,  three  falcons,  Sable. 
Jolm  Falconer,  temp.  William  the  Conqueror.= Philip,  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Thurcaston,= 


Leonard  Falconer.* 


Ralph  Falconer,  of  Clayham.= 


Galfrid,  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Thurcaston.=  . 
I 

Galfrid,  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Thurcaston.^  . 
(Without  date.) 


I 
William  Falconer.= 


Robert  Falconer.= 


Ralph  Falconer.  = 


William  Falconer.: 


Thomas  Falconer,  30  Edw.  I. 


Sir  John  Falconer,  of  Clayham,  Knight.  =  Margery,  daughter  and  heir. 


William  Falconer,  of  Clayham  and  Thurcaston.=  . 


I 
Margery  de  Sancey. 


Thomas  Falconer,  24  Edward  111.:=  Agnes. 
I 


William  Falconer. 


William  Falconer,  30  Edward  III.=r  Elizabeth. 

^1 


Sir  John  Falconer,  of  Thurcaston  and  Clayham,  Knt.,  50  Edward  III.  and  4  Richard  II.^Katherine, 
Sir  William  Falconer,  of  Thurcaston  and  Clayham,  Knt.,  14  Henry  IV. =  Cecilia,  4  Henry  IV. 


Elizabeth  Falconer,  dau.  and  heir.= William  Cotton,  of  Ridware  Hampstall,  co.  Stafford. 


•  By  the  deed  given,  this  should  have  been  Scanard.  But  the  whole  Pedigree  is  singularly  at  variance  with 
Nichols'  and  Burton's  statements;  indeed,  it  may  be  inferred  from  it,  that  the  Falconers  first  obtained  possession  of 
Thurcaston  by  niamage  with  the  heiress  of  the  lord  of  that  place. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  133 

all  tvmes  after  the  Conquest ;  that  is  to  say,  by  William  Faucnor  the  father  to  Thomas,  by 
John  the  father  to  William,  by  Robart  father  to  John,  by  William  father  to  Robart,  by  Raffe 
father  to  William,  by  Scanard  father  to  Raffe,  by  Henry  father  to  Scanard,  by  William 
father  to  Henry,  temp.  Will.  Conq. ;  which  William  Fauconer,  son  and  heire  to  John  Fawk- 
nor,  knt.,  did  doe  unto  the  queen  of  Navare  in  his  tyme,  and  after  to  Earl  Thomas,  that 
deceased  at  Pomfrctt,  and  after  to  Earle  Henry  his  brother,  and  did  acknowledge  by  fayelty 
the  said  services,  that  they  gave  not  any  thinge  in  ayde  to  make  his  sonne  a  knight  or  to 
marry  his  daughter  necessary ;  nor  suite  of  courte :  and  yett  it  was  shewed  that  the  said 
lord  might  distrayne  for  reasonable  ayde,  and  to  make  his  sonne  a  knight,  against  the  tennur 
aforesayd :  for  which  the  said  John  humbly  besought  the  said  grave  councell  that  right  be 
donne  him,  or  God  and  in  charity.  Anno  1348,  8  Ric.  H."* 

The  above  document  is,  in  every  way,  one  of  great  interest :  showing,  as  it  does,  the 
almost  regal  state  of  the  Earls  of  Leicester  and  the  nature  of  feudal  services.f 

Elizabeth  Falconer,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Falconer  (see  Pedigree  in  preceding  page), 
carried  the  manor  by  marriage  to  the  Cottons  or  Colons  of  Hamstall  Ridware  (temp.  Henry  V.) 

In  1478,  John  Coton,  Esq.,  died  seised  of  the  manor  of  Thurcaston,  held  of  the  King  as 
of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  and  Richard  Coton  was  his  gi-andson  and  next  heir.  This 
Richard  married  Joan,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Brereton,  Knight,  and  by  her  had  Thomas 
(who  had  only  issue  Elizabeth,  who  died  s.  P.)  and  four  daughters : — Maud,  married  to  Sir 
Anthony  Fitzherbert,  of  Norbury,  co.  Derby,  Knight,  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Common 
Pleas ;  Eleanor,  the  second,  married  to  William  Venables,  Baron  of  Kinderton,  Nottingham- 
shire ;  Catherine,  the  third,  married  to  Richard  Grosvenor,  of  Eaton,  Cheshire ;  and  Isabel, 
married  to  John  Bradboum,  of  Hough,  co.  Derby.  The  inheritance  descending  to  these 
four  daughters,  upon  partition  made,  this  manor  with  the  advowson  was  allotted  to  Mr. 
Grosvenor,  whose  heir.  Sir  Richard  Grosvenor,  Knight  and  Baronet,  aliened  it  to  William 
Palmer,  of  London,  Esq.,  whose  descendant.  Sir  George  .Joseph  Palmer,  Bart.,  is  still  its 
possessor.  J 

From  the  Falconers,  therefore,  the  present  Marquis  of  Westminster,  the  Earl  of  Wilton, 
and  Lord  Robert  Grosvenor,  ^I.P.,  derive  descent:  and  it  appears  probable,  from  the  fol- 
lowing inscription,  in  raised  letters,  still  legible  on  an  outside  beam  of  a  house  in  this  vil- 
lage, that  a  branch  of  the  family  resided  here  : — 

THYS  HOWS  WAS  BOYLDED  ANNO  D'NI  1568  IN  YE  I.  \'ER  OF  YE 
RAIGN  OF  OWRE  SOVERAIGN  LADYE  QUENE  ELIZABETH  BY'  ME  NYCHO- 
LAS  GRAVNO. 

A  branch  of  the  Falconers  of  Thurcaston  appears  to  have  been  seated  at  Glaiston, 
Rutlandshire,  about  1604;  and  Thomas  Falconer  held,  in  1630,  the  manor  of  Snaieston, 

•  Visitation  of  Staffordshire  in  1583;   Harl.  MSS.  612,  8,  f.  33. 

t  It  appears  by  Burton's  manuscript  that  "  Robert  Falconer,  a  descendant  of  the  house  of  Falconer  of  Thurcaston, 

was  seised  of  lands  in  Anstey  in  the  time  of  Henry  VI." 

J  Nichols,  Vol.  III.,   Part  II.,  p.  1055   (quoting  Shaw's  History  of  Staffordshire  for  his  authority). — An  epitaph  of 

Joan  Cotton,  in  the  Church  of  Hampstall  Ridware,  dated  151 7,  exactly  confirms  the  above  statement. 


134  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

Leicestershire,  by  marrying  Elizabeth,  relict  of  Edward  Charnells,  Esq.* — I  cannot  help 
noticing  here  a  remai'kable  parallel  case  with  respect  to  the  name  of  a  noble  Scottish  family 
— the  Falconers  of  Halkertoun — from  whom  descend  the  Earls  of  Kintore,  Lords  Falconer. 
Of  these  Debrett  says,  "  the  Falconers  of  Halkertoun  derive  their  descent  from  Ranulphus 
filius  Walteri  de  Lunkyir,  who  obtained  the  office  of  King's  Falconer  from  William  the  Lion, 
trom  whom  he  got  a  grant  of  the  lands  of  Luthra,  Balbegno,  &c.,  near  the  Castle  of  Kincar- 
dine, where  King  William  frequently  resided:  from  tl its  office  he  assumed  the  name  of 
Falconer."  So  precisely  similar  were  the  two  cases,  and,  till  within  the  last  century,  so 
nearly  alike  were  the  arms  borne  by  the  two  families  (Falcons,  gules),  that  they  have  more 
than  once  been  confounded,  and  even  have  been  conjectured  to  have  had  a  common  ancestor 
about  the  lime  of  Henry  the  Second.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  Scotch  Falconers  are  stated 
to  have  obtained  their  office  and  name  in  the  same  reign  that  the  "  Feodary  book,"  cited  by 
Burton,  states  the  English  family  of  that  name  to  have  obtained  theirs.  Can  it  be  that  the 
coincidence  with  regard  to  time,  led  to  the  error  into  which  Burton,  guided  by  the  Feodary, 
evidently  fell,  in  fixing  the  rise  of  the  Falconers  of  Thurcaston  so  late  as  the  time  of  Henry 
the  Second?  Or  can  it  be  that  William  the  Lion,  after  his  return  from  the  English  Court 
(where  Tytler  says  he  long  sojourned),  imitated  the  custom  he  had  observed  of  having  a 
Royal  Falconer  ?  Or  that  he  induced  one  of  the  Falconer  family  to  introduce  falconry  into 
Scotland?  Many  Falconers  claiming  descent  fi'om  the  Scottish  family  have  long  been 
settled  in  England,  and  have  intermarried  with  some  of  our  best  families,  as  will  be  seen  by 
the  note  subjoined. t 

•  See  Nichols'  West  Goscote,  p.  1045. — The  Rev.  John  W.  R.  Boyer,  long  the  respected  Incumbent  of  Quorudon 
and  Woodhouse,  and  now  Rector  of  Swepstone,  descends,  through  his  mother,  from  the  ancient  family  of  Charnells — 
at  one  time  one  of  the  most  considerable  in  this  county. 

f  John  Falconer  (grandson  of  Lord  Halkertoun,  of  Halkertoim)  married  Mary  Dalmahoy  (granddaughter  of 
Sir  John  Dalmahoy,  by  his  wife  Barbara  Lindsay,  niece  of  the  Earl  of  Crauford).  He  was  the  author  of  "Cryp- 
togamia  Patefacta" — was  a  firm  adherent  to  James  II. — was  confined  in  Edinburgh  Castle  and  attainted — and  having 
escaped,  died  in  James's  service  at  St.  Gcrmains  en  Laye.  His  lady  having  left  him  on  account  of  a  difl'erence  in 
religion,  brought  her  two  sons,  William  and  James,  to  Chester,  of  which  place  William  afterwards  became  Recorder. 


William  married  his  first  cousin,  Rachel  Wilbraham, 
and  had  issue  by  her  Thomas,  Editor  of  the  Oxford 
Strabo  (obt.  s.p.),  and  William,  M.D.  of  Bath,  who  by 

Henrietta,   dau.   of Edmonds,    Esq.,   of  Worsbro' 

Hall,  had  an  only  son  Thomas,  married  to  Frances  Raitt, 
and  a  daughter  Mary,^  manied  to  the  Rev.  Charles 
Mainwaring,  of  Bomboro'  Hall,  Cheshire.  This  Thomas 
Falconer,  who  died  in  1839,  left  issue — 1.  Wdliam,  now 
Rector  of  Bushey,  Hertfordshire;  2.  Thomas,  a  Barris- 
ter; 3.  Alexander  Pytts;  4.  John  David;  5.  Handle 
Wilbraham,  M.D.,  Bath;^  and  two  daughters;  one  of 
whom,  Henrietta,  is  the  lady  of  J.  A.  Roebuck,  Esq., 
M.P. 


James,  R.N.,^  the  other  son  of  the  above-named  John 
Falcone!',  married,  in  1724,  Elizabeth,  dau.  of  W  illiam 
Inge,  of  Thorpe  Constantine,  Esq.  (the  able  Antiquary), 
and  had  by  her  one  daughter,  Elizabeth,  mar.  to  Thomas 
Pennant,  Esq.,  of  Downing,  Flint,  (the  celebrated  Natu- 
ralist)— and  one  son  James,  D.D.,  late  Prebendary  of 
Lichfield  and  Archdeacon  of  Derby,  who  married  Miss 
Hall,  of  Hermitage,  co.  Chester,  sister  of  the  lady  of  Wil- 
liam Inge,  Esq.,  grandson  of  the  above  gentleman  of  that 
name.  Archdeacon  Falconer  left  four  daughters,  co- 
heiresses, of  whom  the  present  Mrs.  Pearson,*  of  Hill  Rid- 
ware,  co.  Stafford,  is  the  eldest,  and  Lady  Miles  (wife  of 
Colonel  Sir  Edward  Miles,  who  distinguished  liimself  in 
the  Siamese  war)  is  the  youngest. 

3  Died  1738— buried  in  St.  Mary's  Chapel,  Chester. 

4  Mother  of  the  present  Christian  Advocate  at  Cambridge. 

The  Earldom  of  Kintore,  had  the  present  Peer  been  without  issue,  would  have  devolved  on  a  member  of  one  of  these 

families. 


1  Called  "  The  Flower  of  Cheshir 

2  Now  of  Tenby. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  135 

I  have  dwelt  thus  long  on  the  family  or  ikmilies,  because  falconry  was  one  of  the  pur- 
suits of  the  middle  ages  that  probably  threw  a  greater  charm  over  the  real  landscape  than 
even  that  it  has  imparted  to  pictorial  representations.  It  has  added,  too,  its  share  to  poetical 
description.  Rogers  beautifully  alludes  to  such  a  scene  as  must  have  often  been  witnessed 
on  the  borders  of  our  ancient  Forest : — 

"  All  announced 


The  chase  as  over :  aud  ere  long  appeared 
Their  horses,  full  of  fire,  champing  the  curb. 
For  the  white  foam  was  dry  upon  the  flank. 
Two  in  close  converse,  each  in  each  delighting. 
Their  plumage  waving  as  instinct  with  life, 
A  lady  young  and  graceful  and  a  youth 
Yet  younger,  bearing  on  a  Falconer's  glove, 
As  in  the  golden,  the  romantic  time, 
A  falcon  hooded."* 

As  the  birth-place  of  Bishop  Latimer  and  the  Lord  Keeper  Wrighte,  and  the  Incumbency 
of  Hard,  before  he  was  raised  to  the  mitre,  Thurcaston  deserves  a  more  lengthened  notice, 
but  I  have  merely  space  to  remind  the  reader  of  the  celebrity  that  attaches  to  the  village 
from  its  connexion  with  these  excellent  men.  Nor  were  they  the  only  worthies  of  whom 
Thurcaston  has  reason  to  be  proud  ;  the  Wrightes,  the  Alfounders,t  the  Hills,J  the  Arnalds,§ 
Rectors  of  this  place,  were  men  of  distinguished  talents  and  virtues. 

THE  CHURCH 

is  a  venerable  structure,  and  contains  many  ancient  and  modern  monumental  inscriptions. 
The  font,  at  which  Latimer  was  made  a  member  of  the  Church,  which  he  afterwards  so 
eminently  adorned,  is  naturally  an  object  of  gi-eat  interest  to  the  stranger.  In  the  east 
window  of  the  north  aisle  is  the  representation  of  a  Castle,  which  ilr.  Nichols  conjectured 
to  have  been  that  of  Mountsorrel ;  above  it  is 

Burton  says  there  were,  in  his  time,  many  armorial  bearings  in  this  Church :  and 
in  the  north-east  window  a  shield,  Argent,  three  falcons  gules,  beside  a  figure  kneeling, 
under  which  were  the  words 

•  Italy,  page  134. 

f  Descended  from  John  Alfounder,  who  distinguished  himself  at  Bosworth  Field  on  the  side  of  the  Earl  of  Richmond. 

I  The  Rev.  Richard  Hill,  B.D.,  founder  of  Thurcaston  School. 

§  Richard  Amald,  B.D.,  a  distinguished  Divine ;  his  son  William  was  in  1776  appointed  Preceptor  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales  and  Duke  of  York. 


136  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

SWITHLAND. 

fSicythelonde,  SwUhelounds,  Swethlond.) 

This  lordship  is  situated  between  the  Forest  and  Rothley  Plain,  and  appears  to  have 
been  in  early  times  a  member  of  Groby,  to  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  of  which  it  is  still 
subject.  It  is  not  separately  noticed  in  Domesday  book,  but  must  have  been  included,  Mr. 
Nichols  supposes,  in  the  General  Survey,  under  some  of  the  adjacent  lordships  of  Hugo  de 
Grentesmaisnell,  as  he  bestowed  the  Church  on  the  Abbey  of  St.  Ebrulph.  The  name  of 
the  village  seems  to  have  been  derived  from  Swith,  a  cleft  slate;  by  which  name  thin 
cleavings  of  slate  are  still  called  in  the  North. 

From  Grentesmaisnell  the  lordship  descended  regularly  through  the  Earls  of  Leicester 
to  Margaret,  sister  and  co-heiress  of  Robert  de  Bellomont,  the  last  Earl  of  that  race  :  which 
Margaret  brought  it  in  marriage  to  Saer  de  Quincy,  Earl  of  Winton,  though  the  right  to  it 
was  afterwards  contested  by  the  representatives  of  her  sister.* 

In  1-255  (Nichols,  from  a  note  of,  in  the  Visitation  of  1619,  erroneously  states  in  r27()) 
Roger  de  Quincy,  Earl  of  Winton,  granted  to  Robert  le  Waleysf  divers  liberties,  view  of 
frankpledge,  &c.,  for  his  land  in  Swithland :  "  yielding  therefore  to  us,  at  our  Court  of 
Groby,  yearly  £22.  4.v.  Sd."  This  is  the  first  connexion  of  the  Waleys  family  with  this 
place,  as  far  as  I  can  ascertain.  I  have  been  enabled  to  correct  the  date  from  a  copy  of  the 
deed,  adduced  with  several  others  in  evidence  at  the  Forest  Inclosure,  and  shall  also  have 
it  in  my  power,  by  the  same  means,  to  reconcile  several  discrepancies  in  Nichols'  account 
of  this  manor.  J 

Among  these  deeds  there  occurs,  a.d.  1277,  a  "Record  of  a  Chapel,"  built  by  Robert 
Waleys,  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Swithland,  by  which  the  Abbot  and  Convent  of  St.  Ebrulph, 
patrons  of  the  Mother  Church,  dating  from  "  Dinton  farm,  on  the  Tuesday  before  the  feast 
of  the  Apostles  Simon  and  Jude,  a.d.  1277,"  gave  leave  that  "by  License  from  the  Bishop 
of  Lincoln  he  might  have  a  Chaplain  at  his  own  proper  charges,"  in  the  Chapel  lately  built 

in  his  Court  of  Swithland  the  ^Mother  Church,  in  their  patronage,  being  secured  in 

all  things  and  indemnified. 

*  Nichols  says  his  sister ;  but  the  following  extract,  which  he  gives  from  the  Plac.  de  temp.  Ric.  II.,  in  Recept. 
Scacc.  Ret.  6,  seems  to  warrant  a  different  pronoun.  "  Assisa  venit  recoguitura  si  Robertus  Comes  Leic'  frater  Mar- 
garete  uxoris  comitis  Winton  seisitus  fuit  in  dominico  suo  ut  de  feodo  de  centum  acris  terre,  cum  pertinentiis,  in  Swith- 
land, diequoobiit;  et  si  prffidicta  Margarota  propinquior  heres  ejus  sit;  quam  terram  Willielmus  Falconer  tenet; 
Qui  venit  et  dicit  assisa  inde  non  debore,  quia  pra'dicta  Margareta  habet  sororem  que  adeo  magnum  jus  habet  in 
terra  ilia  sicut  ipsa  Margareta,  de  qu^  non  fit  mentio  in  brevi,"  &c. 

t  This  family  was  very  early  located  at  Wanlip.  Walleis,  Wales,  Waleys,  Welles,  Walshe,  le  Waleshe,  le  Whal- 
leys,  Welsh,  and  probably  Wallace  and  Wallis,  are  all  different  modes  of  spelling  the  same  name.  Bishop  Welles  is 
often  spelt  Walleis. 

t  I  beg  to  assure  the  reader  that  I  notice  these  errors  of  our  confessedly  gi-eat  Historian  neither  in  a  captious  nor  an 
exulting  spirit ;  feeling,  in  my  own  humble  labours,  the  great  difficulty  of  avoiding  inaccuracies,  it  has  more  frequently 
been  a  cause  of  surprise  that  Mr.  Nichols,  in  such  a  work  as  his,  was  generally  so  accurate,  than  that  occasional  mis- 
takes should  be  detected. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  137 

In  1314  occurs  a  grant  from  Edward  II.  to  Oliver  le  Waleys,  son  of  Robert,  of  free 
warren  in  Swythelaiid  and  I)alby-on-the-Wolds,  with  reservation  of  "that  part  within  the 
metes  of  our  Forest."* 

In  l:3-27  a  discharge  from  Oliver  le  Waleys  to  the  Parson  of  East  Bridgford,  of  £-2-2.  As.  Sd. 
(the  exact  sum  which  his  father  was  to  pay  at  the  Court  of  Groby),  for  the  Manor  and  Court 
of  Swilhland,  with  the  view  of  frankpledge,  and  with  the  Park  of  (iuerndon,  "  which  he 
holds  of  me,"  &c. 

In  1346  John  de  Wayleis  (on  the  aid  granted  for  knighting  Edward  of  Woodstock)  was 
assessed  •2s.  for  a  twentieth  part  of  a  Knight's  fee  in  Swithland,  parcel  of  the  Honour  of 
Win  ton. 

In  13(j-2  occurs  a  "  Grant  from  Sir  John  Waleys,  Knt.,  to  Nicholas  Waleys  his  brother, 
of  the  manor  of  Swithland  and  Brounshay."  The  heirs  of  this  John  Waleys,  in  1371  held, 
of  William  de  FeiTars  of  Groby,  27  virgates  of  land  in  Swithland,  which  in  1387  it  was 
found  that  Henry  de  Fcrrars  of  Groby,  Knt.,  was  seised  of,  and  which  Sir  John  de  Walcote, 
Knt.  (son  of  Geoffrey  de  Walcote,  of  Walcote,  in  the  parish  of  Misterton)  then  held;  he 
having  married  Elizabeth,  the  daughter  and  sole  heiress  of  the  above  Sir  John  Waleys. 
Sir  John  Walcote  left  two  daughters,  co-heiresses,  Margaret  (Nichols  says  Elizabeth)  and 
Alice.  The  former,  he  states  in  the  pedigree  of  Walleis  (Vol.  III.,  p.  1047)  to  have  married 
John  Danvers,  and  makes  her  husband  possessed  of  a  moiety  of  the  manor  in  right  of  his 
wife,  in  3  Henry  VI.  (1425) — while  he  states,  from  the  Danvers  pedigree  engraved  in  brass 
in  Swithland  Church,  that  this  John  Danvers  was  born  in  the  30th  of  Henry  VI.  (1452)  ! 

Now  among  the  documents  in  my  possession  above  referred  to,  I  find  a  copy  of  a  deed, 
dated  2  Henry  VI.  (1424),  and  indorsed  "Deed  of  Partition  of  the  Manor  of  Swithland, 
between  Margaret  and  Alice,  the  daughters  and  co-heirs  of  Elizabeth  Walcotte,"  by  which 
it  is  evident  that  Margaret  was,  at  that  time,  wife  of  Thomas  Asheton,  and  .\lice  wife  of 
Richarde  Hubarde.t 

In  9  Henry  VI.  (1431)  Thomas  Asheton  and  Margaret  his  wife  granted  their  moiety  of 
the  manor  to  John  Charyte  and  others,  by  whom  it  was  conveyed  to  Thomas  Asheton  for 
his  life,  and  after  his  death  to  John  Danvers  and  his  sister  Agnes  in  tail ;  but  if  they  both 
should  die  childless,  then  "  to  the  right  heirs  of  Sir  John  Waleys,  Knt."  In  a  subsequent 
deed,  dated  1460,  John  Danvers  confirmed  this  moiety,  "  which  I  had  of  inheritance  after 
the  decease  of  Margaret  my  mother,'"  to  Thomas  Faraham,  Esq.  and  William  Leyke,  as 
Trustees.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  John  Danvers  was  the  first  husband  of  Margaret  (not 
Elizabeth)  Walcote — that  he  died  leaving  two  children,  John  and  Agnes — that  after  his 
death  his  relict  entered  into  a  second  mamage  with  Thomas  Asheton — and  that  the  deed 

•  Some  of  the  witnesses  to  this  grant  were  the  most  remarkable  men  of  their  times.  Adomar  de  Valencia,  Earl  of 
Pembroke;  Humphrey  de  Bohun,  Earl  of  Hereford  and  Essex;  Hugh  le  Despenser  the  elder;  Ralph  Bassett,  and 
John  de  Cnimbewell. 

-j-  It  would  seem  that  Elizabeth  Walcotte  had,  after  the  death  of  her  first  husband,  Sir  John  Walcotte,  re-married 
William  Byspham  ;  for,  by  a  deed  dated  6  Henry  IV.,  1405,  that  person  and  Elizabeth  his  wife  couTeyed  "  our  manor 
of  Swytheland,"  &c.,  to  John  Leventhorpe,  Geotfrey  Powtrel  and  others,  as  Trustees;  and  another  deed  shows  that 
the  said  Trustees,  in  1428,  conveyed  the  same  to  Alice,  wife  of  Richard  Hubard,  and  Margaret,  wife  of  Thomas  Asheton. 


138  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

of  1435  was  to  secure  the  said  Thomas  a  Ufe-interest  in  the  estate,  his  wife  Margaret  being 
then  dead. 

John  Danvers,  son  of  the  said  John  and  Margaret,  married  Anne,  fourth  sister  of  Sir 
Ralph  Shirley,  though  in  the  Danvers  pedigree  in  Swithland  Church  (hereafter  to  be  given) 
her  name  is  written  "  Margaret."  Both  Sir  Joseph  Danvers,  the  compiler  of  the  above- 
named  pedigree,  and  Mr.  Nichols,  were  misled  by  a  note  upon  the  Herald's  visitation  of 
1619,  where  Mr.  Francis  Danvers  had  remarked  (Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  1053),  "I  find  not 
that  the  said  John  Danvers  married  this  Margaret,  otherwise  than  by  conjecture ;  but  I  find 
that  at  the  death  of  this  Margaret,  the  half  manor  of  Swithland  was  given  by  certain  feoffees 
to  TJiomas  Aston  during  his  life,  without  impeachment  of  waste,  and  after  his  death  to  John 
Danvers  in  tail.  Francis  Danvers."  From  this  "  Deed  of  Partition,"  already  referred  to, 
no  doubt  can  exist  that  the  Margaret  through  whom  the  manor  of  Swithland  came  to  the 
Danvers  family,  was  one  of  the  two  daughters  and  co-heiresses  of  Elizabeth  Walcote :  and 
that  Nichols  called  her  Elizabeth — confounding  her  with  her  mother.  These  extraordinary 
mistakes  may  perhaps  justify  this  long  attempt  to  rectify  errors  by  no  means  trivial.* 

The  above  Francis  Danvers  died  owner  of  the  chief  part  of  Swithland  in  1631 ;  and  was 
succeeded  by  William  Danvers,  Esq.,  who  died  in  1686 ;  and  whose  son  Henry  died  in  the 
following  year,  and  grandson  Samuel  in  1693.  Joseph  Danvers,  Esq.,  son  of  Samuel,  next 
succeeded.  He  represented  Boroughbridge,  Bramber,  and  Totness,  in  different  Parliaments ; 
was  advanced  to  the  dignity  of  a  Baronet  in  1746;  and  dying  October  26,  1753,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son,  Sir  John  Danvers,  Bart.,  who  married  Mary,  the  eldest  of  the  two  daugh- 
ters and-  co-heirs  of  Joel  Watson,  Esq.,  of  London,  by  whom  he  had  four  sons  and  two 
daughters.  He  died  Sept.  21,  1796,  and  bequeathed  the  greater  part  of  his  landed  estates 
to  his  only  surviving  child,  Mary,  wife  of  the  Hon.  Augustus  Richard  Butler  (second  son  of 
the  Earl  of  Lanesborough),  who  afterwards,  by  royal  license,  took  the  name  of  Danvers. 
,Tohn  George  Danvers  Butler  Danvers,  Esq.,  the  offspring  of  this  maniage,  and  heir  pre- 
sumptive to  the  titles  and  estates  of  the  Earl  of  Lanesborough,  is  the  present  justly-respected 
owner  of  both  moieties.  So  much  of  the  history  of  this  ancient  family  will  be  found  in  the 
epitaph  and  pedigree,  that  a  longer  account  here  seems  altogether  uncalled  for. 

An  Act  for  the  inclosure  of  the  parish  was  obtained  in  1798,  in  which  George  HaiTy, 
Earl  of  Stamford  and  Wanington,  is  described  as  Lord  of  the  Manor  and  Ecclesiastical 
Peculiar  Exempt  Jurisdiction  of  Groby,  and  the  Hon.  A.  R.  Butler  Danvers  as  entitled  to 
divers  manorial  rights  and  privileges  within  the  said  parish. 

THE  CHURCH 

is  a  very  venerable-looking  edifice,  erected,  doubtless,  prior  to  1277:  when,  as  has  before 
been  shown,  a  license  was  granted  to  Robert  le  Waleys  to  erect  a  private  Chapel  in  his  own 
Court  at  Swithland.  The  Danvers  Chape],  built  by  Sir  Joseph  Danvers  in  1727,  is  appro- 
priated to  the  interment  of  that  family.     On  the  brass  plates  of  a  flat  stone  in  the  vestry  is 

*  In  the  pedigree  of  Danvers  of  Frolesworth  (Vol.  IV.,  p.  189),  the  correct  name  Margaret  is  given;  but  lier  father 
is  incorrectly  called  William,  though  in  the  Walcote  pedigree  (ib.  p.  318)  he  is  properly  named  John. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  139 

the  figure  of  a  female,  veiled,  and  standing  with  her  hands  lifted  up  in  the  attitude  of  prayer, 
and  beneath  the  figure  the  fallowing  somewhat  unintelligible  inscription : — 

'ji)ot  in  conrlabc  jacct  Uqnt»  Scott  camcrata, 
amru:  Brtjota  Dominf  jFcrrcrs  borttata; 
^utBquis  cvis  qui  transtcnss,  qucso,  funDc  prccata : 
Sum  quoD  cris  fucramquc  quofl  t» ;  pro  me,  prccor,  ora. 

■'  In  the  cast  window  of  the  Chancel,"  says  Burton,  "  is  her  picture  in  glass,  drawn  to  the 
life  in  the  same  habit,  with  a  ring  on  her  finger.  This  Agnes  Scott,  as  I  guess,  was  an 
Anchoress,  and  the  word  Antri.v  in  this  epitaph  coined  from  Anlriim,  a  cave  wherein  she 
lived ;  and  certainly  (as  I  have  been  credibly  informed)  there  is  a  cave  near  Leicester,  upon 
the  west  side  of  the  town,  at  this  day  called  Black  Agnes' s  Bowers  The  tradition  gave 
rise  to  a  beautiful  short  poem  (given  in  Nichols)  from  the  pen  of  the  late  Lieutenant  John 
Heyrick.*  The  reader  will  not  blame  me  for  departing  from  my  rule  with  regard  to  monu- 
mental inscriptions,  in  another  instance  connected  with  Swithland.  The  epitaph  of  Sir 
John  Danvers,  in  capital  letters,  on  white  marble,  is  of  so  extraordinary  a  character,  that  it 
would  be  wrong  to  omit  it.  It  was  erected  in  the  life-time  of  him  to  whose  memory  it  is 
inscribed. 

THE  BODY  OF  SIR  JOHN  DANVERS,  BART. 

Who  departed  this  life  about  the  18th  century 

was  deposited  under  the  small  blue  stone  at  the  foot  of  this  monument. 

He  was  the  only  son  of  Sir  Joseph  Danvers,  Bart,  by  Frances 

his  wife,  daughter  of  Thomas  Babington,  of  Rothley  Temple,  in 

this  coimty,  Esq.     Sir  Joseph  was  the  son  of  Samuel  Danvers,   Esq. 

by  Elizabeth  Morewood,  an  heiress,  of  Overton  in  the  county  of 

Derby ;  who,  surviving  her  husband,  married  John  Danvers,  of  Prescott 

Manor,  in  the  county  of  Oxford,  Esq.,  the  only  sou  and  heir  of  Sir 

John  Danvers,  of  Whichwood  Forest,  in  the  said  county.  Knight. 

Sir  John  was  the  only  brother  and  heir  of  Henry  Danvers 

Earl  of  Danby,  a  General  Officer,  and  Knight  of  the  Garter,  founder  of 

the  Physic-garden  at  Oxford,  a  fast  friend  and  loyal  adlierent  of 

Charles  the  First ;  in  whose  reign  and  service  he  died  without  issue. 

These  two  brothers  were  sons  of  Sir  John  Danvers,  Knight,  by 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  Nevill  Lord  Latimer,  son-in-law  of 

Queen  Katherine  Parr.     The  Earl  was  the  fnend  of  the  King;   but 

Sir  John  was  the  friend  of  the  Constitution ;  and  in  the  violent 

struggles  which  ensued,  sided  with  that  band  of  Patriots  who 

thought  Liberty  could  not  be  too  dearly  bought  though  at  the 

expense  of  Royal  blood.     His  death  happening  before  the  Restoration 

sheltered  him  from  persecution;    but  his  son,  who  was  an  infant  when 

the  King  was  beheaded,  saw  his  paternal  estates,  to  the  amount  of 

ten  thousand  pounds  a  year,  in  the  counties  of  Oxford  and  Wilts, 

in  the  hands  of  strangers.     The  small  portion  of  his  patrimony  which 

escaped  the  rapacity  of  the  Court,  that  son  left  to  Sir  Joseph  Danvers 

•  Henry  Skott  occurs  as  a  witness  to  grant  of  the  manor  of  Swytheland,  14'2S,  6  Henrj' VI.     John  Scott,  of  Swithland, 
is  a  witness  to  the  deed  of  14G0,  before  cited. 


Et  genus  et  proavos  et  qua;  non  fecimus  ipsi 
Vix  ea  nostra  voco. 


140  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

for  life,  and  to  Sir  John  in  tail.     He  was  happy  in  his  choice;    Sir  Joseph 
was  an  able  supporter  of  the  Protestant  cause.     He  was  in  Parliament 

near  thirty  years  in  the  reign  of  George  the  Second ;  was  a  Deputy 

Lieutenant  and  acting  Justice  of  Peace  for  this  county ;  and,  with  his 

wife,  lies  buried  in  a  tomb  in  this  church-yard.     Sir  John,  his  son,  thought 

proper  to  tread  in  the  steps  of  his  Protestant  ancestors,  and  seized 

every  opportunity  of  shewing  his  attachment  to  their  religious  and 

civil  principles.     His  bounty  beautified  this  Church  and  rebuilt  the 

Parsonage.     In  all  political  contests  he  uniformly  gave  his  support  to 

The  friends  of  the  Protestant  interest  and  assertors  of  Revolution 

Principles,  deeming  them  in  conjunction  the  best  pledges  and  securities 

for  his  temporal  welfare  and  eternal  happiness. 

Stemmata  quid  faciunt?  quid  prodest,  Pontice,  longo 
Sanguine  conseri,  pictosque  ostenderc  vultus 
Majorum? 

Nobilitas  sola  est  atque  unica  Virtus. 

PEDIGREE  OF  THE  DANVERS  FAMILY. 

Placed  by  the  side  of  Sir  John's  tomb,  in  Swithland  Church. 

1.  Norman  Alverse,  a  Brabanter.     He  came  into  England  in  aid  of  William  the  Conqueror,  Anno  Domini  1066,  and 

married  one  of  the  daughters  of  Toroid,  son  of  Jeffery  the  Saxon. 
'2.   Hugh  Danvers  lived  in  the  time  of  Henry  I.,  and  married  Felice,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Thomas  Sankville,  of 

Frolesworth,  co.  Leicester. 

3.  Bertram  Danvers,  of  Frolesworth,  co.  Leicester,  married  Alice,  the  relict  of  Robert  de  Barton. 

4.  Hugo  Danvers,  of  Frolesworth,  co.  Leicester,  was  born  the  18th  of  Henry  HI. 

5.  Stephen  Danvers,  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Frolesworth,  co.  Leicester.     He  was  bom  4-3  Henry  111. 

6.  Robert  Danvers  was  bom  the  8th  of  Edward  I. 

Nicholas  Danvers  married  Isabella,  the  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Burdett,  Knight,  14  Edward  II. 
Joan  Danvers,  daughter  and  heiress,  married  Joseph  Armory,  of  Maldon,  co.  Essex,  15  Edward  III. 

7.  Robert  Danvers,  of  Shackerston,  co.  Leicester. 

8.  William  Danvers,  of  Shackerston,  co   Leicester,  was  born  the  6th  of  Edward  II. 

9.  Henry  Danvers. 

10.  John  Danvers  was  bom  the  29th  of  Edward  HI. 

1 1 .  John  Danvers  Avas  born  the  16th  of  Richard  II. 

12.  John  Danvers,  by  the  right  of  his  wife,  of  Swithland,  co.  Leicester,  was  born  the  30th  of  Henry  VI.,  and  married 

Elizabeth,*  the  daughter  and  co-heiress  of  Sir  John  Walcot,  Knt. 

13.  Thomas  Danvers  married  Alicia,  the  daughter  of Venables,  Baron  of  Kinderton,  20  Henry  VII. 

14.  John  Danvers  married  Margarct,t  the  daughter  of  Sir  Ralph  Shirley,  Knt.,  of  Staunton,  co.  Leicester. 

15.  Francis  Danvers  married  Margaret,  the  daughter  of Kingston,  of  the  county  of  Gloucester. 

16.  John  Danvers,  of  Swithland,  co.  Leicester,  was  born  the  2nd  of  Edward  VI.;  married  Isabella,  the  daughter  of 

Richard  Coke,  of  Trusley,  co.  Derby. 

»  This  has  been  shown  to  be  an  error.  f  This,  too,  lias  been  shown  to  be  an  error  for  Anne. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  141 

Anna,  married  Fr.  Mulso,  of  Twywcll,  co.  Northampton. 

Elizabeth,  married Mounsal,  of  Burton,  co.  Northampton. 

Dorothy,  married  Arthur  Beresford,  of  Shackerston,  co.  Leicester. 

17.  Francis  Danvers  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  .Skeavington,  of  Fiskerwich,  Stafford  ;  died  1631 . 

John  Danvers  married  the  daughter  of Allen,  and  died  Oct.  26,  1674,  aged  77  years. 

Francis  Cumberford,  of  Oxley,  co.  Stafford,  married  Elizabeth  Danvers. 

18.  William  Danvers  married  Elizabeth,  thef  daughter  of  Thomas  Babington,  of  Rothley,  Nov.  1618;  died  1656. 

William  Danvers  married  the  daughter  of Harpur,  of  the  county  of  Derby. 

Ann  Danvers  married Hallows,  co.  Nottingham. 

Margaret  Danvers  married  Gabriel  Taylor,  Gent.,  of  Wales. 
Catharine  Danvers  married  Josias  Beesly,  Gent.,  31st  March,  1655. 
Elizabeth  Danvers  married  William  Palmer,  of  Wanlip. 

19.  Henry  Danvers  married  the  13th  of  March,  1664,  Ann,  the  third  daughter  of  Joseph  Coke,  of  Melbourne,  Knight, 

and  relict  of  Henry  SachevercU,  of  Morley,  co.  Derby. 

20.  Samuel  Danvers  married  Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of  Joseph  Morewood,  merchant,  of  London,  by  Elizabeth  Blun- 

dell,  co-heiress  of Woodcock,  of  Shenfleld,  co.  Berks,  December  20,  1683;  died  1693. 

Anna  Danvers  married  John  Palmer,  of  Wanlip. 
Eleanor  Danvers. 

21.  Joseph  Danvers  was  married  Dec.  7,   1721,  to  Frances,  the  second  daughter  of  Thomas  Babington,  of  Rothley, 

CO.  Leicester. 

Frances  Danvers.  Lucy  Danvers.* 

Catherine  Danvers.  Fanny  Danvers. 

22.  John  Danvers  was  married  Oct.  10,  1752,  to  Mary  Watson,  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  Joel  Watson,  Esquire,  of 

London,  merchant. 

Susannah  Danvers.  William  Danvers,  Joseph  Danvers. 

Mary  Danvers.  Henry  Danvers.  John  Watson  Danvers. 

The  living  is  in  the  patronage  of  the  Crown,  and  the  present  Rector  is  the  Rev.  Edward 
Thomas  Paget,  M.A.,  a  relative  of  the  Marquis  of  Anglesej*. 

The  residence  of  the  owners  of  Swilhland  was,  till  the  present  generation,  situated  near 
the  Church.  It  was  a  considerable  pile,  but  so  surrounded  on  all  sides,  even  in  front,  by 
stables,  dovecots,  and  high  walls,  and  so  close  to  the  public  road,  that  the  present  proprietor 
has  judiciously  pulled  it  down,  and  erected  on  higher  ground  a  mansion  more  suited  to  the 
taste  of  the  age.  The  site  has  been  well  chosen,  affording  many  interesting  views  of  the 
surrounding  country,  particularly  of  the  Eastern  Forest.  Nor  should  the  wondrous  slate- 
quarries  on  the  Forest  side  be  forgotten.  Under  the  able  management  of  the  respectable 
family  of  Hind,  the  working  of  these  has  been  brought  to  a  degree  of  perfection  which, 
added  to  their  excellent  quality,  has  rendered  Swithland  slates  an  article  of  demand  in  all 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  while  the  numerous  excavations  have  greatly  added  to  the  picturesque 
character  of  the  locality  in  which  they  are  situated. 

*  Married  to  Colonel  the  Hon.  John  Grey,  uncle  to  the  Earl  of  Stamford,  and  died  in  1 799. 


142  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

ROE  CLIFF 

(Roeclyffe,  Roucliff.J 

RoECLiFF  is  an  ancient  manor  appendant  to  that  of  Swithland,  but  lying  within  the 
boundary  of  the  Forest.  It  is  said  to  have  derived  its  name  from  the  circumstance  of  its 
having  been  a  stocking  or  hunting-ground  for  the  roe  in  the  days  of  the  Earls  of  Leicester. 
That  it  was  a  lawnd  or  vivarium  seems  also  extremely  probable  from  the  following  account 
of  its  ancient  boundary,  a  part  of  which  was  evidently  a  high  embankment  sun-ounded  with 
oak  palings : — 

"  Fines  Manerii  de  Roeclyffe : — Imprimis  incipiunt  ad  angulum  istum  saMs  de  Swythe- 
lond  qui  spectat  ad  Septentrionem  et  orientem  et  sequendo  agger  antiquum,  terri  congestum, 
quod  extendit  se  occidentahter  ad  angulum  occidentalem  ejusdem  saltus :  et  abhine  sequendo 
prsedictum  agger  terrenum  ad  angulum  meridionalem  ejusdem  :  et  inde  orientaliter  sequendo 
praedictum  agger  ligneis  roboreis  septum,  ad  roborarium  inter  saltum  prsedictum  et  Forestam 
ad  angulum  salt<is  de  Swythelond  ubi  incipiunt,  &c.,  ut  in  inquisitione,"  &c.* 

RoeclifT,  with  some  adjacent  property,  was  purchased  from  the  Danvers  family  by  the 
father  of  its  present  possessor,  Sir  William  Heygate,  Bart.  It  was,  at  that  period,  one  of 
the  dreariest  and  most  neglected  spots  on  the  Forest;  it  has  now,  by  a  judicious  combina- 
tion of  landscape  gardening  and  farm  culture  with  the  wild  natural  scenery,  become  one  of 
the  most  beautiful.  A  handsome  and  finely  seated  mansion  (now  undergoing  considerable 
extension  and  improvement),  sheltered  by  thriving  plantations — most  picturesque  pleasure- 
grounds,  and  a  well-cultivated  farm,  are  the  present  features  of  the  domain  which,  in  the 
last  century,  might  appropriately  have  been  described  in  three  words — 

■'  Lapis  omnia  nudus." 

The  whole  may  justly  be  termed  the  worthy  Baronet's  own  creation.  The  happy  taste 
which  knows  how  so  gently  to  blend  landscape  gardening  with  all  the  stem  characteristics 
of  mountain  scenery  as  to  produce  a  harmonious  and  beautiful  whole,  is  well  exemplified  at 
Roecliff  Manor. 

Benscliff  (where  was  discovered  the  Celt  engraved  in  these  pages  and  described  under 
Antiquities),  Bradgate  Park,  Swithland  slate  quarries,  Long  Dale,  and  many  of  the  most 
striking  features  of  the  Forest,  are  all  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  Roecliff:  and  there 
are  points  of  view  afforded  from  various  parts  of  the  domain,  from  which,  perhaps,  Charn- 
wood  presents  some  of  its  loveliest  forms.  It  should  be  added  that,  when  the  mansion  was 
being  erected,  it  was  confidently  predicted  that  the  severities  of  the  winter  and  the  general 
keenness  of  the  Forest  breezes  would  render  it  almost  uninhabitable.  No  opinion  could  be 
more  eiToneous.  The  air  is,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  genial  and  salubrious,  and  the  wild 
vernal  flowers  are  always  considerably  earlier  than  those  in  the  valleys ;  so  that  "  the  poet's 
glowing  thought,"  with  a  slight  modification,  may  not  unaptly  be  applied  to  Roecliff  : — 

"  There  will  the  mom  her  earliest  tears  bestow, 
There  the  first  roses  of  the  year  will  blow." 

*  From  an  ancient  document  produced  at  the  Forest  inclosure. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  143 

ULVESCROFT,  OR  ULVERSCROFT. 

(Osohewroft,  Olveacroft,  Woolvescro/t,   IVoiilstorp,  Oulvescroft,  Alwayscro/te    Ullescro/I, 

Ullescross.) 

I  do  love  these  ancient  ruins ! 

We  never  tread  upon  them  but  we  set 

Our  foot  upon  some  reverend  history ; 

And,  questionless,  here  in  this  open  court 

(Which  now  lies  open  to  the  injuries 

Of  stormy  weather)  some  do  lie  interred. 

Loved  the  Church  so  well,  and  gave  so  largely  to't. 

They  thought  it  should  have  canopied  their  bones 

Till  doomsday ;  but  all  things  have  their  end, 

Churches  and  cities  (which  have  diseases  like  to  men) 

Must  have  like  death  that  we  have. —  Wehster'a  Duchess  of  Malfy 

Ulvescroft  is  an  extra-parochial  lordship,  situated  in  the  southern  extremity  of  the 
Forest,  two  miles  west  of  Bradgate,  and  is  at  the  present  time,  as  it  must  have  been  in  the 
olden  day,  the  most  interesting  domain  within  the  boundary.  It  contains  1358  acres,  and 
its  Royalty  over  the  Forest  extends  over  nearly  700  acres.  "  At  Ullescroft,"  says  Burton, 
"  standing  on  Charnwood  Forest,  in  a  dearne  and  solitary  place,  Robert  Blanchmains,  Earl 
of  Leicester,  temp.  Hen.  II.  founded  a  small  Priory  for  Eremites  of  the  Order  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, which  (besides  the  lands  given  to  it  by  the  founder)  had  the  manor  of  Carlton  Curlew, 
in  this  county ;  12  messuages  and  12  yard  lands  in  Shenton  ;  the  advowson  of  the  Church 
of  Boney,  co.  Notts.,  and  those  of  Syston  and  Radcliffe  in  this  county."*  Mr.  Nichols, 
however,  from  a  sentence  occurring  in  a  Bull  of  Alexander  III.,  dated  1174,  shows  that  the 
Prior}'  was  founded  by  Robert  Bossu.f 

Leland  appears  to  have  fallen  into  a  still  greater  error  on  this  subject,  for  he  styles 
Roger  de  Quincy,  Earl  of  Winton,  fundator  jirhmis,  and  the  Marquis  of  Dorset  fioidafor 
modennif:.X  Certainly  both  the  Earl  and  Margaret  his  mother  bestowed  very  considerable 
benefactions  on  the  Priory.  § 

In  1271  Earl  Roger  died  seised  of  the  advowson,  and  Eleanor  de  Vaux,  his  third  wife 
and  relic,  daughter  of  William  de  Ferrariis,  Earl  of  Derby,  held  both  this  advowson  and 
that  of  Charley  in  dower. ||  William,  the  first  Lord  Ferrars  of  Groby,  younger  son  of  the 
above  Earl  of  Derby,  by  his  second  wife,  Margaret  de  Quincy,  daughter  and  co-heir  of 

*  Burton's  manuscript. 
t  The  sentence  is  "  Praeterea  jura,  dignitates  et  libertates  illas  quas  ecclesia  nostra  d  quadraginta  retro  annis  usque 
nunc  rationabiliter  noscitur  habuisse,"  &c.,  which  forty  years  deducted  from  the  date  of  the  Bull  would  plainly  refer 
the  foimdation  to  the  time  of  Bossu. 

X  Collectanea,  Vol.  L,  page  34. 
§  The  Countess  gave  to  Prior  Walter  and  the  Monks  "  totara  terram  qua?  continetur  in  Riehul  et  in  BissopehuU 
in  longitudine  usque  vetus  fossatum  a  Legabroc  usque  ad  sepem  Orchardic. —  From  the  Carta:  Antiqua  Harl.  Manu- 
script, 112,  c.  27. 

II  Esch.  53  Henry  III.,  No.  36,  Leic. 


144  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

Roger,  Earl  of  Winton,  succeeded,  in  right  of  his  wife,  to  the  Patronage,  and  was  himself  a 
gieat  benefactor  to  the  Priory.* 

On  an  Inquisition  taken  at  Lindeford  in  1361,  it  was  found  to  be  of  no  prejudice,  &c.,  if 
William  de  Ferrars  granted  67  acres  of  waste  in  Groby  to  the  Prior  and  Convent  of  Ulves- 
croft;t  and  in  1369  he  obtained  licence  to  bestow  on  the  same  Prior  7  messuages,  with 
lands  in  Anstey,  Cropston,  Bradgate,  and  Stanton-under-Bardon. 

In  1361  Bennet  de  Ulvescroft  gave  12  messuages  and  1-2  yard-lands  at  Shenton,  by 
consent  of  Thomas  de  Astley  and  Elizabeth  his  wife,  to  the  Priory. 

William,  the  third  Lord  Ferrars  of  Groby,  by  his  last  will,  dated  June  1,  1368,  be- 
queathed his  "  body  to  be  buried  in  the  Conventual  Church  of  our  Lady  at  Ulvescroft,"  and 
gave  ,£100.  to  be  distributed  to  the  poor  and  for  his  funeral  expenses,  "whereat  must  be 
five  tapers,  four  morters,  and  twenty-four  torches."  Both  this  Lord  and  his  son  held  the 
advowson,  as  did  William  the  fifth  and  last  Lord  Ferrars  of  Groby,  who  died  May  17,  1455, 
and  was  interred  here. 

In  1465,  as  stated  under  Charley,  the  Priories  of  Ulvescroft  and  Charley  were  united.  J 

In  15'25  King  Henry  VIII.  gave  a  lease  for  twenty-one  years  of  the  manor  of  Cheyles- 
more,  Warwick,  with  the  herbage  of  the  Park  and  coneys  there,  to  Geoffrey  Whalley,  Prior 
of  Ulvescroft;  rent  £13.  9s.  5c?. §  This  favour  has  been  said  to  have  been  conferred  in 
return  for  the  hospitable  entertainment  afibrded  to  Henry  on  his  being  benighted  in  the 
Forest.     Tradition  speaks  of  high  carousal  on  the  occasion. || 

In  the  dissolution  of  the  smaller  Abbeys,  &c.,  in  1534,  Ulvescroft  was  of  course  in- 
cluded :  but  either  on  account  of  the  reception  given  to  the  Sovereign,  or  through  the 
following  singular  recommendation  from  one  of  the  Commissioners  for  visiting  Religious 
Houses,  addressed  to  the  Lord  Cromwell,  the  order  for  its  suppression  was  rescinded,  and 
it  was  especially  re-founded  by  King  Henry  Vlll. : — 

"  The  sure  knowledge  I  have  had   always  in  your  indifference  giveth  me  boldness  to 

•  "  Concessi  *  •  •  quindecim  acras,  et  dimidiam  terre  »  »  *  infra  Forestam  de  Charnewod,  et  cum  haybote  ad 
eandem  terram  includendam ;  videlicet  duas  et  dimid.  jacentes  juxta  clausum  de  Haldermauhawe  ex  parte  occiden- 
tali,  et  quinque  juxta  croftum  dicte  domils  de  Ulviscroft  *  «  *  et  quinque  juxta  clausum  molendini  dicte  domus  et 
ires  inter  le  Leyefeld  et  clausum  Novae  villa;  juxta  terram  que  vocatur  Ulfpychala" — and  again,  by  another  deed, 
"  octo  acras  et  dimidiam  acram  terre  jacentes  inter  campum  ejusdem  Prioris  quod  vocatur  Bischopeshull  ex  una  parte 
et  Forestam  meam  de  Chamewode  ex  altera  *  *  »  cum  heiebote  per  visum  forestariorum  meorum." — See  two  deeds 
given  in  Nichols,  under  Ulvescroft. 

f  Ad  quod  dampn.  34  Edw.  III. 
J  Tanner  (Not.  Mon.  page  241)   states,  evidently  incorrectly,  that  they  were  united  by  the  Earl  of  Winton,  in  the 

time  of  Edward  11. 

^  Dugdalo's  Warwickshire,  page  90. 

II  In  the  Letters  Patent  granted  by  the  King  for  the  continuance  of  the  Priory,  occur  some  expressions  that  seem 
somewhat  confirmatory  of  the  belief  that  the  favour  may  have  been  obtained  in  consequence  of  some  act  of  hospitality 
shown  to  himself.  The  letters  say,  "  Nos,  volentos  dictam  domum  de  Ulvescroft  *  *  *  pro  diversis  causis  nos  ad 
presens  spccialiter  moventibus,  in  suo  pristine  essentiali  statu,  &c.,  permanere,  continuare,  &c.,  *  *  ut  *  *  *  hospitali- 
tatem  et  alia  pietatis  opera  ibidem  uberius  exerceant,  de  gratiil  nostra  spirituali  ac  ex  certa  scientii  et  mero  motu 
nostria  ordinavimus,  &c.,  &c.,  quod  predict'  domus,  &c.,  &c.,  in  perpetuum  continuabit,"  &c.  It  is  true  the  expres- 
sions may  be  nothing  but  the  usual  phraseology. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  145 

write  to  you  in  the  favour  of  the  house  of  Woulstorp  ;  the  governor  whereof  is  a  very  good 
husband  for  the  house,  and  well  beloved  of  all  the  inhabitants  thereunto  adjoining ;  a  right 
honest  man,  having  eight  religious  persons  being  Priests,*  of  right  good  conversation  and 
living  religiously — having  sincere  qualities  of  virtue  as  we  have  not  found  the  like  in  no 
other  place ;  for  there  is  not  one  religious  person  there  but  that  he  can  and  doth  use  either 
embrothering,  or  writing  books  with  very  fair  hand,  making  their  own  garnements,  carving, 
painting,  or  graffying ;  the  house  without  any  slander  or  evil  fame,  and  standing  in  a  waste 
ground  very  solitary,  keeping  such  hospitality  that,  except  by  singular  good  provision,  it 
could  not  be  maintained  with  half  so  much  land  more  as  they  may  spend ;  such  a  number 
of  the  poor  inhabitants  nigh  thereunto  daily  relieved,  that  we  have  not  seen  the  like,  having 
no  more  land  than  they  have.  God  be  ever  my  judge  as  I  do  write  unto  you  the  truth,  and 
none  otherwise  to  my  knowledge,  which  very  pity  alone  causeth  me  to  write  !  The  premises 
whereof  considered,  in  most  humble  wise  I  beseech  you  to  be  a  mean  unto  the  King's 
Majesty  for  the  standing  of  the  said  Woulstorp,  whereby  his  Grace  shall  do  a  myche  gra- 
cious and  a  meritorious  act  for  the  relief  of  his  poor  subjects  there ;  and  ye  shall  be  sure 
not  only  to  have  the  continual  prayers  of  those  religious  persons  there,  but  also  the  hearty 
prayer  of  all  the  inhabitants  within  four  or  five  miles  about  that  house.  And  this,  for  lack 
of  wytt,  I  am  told  to  write  unto  you  in  the  pleynes  of  my  heart,  as  unto  him  that  of  all 
living  creatures  I  have  most  assured  and  faithful  trust  in.  So  knoweth  our  Lord  God ;  who 
have  you  in  his  most  merciful  tuition  ! 

"From  Garadon  (Garendon),  the  XIX  day  of  June. 

"  1  our  bounden  bedeman  at  commandmant, 

"  George  Gvffard." 

A  copy  of  the  letters  patent  dated  the  30th  of  January,  1536-7,  gi-anted  to  the  Prior  of 
the  Priory  of  the  Holy  Trinity  and  Blessed  Mary,  of  Alwayscroft  or  Olvescroft,  is  still  in 
possession  of  the  Lord  of  the  [Manor,  the  Rev.  A.  Lyon  Emerson.  After  reciting  the  Act  of 
the  previous  year,  enacting  that  all  Monasteries,  &c.,  not  possessed  of  lands,  &c.,  beyond 
the  clear  annual  value  of  £-200.  (Ulvescroft,  according  to  Speed,  was  valued  at  i'lOl.  3.s.  10{d.), 
should  in  right  belong  to,  and  be  at  the  disposal  of  the  Crown,  the  letters  direct  and  declare 
that  "  the  said  Priory  of  Alwayscroft,  of  the  Order  of  St.  Augistiu,  shall  for  ever  continue  in 
its  same  body  corporate,  and  without  suppression  or  dissolution."  By  the  same  letters  Ed- 
ward Dalbye  was  appointed  to  continue  Prior. 

Notwithstanding  this,  the  Prior  and  his  brethren  were  induced  formally  to  sun-ender  and 
deliver  up  the  Priory  into  the  King's  hands,  Sept.  15,  1539.  The  site  and  demesne  lands 
were  at  that  time  of  the  yearly  value  of  £20.  16s.  Ad. ;  out  of  which,  with  other  deductions, 
there  was  an  annual  pension  of  60s.  to  the  Prior  of  Shene,  Surrey.  Various  old  documents 
show  their  possessions,  advowsons,  jurisdictions,  franchises,  &c.,  to  have  been  considerable. 
Their  personal  property,  also,  was  of  some  account ;  they  had  three  hundred  beasts,  one 
thousand  sheep,  and  sixty  swine.     Pensions  both  to  the  Prior  and  the  brethren  were,  how- 

*  These  were — Edward  Dalby,  Prior;  Richard  Eglate  ;  Thomas  Mason  ;  'William  Bland ;  Thomas  Wymondeswold  ; 
William  Smythe;   William  Belton;   George  Smylhe. — They  subscribed  the  Ring's  supremacy  Sept.  17,  1534. 


146  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHABNWOOD. 

ever,  assigned — to  the  first  ^-20.,  and  to  the  others  sums  varying  from  £6.  to  40s.  each. 
The  outlay  of  the  Monastery,  when  the  smallness  of  its  revenue  is  considered,  seems  ahiiost 
unprecedented.  A  regular  hunting  establishment  of  hounds,  greyhounds  and  hawks,  with 
all  the  necessary  officers,  such  as  Huntsman,  Falconer,  &c.,  was  kept  up.  Ten  quarters  of 
malt  were  brewed  weekly,  and  the  needy  poor  of  the  surrounding  villages  were  relieved  to 
an  extent  that  makes  one  cease  to  wonder  that  the  Poor-law  of  Elizabeth  should  be  so 
closely  consequent  on  the  suppression  of  Monastic  Institutions. 

It  appears  by  what  is  incidentally  mentioned  in  several  deeds  of  a  comparatively  later 
date,  that  Prior  Dalby,  before  the  final  dissolution,  foreseeing  probably  the  insecurity  of  his 
tenure,  had  leased  the  Priory  to  Sir  Richard  Cromwell,  Knt.,  who,  after  the  siuTender,  sold 
the  lease  to  Sir  Andrew  Judd ;  the  fee  simple  had,  in  the  meantime,  been  granted  to  the 
Earl  of  Rutland  by  the  Crown.  This  too,  by  purchase  from  the  Earl,  became  the  property 
of  Sir  Andrew,  who  in  1550  sold  the  estate  to  Henry  Duke  of  Sufiblk,  by  whose  attainder 
the  site  of  the  Priory,  &c.,  again  reverted  to  the  Crown.  A  record  in  the  Exchequer,  dated 
1554,  proves  that  Fredeswide  Strelley,  relict  of  Robert  Strelley,  Esq.,  and  one  of  the  Ladies 
of  Queen  Mary's  Privy  Chamber,  was  the  next  possessor  of  Ulvescroft  and  Charley,  which 
she  obtained  by  letters  patent  from  the  Queen,  "  to  be  held  of  the  said  Queen  in  capite  by 
Knight's  service ;  to  wit,  by  the  fortieth  part  of  one  Knight's  fee,  and  at  the  yearly  rent  of 
£20.  at  Lady-day  and  Michaelmas,  in  equal  portions."  But  the  Prior,  previously  to  the 
dissolution,  having,  as  above  shown,  demised  various  lands  upon  lease,  the  lands  given  to 
Mrs.  Strelley  were  not  specified  in  the  letters  with  sufficient  exactness  to  prevent  a  dispute 
respecting  the  lauds  belonging  to  the  late  Priory  and  the  hereditary  lands  of  the  late  Duke 
of  Suffolk.  This  dispute,  at  Mrs.  Strelley's  petition,  gave  rise  to  a  commission  under  the 
great  seal,  dated  Feb.  26,  4  and  5  Philip  and  Mary,  "  personally  to  view,  enquire,  and  set 
out  by  the  oaths  of  proper  persons,  taken  before  jurors,  the  lands  which  had  belonged  to  the 
late  Priory  of  Ulvescroft  and  those  in  the  manors  of  Groby,  Whitwick,  Markfield,  Shepe- 
sheved,  Newtown  and  Bowmanor,  then  in  the  possession  of  Adrian  Stocks,  Esq.  and  Frances 
his  wife,  in  right  of  the  said  Frances,  and  for  the  life  of  the  said  Frances,  who  was  wife  of 
the  said  Henry  Duke  of  Suffolk,  and  at  her  decease  reverting  to  the  Crown,  in  consequence 
of  the  said  Duke  having  been  convicted  of  high  treason."  The  Commissioners  were — 
Andrew  Noell,  Henry  Sayvyle,  William  Fawnte,  George  Vhicent,  John  Hunt,  Michael 
Purefoy,  George  Sherarde,  and  Libeus  Derby,  Esqrs.  Some  of  the  facts  elicited  by  this 
commission  throw  so  much  light  on  the  later  history  of  the  Priory,  and  on  the  habits  of  its 
inmates,  that  their  non-insertion  here  would  be  inexcusable. 

Thomas  Massey,  Clerk,  the  last  Sub-Prior  of  the  Priory,  of  the  age  of  65,  sworn  and 
examined,  saith  to  the  first  interrogatory,  "  that  51  years  ago  he  came  to  the  said  Priory, 
and  there  remained  two  years  and  a  half  before  his  profession  there,  and  there  hath  inhabited 
ever  since  till  the  dissolution  of  the  said  house :  and  knoweth  the  house  of  Charley,  for  he 
celebrated  the  holy  mass  there  sixteen  years  altogether  upon  Easter-day."  To  the  third 
interrogatory  he  saith,  "  that  to  his  knowledge  he  never  knew  or  understood  any  of  the  said 
Priors  to  suffer  any  other  person  but  their  own  ser\ants  to  fell,  lop,  or  carry  away  any  wood, 
thorns,  furzes,  &c.,  within  any  of  the  woods,  lands,  or  wastes  belonging  to  the  said  Priory, 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  147 

but  divers  times  he  hatli  known  divers  offenders  in  the  premises  who  have  asked  the  Prior 
there  for  the  time  being  forgiveness,  and  have  been  forgiven."  To  the  sixth  he  saith,  "  that 
the  said  Prior,  time  out  of  mind,  hath  had  a  common  without  number  ajjpurtenant  to  the 
said  Priory,  in  all  places  throughout  all  the  Forest  of  Charnwood,  at  all  times  and  by  the 
whole  year,  for  all  their  oxen,  kine,  sheep,  goats,  horses,  swine,  and  all  other  cattle  and 
pawnage,  likewise  for  all  their  swine ;  insomuch,  that  at  the  first  survey,  before  the  surren- 
der, &c.,  they  had  belonging  to  the  Convent  300  head  of  beasts,  1000  sheep,  and  60  swine, 
and  for  the  staff  holding  the  Prior  of  Ulvescroft  had  always  a  shepherd  and  a  swineherd, 
who  did  nothing  else,  but  followed  and  looked  to  the  cattle  without  contradiction ;  whereas 
he  knoweth  not  that  any  other  commoner,  except  the  Abbot  of  Garrodon  and  the  Prioress 
of  Gracedewe,  had  any  shepherd  or  swineherd."  To  the  seventh  he  saith,  "  that  the  said 
Priors,  during  all  his  time  there,  have  kept  hounds,  greyhounds,  and  hawks  of  their  own, 
and  did  hunt,  course,  and  hawk  throughout  the  waste  of  Charnwood  unto  the  saulte  of  the 
Parks  of  Bradgate,  Groby,  and  Loughborough  ;  that  is  to  say,  fallow  deer,  roe,  foxes,  hares, 
&c.,  and  likewise  did  hawke  at  the  partridges  and  pheasants,  and  for  those  purposes  they 
kept  a  huntsman,  and  thej'  had  a  special  grant  from  Roger  Therle  of  (iuencye,  lord  of  Groby, 
to  hunt  at  their  pleasure  by  these  words,  usque  ad  saltum ;  and  that  they  had  free  fishing 
in  Blackbrooke  from  Charley  to  Shepeshed  mylne,  by  a  grant  made  by  a  deed,  which  several 
deeds  this  deponent  kept  and  perused."  To  the  eighth  he  saith,  "  that  he  left  all  the  deeds 
and  grants  belonging  to  the  said  Priory  in  several  boxes  and  coffers  at  his  departing  out  of 
the  said  Priory,  at  the  surrender  thereof,  to  the  Commissioners  for  the  King,  Doctor  London, 
Master  George  Gifford,  and  Master  Robert  Burgoine ;  and  that  about  a  year  after  the  dissolu- 
tion, the  said  boxes,  &c.,  were  found  broken  open,  and  most  of  the  evidences  spoiled  or 
destroyed." 

William  Bampkyn,  of  Belton,  aged  57,  who  had  been  servant  at  the  Priory  for  forty -nine 
years,  with  the  exception  of  one  year  that  he  had  served  the  Lord  Leonard  Grey,  saith, 
among  other  things,  "  that  upon  a  time,  about  forty  years  past,  Lord  Thomas,  Marquis  of 
Dorset,  was  offended  with  Prior  Whalley  for  his  said  hunting;  which  the  said  Prior  under- 
standing, went  to  Bradgate  to  the  said  lord  Marquis,  and,  amongst  others,  took  the  said 
deponent  to  attend  him,  and  delivered  him  a  box  to  carry,  wherein  was  a  grant  from  one  of 
the  ancestors  of  the  said  Lord,  of  the  liberty  of  hunting,  &c.,  to  the  Priors  of  Ulvescroft. 
Upon  which  being  produced,  this  deponent  heard  the  Marquis  say  thus : — "  Well,  Prior,  I 
have  put  my  red  deer  forth  latehj  ;  spare  them,  I  pray  thee,  and  spare  not  the  fallow  deer." 
He  likewise  saith,  "  that  Prior  Dalby  and  Sir*  \yilliam  Eland,  and  all  the  Canons  except 
Sir  Thomas  Massey,  Sir  Thomas  Mason,  and  Sir  Richard  Eglatt,  were  common  hunters." 

Robert  Conyngham,  of  Horsepool  Grange,  co.  Leicester,  Gent.,  sworn  and  examined, 
deposeth,  among  other  things,  "  that  he  hath  known  the  Priory  of  Ulvescroft  and  capital 
messuage  of  Charley  by  the  space  of  twenty-six  years,  and  was  seiTant  there  to  Prior  Dalbye 
at  the  surrender,  &c.,  and  that  he  dwelt  at  Charley  one  year  after  the  said  surrender,  with 
the  said  Master  Dalbye,  and  so  removed  again  with  him  to  Ulvescroft  (the  said  Master  Dalbve 

*  Clerks  were  usually  honoured  -n-ith  the  prefix  of  Knighthood  in  those  times.     The  custom  was  long  retained  in 
some  forms  in  the  Universities. 


148  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

ihen  being  farmer  there !  first  to  Sir  Richard  Cromwell  then  to  Sir  Andrew  Judde) ;  and 
after  the  death  of  the  said  Master  Dalbye,  this  deponent  was  farmer  of  Ulvescroft  by  the 

space  of  eight  years  or  more that  he  doth  right  well  know  the  said  hills,  wastes, 

and  outwoods,  within  the  Forest  of  Chamwood,  mentioned  in  the  third  interrogatory ;  that 
is,  Bishop's  Hill,  Stanywel  Hill,  Moseley  Plain,  Hamercliif  and  New  Close,  and  the  Rede- 
syke  nigh  an  old  mere  of  stones  there,  and  the  hill  now  called  Little  Bawdon  Castle,  other- 
wise called  the  Mount  of  Alderman  Haw,  BlackclifF  Hill,  Green  Hill,  and  every  of  them. 
And  he  knoweth  the  bounds  of  the  said  hills  and  outwoods ;  and  that  the  said  hills,  &c., 
ever  to  his  remembrance,  &c.,  were  the  proper  grounds  of  the  said  late  Priory,  and  so  have 
always  been  reputed,  &c.  But  he  knoweth  of  no  wood  being  sold  by  the  said  Prior,  foras- 
much as  the  whole  topvvood  and  underwood  growing  upon  the  said  wastes,  &c.,  were  scarce 
sufficient  to  suffice  the  kitchen,  brewhouse,  &c.,  and  for  hedging  the  said  closes ;  and  as  for 
felling  any  trees  by  the  root,  not  any  other  owners  of  outwood  in  the  said  Forest  or  waste 
used  commonly  so  to  do,  because  then  the  spring  wood  would  have  been  utterly  lost,  which 
the  Prior  ever  desired  to  maintain,  and  would  ever  command  his  servants  to  fell  none  but  as 
high  as  a  man,  lest  the  goats  and  other  cattle  should  hurt  them.  And  that  never  since  his 
memory  and  knowledge  of  the  said  ground,  any  man  that  ever  he  knew  did,  without  the 
consent  of  the  said  Prior,  fell,  &c.,  or  cany  away  any  of  the  said  wood,  gorse,  &c. ;  whereas 
in  all  other  places  of  the  Forest  of  Charnwood,  as  well  in  the  late  Duke  of  Suffolk's  outwood 
as  in  all  other  men's,  the  commoners  of  the  Forest  do  and  may,  by  their  custom,  fell  gorse 
at  their  pleasure,  &c.,  but  only  in  the  said  outwoods  belonging  to  the  said  Priory :  which 
privilege  the  late  Duke,  after  he  had  bought  Ulvescroft,  observed  and  kept,  because  it  be- 
longed to  Ulvescroft."  He  further  mentions  "  a  cross  called  Sir  Robert's  Cross,  at  that  time 
defaced,  as  being  in  a  plain  on  the  Forest,  near  Little  Bawdon  Castle."  He  further  con- 
firms the  evidence  of  William  Bampkyn  with  respect  to  the  breaking  open,  scattering,  &c., 
of  the  deeds  belonging  to  the  Priory;  and  states  that  he  "  gathered  up  many  of  the  said 
writings,  which  Sir  Andrew  Judde  caused  to  be  copied  into  English." 

Hugh  Poole,  of  Markfield,  yeoman,  cellerer  and  servant  to  the  said  Priory  till  its  disso- 
lution, aged  68  years,  saith,  "  that  he  knew  the  mylne  now  called  SharpclifT,  and  the  dam 
now  re-edified,  and  that  there  was  a  building  in  Bam  Leys,  which  he  knew  to  have  been 
burnt  when  King  Henry  VHI.  went  to  Turwin  and  Turney  (Prior  Whallcy's  mother  then, 
for  fear  of  the  plague  at  Markfelde,  dwelling  there),  and  that  he  hath  seen  the  walls  of  an 

old  house  and  a  well  which  remains  on  Packmanheys That  the  Priory  every  year 

had  a  penn  on  Green  Hill  in  the  lambing  time,  and  that  the  Prior  had  goats  going  at 
Brown's  Goat-house ;  that  in  Prior  Whalley's  days  there  were  few  red  deer  on  the  Forest, 
and  that  the  Prior  would  ever  will  his  servants  to  spare  them  but  not  the  other;  he  hath 
brought  many  fallow  deer  home  to  the  house  at  Ulvescroft  which  they  had  taken ;  and  at 
divers  times,  with  his  lennards  tliat  he  kept,  hawked  at  the  hcathcock,  pheasants,  &c.,  &c." 

William  Worrell,  of  Syston,  saith,  "  that  he  lived  with  the  Parson  of  Markfelde,  who  was 
brother  to  Prior  Whalley,  and  after  dwelt  and  was  servant  to  the  Prior  of  Ulvescroft,  and  at 
his  Parsonage  of  Syson." 

William  Syson,  of  the  old  Bede  House  of  Leicester,  aged  7-2,  who  was  first  carter,  and 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  149 

afterwards  baker  and  brewer  at  the  Priory,  saith,  "  that  when  he  dwelt  there,  and  master 
Ballon  was  cellerer,  master  Belton  besought  the  Lord  Thomas  Marquis  Dorset,  about  forty 
years  now  past,  that  because  their  outwoods,  by  means  of  baking  and  brewing  for  the  said 
Lord  Marquis  (brewing  divers  times  ten  quarters  a  week),  and  by  means  of  great  expense 
of  wood  which  they  had  in  their  chambers,  kitchen,  and  other  houses  of  office,  whilst  the 
Lady  Elinor,  wife  to  the  said  Lord  Marquis  lay  there,  by  means  whereof  their  outwoods 
were  sore  spoiled,  that  it  might  please  his  Lordship  to  grant  unto  them  some  of  his  woods 
to  fell ;  wherefore  the  said  Lord  Marquis  gave  land  unto  the  said  master  Belton  and  house 
of  Ulvescroft  accordingly." 

Thomas  Taylor,  ten  years  servant  at  Ulvescroft  in  Prior  Whalley  and  Prior  Dalbye's 
days,  saith,  "  that  all  the  said  time  of  ten  years  that  he  was  wainman  there,  he  did  no  other 
work  almost,  but  only  with  a  wain  and  a  cart  cany  home  such  wood,  furze,  and  thorns,  as 
were  felled  by  seven  persons  kept  constantly  (it  work  for  that  purpose,  to  the  number  of  from 
four  to  eight  loads  a  day,  and  so  for  the  most  part  of  the  year ;  and  that  all  the  woods  the 
Priory  had  without  would  scarce  serve,  and  within  the  Prior  saved  his  wood." 

Long  (and  perhaps  to  some  readers  tedious)  as  the  foregoing  extracts  may  be,  I  am  not 
aware  of  the  existence  of  any  records  of  the  Forest,  or  any  description  of  monastic  life  about 
the  period  of  the  Dissolution,  that  can  be  of  greater  value  or  of  higher  interest.  The  injus- 
tice and  bad  faith  of  the  reigning  Sovereign — the  vicissitudes  of  the  Prior,  from  a  state 
something  like  baronial  luxury,  to  that  of  a  common  farmer — and  above  all,  the  sudden 
withdrawal  of  extensive  charities,  present  a  painful  picture  of  the  means  had  recourse  to  in 
bringing  about  the  Keformation — means  which  even  those  who  rejoice  at  the  change 
efl'ected  can  scarcely  fail  to  deplore. 

Mrs.  Slrelley  having  no  issue,  entailed  the  estate,  in  1565,  upon  her  nephews  John, 
Bennett,  William,  and  Francis  Wilson,  and  their  heirs  I'espectively.  In  1609  Bennett 
Wilson,  Esq.,  and  his  nephew  Ambrose  Wilson,  sold  Ulvescroft,*  then  containing  1358 
acres,  and  of  the  clear  annual  rent  of  £260.  14«.  4fZ.,  to  Robert  Peshall,  Esq.,  Bamster  at 
Law  (brother  to  Sir  John  Peshall,  Bart.,  of  Gorzely,  Staffordshire),  whose  only  daughter 
Elizabetli  carried  it  by  marriage  to  Sir  llobert  Bosvile,  Knt.,  of  Byana.  William  Parkin 
Bosvile,  Esq.,  of  Ravenfield  Park,  co.  York,  was  owner  of  Ulvescroft  at  the  time  of  the 
inclosure,  and  after  the  death  of  Mrs.  Bosvile,  in  1809,  it  came  to  the  Rev.  A.  Lyon  Emer- 
son, its  present  possessor.  The  lordships  of  Ulvescroft  and  Charley  are  the  only  entireties 
of  parishes  within  the  Forest. 

"  The  remains  of  the  Priory,"  says  the  Rev.  Andrew  Bloxam,  "  are  the  finest  of  the  kind 
in  Leicestershire ;  and  the  lofty  tower,  with  the  combination  of  ruins,  when  viewed  from  the 
surrounding  hills,  presents  a  scene  of  highly  picturesque  beauty ."f  But  little  of  the  original 
building,  erected  in  the  time  of  Henry  II.,  now  remains ;  nearly  the  whole  of  the  present 
edifice  being  of  the  decorated  style  which  prevailed  in  the  fourteenth  century.  Three  stone 
sedilia,  in  what  was  the  chancel,  and  a  stone  pulpitj  in  a  thick  buttress  of  the  Refectory, 

*  Charley,  as  shown  in  the  proper  place,  had  been  previously  sold  by  Mr.  Bennett  Wilson, 
t  "  Guide  to  Bradgate" — which  gives  a  very  accurate  and  highly  interesting  description  of  the  architectural  beauties 

and  peculiarities  of  this  Prior)'. 
I  From  this  a  portion  of  Scripture,  or  legend  of  a  Saint,  used  to  be  read  aloud  by  one  of  the  Monks,  during  meals. 


150  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

the  Prior's  Hall — and  traces  of  cloisters,  and  of  the  Chapter-house,  will  afford  a  great  treat 
to  the  lovers  of  the  past,  or  to  the  admirers  of  ancient  ecclesiastical  architecture.  The  mind, 
indeed,  that  does  not  derive  extreme  gratification  from  this  most  romantic  valley  and  most 
picturesque  ruin,  must  belong  to  one  of  those  unenviable  persons  who  "  look  without  seeing." 
It  is  to  be  regretted,  however,  that  flaming  red  pantiles,  roofing  some  of  the  ancient  build- 
ings, should  be  allowed  to  detract  much  from  the  general  effect  of  the  whole ! 

The  environs  of  Ulvescroft  are  rich  in  sylvan  scenery  and  in  objects  worthy  the  attention 
of  the  topographer.  Copt  Oak,  a  trysting  tree  of  the  olden  time,  stands  on  the  high  grounds 
on  the  west.  On  this  spot  (it  may  have  been  under  this  tree)  Erick  the  Forester  is  said  to 
have  harangued  his  forces  against  the  Norman  invaders.  It  was  long  a  place  of  assembly 
on  matters  connected  with  the  Forest,  or  perhaps  a  Svvanimote  Court ;  and  here,  too,  in  the 
Parliamentary  troubles  of  1642,  the  Earl  of  Stamford  assembled  the  trained  bands  of  the 
district.  This  oak  was  once  surrounded  with  a  coped  wall — hence  its  name.  Another,  in 
the  neighbouring  wood  of  Stony  Wells,  was  similarly  guarded. — Ulvescroft  Cottage,  on 
the  Forest  border,  is  the  elegant  but  unostentatious  residence  of  Thomas  Pares,  Esq.,  a  large 
Forest  proprietor,  owning  the  well-cultivated  farms  of  Baldwin  Castle  and  Charley  Knoll. 
— Thomas  Denning,  Esq.,  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Loughborough,  had  long  an  occasional  resi- 
dence in  "  the  Prior's  House,"  and  is  also  a  Forest  proprietor. — The  Pilgrims  (a  most 
appropriate  name  in  connexion  with  a  Monastic  house)  have  long  been  highly  respected 
freeholders  and  occupiers  on  the  domain. 

1  add,  in  the  conclusion  of  this  notice  of  Llvescroft,  what  ought,  perhaps,  to  have  been 
inserted  in  its  commencement — some  speculations  on  the  origin  of  the  name.  Some  writers 
have  entertained  the  idea  that  it  was  so  called  "  because  there  stood  a  cross  before  its 
entrance" — but  this  would  only  account  for  the  termination.  Others  have  supposed  it  to 
have  originated  in  the  circumstance  of  the  district  having,  in  early  times,  been  infested  with 
wolves.  But  neither  of  these  reasons  can  be  considered  satisfactory.  I  entertain  little 
doubt  that  LHvescroft  was  part  of  the  possession  of  Ul/i,  who,  it  will  be  recollected,  is  men- 
tioned in  Domesday  book  as  having  lands  in  Groby  (of  which  this  valley  was  a  part) ;  and  I 
am  confirmed  in  this  opinion  by  a  deed  of  William,  the  first  Lord  Ferrars  (given  in  page  144), 
where  an  inclosure  between  Leyfield  and  Newtown  is  called  C^Z-pychala,  and  in  other  deeds 
Ul/-pycha.\n.  Ulvescroft  therefore  seems  the  more  correct,  as  it  certainly  is  the  more  eupho- 
nious name.  I  need  make  no  apology  for  introducing  here  a  beautiful  poetical  allusion  to 
this  na))te  and  place,  from  the  pen,  I  believe,  of  a  venerable  and  eminent  living  divine,  whose 
writings  have  had  a  most  extensive  and  beneficial  influence  on  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and 
whose  benevolence  has  long  become  proverbial : — 


"Through  Charn wood's  breadth  their  passage  lay. 

But  fearful  -was  the  snowy  way, 

For  oft  in  cavities  profound 

Down  sunk  abrupt  a  rocky  mound : 

And  loud  through  ice  the  torrent  roar'd : 

And  hard  to  find  the  treacherous  ford  ; 

And  bogs  no  stag  in  June  may  pass. 

In  white  were  veil'd — a  fluid  mass  : 

And  safe  on  Bahdon's  craggy  side 

The  trooping  wolves  might  yet  abide, 
From  "  Kotbley  Temple,  a  Poem  in  three  Cantos,"  published  anonymously  in  1815.  but  generally  ascribed  to  the  Rev.  Thomas  Gishorne. 


And  still  with  midnight  ycUings  howl 
To  comrades  that  on  Beacon  prowl. 
Or  follow  on  the  scent  of  blood 
From  BiRCHwooD  Hill  to  Timberwood: 
While  IvESHEAD,  starting  from  repose, 
Mourns  to  Lubcloud  his  purple  snows. 
Such  yells  on  Baldwin's  rock  aloft. 
O'er  meads  and  folds  of  Ulverscroft, 
Still  would  the  wakeful  Friars  hear. 
And  tremble  for  their  wonted  cheer." 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  151 

WHITWICK. 

(IVitewic,  IVifwicke,  Mliytewyke,  Whitwike,  IVhytwyck.) 

Hugo  tenet  de  H[ugone  de  Grentemaisnell]  dimidiam  carucatam  terre  in  Witewic.  Terra  est  dimidia 
carucae.  Ibi  est  1  bordarius.  Silva  I  quarentenae  longitudinis  et  dimidia  latitudinis.  Valet  2.  Solidos. 
— Domesday,  fol.  233,  a.  1. 

Whitwick,  the  head  of  the  third  division  of  Chamwood,  is  situated  in  a  valley  abutting 
on  its  western  boundary,  and  is  overhung  on  one  side  by  the  wildest  and  boldest  features  of 
the  Forest.  "  This  Mannor,"  says  Burton,  "  is  very  large  and  great,  having  many  villages 
members  of  the  same.*  It  was  belonging  to  the  ancient  Earles  of  Leicester,  who  had  heere 
a  Castle  and  a  Parke.  It  came  after  (by  enter-marriage  of  one  of  the  heyres  generall)  to 
Quincy,  Earl  of  Winchester.  And  by  Elizabeth,  youngest  daughter  and  co-heyre  of  Roger, 
Earle  of  Winchester,  it  came  to  Alexander  Comyn,  Earl  of  Boughan  or  Bucquan  in  Scot- 
land, her  husband,  to  whom  King  Edward  I.  ('21  Edw.  I.)  granted  liberty  of  a  market  and  a 
faire  to  be  kept  here."t 

It  appears  from  ancient  records  that  Whitwick  was,  occasionally  at  least,  the  residence 
of  that  noble  and  potent  baron  Hugh  de  Grentesmaisnell,  who  had  here  a  Castle  and  a 
Park.  J  This  ancient  Castle  seems  first  to  require  notice,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  neighbouring  and  probably  nearly  coeval  fortresses  of  Groby  and  Mount- 
sorrel,  few  vestiges  and  few  records  of  it  remain.  The  Castle  was  situated  on  a  small  mount 
- — the  whole  summit  of  which  it  evidently  must  have  occupied — nearly  in  the  centre  of  the 
town — of  which  it  doubtless  was  the  origin. 

The  site  is  so  similar  in  extent  and  form  to  those  of  the  Castles  just  referred  to,  as  to  give 
ground  for  the  conjecture  that  it  was  erected  at  nearly  the  same  epoch,  and  probably  for 
the  same  purpose.  Traces  of  what  appears  to  have  been  the  Keep  are  the  only  remains  at 
present  existing,  but  more  extensive  ruins  were  standing  in  the  recollection  of  aged  persons 
of  the  neighbourhood.  With  the  brook  at  its  base — with  the  ancient  Church,  originally,  in 
all  likelihood,  an  adjunct  to  it — and  with  the  bold  and  abrupt  front  of  the  Forest  rocks  on 
the  north  and  east — the  Castle  must  have  been  an  object  of  solitary  gi-andeur.  In  1-205, 
William  de  Senevill  was  appointed  Keeper  of  Whitwick  Castle  (in  right  of  Petronella, 
Countess  of  Leicester),  and  to  give  to  the  King  John  his  son  and  heir  as  a  pledge  (obsidem) 
for  the  safe  keeping  thereof:  as  also  Richard,  another  son  of  his,  but  this  he  would  not.§ 
The  Castle  and  Lordship,  by  a  marriage  with  Elizabeth  (Quincy,  already  described,  tame 
in  1-278  to  Alexander  Comyn,  and  it  may  be  concluded  from  the  circumstances  of  their  son 
having  afterwards  removed  to  Charley,  and  from  Henry  Lord  Beaumont,  the  next  possessor, 
having  erected  Beaumanor,  that  Whitwick  Castle  about  this  time  was  either  demolished,  or 

*  Whittington,  Hugglescote,  Donington,  Swanington,  Ravenstone,  Stanton-under-Bardon  and  the  Park,  Markfield, 
Bocheston,  and  Newto^Tne  Unthanke. 

f  Burton,  page  304. — But  Nichols  properly  states  this  grant  to  have  been  made  to  John  Comyn,  son  of  Alexander. 

X  Nichols'  West  Goscote,  p.  1112.  §  Fines,  6  John. 


152  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

had  become  too  ruinous  for  a  residence.  An  Inquisition  taken  at  Lutterworth  in  1427,  on 
the  death  of  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Henry  de  Beaumont,  plainly  shows  that  the  Castle  was  then 
in  ruins ;  that  there  were  no  buildings  on  the  site,  and  that  its  worth  by  the  year  was — 
"  nihil."* 

The  same  Inquisition  affords  further  confirmation  of  the  Castle  having  for  some  time 
ceased  to  be  a  residence,  by  naming  a  great  number  of  houses,  ruined  or  vacant  for  want  of 
tenants  (defectu  tenentium),  which  may  fairly  be  supposed  to  have  arisen  from  the  removal 
of  a  great  baronial  establishment.f 

The  Castle  Hill  was  purchased  in  1707  by  William  Holliday,  of  Thringstone,  from  the 
widow  and  daughters  of  William  Osborne,  of  Shenton,  in  this  county ;  and  continued  to 
belong  to  the  family  of  Holliday  till  1802,  when  it  was  sold  to  Henry  Cropper,  Esq.,  of 
Bunny,  Nottinghamshire,  and  of  Loughborough  :  father  of  Joseph  Almond  Cropper,  Esq., 
Barrister  at  Law,  of  Pennis,  in  the  parish  of  Fawkham,  Kent,  and  of  Pope's  Villa,  Twick- 
enham, in  whose  possession  it  still  remains. 

The  manner  in  which  the  Comyns  became  located  on  Charnwood,  and  possessed  of  ex- 
tensive estates  in  its  precincts,  has  been  explained  at  such  length  under  Charley,  that  I  need 
here  only  remind  the  reader  that  the  issue  of  the  maniage  of  Alexander,  Earl  of  Buchan, 
with  Elizabeth  de  Quincy,  youngest  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Roger,  Earl  of  Winchester, 
were  three  sons — John,  Alexander,  and  William.  In  1290  it  was  found  that  Alexander 
Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan,  held  not  any  lands  of  the  King  in  capite,  because  he  had  enfeoffed 
John,  his  son  and  heir,  seven  years  before,  in  the  manor  of  Whitwick,  with  the  appurte- 
nances, and  in  all  other  lands  and  tenements  which  he  had  in  the  counties  of  Leicester  and 
Warwick,  to  hold  of  him  by  the  service  of  half  a  Knight's  fee ;  and  that  John  Comyn  was 
then  aged  thirty.  J 

An  extract  from  the  Register  of  Garendou  Abbey,  with  reference  to  this  John  Comyn,  is 
of  too  great  importance,  from  its  connexion  with  Forest  rights,  to  be  omitted  here.  The 
original,  in  Latin,  will  be  found  in  Nichols,  under  Wliilwick. 

"  Plea  between  tis  and  John  Comyn,  respecting  the  killing  of  our  hogs,  in  the  time  of 
pannage,  in  the  year  1291." 

"  And  the  aforesaid  John  Comyn,  for  himself  and  the  others  [his  servants,  Richard  and 
others,  hereafter  mentioned],  saith  that  they  have  done  no  injury;  because  he  saith  that  he 
himself  hath  a  certain  privilege  (libertatem)  in  the  Forest  of  Charnewode  of  driving,  once  every 
year  in  the  time  of  pannage,  all  the  hogs  then  being  in  that  Forest  to  his  Park  in  his  manor 

*  "  Item  quod  est  ill  situ  manerii  de  Whytwick  quoddum  castrum  vetus  ct  ruinosum  in  quo  nulla  sunt  edificia,  quod 

nihil  valet  per  annum." 
t  This  Inquisition  also  makes  mention  of  a  singular  kind  of  service,  called  Berrys — "  viginti  novem  opera  hominum 
vocata  Berrya  pro  bladis,"  value  \d.  each.  The  same  custom  prevailed  at  Belton  a  centuiy  after,  and  was  there 
called  "  Beurypps."  The  value  of  labour  had  then  doubled — that  of  thirty-seven  men  being  valued  at  7s.  2d.  At 
Gracedieu,  also,  the  same  custom  seems  to  have  been  in  use.  It  is  there  called  "  Benereps." — See  Bailiffs'  Accounts 
Augmentatioyi  Office* 

X  Esch.  18  Edward  I.,  No.  12,  Leic. 


.SJ:^'&^'^^i^ 


Y7>3i]7W]  CK      SlKllUlKeM 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  163 

of  Wytewyk  oi'  Schepshed,*  in  order  to  see  who  has  more  hogs  in  the  Forest  than  he  ought 
to  have :  and  if  they  find  more  there  than  any  one  ought  to  have,  whosoever  they  might  be, 
he  ought  to  have  pannage  for  them  by  reason  of  the  same  privilege.  The  aforesaid  Richard 
and  others,  as  the  bailiffs  of  their  hird,  took,  as  was  their  right,  the  hogs  of  the  aforesaid 
Abbot,  and  all  other  hogs  found,  to  his  own  manor,  namely  Schepeshed.  And  one  of  them 
saith,  that  if  the  aforesaid  hogs  or  any  part  of  them  have  been  killed,  this  was  the  Abbot's 
own  fault :  because  he,  the  Abbot,  refused  to  ask  to  have  his  own  hogs  quietly  delivered  to 
him,  according  to  the  custom  (legem)  hitherto  used  in  the  said  Forest.  And  as  to  this  he 
throws  himself  upon  his  country. 

And  the  aforesaid  Abbot  says  that  the  aforesaid  John  ought  not  to  take  his  hogs  when 
found  on  the  Forest,  nor  drive  them  to  his  aforesaid  Park  ;  but  he  truly  saith,  that  the  afore- 
said John  and  others  did  take  his  said  hogs,  and  with  malice  slay  them,  as  above  alleged : 
and  he  requests  that  it  may  be  inquired  into  by  his  country  how  this  is.  And  John  and  the 
others  likewise.  Therefore,  let  the  jury  attend  before  the  King  within  fifteen  days  from 
St.  Hilary's  day,  wherever"  &c.  It  appears  from  the  Ahbrevialio  Placitorun  that  the 
number  of  hogs  killed  was  one  hundred,  and  that  the  jury  decided  that  John  Corny n  had 
done  right. 

"  In  I.31'2  Master  William  Coniyn,  of  Buchan,  having  obtained  of  his  brother  John 
Comyn,  deceased,  some  time  Earl  of  Buchan,  a  grant  of  two  parts  of  the  manor  of  Sheep- 
shed,  the  towns  of  Markinfield,  Whitenton,  Bochardeston  and  Newton,  as  also  a  moiety  of 
Ratbye  and  the  town  of  ^Vhitewyke,  with  the  Park  of  Bardon,  all  in  the  count)-  of  Leicester, 
in  fee,  without  the  King's  license,  had  the  King's  pardon  for  the  same."t  This  William, 
having  no  issue,  rendered  them  to  the  King  in  behalf  of  his  two  nieces,  Margaret  and  Jo- 
hanna,! daughters  and  co-heiresses  of  his  brother  Alexander. 

A  few  years  after  this,  viz..  May  12,  1330  (but  whether  by  virtue  of  this  suiTender  or  not 
does  not  seem  clear),  Edward  III.  confeiTed  the  manor  of  Whitwick  upon  Bartholomew  de 
Burghersh,  one  of  his  retainers  ;§  "  in  order,"  says  the  grant,  "  that  the  said  Bartholomew 
may  be  able  more  decently  to  support  himself  in  our  service."  The  grant,  however,  con- 
tained a  reservation  of  the  King's  right  to  resume  the  manor  at  pleasure  on  paying  a  full 
equivalent,  and  we  find  Henry  de  Beaumont,  Earl  of  Buchan,  seised  of  it  at  the  time  of  his 

•  This  word,  in  the  original,  appears  to  be  "  de  Wytewyk  ut  ftt'ffjfp,"  which  Mr.  Nichols  confessed  his  inability 

to  decipher.     I  could  cite  many  ancient  deeds  in  which  Sheepshed  is  so  abbreviated,  and  it  will  be  shown  hereafter  that 

Sheepshed  was  a  member  of  the  manor  of  Whitwick.     Under  Garendon  (p.  797 ),  Mr.  Nichols  properly  concludes  that 

what  appears  in  the  Chartulary  to  be  Meuton,  must  mean  Sutton — a  case  perfectly  parallel.     The  M  is  a  flourished  .S. 

f  Pat.  6  Edward  II.,  pars  2,  m.  5 ;  as  quoted  by  Nichols. 

X  So  states  the  Inquisition,  which  Nichols  gives  at  length :  though  in  the  paragraph  immediately  following  it  he 
calls  them  Alice  and  Margaret — and  in  the  Quincy  pedigree  he  gives  tliree  daughters  to  Alexander  Comj-n,  viz. ; — 
.Alice,  married  to  Henry  Lord  Beaumont,  Katherine  to  the  Earl  of  Athol,  and  Margaret  to  the  Earl  of  Ross.  He 
also  omits  their  mother  and  their  uncle  William  ComjTi.  Alice  is  by  several  writers  called  the  only  daughter  of  the 
Earl  of  Buchan. 

§  Who  married  Elizabeth  de  Verdon,  granddaughter  of  Roesia,  foundress  of  Gracedieu  Abbey.  See  Dug.  Baron. 
Vol.  I.,  p.  474.  In  Mr.  Nichols's  pedigree  of  Verdon  (III.,  640)  this  name  is  omitted;  as  also  in  the  Verdun  pedi- 
gree (IV.,  279),  which  professes  to  be  drawn  from  Dugdale's  Warwickshire,  page  29.  The  latter  dates  Roesia's 
foundation  of  Gracedieu  1229. 

X 


154  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

death,  in  1340.  From  this  period  the  manor,  with  its  members,  continued  to  be  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Beaumonts  till  1461-2,  when  on  the  attainder  of  William  Lord  Viscount  Beau- 
mont, King  Edward  IV.  granted  the  manors  and  lordships  of  Whitwyke,  Bocheston,  Newton, 
Hoclescote,  Donynton,  North  Markefield  and  Ernesby  (which  Katherine,  Duchess  of  Nor- 
folk [see  under  Beaumanor]  held  for  the  term  of  her  life,  with  remainder  to  William  Lord 
Viscount  Beaumont),  to  William  Hastings,  Esq.,  and  his  heirs.*  It  was  then  held  by  homage 
only.  After  the  death  of  Lord  Hastings,  Richard  HI.  granted  it  to  Francis  Lord  Lovell 
and  Joan  his  wife,  sole  sister  and  heir  to  John  Viscount  Beaumont,  but  Lord  Lovell  being 
attainted  in  1485  it  again  fell  to  the  Crown. 

The  manor  "  of  ^Vhytewyk,  with  its  members  and  appurtenances  in  the  county  of 
Leicester,  together  with  all  the  lands  which  the  King  possessed  in  Whytewyk,  Swanyngton, 
Donyngton,  Hokelscote,  Newton  Unthanke,  Bocherdeston,  Roteby  and  Markfield,  and  the 
advowson  of  Markfield,"  next  became  the  property  of  Thomas  Grey,  JNIarquis  of  Dorset,  by 
exchange  with  King  Henry  VIII.,  to  whom  the  Marquis  conveyed,  in  lieu  of  it,  the  manors 
of  Lee  Bankers  and  ShrofTold,  with  the  advowson  of  Lee  Church,  in  the  county  of  Kent. 
The  indenture  of  this  exchange  is  dated  May  12,  1512,  and  the  King  reserved  to  himself 
and  his  heirs  the  Park  of  Bardon.f 

From  the  Marquis  of  Dorset  the  lordship  descended  to  Henry  Duke  of  Suffolk,  his  son, 
on  whose  attainder,  in  1554,  it  again  reverted  to  the  Crown. 

In  1612  King  James  I.  granted  the  manor,  with  Bardon  Park,  in  Charnwood  Forest 
("  tarn  infra  quam  extra  forestam  de  Charnewood"),  to  Sir  Henry  Hastings,  Knt.,  and  Henry 
Cutler,  Gent.,  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  £4000.  J  The  manor  has  ever  since  continued 
in  the  Hastings  family.§ 

THE  CHURCH 

From  the  view  of  Whitwick  Church,  given  in  these  pages,  the  reader  will  at  once  con- 
clude that  it  is  a  very  ancient  edifice.  Its  fine  sombre-looking  tower,  without  the  usual 
embattled  parapet,  and  relieved  by  windows  of  a  quaint  and  singular  character,  produces  a 
striking  effect ;  it  more  resembles  the  larger  Churches  of  Normandy  than  the  ordinary  village 
Churches  of  this  country.  Tradition  reports  it  to  be  eight  hundred  years  old — nor  is  the 
eleventh  century  an  unlikely  era  for  such  an  erection.  The  body  of  the  Church  is  in  strict 
keeping  with  the  tower,  and  the  interior  has  few  proofs  of  the  mischief  too  frequently  per- 

*  Pat.  1  Edward  IV.,  pars  1,  m.  25. 
f  Nichols  gives  this  Indenture  at  length,  from  "  Originalia  in  the  Lord  Treasurer's  Remembrancer's  Office :" 
though,  by  a  singuhar  oversight,  he  states  in  the  paragraph  preceding  it,  that  Whitwick  "was  given  by  Henry  VIII., 
I.'i.SO,  to  Thomas  Grey,  Marquis  of  Dorset,  in  exchange  for  the  lordships  of  Grafton  and  Hartwell,  co.  Northampton, 
to  be  held  by  him  and  his  heirs  in  socage  by  the  rent  of  £5.  5s.  -Id.  per  annum."  Whereas,  both  under  Beaumanor 
and  Sheepshed,  he  had  correctly  stated  that  Grafton  and  Hartwell  were  exchanged  with  Henry  VIII.  for  Lough- 
horough  and  Sheepshed ! 

X  Harl.  MS.S.  3881,  f.  G96. 

^^  On  the  petition  of  the  Rev.  John  Piddocke,  Leonard  Piddocke,  Ellis  Shipley  Pestell,  Henry  Cropper,  Thomas 
Fenton,  and  John  Roper,  Esqrs.,  the  principal  proprietors,  an  Act  for  the  inclosure  of  certain  waste  lands  called  Whit- 
wick Moor,  was  obtained  in  1803. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  155 

petrated  by  injudicious  Cliurchwardens. — A  tomb  without  an  inscription  bears  the  mailed 
and  much  mutilated  effigies  of  a  man  of  gigantic  stature.  The  figure  is  seven  feet  in  length, 
which  is  much  too  short  for  the  cuiTent  traditions  respecting  the  size  and  strength  of  the 
redoubtable  Knight,  Sir  John  Talbot*  of  Swannington,  to  whose  memory  it  is  believed  to 
have  been  erected.  Sir  John  died  in  1365,  in  his  fortietli  year.  The  Matriculus  of  1220 
describes  Robert  Talbois  as  Parson  and  William  Shawell  Vicar,  and  the  latter  as  paying  to 
the  former  one  pound  of  aromatic  incense. 

It  is  stated  in  the  Magna  Britannia,  page  1376,  that  this  was  one  of  the  places  in  which 
Robert  Grosseteste,  Bishop  of  Lincoln  in  1-235,  showed  his  dislike  of  impropriations  by 
restoring  to  tlie  Vicar  the  great  tithes  which  had  been  appropriated  to  his  see,  and  consoli- 
dating them  to  the  living  for  ever.f  Nichols  mentions  this  fact,  but  thinks  it  applies  to  the 
mother  Church  of  Whitwick ;  whereas  Osgathorpe  (mentioned  in  the  ^latriculus  of  1-220, | 
under  the  name  of  Angodeston,  elsewhere  written  Angodesthorp,  as  a  Chapelry  of  Whitwick) 
is  the  place  intended.  It  is  noticed  in  1344,§  "  Osgathorpe  solebat  esse  capella  nunc  verd 
Ecclesia  parochialis,"  though  it  is  remarkable  that  the  name  of  Osgathorpe  does  not  appear 
among  the  list  of  the  livings  whose  institution  or  ordination  is  extant  among  the  records  at 
Lincoln. II — The  living  of  Whitwick,  as  parcel  of  the  Honour  of  Lancaster, 51  belongs  to  the 
Crown.     The  present  Incumbent  is  the  Rev.  Francis  Merewether,  M.A. 

The  village,  from  its  great  extent  and  the  variety  of  trades  carried  on  in  it,  has  lost  all 
the  characteristics  of  a  rural  population,  yet  the  situation  is  one  of  gi-eat  natural  beauty. 
The  Castle  Hill — the  venerable  Church — the  Roman  Catholic  Chapel — some  very  antique 
houses,  and  the  bold  range  of  rocks  overhanging  it  on  the  north  and  east,  are  objects  of  just 
admiration  to  every  stranger.  The  environs,  as  will  shortly  be  seen,  are  highly  interesting 
— the  Geologist  finds  a  fine  field  for  study  in  the  collieries  and  the  porphyry  rocks — the 

*  A  laue  aud  wood  near  Whitwick  are  still  called  by  this  name ;  and  the  following  couplet  is  a  common  proverb  there : — 
"  Nought  remains  of  Talbot's  name 
But  Talbot  Wood  and  Talbot  Lane." 

f  The  good  Bishop  regarded  appropriations  "  as  robbing  God  of  his  honour,  the  Priest  of  his  maintenance,  and  the 
people  of  their  souls."  The  evil  had  indeed  become  very  great :  for,  "  from  making  appropriations  to  Monasteries, 
Deans,  Prebendaries,  &c.,  the  example  went  on  to  parish  Priests,  who  in  populous  and  rich  places  obtained  a  Vicarage 
to  be  endowed — and  casting  upon  them  the  care  of  souls,  they  had  the  Rectory  appropriated  to  themselves  and  their 
successors  as  a  sinecure  for  ever." — Magna  Britannia,  page  1376. 

X  Nichols,  Vol.  I.,  page  Iviii.  §  Nichols,  Vol.  I.,  page  Ixiii.  ||  Nichols,  Vol.  I.,  page  xcix. 

H  It  may  not  be  amiss  to  add  here  a  brief  description  of  this  Honour.  "Landed  Honours,"  says  Lauder,  "originally 
belonged  exclusively  to  the  Crown,  but  were  afterwards  gi'anted  in  fee  to  noblemen That  the  Honour  of  Lan- 
caster existed  before  the  Conquest,  is  demonstrated  by  an  agreement  (still  preserved)  made  between  King  Stephen 
and  Henry  Duke  of  Normandy.  Soon  after  the  Conquest  three  noblemen  held  the  Honour  of  Luncasier,  as  it  was 
then  termed :  but  Roger  of  Poictou — the  first  person  whose  name  is  recorded  as  its  possessor — forfeited  it  for  high 
treason.  Stephen  then  gave  it  to  his  son  William.  After  this  it  was  held  by  several  great  personages,  till  Henry  HI. 
conferred  it  on  his  second  son  Edmund  Plantagenet  (Crouchback),  when  it  became  an  Earldom,  in  consequence  of 
the  possessor  being  an  Earl  by  birthright, — The  title  of  Duke  of  Lancaster  was  created  in  favour  of  Henry  Plantage- 
net, whose  daughter  and  heiress  Blanche  married  John  of  Gaunt,  fourth  son  of  Edward  III.,  from  whom  it  descended 
to  his  son  Henry  IV.,  who  decreed  that  the  title  and  revenues  should  remain  to  him  and  his  heirs  for  ever,  as  a  dis- 
tinct and  separate  inheritance  from  the  Crown." — (See  Sir  T.  Dick  Lauder's  edition  of  Gilpin,  Vol.  II.,  p.  25.) — 
Henry  Plantagenet  married  Isabel,  sister  of  John  Lord  Beaumont. 


156 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 


Antiquarian  revels  on  the  site  of  the  Castle  and  amid  the  architectural  singularities  of  the 
Church — and  the  lover  of  unmolested  nature  finds,  from  Pelder  Tor  to  "forlorn  Gracedieu," 
scenes  which,  when  viewed  for  the  first  time,  he  can  scarcely  believe  to  belong  to  Leicester- 
s]iire. — In  this  parish,  and  about  two  miles  north-east  of  the  village,  is  the  Swammote  Rock, 
on  which,  in  early  times,  the  Courts  of  the  Forest  were  held.  The  reader  or  spectator 
must  draw  largely  on  his  imagination  to  bring  before  his  mind's  eye  a  picture  of  one  of  these 
assemblages  in  such  a  wild  and  desolate  a  scene  !  Below  it  is  a  spot  bearing  a  name  the 
origin  of  which  caunot,  perhaps,  be  more  satisfactorily  explained  than  by  the  following 

LEGEND  OF  LADY  ASLINS  POGL  :— 


Below  the  Shakpley  Rocks,  in  a  low  vale, 
A  mirror  to  the  mountain,  lies  a  lake 
Called  by  the  rustics  "  Ladv  Aslin's  Pool." 
The  milkmaid,  when  within  that  spacious  field 
She  herds  the  kine,  to  drain  their  swelling  teats. 
Ever  avoids  that  spot — and  drives  her  charge 
To  the  remotest  corner.     There  she  kneels. 
And  oft,  extracting  still  the  foaming  flood, 
Tunis  stealthy  looks  to  where  the  waters  sleep. 
Often,  perchance,  if  thro'  the  bushes  flit 
White  calf,  grey  colt,  or  e'en  the  twinkling  rabbit, 
She  starts— o'erturns  her  pail,  and  awe-struck  flies 
For  safety  to  yon  cottage.     There  she  tells 
How  Lady  Asliii's  ghost  has  glided  thro' 
The  bushes  of  the  lakelet !     Shepherd  boy 
Counts  his  still  flock,  when  pastur'd  in  that  field. 
An  hour  before  the  time :  lest,  in  the  gloom, 
The  Lady  Aslin  walk  and  glide  before  him. 

Of  many  a  grey-haired  sire  and  aged  dame. 

But  last  of  one  who,  in  a  sheltered  cot 

By  Charley's  ancient  Priory,  has  endured 

The  storms  of  eighty  winters,  I  inquired 

"  Who  was  the  Lady  Aslin  ?     Why  the  pool 

From  her  had  borrowed  its  age-lasting  name  ?" 

None  knew— none  cared  to  know,  save  the  old  sire 
I  spoke  of.     He,  inclined  upon  his  spade. 
His  bald  head  all  uncovered- the  few  white  locks 
That  lingered  yet  below  the  capital 
Of  the  still  fine,  but  time-worn  human  column. 
Waving  like  streamers  in  the  moimlain  gale- 
Narrated  this,  in  answer  to  my  quest  :— 
"  Aye,  Sir,  these  hills  are  rugged— and  men's  minds. 
In  these  poor  school-less  spots,  are  rugged  too— 
A  stranger  asked  mc,  not  an  hour  ago. 
When,  why,  or  how  these  craggy  steeps  were  formed 
On  which  we  toil  to  gain  our  daily  bread- 
I've  had  my  thoughts,  but  scholarship  and  I 
Were  never  close  ac/uaiiiiance.     My  lost  mother— 


'Tis  sixty  years  this  April  since  she  changed 

That  house  for  one  on  everlasting  hills, 

Where  rain,  and  storms,  and  tears  ne'er  fall" — (and  then 

He  wiped  his  furrowed  cheek.) — "That  mother  knew 

A  mart  of  book-learnt  wisdom — would  have  taught 

Me,  her  sole  son,  but  that  I  better  loved 

To  spend  the  livelong  day  upon  these  hills — 

That  ever  were  a  wonder  and  a  joy — 

And  when  came  night,  or  storms,  or  frost-bound  winter, 

I  loved  old  stories  from  her  fluent  lips. 

But  sought  not  lore  from  books — mens'  books  to  me 

Seem'd  like  the  mines  I've  delved  in — 

Monstrous  masses  of  earthly  rubbish  for  a  little  coal. 

My  mother's  tales  were  music ;  oft  she  told 

The  one  you  ask — 'The  hapless  Lady's  Pool.' 

I'm  eighty — but  remember  her  sweet  tales 

Far  better  than  our  gifted  Pastor's  truths 

Delivered  yesterday."     And  then  he  told 

The  story,  which,  divested  of  its  length 

And  somewliat  altered  from  its  homely  phrase 

And  age's  expletives,  I  tell  to  you : — 

"There  was  a  Castle  in  old  Whitwick  Park, 

And  Goisfrid  Aslin  held  it  of  the  King ; 

He  was  the  Bluebeard  of  those  ancient  times  : 

A  tyrant,  who  could  steep  his  hands  in  blood 

And  eat,  and  sleep,  and  pray  without  ablution. 

He  married  Gertrude  Lyne — if  that  be  marriage 

Where  a  stern  father,  fearful  of  the  power 

His  neighbour  lord  has  o'er  him,  says  '  Obei/' — 

And  buys  his  safely  by  his  daughter's  tears. 

Goisfrid  had  paramours — the  Castle  Court 

Abomided  with  his  jillflirts.     His  poor  lady 

Was  scorned  and  outraged  ere  the  second  moon 

Had  beamed  upon  their  bridal.     Goisfrid  toyed 

Beneath  her  window  with  some  flaunting  quean, 

And  gloried  in  his  shame.     That  night  his  couch 

Was  lone  1     As  lone,  but  colder  far  the  Lady  Aslin's — 

'Twas  in  that  dark,  deep  Pool." 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  IT)? 

A  large  tract  of  Forest  between  this  spot  and  the  Oaks  Chapel  is  chiefly  the  property  of 
Kirkby  Fenton,  Esq.,  of  Thorpe  Hal],  Yorkshire,  who  has  erected  upon  it  a  very  tasteful 
huntiug-box,  called  Onebarrow  Lodge.  This  gentleman  may  with  justice  be  termed  one  of 
the  greatest  improvers  of  the  Forest.  When  he  came  into  possession  of  the  estate,  it  was, 
with  a  trifling  exception,  rugged  rock  or  moorland ;  in  a  very  few  years  he  has  brought 
several  hundred  acres  into  a  state  of  high  cultivation — is  rapidly  inclosing  more — and  has 
planted  nearly  100,000  Forest  trees  on  tracts  where  heath  and  feni  lately  formed  the  onl}' 
foliage.* — One  of  the  finest  Forest  scenes  is  the  gorge  formed  by  Onebarrow  Hill. 

Contiguous  to  this  estate  is  Charnwood  Heath,  the  properly  of  Thomas  Gisborne,  Esq. 
Mr.  Gisbome,  too,  is  a  Forest  improver ;  indeed,  he  took  the  lead  soon  after  the  inclosure, 
at  an  enormous  outlay  of  capital,  in  the  most  modern  system  of  agriculture.  The  Hanging 
Stone — already  described  under  Antiquities — and  the  rocks  called  the  High  Towers  or  Tors, 
are  remarkable  features  in  this  locality.  Bordering  on  Mr.  Gisbome's  estate,  and  till  re- 
cently a  part  of  it,  is  the  tract  long  called  the  Tynte  or  Tin  Meadows  ;  now  known  under 
the  more  lofty  name  of  Mount  St.  Bernard. 

THE  MONASTERY  OF  MOUNT  ST.  BERNARD. 

Now  the  midnight  chant  is  stealing, 

Mass  and  requiem  breathing  near ; 
Hushed  the  blast,  as  if  revealing 

Sounds  to  earth  that  Heaven  might  hear. — Roby. 

Whatever  may  be  the  prevailing  differences  of  opinion  on  "  modes  of  faith,"  the  topogra- 
pher or  historian  is  bound  to  present,  so  far  as  he  is  able,  a  faithful  picture  of  the  locality 
which  he  professes  to  describe.  To  write  the  History  of  Charnwood  Forest  without  some 
mention  of  what  has  now  become  one  of  the  most  remarkable  features  in  it,  would  be  an 
omission  justly  affixing  on  any  writer  a  charge  of  bigotry  and  unfairness.  I  rejoice  that  I 
am  enabled,  by  the  kindness  of  a  talented  Roman  Catholic  geulleman,  to  present  an 
original  and  faithful  notice  of  the  Monastery  and  brotherhood  of  Mount  St.  Bernard,  which 
will  be  far  more  interesting  and  valuable  than  any  description  that  could  have  proceeded 
from  my  own  pen. 

"  The  Abbey  of  St.  Bernard,  in  Charnwood  Forest,  was  founded  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
1835  ;  exactly  three  hundred  years  having  elapsed  from  the  suppression  of  the  larger  Monas- 
teries by  King  Henry  the  Eighth,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1535.  This  Abbey  belongs  to  the 
Cistercian  Order,  which  is  one  of  the  most  celebrated  Orders  of  the  Western  Church. 

"  It  may  not  be  amiss  here  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  origin  of  this  famous  Order ;  it  was 
founded  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1098,  by  an  English  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Stephen 
Harding,  a  man  of  eminent  sanctity  and  great  learning.     He  is  known  in  Church  History 

•  Mr.  Fenton  has,  with  great  taste,  preserved,  wherever  practicable,  all  the  striking  rocky  prominences  on  his  estate 
— a  forbearance  which  I  feel  the  more  boimd  to  record,  because  in  too  many  instances  proprietors  of  the  Forest  have 
shown,  in  this  respect,  a  much-to-be-regretted  preference  of  the  utile  to  the  dulci. — The  rick-yards  at  Onebarrow 
Lodge,  and  at  Mr.  Green's  adjoining  Hermitage  Farm,  show  a  remarkable  produce  for  the  number  of  acres  cropped. 
The  stacks  in  the  former  are  thatched  in  the  cupola  form,  a  mode  not  elsewhere  in  use  in  this  county. 


158  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

by  the  title  of  St.  Stephen,  Abbot  of  Citeaux.  He  was  bom  in  the  county  of  Dorset,  and 
received  his  education  in  the  Monastery  of  Sherbourne,  in  the  same  county.  The  learned 
Alban  Butler  tells  us,  in  the  fourth  volume  of  his  Lives  of  the  Saints  (p.  166),  that  Stephen 
Harding,  having  left  England,  travelled  to  Paris  and  Rome  in  order  that  he  might  learn 
more  perfectly  the  means  of  Christian  perfection,  by  visiting  the  most  famous  Monasteries 
of  France  and  Italy.  On  his  return  from  the  latter  country  he  visited  the  Abbey  of  Molesme, 
in  the  diocese  of  Langres,  in  France,  not  very  far  from  Lyons :  he  was  so  edified  with  the 
great  piety  and  fervour  of  the  Monks  of  that  house,  that  he  determined  to  remain  there. 
But  afterwards,  a  relaxation  of  discipline  by  degrees  creeping  into  the  community,  he, 
together  with  St.  Robert  the  Abbot,  and  the  blessed  Alberic,  and  other  devout  Monks,  left 
this  Monastery,  and  retired  into  the  desert  of  Citeaux,  five  leagues  from  Dijon,  where  they 
built  themselves  a  poor  Monastery  of  wood,  upon  some  land  given  them  for  the  purpose  by 
the  Viscount  of  Beaune.  In  this  Monastery  the  celebrated  Cistercian  Order,  so  called  from 
the  name  of  the  desert  Citeau.v,  or  Cistercia  in  Latin,  commenced  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
1098 ;  an  Order  which  has  been  famous  in  the  Church  of  God  ever  since.  Nothing  can 
surpass  the  accounts  which  the  Ecclesiastical  writers  of  the  day  give  us  of  the  piety  and 
fervour  of  these  Holy  Monks ;  they  restored,  in  a  degenerate  age,  all  the  most  perfect  usages 
of  the  Primitive  Church,  reviving  those  wonders  of  God  which  the  great  St.  Athanasius  has 
related  to  us  concerning  St.  Anthony,  St.  Pacomius,  and  the  other  famous  solitaries  of  Egypt 
and  Syria  in  those  early  times  of  Primitive  Christianity.  The  fame  of  their  virtue  soon 
spread  through  Christendom,  and  in  the  course  of  a  very  few  years  there  were  numerous 
Monastei-ies  of  the  Order  established  all  over  the  Western  Church,  some  of  the  most  remark- 
able of  which  existed  in  this  kingdom.  Who  is  there  who  has  not  heard  of  Fonntains 
Abbey,  in  Yorkshire  ?  of  Riveaux — of  Kirkstall — of  Bolton,  in  the  same  county  ? — of  the  beau- 
tiful ruins  of  Tintern,  in  Monmouthshire,  and  of  many  other  glorious  Abbeys,  which  here  in 
Eno-land  belonged  to  the  Cistercian  Order,  the  venerable  and  picturesque  remains  of  which 
still  refresh  the  devotion  or  gratify  the  curiosity  of  Christian  travellers  and  antiquarians } 

"The  Cistercian  Order  is  a  branch  of  the  Benedictine,  and  it  professes  to  observe  the  rule 
of  St.  Benedict  without  mitigation.  The  Monks  of  this  Order  never  eat  flesh  meat,  fish,  or 
eggs,  and  the  only  animal  food  of  which  they  partake  is  milk  and  cheese.  Their  Lent  is 
much  longer  than  that  observed  by  the  rest  of  the  Church;  it  commences  on  the  I4th  of 
September,  the  Feast  of  the  Exaltation  of  the  Cross,  and  terminates  at  the  Festival  of  our 
Lord's  Resurrection.  They  observe  manual  labour,  tilling  the  ground  with  their  own  hands ; 
they  keep  almost  a  perpetual  silence,  never  speaking  except  to  the  Superior  or  by  his  per- 
mission. They  sing  the  whole  Divine  Ofiice,  or  the  Canonical  Hours,  rising  all  the  year 
round  at  two  in  the  morning,  and  on  the  great  Festivals  at  midnight,  for  the  celebration  of 
Matins ;  they  celebrate  the  Holy  Eucharist  every  day  with  great  solemnity ;  they  spend 
much  time  in  mental  prayer  and  meditation  ;  and  above  all,  they  are  exhorted  by  their  holy 
rule  to  aim  at  the  highest  practice  of  Christian  virtue,  at  the  closest  imitation  of  the  divine 
example  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  such  as  we  find  it  in  the  Holy  Gospel.  They  are  com- 
manded to  be  most  assiduous  in  studying  the  Sacred  Scriptures  and  the  writings  of  the 
Holy  Fathers  of  God's  Church.     They  are  taught  that  they  should  ever  keep  themselves  in 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  159 

the  presence  of  God,  and  that  to  His  divine  honour  and  glory  they  must  dedicate  every 
action,  thought,  and  word,  and  every  moment  of  their  lives ;  that  without  this  interior  con- 
secration of  themselves,  all  their  outward  actions,  however  holy  and  praiseworthy,  will  avail 
them  nothing. 

"As  has  been  already  said,  the  Cistercian  Abbey  of  St.  Bernard,  in  Chamwood  Forest, 
was  founded  in  the  year  1835 — a  tract  of  wild  desert  land  having  been  purchased  for  that 
purpose  from  Thomas  Gisbome,  Esq.,  M.P.  for  the  county  of  Derby,  of  which  not  more 
than  from  thirty  to  forty  acres  were  in  a  state  of  cultivation  when  the  Monks  entered  upon 
it.  This  house  is  an  affiliation  from  the  Abbey  of  Melleraye  in  Brittany,  in  France,  and  is 
at  present  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Very  Rev.  Vincent  Ryan,  Abbot  of  the  Cistercian 
Abbey  of  Mount  ^lelleraye,  in  Ireland,  which  is  also  an  affiliation  of  that  same  house. 

"  The  Monks  who  commenced  this  foundation  were  the  Reverend  Father  Odilo  Woolfrey, 
Presbyter ;  Father  Bernard  Palmer,  Presbyter ;  Brother  Luke,  Brother  Xavier,  and  Brother 
Augustine,  Lay  Brethren.  They  lived  for  more  than  a  year  in  a  miserable  cottage,  the  roof 
of  which  was  in  a  most  ruinous  condition,  so  that  they  were  exjjosed  to  all  the  inclemency 
of  the  weather.  But  after  this,  by  the  charitable  gifts  of  the  Faithful,  they  built  a  humble 
Monastery  and  Chapel,  together  with  some  farm  buildings ;  these  buildings  are  intended  to 
form  the  Abbey  Grange. 

"  In  the  year  1839  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury  made  a  most  munificent  gift  to  the  Monks  of 
St.  Bernard's,  which  enabled  them  to  build  a  very  beautiful  Monastery  at  the  foot  of  the 
large  rock  on  their  land,  which  is  now  termed  the  Calvary ;  this  Monastery  is  built  in  the 
early  Lancet  Gothic  style,  under  the  directions  of  Augustus  Welby  Pugin,  Esq.,  the  most 
celebrated  Gothic  Architect  since  the  middle  ages.  It  is  situated  in  a  picturesque  valley, 
surrounded  on  all  sides  by  great  rocks,  and  perfectly  secluded  from  the  world. 

"  The  Monks  are  well  skilled  in  agriculture,  and  they  have  succeeded  in  bringing  a  large 
tract  of  desert  land  into  good  cultivation.  They  are  very  charitable  to  the  poor,  many  hun- 
dreds of  whom,  from  the  neighbouring  villages,  receive  daily  relief  at  the  Convent  gate.  It 
is  a  part  of  the  Cistercian  rule  to  give  hospitality  to  strangers,  for  whom  comfortable  apart- 
ments are  provided  in  the  Abbey." 

To  add  much  to  this  "  simple  narrative"  would  be  superfluous ;  but  it  is  right  to  say 
that  Mount  St.  Bernard,  whether  as  offering  a  fair  picture  of  Monastic  life,  or  as  embellish- 
ing scenery  of  singular  wildness  and  beauty,  or  as  presenting  the  somewhat  unusual  occur- 
rence of  a  partial  re-possession  of  a  district  in  which,  three  centuries  ago,  there  were  four 
similar  Institutions,  has  of  late  been  an  object  of  great  and  increasing  curiosity — strangers 
from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom  have  visited  it  dming  the  last  and  present  summer — it  has  this 
year  been  honoured  with  a  Royal  visit.*  And,  however  differing  in  creed,  it  must  be  owned 
that  few  leave  the  spot  without  finding  their  prejudices  somewhat  softened  by  the  bland  and 
courteous  welcome  of  the  lowly  Cistercians. 

High  Cademan,  of  which  a  view  is  given,  the  Shai-pley  rocks,  and  the  whole  of  the  range 
from  that  point  to  Timberwood,  afford  a  picture  of  rugged  wildness  rarely  to  be  met  with  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  a  highlj'  cultivated  district. 

*  So  states  "An  Appeal  to  the  Catholics  of  England." — Dolman,  1842. 


160  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

BARDON. 

Bardon  Park,  situated  on  the  south-west  side  of  Chamvvood,  is  one  of  the  fifteen  ancient 
Parks  which,  as  has  before  been  stated,  formerly  encircled  the  whole  Forest.  In  the  Inclo- 
sure  Survey  the  Forest  boundary  is  made  to  exclude  the  whole  of  this  Park,  but  it  has 
already  been  shown,  under  Whitwick,  that  a  considerable  part  of  it  was  originally  icilhin 
the  Forest — ["  infra  Forestam."] 

This  domain  contains  1225  acres,  and  was  imparked  previously  to  1300,  as  is  proved  by 
an  Inquisition  on  the  death  of  John  Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan  (see  page  144,  under  Whit- 
wick), to  whose  mother,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Roger  de  Quincy,  it  appears  to  have  come 
as  part  of  her  share  in  the  partition  of  the  inheritance.  From  this  it  may  be  concluded  that 
it  was  a  part  of  the  possessions  of  Grentemaisnell.  In  1312  Master  William  Comyn,  the 
Earl's  youngest  brother,  obtained  inter  alia  a  grant  of  Whytwyke,  with  the  Park  of  Bardon 
in  fee.*  It  then  passed  by  marriage  of  William  Comyn's  niece  to  Henry  Lord  Beaumont, 
and  probably  continued  in  that  family  till  the  attainder  of  Viscount  Beaumont,  in  1461. 
In  1528  King  Henry  VIII.  granted  it  to  Thomas  Grey,  Marquis  of  Dorset.  It  again  reverted 
to  the  Crown  in  1552,  on  the  attainder  of  Henry  Duke  of  Suffolk. 

In  1569  Queen  Elizabeth  granted  to  Sir  Henry  Hastings,  Knt.,  and  Henry  Cutler,  Gent. 
(with  the  manor  of  Whitwick),  "  Bardon  Park,  in  Charnwood  Forest  and  without;'''  by  whom  it 
was  alienated  to  the  family  of  Hood,  originally  seated  at  Wilford,  near  Nottingham,  but  resi- 
dent at  Bardon  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.,  though  not  seised  thereof  till  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 

In  the  male  line  of  this  family  Bardon  Park  remained  till  the  death  of  the  last  possessor, 
William  Hood,  Esq. ,  Barrister  at  Law,  by  whom  it  was  bequeathed  to  his  nephew  Robert 
Jacomb,  Esq.,  who  has  since  assumed  by  Royal  License  the  name  and  arms  of  Hood.  This 
gentleman,  the  present  justly-esteemed  proprietor  of  the  estate,  has  lately  pulled  down  the 
ancient  Hall,  and  erected  (from  the  beautiful  designs  of  Robert  Lugar,  Esq.)  a  new  mansion, 
on  a  more  elevated  situation,  about  half  a  mile  from  the  seat  of  his  ancestors.  The  character 
and  style  of  the  new  house  may  be  considered  Elizabethan,  formed  on  a  limited  scale  of 
accommodation,  and  of  simple  decoration,  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  owner. 
Backed  by  the  far-famed  hill,  and  looking  over  the  gentle  slopes  of  the  Park-like  grounds 
in  front,  Bardon  Hall,  when  viewed  from  the  Ashby  road,  has  an  imposing  effect. 

Stanton-under-Bardon  (called  in  a  Grant  of  Ernald  de  Bois  [JVest  Goscote,  p.  815] 
"  Stantona  de  sub  Monte  Bardoni")  is  a  small  township  belonging  to  Thornton,  lying  south  of 
the  hill  from  which  it  takes  its  name.  The  Queen  is  Lady  of  the  Manor,  and  Charles  March 
Phillipps,  Esq.,  and  the  Earl  of  Stamford,  are  the  principal  proprietors.  The  whole  of  the 
lordship  was  conferred  by  William  Harcourt,  in  1148,  on  Garendon  Abbey:  and  the  large 
part  of  it,  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  March  Phillipps,  passed  to  his  ancestor.  Sir  Am- 
brose, from  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  with  the  other  estates  connected  with  Garendon,  at 
the  Dissolution. 

Battle  Flat,  a  manor  of  180  acres,  of  which  the  Marquis  of  Hastings  is  Lord,  and 
Thomas  Roby  Burgin,  Esq.,  chief  propi'ietor,  is  in  this  township.  It  is  said  a  battle  took 
place  here  between  the  Royalists  and  Parliamentarians,  in  1645. 

*  Pat  G  Edward  II.,  pars  2,  m.  5. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  IRl 


BARDON  HILL. 


'  We  reserved 


The  tribute  of  our  homage  till  arrived ; 
Turning  our  eyes  away  from  where  we  felt 
Sublimity  was  throned,  to  contemplate 
The  Beautiful  which  we  had  left  behind 
Reposing  in  the  valleys." 

Bardon  Hill,  which  has  been  styled  the  "  Olympus  of  Leicestershire,"  demands  some- 
thing more  than  a  passing  remark.  Burton  thus  describes  it : — "  This  hill  is  in  the  bottome 
of  a  large  circumference,  rising  up  (not  very  steepely)  to  a  great  height,  being  (as  I  take  it) 
one  of  the  highest  of  that  ranke,  very  rough  and  full  of  wood,  within  which  are  quarries  of 
hard  stone,  which  some  take  to  be  a  kind  of  lime  stone.  The  top  thereof  yeeldeth  a  very 
pleasing  and  delicate  prospect,  especially  to  the  west  and  south-west :  this  hill  having  beene 
scene  not  fane  from  Glocester,  above  40  miles'  distance."  To  this  tolerably  accurate  de- 
scription, the  old  Historian  adds  his  opinion  of  the  "natural  cause  of  hils,"  which  was, 
"  that  a  vegetative  substance  or  matter  being  7iaturally  united  or  drawne  together,  hatli 
by  the  force  of  the  sunne  and  other  planets,  growne  to  that  proportion"  ! !  !* 

The  author  of  "  The  Agriculture  of  the  Midland  Counties,"  Mr.  Marshall,  gives  the  fol- 
lowing just  description  of  Bardon  and  the  Forest  range: — "The  Charnwood  hills  are  too 
striking  a  feature  to  be  passed  over  without  especial  notice.  AV'hen  seen  obscurely  they 
appear  like  an  extensive  range  of  mountains,  much  larger  than  they  really  are.  When 
approached,  the  mountain  style  is  still  preserved,  the  prominences  are  sharp,  distinct,  and 
most  of  them  pointed  with  rugged  rocks.  One  of  these  prominences,  Bardon  Hill,  rises 
above  the  rest :  and  though  far  from  an  elevated  situation,  it  probably  commands  a  greater 
extent  of  surface  than  any  other  point  of  view  in  the  island.  It  is  entirely  insulated,  stand- 
ing, in  every  way,  at  a  considerable  distance  from  lands  equally  high.  The  horizon  appears 
to  rise  almost  equally  on  every  side :  it  is  quite  an  ocean  view,  from  a  ship  out  of  sight  of 
land.  The  midland  district,  almost  every  acre  of  it,  is  seen  lying  at  its  feet.  The  Sugar 
Loaf,  in  South  Wales — the  mountains  of  Shropshire  and  North  Wales  are  distinctly  in  \\g\\ 
— and  the  Derbyshire  hills,  to  the  highest  Peak,  appear  at  hand.  An  outline,  described 
from  the  extremity  of  this  view,  would  include  nearh/  one-fourth  of  England  and  JVales. 
It  may  be  deemed  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  points  of  view  in  Nature." 

No  lover  of  what  is  wild  and  wonderful  in  nature  can  visit  this  commanding  eminence 
without  feelings  of  mingled  awe  and  admiration.  The  recollection  that  it  was  one  of  the 
High  Places  where  the  Bards  (hence  its  name)  hymned  the  praises  of  their  Sun-god  and 
their  heroes,  and  where  Druidical  superstition  received  its  votaries  and  offered  its  victims, 
is  one  of  the  many  associations  connected  with  Bardon.  The  almost  imbounded  range  of 
vision,  extending  (from  an  elevation  of  852  feet  above  the  sea  level)  over  a  panorama  of  five 
thousand  square  miles,  strikes  all  that  behold  it  for  the  first  time  with  extreme  astonish- 
ment.    The  studies  in  Botany,  Geology,  and  Entomology,  which  the  hill  affords,  are  highly 

•  Burton,  page  28. 
Y 


162  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

interesting  to  the  Naturalist.  Science,  too,  has  occasionally  chosen  Bardon  for  her  seat. 
An  eminent  x\stronouier  of  the  last  century*  here  fixed  his  instruments,  in  order  to  aid  in 
some  of  the  greatest  astronomical  discoveries  of  the  time ;  and  during  the  last  summer,  the 
Ordnance  Office  caused  to  be  erected  on  the  summit  of  this  hill  an  immense  conical  pillar 
of  stones,  which  now  forms  a  station  of  great  importance  in  the  Trigonometrical  Survey  of 
England,  still  in  progress ;  two  Officers,  with  a  few  privates,  being  at  the  present  moment 
encamped  here,  after  a  visit  of  several  weeks.  Another  recent  circumstance  to  which  I  am 
about  to  advert,  has  imparted  fresh  celebrity  to  Bardon. 

Royal  Visit  to  Bardon  Hill. 

On  Tuesday,  August  ith,  1840,  Bardon  Hill  was  honoured  with  the  first  Royal  visit 
since  the  days  of  Edward  III.  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  Dowager,  accompanied  by  her 
sister,  the  Duchess  of  Saxe  Weimar,  and  attended  by  Earl  Howe,  Lord  Curzon,  the  Ladies 
Curzon,  and  by  several  of  the  ladies  attached  to  her  household,  formed  what  is  called  a 
pic-nic  party,  to  enjoy  the  romantic  scenery  and  extraordinarj'  views  of  this  far-famed  emi- 
nence. About  eleven  o'clock  part  of  the  establishment  belonging  to  the  Earl  arrived  in  one 
of  the  Royal  carriages,  and  began  to  make  preparations  for  the  reception  of  the  distinguished 
party.  A  fire  was  soon  made  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Summer  House :  on  which,  by 
the  aid  of  a  triangle  of  sticks,  the  necessary  adjuncts  to  a  cold  collation  were  speedily  pre- 
pared, and  towards  one  o'clock  the  cortege,  consisting  of  three  carnages,  was  seen  approach- 
ing the  foot  of  the  hill.  Her  Majesty,  in  a  dress  of  elegant  simplicity  suited  to  the  occasion, 
supported  by  Earl  Howe,  and  her  Royal  sister  by  Lord  Curzon,  ascended  the  steep  with 
great  apparent  ease.  The  visit  having  been  kept  sti'ictly  private,  two  small  parties  from 
Leicester  and  Loughborough  were  the  only  persons  besides  the  Royal  party  at  that  time  in 
Bardon.  These,  on  her  Majesty's  approach,  arranged  themselves  on  each  side  of  the  path 
leading  to  the  Summer  House,  and  greeted  the  justly-beloved  Royal  Lady  with  every  mark 
of  warm  and  respectful  loyalty.  On  arriving  at  the  summit,  upvi'ards  of  an  hour  was  spent 
in  the  enjoyment  of  the  wonderful  prospect,  of  which  her  Majesty  frequently  expressed  her 
admiration — Lord  Howe  pointing  out  the  many  remarkable  near  and  distinct  objects  which 
the  fineness  of  the  day  brought  within  the  reach  of  view. 

The  Queen's  repast  was  laid  out  on  the  grass  on  the  east  side  of  the  Summer  House, 
but  her  Majesty,  finding  the  sun  oppressive,  wished  to  remove  to  the  adjoining  shade — and, 
setting  the  example,  took  up  the  first  dish,  and  was  followed  by  the  rest  of  the  party,  all 
bearing  some  portion  of  the  viands.  A  spectator  describes  this  scene  as  one  "  reminding 
him  of  the  days  of  old  romance."  The  place  selected  by  the  Queen  for  the  rural  banquet 
has  since  been  named  "  Adelaide's  Bower."  It  should  be  added,  that  so  condescending 
was  the  illustrious  Lady,  that  on  Mr.  Mason,  of  Loughborough,  informing  her  that  another 
party  had  done  themselves  the  honour  to  drink  her  Majesty's  good  health,  the  Queen  imme- 
diately replied,  "  I  hope  you  have  drunk  that  of  Queen  Victoria  and  Prince  Albert."  Mr, 
Mason,  respectfully  bowing,  assured  her  Majesty  they  had  done  so.  "Then,"  replied  the 
Queen,  "on  their  behalf  and  on  my  own  I  sincerely  thank  you." 

•  Mr.  Ludlani. 


PAROCHIAL   HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 


163 


It  is  gi-atifying  to  me,  as,  I  doubt  not,  it  will  be  to  my  readers,  that  I  am  enabled,  while 
this  sheet  is  preparing  tor  the  press,  to  add  some  particulars  of  another  honour  conferred  on 
our  Forest  by  this  Illustrious  Lady.  On  Saturday,  August  13,  1842,  her  most  gracious 
Majesty  (who  was  again  on  a  visit  to  the  Earl  Howe,  at  Gopsall)  was  pleased  to  keep  the 
anniversary  of  her  fiftieth  birth-day  at  Bradgate  Park.  A  sumptuous  pic-nic  was  provided 
— the  trout  (for  w  Inch  the  Bradgate  streamlet  is  so  famous)  being  literally  made  to  leap  out 
of  the  water  into  the  fiying-pan.  The  Queen  Dowager  herself  selected  the  s])ot  for  the 
refection  under  the  fnie  old  oaks  between  the  Ruins  and  the  brook ;  and  whilst  it  was  being 
prepared,  perambulated  with  her  suite  (amounting  to  twenty  "  lords  and  ladies  gay"),  and 
Mr.  Martin  of  Stewards  Hay  and  his  son,  around  the  remains  of  the  old  mansion  ;  examined 
the  Chapel  and  all  those  spots  which  tradition  has  particularly  connected  with  Lady  Jane 
Grey,  and  at  length  returned  to  the  rural  banquet  that  had  been  prepared  for  her.  It  is 
needless  to  say  how  heartily  her  Majesty's  health  was  responded  to,  ]:)roposed  and  elegantly 
prefaced  as  it  was.  by  Lord  Howe  "  under  the  Greenwood  tree  ;"  suffice  it  to  add,  that  the 
Queen  expressed  herself  delighted  with  every  thing  about  this  deeply  interesting  spot,  and 
announced  her  determination  to  re-visit  it  on  the  first  opportunity.  The  carriages  were 
ordered  round  to  the  village  of  Newtown  Linford,  and  her  Majesty  proceeded  on  foot  up  the 
Rocky  Valley — continually  stopping  to  remark  the  different  points  of  view,  and  to  direct 
the  attention  of  her  ladies  to  them.  On  entering  the  carnages  orders  were  given  to  drive 
through  the  woods  to  Stewards  Hay,  where  the  Queen  was  received  by  ^Irs.  Martin  and 
family,  and  where  the  whole  party  made  a  considerable  stay.  Here  her  Maiestj-  was 
pleased  to  accept  a  copy  of  "  Sketches  of  Deer  in  Bradgate  Park"*  from  the  hands  of  the 
"  Amateur,"  and  to  say  that  "it  would  long  remind  her  of  the  happy  day  she  had  spent  at 
Bradgate." 

I  introduce  this  account,  though  somewhat  out  of  place,  with  the  more  pleasure,  because 
it  conveys  (what  is  calculated  to  gratify  a  neighbourhood  taking  so  deep  an  interest  in  what 
concerns  tliis  Illustrious  Lady)  a  proof  of  Her  complete  convalescence ;  and  because  her 
Majesty  is,  I  believe,  the  first  Royal  Personage  that  ever  visited  the  Ruins. 

It  has  already  been  conjectured  that  James  I.,  and  shown  that  WilUara  III.  was  at 
Bradgate  in  its  days  of  glory.  An  original  document,  kindly  forwarded  to  me  by  Mr.  Her- 
rick,  removes  all  doubt  about  James  having  visited  both  Bradgate  and  Beaumanor  in  one 
of  his  progresses  in  1617,  when  he  was  accompanied  by  his  Queen. 


'  See  note  imder  Bradgate. 


164  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 


MARKFIELD. 

Hugo  de  Grentemaisnel  tenet  de  Comitissa  Juditil  4  carucatas  terre  in  Merchenefeld.  Ibi  2  carucfe 
fuervmt.  Nunc  7  sochmanni,  cum  2  bordariis,  habentibi  3carucas.  Valent  lOsolidos,  modij  20  solidos. 
— Domesday,  Jol.  236,  a.  2. 

Markfield  is  a  considerable  village  situated  ou  the  southern  border  of  the  Forest. 
"  This  mannor  was  some  time  the  ancient  inheritance  of  the  old  Earles  of  Leicester,  and  (by 
marriage)  it  came  to  the  Earle  of  Winchester,*  from  whom  (also  by  mamage)  it  came  to 
Alexander  Comin,  Earle  of  Bucquan,  in  right  of  Alice  his  wife."t  The  advowson,  however, 
fell  to  the  portion  of  her  sister,  Helen  la  Zouch.  Maud,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  the  last 
Alan  Lord  Zouch  (great  grandchild  to  Helen,  wife  of  Alan  la  Zouch,  and  daughter  of  Roger 
de  Quincy),  \x\wn  partition  of  her  father's  estate,  in  1314,  brought  the  advowson  to  Robert 
de  Holland,  her  husband.  In  1340  Henry  de  Beaumont,  Earl  of  Buchan,  died  seised  of 
Markfield,  as  a  member  of  Wliitwick-X  In  1413  Henry  de  Beaumont,  Knight,  died  seised 
of  the  manor  of  Markfield,  as  a  member  of  the  manor  of  LoiKjhboroiigh.^  In  1427  Eliza- 
beth, wife  of  Henry  de  Beaumont,  died  seised  of  Markfield,  as  a  member  of  IJliihcick. 
February  18,  1461-2,  Edward  IV.  granted  the  manor  (which  Catherine,  Duchess  of  Norfolk, 
had  held  for  term  of  life,  with  remainder  to  William  Viscount  Beaumont)  to  William  Hastings, 
Esq.,  and  his  heirs.  From  William  Lord  Hastings,  lineal  ancestor  to  Henry  Earl  of  Hun- 
tingdon, who  was  lord  thereof  in  1642,  the  lordship  of  Markfield  passed  lineally  to  the  late 
Earl  of  Huntingdon,  who  bequeathed  this  and  his  other  Leicestershire  possessions  to  the 
Marquis  of  Hastings. 

The  lordship,  containing  2292  acres,  was  inclosed  in  1769 :  Francis,  Earl  of  Huntingdon, 
being  described  as  Lord  of  the  Manor.  The  living  is  in  the  gift  of  the  Marquis  of  Hastings. 
The  Rev.  Richard  Williams,  M.A.,  is  the  present  Rector. 

Markfield  Knoll  and  Cliff  Hill,  which  are  shown  in  the  map  to  be  isolated  masses  of 
sienite,  are  perhaps  as  deserving  the  epithet  of  picturesque  as  any  portion  of  the  Forest. — 
The  Altar-stone  has  been  refen-ed  to  under  Antiquities.  In  that  Chapter,  too,  will  be  found 
some  speculations  ou  the  name  of  this  place — a  name  which,  from  its  affinity  to  Mercliland 
and  Mercia,  is  particularly  worthy  the  attention  of  the  Antiquarian. 

*  Margaret,  relict  of  Saer  de  Quincy,  gi-anted  to  Stephen  de  Segrave  and  liis  heirs,  about  1220,  the  liberty  of  car- 
rying one  hundred  and  forty  loads  of  wood  in  a  year  from  Charnwood  Forest  to  Segrave  manor :  and  also  the  privilege 
of  feeding  one  hundred  hogs  on  the  Forest  without  paying  pannage  :  by  the  homage  and  service  of  presenting  a  pair 

of  gilt  spurs  on  New  Year's-day She  also  gave  him  three  acres  of  land  in  the  Forest  near  Markfield,  at  Lit- 

tleheth,  with  some  adjoining  land  abutting  on  a  toft  belonging  to  Ulvescroft,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  proper  sheds 
for  twenty  cows  and  a  bull,  and  their  produce  under  three  years  of  age  :  with  commons  on  the  whole  Forest  to  as 
great  au  extent  as  was  enjoyed  by  the  homagers  resident  on  the  Forest :  and  the  liberty  of  taking  from  the  Forest  for 
fuel  (ad  focum  suum),  and  of  erecting  a  stye  (porchariam)  for  any  less  number  than  one  hundred  hogs,  to  be  fed  on 
the  Forest  during  the  whole  year,  free  from  pannage  ;  to  be  held  by  homage  only,  and  au  annual  acknowledgment  of 
one  pound  of  ciunmin. — See  Segrave  Chartulary. 

t  Burton,  page  188.  J  Esch.  14  Edward  III  ,  No.  24,  Leic'.  ^^  Esch.  I  Heniy  V.,  No.  45,  Leic". 

II  Esch.  6  Henry  VI.,  No.  49,  Leic". 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY   OF  CHARNWOOU.  165 

GRACE  DIEU. 

Gratifi  Dei,  G raced e tee. 

Beneath  yon  eastern  Ridge,  the  craggy  Bound, 

Rugged  and  high,  of  Charnwood's  forest  ground; 

Stand  yet,  but,  stranger!  hidden  from  thy  view. 

The  ivied  Ruins  of  forlorn  Grace  Dieu; 

Erst  a  religious  House,  which  day  and  night 

With  hymns  resounded,  and  the  chanted  rite : 

And  when  those  rites  had  ceased,  the  spot  gave  birth 

To  honourable  men  of  various  worth ; 

There,  on  the  margin  of  a  streamlet  wild. 

Did  Francis  Beaumont  sport,  an  eager  child; 

There,  under  shadow  of  the  neighbouring  rocks. 

Sang  youthful  talcs  of  shepherds  and  their  flocks ; 

Unconscious  prelude  to  heroic  themes. 

Heart-breaking  tears,  and  melancholy  dreams 

Of  slighted  love,  and  scorn,  and  jealous  rage, 

With  which  his  genius  shook  the  buskined  Stage ; 

Communities  are  lost,  and  Empires  die, 

And  things  of  holy  use  unhallowed  lie ; 

They  perish — but  the  Intellect  may  raise. 

From  airy  words  alone,  a  Pile  that  ne'er  decays. —  Wordsworth. 

Grace  Uieu,  uow  only  a  picturesque  monastic  ruin,  is  situated  in  a  secluded  little  valley 
on  the  edge  of  the  Western  Forest :  and,  superadded  to  the  same  appropriateness  of  site 
which  distinguishes  the  neighbouring  religious  houses  of  Ulvescroft  and  Charley,  has  that 
charm  with  which  the  gi-eatly- gifted  of  past  times  so  often  invest  the  place  of  their  birth. 

The  greatest  poet  of  the  age,  in  the  inscription*  above  given,  has  so  truthfully  described 
this  romantic  spot,  as  to  present  in  glowing  numbers  a  far  better  idea  of  the  ruins,  and  of 
the  glorious  memories  still  associated  with  them,  than  could  possibly  be  conveyed  by  any 
prose  of  mine.  The  name  (which  like  those  of  Valle  Dei,  Valle  Crucis,  &c.,  is  at  once 
poetical  and  expressive  of  humble  trust)  was  given  to  the  place  by  Roesia  de  Verdox,  on 
her  founding  here,  in  1-240,  "  a  Monastery  of  Nuns,  of  the  Order  of  St.  Austin,  to  the  honour 
of  St.  Mary  and  the  Holy  Trinity."  This  eminent  lady,  who  plentifully  endowed  her  foun- 
dation, was  the  daughter  of  Nicholas  de  Verdon  :t  on  whose  death,  in  1-2.31,  she,  as  sole 
heir,  paid  seventy  marks  for  her  relief  and  livery  of  the  lands  of  her  inheritance,  as  also  that 
she  might  nut  be  compelled  to  marry.  But  it  appears  that  she  was  at  that  time  a  widow ; 
for  the  King,  in  1-2-24,  had  specially  written  to  her,  recommending  her  to  marry  Theobald  le 
Butiller  (a  branch  of  the  noble  Irish  family  of  Butler),  and  also  to  her  father,  desiring  him 
to  back  le  Butiller's  suit.  Yet  though  she  mamed  a  person  of  so  distinguished  a  family, 
neither  Roesia  nor  her  descendants  bore  his  surname,  but  still  retained  that  of  de  Verdon. 
She  died  in  1-247. 

*  From  a  tablet  in  the  grounds  of  Cole-Orton  Hall,  inscribed  "  To  the  Memory  of  Francis  Beaumont." 
t  This  Nicholas,  in  1218,  became  one  of  the  Sureties  that  Marmion  should  be  a  faithful  keeper  "of  Tamworth  Tower 

and  Toun." 


166  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

Dugdale  gives  the  following  Charter  of  the  foundress,  dated  1242,  when  Bishop  Grosse- 
teste  confirmed  the  foundation : — "  Know,  present  and  future  people,  that  I,  Roesia  de  Ver- 
dun, have  granted,  and  by  this  my  Charter  confinned,  to  God  and  St.  Mary  and  to  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Tiinity  of  Tlie  Grace  of  God  at  Belton,  and  to  the  servants  of  Christ, 
the  Nuns  in  the  same  Church  serving  God,  in  pure  and  perpetual  alms,  for  me  and  my  heirs, 
and  for  the  souls  of  my  parents  and  of  all  my  ancestors,  and  of  my  husband's,  all  my  manor 
of  Belton,  with  the  advowson  of  the  Church  of  the  same  place,  and  all  other  the  appurte- 
nances and  liberties  which  I  and  my  ancestors  ever  used  to  have  in  the  said  manor ;  to  have 
and  to  hold  of  me  and  my  heirs,  in  pure  and  perpetual  alms,  freely,  quietly,  peaceably,  and 
entirely,  in  demesnes,  villanages,  meadows,  pastures,  woods,  the  Park,  warren,  mills,  men, 
rents,  services,  sequels,  and  all  other  things  to  the  said  manor  belonging,  without  all  exac- 
tion, service,  and  peculiar  demand.  And  I,  Roesia,  and  my  heirs,  will  for  ever  acquit  the 
aforesaid  Nuns  of  the  Royal  service  which  belongs  to  the  said  manor,  with  the  appurtenances 
abovesaid  to  the  same  Nuns  in  the  aforesaid  Church  serving  God,  against  all  nations.  And 
that  this  my  gift,  grant,  confirmation  and  warrantization,  may  obtain  perpetual  firmness,  I 
have  thought  fit  to  corroborate  this  my  present  writing  with  the  putting  to  it  of  my  seal. 
Witnesses — Sir  Richard  de  Harecourt;  Sir  Ernald  de  Bois  ;  Sir  Ralph  Basset,  of  Sapcote; 
Sir  Richard,  of  Normanville ;  Sir  Adam,  of  Quartermars ;  Sir  Miles  de  Verdun ;  Roger 
Gernun ;  Sir  Adam  de  Newport ;  Master  Thomas  de  Verdun,  then  Rector  of  Ibestoke ; 
Henry  de  Hertshorn,  and  others."* 

As  from  the  rules  of  their  Order  the  Nuns  of  Grace  Dieu  were  prohibited  from  leaving  the 
limits  of  the  Nunnery,  King  Henry  HI.,  by  his  Royal  Charter,  gave  the  Abbess  liberty  to 
constitute  an  attorney  in  all  cases  in  which  they  had  cause  to  sue  or  be  sued.f  Agnes  de 
(jreslev  appears  to  have  been  the  first  Prioress,  but  either  from  her  resignation  or  death 
Mary  de  Strelton,  with  the  appropriation  of  the  foundress,  was  elected  in  1243,  and  shortly 
after  the  Prioress  and  Convent  obtained  permission  for  a  market  and  fair  at  their  manor  of 
Belton.  t 

Amicia,  widow  of  Ancher  de  Freschenville,§  Sir  William  de  Wastneis,  Lord  of  the  Manor 
of  Osgathorpe  (1279), ||  and  John  Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan  in  130(>,  w^ere  all  great  benefactors 
to  this  House. H 

In  1356  it  was  found  to  be  of  no  damage  to  the  King  or  any  other,  if  the  King  give  leave 
to  Sir  John  de  CrophuU,  Knt.,**  and  Margaret  his  wife,  to  enfeoff  Ralph  de  Cro])hull,  Parson 
of  Cottingham,  and  Richard  de  Makkeley,  Clerk,  in  the  advowson  of  the  Priory  of  Grace- 

*  Mr.  Peck's  translation  of  the  origmal  Charter,  in  Mon.  Any.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  933. 

t  Prynne's  "  Exact  History,"  Vol.  III.,  p.  100.  J  Carta,  28  Henry  III.,  m.  4. 

§  .She  gave  them  certain  lands  and  villans  at  Staveley  Woodthorpe,  co.  Derby. 

II  He  gave  them  common  pasture  for  their  cattle  at  Osgathorpe. 

t  Buchan  gave  them  100  acres,  "devasto  sue  in  Whytewyke  et  Shepesheved  ....  fossato  et  muro  includere  et 

parcum  inde  facere,"  and  45  acres  of  meadow  and  1  \  of  wood  in  Belton,  which  he  had  of  Elias  de  la  Grcne  and  John 

Morell,  of  Belton. 

•  *  Summoned  to  the  "  Cone,  quorundan  Magnat.  tenend.  apud  Westmonast."  35  Edward  III.,  as  appears  by  some 

manuscript  notes  in  Brooke's  (Somerset)  copy  of  Dugdale. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  Ifi7 

Uieu.*      The  Crophulls  were  descended  from  the  foundress,  and  were  sealed  at  Suttdii- 
Bonington. 

From  this  period  till  1534,  little  is  known  of  this  Priory.  In  that  year  a  King's  writ 
appointed  a  Commission  to  visit  the  Religious  Houses  of  this  county.  The  visitors  thus 
appointed  were  Dr.  Leigh  and  Dr.  Laytun,  and  John  Beaumont,  Esq.,  of  the  adjoining 
parish  of  Thringstone.  In  the  "  Compendium  Compertorum,"  which  gives  their  reports,  is 
found  the  following  entry  with  respect  to  this  house : — 

"  Gr.\ce  Dieu  Moxiauum. 

.     (Elizabeth  Hall,  ) 

Incontmentia,  { , ,    ,      .       x^,      .,  ,         >  Pepererunt. 
(Lathanna  Ekesildena, )       ' 

^     ■       .  .     ( Habent  in  veneratione  zonam  et  partem  tunicas  Saucti  Francisci  qua; 
Superstitio,  J  ,  ,■      v  •       -,  , 

*  ( (ut  creditur)  parlunentibus  conducunt. 

Fundator — Dominus  Ferys. 

Redditus  annuus  centum  et  novem  marcte. 

Debet  domus  xx  lib." 

This  accusation  of  a  violation  of  their  Monastic  vows,  thus  made  against  this  secluded 
Sisterhood,  is  a  severe  one ;  but,  happily  for  their  posthumous  reputation,  the  report  of  the 
Commissioners  presents,  on  the  face  of  it,  strong  reasons  for  doubting  its  accuracy.  It  con- 
tains gross  misstatements.  It  makes  "  Dominus  Ferys,"  instead  of  Roesia  de  Verdon,  the 
founder — it  fixes  the  annual  revenue  at  nearly  ^£30.  under  the  valuation  given  in  Speed — 
it  appraises  the  goods  and  cattle  belonging  to  the  Priory  at  prices  which,  even  for  those 
times,  were  unprecedeutedly  low  fSee  note,  i^age  168^,  and  all  this  /or  a  reason  that  cannot 
he  mistaken. 

Then,  one  of  the  Commissioners  (alas  that  he  should  have  borne  the  noble  name  of 
Beaumont !)  subsequently  proved  himself  utterly  unworthy  of  all  credibilit}- :  having  con- 
fessed to  forgeries  and  "  misdemeanours"  against  Lady  Powis  and  the  State  to  the  amount 
of  £-20,861. f  He  was,  besides,  a  party  most  deeply  interested  iu  procuring  a  false  report  ot 
this  Nunnery,  as  is  proved  by  his  having  had  conveyed  to  him,  "  the  very  ne.it  day  after 
the  surrender"  the  whole  of  the  site  of  the  Priorj'  and  the  demesne  lands  ! 

Again,  Catharine  Hall  and  Catharine  Cheseldyne  (Ekisildena),  notwithstanding  this 
alleged  incontinence,  were  pensioned  off  at  the  dissolution  with  the  largest  pensions  allowed 
to  the  Xuns :  to  which  they  certainly  could  have  had  no  claim  after  a  proved  violation  of 
their  vow. 

The  Commissioners  valued  the  stock  and  furniture  belonging  to  the  Priory  and  its  Grange 
at  £1-25.  7«.  Ad.  "  Of  this  sum,"  says  the  report,  "  there  remayneth  a  specyalty  of  £90.  Qs.  6d. 
upon  John  Bewman,  Gent.,  for  money  by  him  due  for  the  guddes  and  caltell  of  tlie  seid 
Priory  by  him  bought."  The  bells,  white  plate,  lead,  and  other  things  remaining  unsold, 
fell,  however,  into  the  hands  of  this  most  dishonest  Commissioner,  as  may  be  inferred  from 

•  Ad  quod  dampnuni  30  Edward  III.,  No.  12,  Leic'.  f  See  Nichols,  under  Thiingstoae. 


168 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 


the  following  memorandum,  added  to  the  report : — "  Mem.  that  the  seid  John  Bewman  was 
put  in  possession  of  the  scite  of  the  seid  Priory,  with  the  demaynes  to  yt  apperteinyng,  to 
our  lorde  the  Kinge's  use,  the  28  day  of  Octr.,  in  the  30  yere  of  our  seid  soveraigne  Kyng 
Henry  VIII."* 

Agnes  Litherland,  the  Prioress,  and  fourteen  Nuns,  having  probably  been  allowed,  as  in 
other  cases,  a  year  of  grace,  finally  surrendered  the  Convent,  October  27,  1539.  Sir  Hum- 
phrey Foster,  Knt.,  apparently  as  a  screen  for  Beaumont,  had  in  the  interim  obtained  a 
grant  of  the  site  of  the  Priory,  with  the  demesne  lands  and  the  Grange,  by  the  service  of  a 
fom'th  part  of  one  Knight's  fee,  and  an  annual  rent  of  50';.,  and  immediaiely  conveyed  the 
whole  to  Mr.  Commissioner  Beaumont !  !t 

The  following  account  of  "  Pencions  allottyd  to  the  late  Prioress  and  Convent,  by  the 
Commissioners,"  is  interesting,  as  showing  the  names  of  the  Sisterhood  : — 


Fyrst  to  Annes  Lytherland,  late  Priores,  2     0  0 

Ann  Grasley,  sub-Priores 2     0  0 

Kateryn  Chesyleyn   2     0  0 

Margaret  Powtrell   2     0  0 

Kateryn  Baker 2     0  0 

Elizabeth  Hall 113  4 

Dorethy  Englyshe 1  13  4 

Margaret  Knottford 1   13  4 


Amy  Gyllott 1  13 

Amy  Ashby    1  13 

Emme  Michel 1  13 

Eliz,  Prestbury 1  13 

Jolian  Barwell   1  13 

Eliz.  Farnham   1  13 

Agnes  Cosby 1  6 

Eliz.  Trotther   2  0 


Rewards,  varying  from  GQh.  to  30.s-.,  were  likewise  given  to  the  Prioress  and  the  Nuns ; 
and  from  -20.5.  to  20f/.,  to  38  servants  of  the  Priory. 

"  Mr.  Beaumont,"  says  Nichols,  "  was  soon  interrupted  in  his  newly-acquired  property, 
by  a  claim  of  the  Earl  of  Huntingdon" — on  which  he  addressed  a  letter  to  Lord  Cromwell, 
couched  in  terms  of  cringing  servility,  stating  his  fear  of  Lord  Huntingdon  to  be  very  gieat, 
and  that  he  had  "had  secret  wamyng  to  wayre  a  privy  coate.":]:  In  1541  he  was  cited  to 
show  by  what  title  he  held  the  site  of  the  Priory ;  and  he  appears  to  have  answered  this 
citation  satisfactorily,  for  he  still  retained  possession.  In  1550  he  was  elected  Recorder  of 
Leicester,  and  in  the  same  year  was  appointed  Master  of  the  Rolls.  In  1551  he  levied  a 
fine  with  proclamations  of  this  lordship,  to  the  use  of  King  Edward  VI.  and  his  successors ; 
and  in  1552,  when  on  his  "  misdemeanours"  becoming  fully  detected,  he  surrendered  this 
and  other  estates ;  Francis,  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  by  the  King's  letters  patent  obtained  a 
grant,  in  fee  farm,  of  the  capital  mansion  of  the  Manor-house  of  Grace  Dieu,  with  the  whole 
manor  of  Grace  Dieu  and  the  Grange  called  Myral  Grange,  and  several  other  lands,  all  lately 

*  The  valuation  of  the  different  items  given  in  the  inventory  is  exceedingly  curious : — "  C  attell  at  the  Priory  and 
in  the  Forest  there— 12  oxen,  £10. ;  8  kyne,  and  a  bull  calf,  66s.  8rf. ;  24  beasts  in  the  Forest,  £7. ;  7  calves,  15s. ; 
6  horses,  66s.  8rf. ;  34swyne,  praysedat26s.  8rf. ;  sum  of  the  whole,  £25.15s.  At  Merrell  Grange,  12  drawing  oxen  and 
steres  for  the  plowe  and  wayne,  £8.  9s. ;  10  kyne  and  a  bull,  £4. 10s. ;  5  yerlyng  calves,  20s. ;  5  wenyng  calves,  13s.  4rf.; 
b  mares  and  1  fole,  40s. ;  30  sviyne  and  pigges,  sould  for  33s.  4ii.;  the  whole,  £18.  15s.  %d.  Grayne  at  the  Priory.— 
In  the  West  bame,  7  qrs.  of  whete,  6s.  the  quarter,  42s. ;  two  bays  of  barley,  24  qrs.,  at  3s.  id.,  £4. ;  one  bay  of  oats, 
Sqrs.,  at  2s.  4d.,  18s.  8rf. ;  onebay  of  pese,  4  qrs.,  at  2s.  8d.,  9s.  8rf.  In  the  Est  bame,  15  qrs.  of  whete,  at  6s.,  £4. 10.; 
1  bay  of  rye,  4  qrs.,  at  6s.,  24s. ;  10  qrs.  of  barley,  at  3s.  4rf.,  33s.  id. ;  52  lodes  of  hay,  at  2s.  fid.,  £6.  18s.  8rf."  &c.  &c. 
t  See  Nichols'  West  Goscote,  p.  653.  J  Cotton  MSS.,  Cleopatra  IV.,  132. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  169 

part  of  the  possessions  of  John  Beaumont,  Master  of  the  Rolls*  He  did  not  long  survive 
the  loss  of  his  reputation  and  estates,  but  in  five  years  after  Elizabeth,  his  widow,  claimed 
and  regained  possession  of  Grace  Dieu.  The  glory  shed  around  the  spot  by  the  succeeding 
Beaumonts  may  well  be  said  to  have  wiped  away  this,  the  only  stain,  that  ever  sullied  the 
lustre  of  their  escutcheon.  Of  these  good  and  gifted  men  my  space  only  permits  me  to  give 
a  mere  enumeration,  instead  of  the  lengthened  notice  which  their  virtues,  and  their  contri- 
butions to  literature  deserve. 

Francis  Beaumont,  eldest  son  of  the  Master  of  the  Bolls,  and  of  his  second  wife,  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  Sir  William  Hastings,  succeeded  to  the  estate  on  the  death  of  his  mother. 
He  had  been  educated  for  the  bar,  and  in  1.593  became  one  of  the  Justices  of  Common  Pleas, 
and  was  afterwards  knighted.  Burton  speaks  of  him  as  "  that  grave,  learned,  and  reverend 
Judge,  Francis  Beaumont,  Esq."t 

Sir  Francis  Beaumont  married  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir  George  Pierrepoint,  of  Holme,  and 
dying  April  22,  1598,  left  by  her  three  sons — Henrj',  John,  and  Francis.  Henry,  who  was 
only  sixteen  at  his  father's  death,  was  knighted  by  James  I.  at  Worksop,  in  1603,  on  his 
Majesty's  journey  from  the  Scottish  to  the  English  capital.  He  died  in  1606,  leaving  his 
lady  (Barbara,  daughter  of  Anthony  Faunt,  of  Foston,  Esq.)  then  pregnant.  This  posthu- 
mous child  proving  a  daughter  (who  afterwards  married  first  .John  Harpur,  Esquire,  and 
secondly  Sir  Wolstan  Dixie),  the  estate  devolved  on  John  Beaumont,  Sir  Francis's  second 
son,  who  married  Elizabeth  Fortescue  (a  descendant  of  George,  Duke  of  Clarence,  brother 
of  Edward  IV.),  was  created  a  baronet  in  16-26  and  died  in  1628,  having  obtained  consider- 
able reputation  both  as  a  poet  and  a  soldier.  His  poem  of  "  Boswortli  Field,"  publisiied, 
with  several  minor  poems,  by  his  son,  in  1629,  was  praised  by  Jonson,  Drayton,  and  several 
other  contemporary  writers. 

Francis  Beaumont,  the  great  Dramatic  writer,  whom  Wordsworth  calls 

That  famous  youth  full  soon  removed 


From  Earth,  perhaps  by  Shakspeabe's  self  approved — 
Fletcher's  associate — Jonson's  friend  beloved — 

the  third  son  of  Sir  Francis,  was  bom  at  Grace  Dieu  in  1.586,  and  died  in  his  thirtieth  year : 
having,  in  conjunction  with  Fletcher,  a.ddcd /iff i/-i /tree  plays  to  English  Dramatic  literature, 
and  written  many  poems  of  exquisite  pathos  and  beauty. |     His  brother.  Sir  John  Beaumont, 

*  The  rent  paid  by  the  Earl  was  £24.  13s.  i^d.—Hil.  Rec,  2  Eliz.,  Rot.  19. 

t  In  the  margin  of  a  copy  of  Burton,  formerly  belonging  to  William  Inge,  Esq.,  of  Thorpe  Constantine,  occurs  the 
following  manuscript  note  : — "  One  Judge  Beaumont  living  at  Grace  Dieu,  two  men  came  before  him  for  justice — and 
one  of  the  men  prayed  the  ground  might  open,  and  he  might  sink,  if  what  he  attested  in  his  own  cause  was  not  true — 
and  the  ground  immediately  opened ;  but  the  Judge,  by  pointing  with  his  finger,  ordered  them  to  go  oflf,  and  it  closed 
again;  and  that  place  will  now  sound  on  being  struck  on,  as  Robert  Beaumont,  of  Barrow-upon-Trent  (who  married 
one  of  Sir  Thomas  Beaumont's  co-heirs,  and  had  his  part  of  the  estate)  aflirmeth." 

+  He  married  Ursula,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Henr)-  Isley,  of  Sundridge,  Kent,  by  whom  he  had  two  daughters ; 
one  of  whom,  Miss  Frances  Beaumont,  died  after  1700,  having  long  been  in  the  enjoj-ment  of  a  pension  from  the  Duke 
of  Ormond,  in  whose  family  she  had  resided.  Many  of  her  father's  unpublished  poems,  in  her  possession,  were  lost  at 
sea,  in  a  voyage  from  Ireland. 

Z 


170 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 


the  first  baronet,  left  by  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Fortescue,  seven  sons  and  five  daughters.  The 
sons  were — John,  his  successor,  Francis  (another  poet  of  the  family  who  afterwards  became 
a  Jesuit),  Henry,  Gervase,  George,  Thomas,  and  Charles,  all  of  whom  except  Thomas  died 
unmarried. 

Sir  John  Beaumont,  the  second  baronet,  the  Editor  of  his  father's  poems — himself  also  a 
poet — was  as  remarkable  for  astonishing  feats  of  strength  and  agility  as  for  his  cultivation 
of  the  elegant  arts.  He  fell  at  the  siege  of  Gloucester,  1644,  bravely  fighting  for  his  Royal 
Master,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Thomas,  the  third  baronet. 

Sir  Thomas  married  Vere,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Tufton,  brother  of  the  Earl  of  Thanet, 
and  dying  in  1686  left  four  daughters :  of  whom  Cecily,  the  eldest,  inherited  Grace  Dieu, 
and  man'ied  her  distant  relative,  Robert  Beaumont,  of  Barrow-upon-Trent,  Esq.  Mr.  Beau- 
mont sold  the  estate  to  Sir  Ambrose  Phillipps  of  Garendon,  whose  lineal  descendant,  Charles 
March  Phillipps,  Esq.,  is  its  present  possessor. 

A  few  remarks  on  the  present  state  of  the  Ruins  and  Precincts  seem  needed. — Next  to 
those  of  Ulvescroft,  they  may  safely  be  pronounced  the  most  picturesque  in  the  county ; 
even  though  havoc  was  long  at  work  in  despoiling  them,  and  though  they  are  now  converted 
to  ignoble  uses.  The  ground  plan  can  still  be  traced ;  even  the  boundary  of  the  garden, 
which  Burton  says  "  the  Nuns  made  in  resemblance  of  that  upon  Mount  Olivet  Getli- 
semane"*  is  still  defined.  The  spot,  from  its  beauty  as  well  as  its  associations,  has  often 
been  a  favourite  haunt  of  Wordsworth,  who,  in  the  Dedication  of  his  "  Poetical  Works"  to 
the  late  Sir  George  Beaumont,  thus  speaks  of  it  and  of  the  inspiration  he  caught  there : — 
"  Several  of  the  best  pieces  were  composed  under  the  shade  of  your  own  groves,  upon  the 
classic  ground  of  Cole-Orton,  where  1  was  animated  by  the  recollection  of  those  illustrious 
Poets  of  your  name  and  family  who  were  bom  in  that  neighbourhood ;  and,  we  may  be 
assured,  did  not  wander  with  indifference  by  the  dashing  stream  of  Grace  Dieu  and  among 
the  rocks  that  diversify  the  Forest  of  Chamwood." 

Grace  Dieu  Manor-House,  the  tasteful  residence  of  Ambrose  Lisle  March  Phillipps, 
Esq.,  and  its  adjoining  Roman  Catholic  Chapel  (both  near  the  Ruins),  add  considerably 
to  the  beauty  of  the  rich  landscape  that  adorns  this  part  of  the  Forest. 

•  Burton  mentions  a  similar  imitation  of  Mount  Sinai  by  tlie  Abbot  of  Burtou-upon-Trent,  sliU  called  Sinai  Park. 


THE  TOMB  OF  IIOESTA  DE  VERDUN. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  171 

BELTON. 

f  Bel  hi  ton,  Beletun.*) 

Belton  is  a  fleliglitfully-situated  village  on  the  northern  border  of  the  Forest — of  the 
boldest  scenery  of  which  it  commands  some  strikingly  beautiful  views.  In  the  time  of 
Edward  the  Confessor  it  contained  six  plough  lands  and  a  half,  of  the  yearly  value  of  ten 
shillings.  At  the  lime  of  the  Conqueror's  Survey  it  was  the  possession  of  Hugh  de  Gren- 
temaisnell,  and  was  then  valued  at  OO?.  The  land  was  equal  to  four  ploughs,  and  two  were 
employed  in  the  demesne,  and  four  bondmen.  Twenty-five  villans,  with  one  Knight  and 
four  bordars,  had  also  eight  ploughs.  There  was  a  wood  one  mile  long  and  half  a  mile 
broad,t  part  of  which  remains  to  this  day. 

The  ancient  and  noble  family  of  De  Verdon  long  held  this  lordship,  till  Roesia  bestowed 
it  upon  the  Convent  of  Grace  Dieu.  At  the  Dissolution  it  was  granted  to  Sir  Humphrey 
Foster,  who  soon  after  sold  it  to  John  Beaumont :  at  least,  so  states  Mr.  Nichols.  But  it 
would  appear  fiom  what  he  gives  elsewhere,  that  Foster  merely  held  the  manor  till  Beau- 
mont could  with  a  better  show  of  decency  put  in  practice  the  arts  which  had  obtained  him 
Grace  Dieu.  Nichols]:  gives  the  following  "  Copy  of  the  particular  for  a  grant  to  John 
Beaumont,  Esq.,  36  Hen.  III.,  as  preserved  in  the  Augmentation  Office.  John  Beaumont 
dothe  desyre  to  bye  of  the  King's  Majestic  the  manors,  lands,  tenements,  parsonages  and 
other  heredytaments,  which  be  conteyned  in  the  partyculers  hereunto  annexed,  and  be  of 
the  clere  yerely  valew  of  fortye-nj-ne  pounds  tenne  shillings  and  too  pence,  and  not  above, 
the  tenthes  thereof  deductyd.  In  wytness  whereof,  unto  thys  bill  annexed  unto  the  party- 
culers of  the  same  lauds,  the  said  John  Bcamounte  hath  set  hys  sealle  and  subscrybit  hys 
name,  the  xxvth  day  of  June,  in  the  syx  and  thyrtythe  yere  of  the  raigne  of  our  most  drad 
soveraigne  lord  Kyng  Henry  theight,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  of  England,  Fraunce,  and  Ire- 
land, Kyng,  deffeudor  of  the  fay  the,  and  in  earthe  supreme  head  of  the  Church  of  England 
and  also  of  Ireland.  "  By  me,  John  Beaumoxt." 

This  is  followed  by  two  valuations  of  laud  and  wood,  respectively  signed  by  Robert 
Burgoyn  and  William  Cowper.  The  former  has  appended  to  it  this  "  Memorandum.  It  is 
requisite  and  necessarie  that  all  the  wodds  gro}-ng  upon  the  waste  or  common  within  the 
Foreste  of  Charnewode,  which  doth  extend  or  lye  within  the  precincte  of  Gracedewe, 
Belton,  or  elsewher  in  the  same  Foreste,  belonging  to  the  late  Monasterie  or  Priorie  of 
Gracedewe,  may  be  reserved  for  the  Kyng's  Majestic,  &c.,  for  and  towards  the  mayute- 
nance  of  his  Gracys  lands,  tenements,  milnes,  &c.,  belonging  to  divers  the  late  Monasteries 
and  Priories  in  the  county  of  Leicester  dissolved.  Also  the  advowson  of  the  Vicarage  of 
Belton  belongth  to  the  Kyng's  Majestie,  by  reason  of  the  late  Priorie  of  Gracedewe  foresaid  ; 
but  whether  his  Grace  hath  the  gufte  thereofF  by  reason  of  the  premisses,  or  by  reason  of 
the  Parsonage  then  impropriated  to  the  said  Priorie,  which  is  not  here  in  value,  I  kuowe 
not.  Pleasith  yt  yoiur  Mastershipp  to  be  advertysed  that  the  premisses  be  no  parcel!  of  eny 
manor,  grange,  or  Parsonage,  wyche  doth  e.vcede  the  clere  yerely  value  of  £xl. ;  neither 

*  For  the  origin  of  this  name,  see  Chapter  on  Antiquities.         f  Domesday,  I'ol.  233.         X  ^^'est  Goscote,  p.  663. 


172  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOU. 

dothe  adjoyne  to  eny  of  the  Kyng's  Majesties  houses  which  ben  kept  or  reserved  for  the 
accesse  and  repayre  of  his  Highness;  uor  eny  of  them  byn  within  V  or  VI  miles  of  eny  of 
his  Grace's  Forests,  chaces,  or  Parks,  that  I  knowe  off.     Ferder,  there  have  not  byn  eny 

other  fines  gevyn,  &c And  for  the  town  of  Belton  forseid,  in  as  much  as  I  can  knowe, 

there  will  be  no  fynes  specially  mentioned.  Also,  I  knowe  nott  that  the  King's  Majestie 
hath  the  gyfte  of  eny  spiritual  promotion,  &c. — nother  that  any  of  the  fermors  or  eny  other 

])erson  adjoynyng,  have  desyred  to  purchase  the  same Ferther,  I  have  not  to  my 

remembrance  delivered  eny  values  of  eny  of  the  premisses  to  eny  person  but  to  John  Bemt- 
moiiiid  Esquyere,  who  brought  me  your  warrant  for  the  same. 

"  Per  me,  Kob'tum  Burgoyx." 

The  other  statement  is  interesting,  as  showing  the  quantity  of  wood  and  the  uses  to 
which  it  was  applied.  "  Belton  oute  wood  conteynith  CCCC  acres,  whereof  is  waste  C  acres, 
growing  by  parcels  of  C  yeres  growith,  reserved  for  tymber  for  thyrlie  tenantz  holdyng  of 
the  seid  manor  by  copye  at  wyll  of  the  lorde,  to  repayre  llieir  tenements  which  they  have 
had  in  the  seid  wood  by  custome  of  old  tyme  used,  therefore  not  valued ;  which  CCC  acres 
are  to  be  solde  to  .John  Beamond  Esquyer,  togyther  with  the  forseid  manor  and  CCIIII 
acres  resydue,  being  all  tyraber,  lyeng  togyther ;  and  abuttyth  uppon  a  close  called  Tlte  Lees 
on  the  West,  and  uppon  a  close  called  Rofherhatve  on  the  North,  and  uppon  a  lyttel  dyke 
which  departeth  the  lordeshypp  of  Shyppeshed  and  the  seid  wood  on  the  Est,  and  uppon  a 
hj'ghwey  ledyng  through  the  same  wood  next  above  Loughborough  highwey  on  the  South; 
reserved  to  the  Kynge's  llighnes  by  the  advyce  of  Syr  Rycherd  llyche,  Knyght,  Chauncellor 
of  his  Grace's  Courte  of  Augmentations  and  the  Couucell  of  the  same,  to  repayre  the  Kynge's 
Highnes'  lands  in  the  countye  of  Leicestre  or  elsewher. — In  a  close  called  Botherhawe  is 
by  percells  X  acres  of  XXX  yeres  growith,  valewed  at  xiiis.  iiiifZ.  the  acre,  which  is  in  the 
hoole  £vi.  iii.s.  iiiif^.  "  Per  me,  Will'm  Coupek." 

"July  anno  regni  Hen.  VIII.  xs.x\i.°  pro  Johaune  Beamonle." 

It  need  scarcely  be  added,  that  shortly  after  this  manoeuvring,  this  most  corrupt  Com- 
missioner and  (subsequently)  Judge  was  put  in  possession  of  Belton !  However,  in  1553, 
he  was  obliged  to  surrender  it  with  his  other  possessions  to  make  satisfaction  for  the  gross 
pecuniary  delinquencies  which  he  committed  while  blaster  of  the  Rolls.*  Edward  VI.  then 
conferred  the  manor  and  the  advowson  of  the  Rectory  on  Francis,  Earl  of  Huntingdon, 
whose  son  Henry  sold  it  to  Sir  Francis  Beaumont.  It  was  afterwards  the  possession  of  the 
Eyres,  and  was  sold  in  1793  to  Edward  Dawson,  Esq.,  of  Long  Wliatton,  whose  son,  Ed- 
ward Dawson,  Esq.,  of  Whatton  House,  is  the  present  proprietor.  The  patronage  of  the  living 
belongs  to  the  Marquis  of  Hastings.     The  i)resent  Vicar  is  the  Rev.  Robert  Blunt,  M.A.t 

Fynes  Place  and  Lk  Motk  were  ancient  mansions  here :  the  latter  was  probably  the 
residence  of  the  De  Verdons.  There  were  also  three  Parks,  called  the  Great,  the  Little, 
and  the  Hill  Park.     The  great  Fair  obtained  for  this  place  by  Roesia  de  Verdon,  as  men- 

»  See  under  Grace  Dieu,  p.  167,  168;  also  Nichols,  under  Thringstone. 
t  It  may  be  named  as  a  singular  coincidence,  that  Mr.  Blunt  descends  from  the  de  Verdons,  ancient  lords  of  this 
place,  through  Margaret,  the  third  daughter  of  John  de  Verdon,  who  in  1329  married  Sir  William  le  Blunt,  common 
ancestor  of  the  Blounts  and  Blunts. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  173 

tioned  under  Grace  Dieu,  is  still  one  of  considerable  importance.     The  tenants  of  Belton 
paid  annually  one  mark  for  common  pasturage  on  the  Forest. 

THE  CIIUKCH, 
which  is  the  one  seen  in  the  distance  in  the  engraving  of  the  Monastery  of  St.  Bernard,  is. 
both  from  its  style  and  situation,  a  fine  object.  It  contains  several  ancient  monuments,  the 
chief  of  which  is  the  beautiful  tomb  of  Roesia  de  Verdon,  removed  from  Grace  Dieu  at  the 
Dissolution*  (see  engraving).  Many  of  the  Beaumonts  lie  interred  here.  An  acrostic  epi- 
taph on  Hamlet  Toonef  is  singularly  curious. 

Amongst  the  Vicars,  the  Rev.  John  Bun-owsJ  (16"00)  and  the  Rev.  Theophilus  Hastings, 
ancestor  of  the  present  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  were  remarkable  men  :  the  one  for  his  erudition 
and  extensive  benevolence,  the  other  for  his  wit  and  eccentricities. 

*  In  1839  Lord  Shrewsbury  and  Mr.  A.  L.  Phillipps,  by  consent  of  the  then  Vicar,  Mr.  Eddowes,  opened  the 
tomb  of  Roesia  de  Verdon,  and  obtained  his  permission  to  remove  her  bones  to  the  new  Chapel  at  Grace  Dieu ;  which 
permission,  however,  was  withdrawn  on  the  same  evening,  on  Mr.  Eddowes  supposing  that  there  might  be  some 
inconvenience  to  himself  in  consequence. 

t  He  was  of  a  very  old  family  long  resident  here  :  one  of  whom  married  the  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Markham,  Bart.. 

and  another  a  Leake,  of  Wymeswold.     Mr.  Henry  Toone,  solicitor,  of  Loughborough,  is  a  descendant. 

J  From  him  descend  the  Burrows'  of  Stockwell. 


Additions  to  TiirRCASTOx. 

In  the  Falconer  Pedigree  (p.  132)  Mr.  Nichols,  whom  I  followed,  eiToneously  wrote  Claij- 
ham  for  Cayliam,  or  Keyham,  co.  Leicester,  where  Thomas  Falconer  was  seised  of  lands  in 
1346;  John  Cotton  in  1478;  and  RobertHubbard  in  180-2. — (See  Thurcaston  and  Swithland.; 

A.NSTEV  and  Ckopston,  the  ibrmer  a  Chapelry  and  the  latter  a  Hamlet  belonging  to 
Thurcaston,  are  omitted  for  want  of  room.  The  same  must  be  said  for  Newtown  Linfokd, 
which,  on  account  of  its  Church  (in  which  the  Commissary  of  Groby  holds  his  Court),  de- 
served a  lengthened  notice  :  and  for  Rothlev,  which  from  its  great  importance  was  intended 
to  have  a  chapter  devoted  to  it. 

Note. — The  coimters  below  were  found  near  Rothley  Temple,  in  1830,  together  with  21  others.  The  larger  one  is 
"Billon"  or  black  money,  in  imitation  of  the  groat  of  base  silver  called  Billon,  coined  in  France  by  the  English.  The 
3  fleuis  de  lis,  which  were  first  used  in  lieu  of  seme  of  fleur  de  lis  by  Henry  V.  of  England,  while  Prince  of  Wales,  in 
the  6th  year  of  his  father's  reign  (Ruding,  Vol.  II.,  p.  '2Hj,  show  that  this  piece  caimot  have  been  coined  earlier  than 
that  year,  1405.  But  its  weight,  GO  grains,  shows  that  it  was  not  coined  earlier  than  1412,  nor  later  than  14G4  :  for 
the  weight  of  the  groat  was  reduced  from  72  to  60  grains  in  the  former  of  those  years,  and  further  reduced  to  48  grains 
in  1464  (Ruding,  Vol.  /.,  p.  33^  ;  since  which  time  it  has  never  been  raised  in  weight. — The  smaller,  which  is  brass, 
shows  the  Lions  of  England,  as  they  have  been  borne  in  the  Royal  Arms  since  the  reign  of  Stephen.— They  have  been 
shown  to  one  of  the  Curators  of  the  Coins  at  the  British  Museum,  by  whom  both  are  said  to  be  older  than  the  Nurem- 
berg Tokens,  so  commonly  to  be  met  with.  One  of  these,  remarkably  well  preserved,  was  foimd  a  few  years  previ- 
ously at  Rothley,  with  the  motto  HEVT  RODT  MORGEN  TODTT,  meaning  "  To-day  alive,  to-morrow  dead." 


174  PAROCHIAL   HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

SHEEPSHED. 

(Scliepeshede,  Schepeshered*  Shepyslied,  Schepished,  Scepeshefde  Regis,  Sej)shed, 
Shepshed,  Sheepshead,  i^c,  ^c. 

Goduinus  tenet  de  Rege  in  feudo  2  hidas  et  dimideam  in  Scepevesde  et  4  carucatas  terrjE.  Osgot 
tenuit  cum  sac^  et  sock.  In  dominico  habuit  2  carucas  et  2  servos ;  et  30  villani,  cum  12  bordariis, 
habent  19  Caracas;  et  20  sochmanni  cum  2  militibus  et  6  villanis  et  4  bordariis  habent  21  Caracas.  Ibi 
moluium  de  5  solidis  et  1  acra  prati.  Silva  1  leuca  longitudinis  et  4  quarentenarura  latitudinis.  Hanc 
terram  Tastam  invenit.  De  h^c  terra  exeunt  6  librae  ad  praecepta  episcopi  Baiocensis  pro  Servitio  Insulse 
dc  Wiih.— Domesday,  fol.  230,  h  2. 

Sheepshed,  the  head  of  the  fourth  and  last  division  of  the  Forest  adopted  in  these  pages, 
is  situated  close  to  its  northern  border.  The  numerous  variations  of  the  spelling  of  the 
name — variations  which,  indeed,  still  prevail — might  lead  the  etymologist  to  doubt  its  true 
origin.  It  seems  clear,  however,  that  it  is  derived  from  the  Forest  Bercariaf  or  Slteep-shed, 
once  standing  on  the  spot :  and  a  pronunciation,  as  well  as  a  mode  of  spelling,  in  accord- 
ance with  this  derivation,  has  of  late  years  become  nearly  general.  The  village  is  populous 
and  the  lordship  of  great  extent — stretching,  like  Banow,  to  the  centre  of  the  Forest,  and 
embracing  a  considerable  portion  of  it. 

Sheepshed,  in  the  Ecclesiastical  division  of  the  county,  is  situated  in  the  Deanery  of 
Ackley,  or  Akeley :  from  an  ancient  Park  of  which  name,  lying  in  this  parish,  this  Deanery 
was  so  called.  J 

Sheepshed  appears  to  have  been,  at  an  early  period,  of  considerable  ecclesiastical  con- 
sequence.    It  was  the  Church  of  the  Deanery' — it  was  the  head  of  a  Soke§ — it  was,  as  is 

*  It  is  remarkable  that  the  most  frequent  mode  of  spelling  Swineshead,  or  Swineshed  (Lincoln),  was  Swinesheved 
in  old  Avritings ;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  shed  is  an  abbreviation  of  sheved  (sheaved),  that  is,  thatched. — 
See  the  Rev,  Dr.  Yerhurgh's  History  of  Sleaford. 

f  These  bercaries  included  folds,  wash-pits,  and  every  other  necessary  appendage  to  a  sheep  farm.  They  were  of 
great  antiquity,  and  the  privilege  of  erecting  them  was  deemed  one  of  considerable  importance. — See  Dr.  Oliver's 
History  of  the  Sleaford  Guilds,  p.  33. 

X  I  have  no  hesitation,  even  in  the  absence  of  positive  proof,  in  making  this  unqualified  assertion.  The  origin  of 
the  names  of  all  the  other  Deaneries  is  satisfactorily  accounted  for :  they  all  bear  that  of  their  respective  Hundreds 
with  which  they  are  also  co-extensive.  This,  following  the  same  rule,  should  be  the  Deanery  of  West  Goscote :  but, 
without  any  reason  having  ever  been  assigned  for  the  exception,  it  has,  for  time  immemorial,  been  called  the  Deanery 
of  Akeley.  Acle,  or  Ackley,  or  Okeley  Park,  situated  in  this  parish,  was  conferred  by  one  of  the  Earls  of  Leicester  on 
the  Abbey  of  St.  Mary  de  Pratis.  The  Abbey  had,  besides  considerable  property,  the  tithes,  the  Church  and  soke  of 
this  place — which  seems,  indeed,  to  have  been  their  chief  dependency  in  this  part  of  the  county :  and  hence  arises  the 
probability  that  the  name  of  this  Park  was  given  to  the  Deanery  to  avoid  the  confusion  that  would  have  resulted  from 
there  being  two  Deaneries  of  Goscote.  I  submitted  this  opinion  to  a  well  known  Ecclesiastical  antiquarian— Mr. 
Stockdale  Hardy — who  at  once  admitted  that,  if  any  place  called  Acle  could  be  proved  to  have  been  in  the  Deanery 
(uf  which  he  was  not  aware),  it  must  unquestionably  have  been  the  origin  of  the  name.  It  is  written  .4c/e  in  the 
Matriculus  of  Bishop  Welles,  1220. 

S  There  are,  indeed,  grounds  for  believing  that  this  soke  had  two  others,  those  of  Brackley  and  Halso,  in  some  way 
dependant  upon,  or  connected  with  it : — "  Concessimus  canonicis  totam  decimam  de  pannagio  et  venditione  nemoris 
utriusque  Soche  de  Schepished,  Brackley,  et  Halso." — Grant  of  Alan  la  Zouch.  The  terms  "  de  utr^que  socha,"  &c., 
occur  in  grants  of  the  founder  of  Leicester  Abbey.     The  true  meaning  of  the  word  soke,  which  origmally  signified  a 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  175 

shown  by  the  extract  prefixed  to  this  Chapter,  either  in  the  possession  or  jurisdiction  of 
Odo,  Bishop  of  Bayeiix  ;  the  brother  of  the  Conqueror — and  it  subsequently  became,  as  will 
be  shown,  much  connected  with  Leicester  Abbey.  The  extract  further  shows  that  there 
was  a  mill  here,  valued  at  o.s.  a  year.  This  mill,  with  other  possessions  and  privileges,  was 
conferred  on  the  Abbot  and  Convent  of  St.  Mary  de  Pratis  by  Saer  de  (Juincy,  Earl  of 
Winton,  with  the  whole  of  the  grinding  for  the  soke  (viz.:  the  parishes  of  Hathem,  Dishley, 
Whatton,  and  Lockington),*  andybr  his  oivn  house  there.  He  also  undertook  that  neither 
himself  nor  any  of  his  heirs  should  thenceforward  erect  any  mill  within  the  territory  of 
Sheepshed  or  Hatheni.t  The  possessions  and  privileges  which  the  Abbot  and  Convent 
obtained  here  were  valuable  and  somewhat  singular.  They  had  the  Church,  and  all  other 
Churches  in  the  soke — they  had  tithes;]; — they  had  common  over  the  whole  Forest  for  their 
tenants,  with  housbote  and  heybote§  for  their  houses  in  Sheepshed,  and  timber  for  their 
mill — they  had,  of  the  gift  of  Roger  de  Quincy,  the  right  shoulder  of  every  wild  beast  (cujus- 
libet  feraj)  taken  in  the  Park  of  Acle — and  they  had  view  of  frankpledge  and  common  fine. 

The  Church — the  most  singular  and  venerable  fabric  within  the  precincts  of  the  Forest — 
seems  also  to  justify  my  attaching  great  ecclesiastical  importance  and  high  antiquity  to 
Sheepshed.  It  was  confen'ed  on  Leicester  Abbej'  by  Robert  Bossn,||  but  it  appears,  by  its 
style  of  architecture,  to  have  been  erected  long  anterior  to  this  time. 

It  was  doubtless  the  ancient  Forest  that  first  gave  importance  to  Sheepshed  ;  and  having, 
as  1  conjecture,  from  the  interlining  of  the  word  "  Regis"  added  to  its  name  in  Domesday 
book,  been  a  hunting  residence  for  Royalty  before  the  partition  of  the  Forest,  it  continued 
to  derive  consequence  from  the  subsequent  possessors,  the  Earls  of  Leicester  and  Winton. 

The  Park  of  Acle  appears  to  have  been  of  considerable  extent,  comprising  the  whole  of 
the  tract  lying  between  Little  Haw  and  the  present  Oakley  or  Akeley  Wood,  as  well  as  the 
wood  itself.     The  appearance  of  the  gi'ound  bears  evidence  of  its  having  been  a  very  ancient 

plough,  is,  coufessedly,  obscure.  It  is  also  frequently  ambiguous.  "  In  hoc  diflferebant  inter  de  sac  et  soc.  Sac  pri- 
vilegium  eratsive  poteslas  cognoscendi  causas  et  lites  dirimendi.  Soc,  territorium  sive  praecinctus  in  quo  saca  et  csetera 
privilegia  exercebantur :  .Soc,  curia  ;  Sac,  causarum  in  ipsfl.  curii  cognitio." — Hickes,  That  is,  sac  was  the  Court — 
soc,  or  soke,  the  territory  over  which  the  jurisdiction  was  exercised.  In  law  Latin  soca  is  used  for  a  seigniory  enfran- 
chised by  the  King,  with  liberty  of  holding  a  Court  of  his  socmen  or  socagers.  Littleton  says,  "whatever  is  not 
tenure  of  chivalry  is  tenure  in  socage."  Grose  defines  socage  "an  exclusive  privilege  claimed  by  millers,  of  grinding 
all  the  com  which  is  used  within  the  manor  or  township  in  which  their  mill  is  situated." 
•  See  Register  of  Leicester  Abbey. 

f  This  passage  shows  that  the  Earls  of  Winton,  and  probably  the  Norman  Earls  of  Leicester,  occasionally  resided 
here.  The  manor,  indeed,  early  ceased  to  be  a  Royal  manor,  and  became  limited  to  the  Honor  of  Leicester,  or  at 
least  devolved  on  the  owner  of  one  moiety  of  that  Honor. 

X  They  had  also  tithe  of  the  assarts  on  Chamwood  Forest. — See  Rentale. 
^  Housbote  was  fuel;  haybote,  materials  for  fencing. 
II  As  the  number  of  Christians  increased,  so  first  Monasteries,  then  finallie  parish  Churches  were  builded  in  every 

jurisdyction  ;  from  whence  I  take  oure  Deanerie  Churches  to  have  their  originall,  now  called  mother  Churches 

the  rest  being  added  since  the  Conquest,  either  by  the  lordes  of  everie  towne  or  zealous  men,  loth  to  travell  farre  and 
willing  to  have  some  ease  by  building  them  neere  hand.  Vnto  these  Deanerie  Churches  also  the  cleargie  in  old  time 
of  the  same  Deanrie  were  appointed  to  lepaire  at  sundrie  seasons,  there  to  receive  wholesome  ordinances  and  to  con- 
sult upon  the  necessarie  alfairs  of  the  jurisdyction. — HolUnshed,  Reprint,  page  227. 


176  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

inclosure,  and  a  portion  of  it  being  still  called  Kirk-hiU  might  give  some  reason  for  con- 
cluding that  a  Church  may  at  an  earlier  period  have  stood  there.  Little  Haw  was  another 
but  smaller  Park  in  this  parish,  and  was  probably  used  for  fattening  deer.  There  is  a 
tract  formerly  called  Henley,  lying  between  the  town  of  Sheepshed  and  Garendon,  called 
fifty  years  ago  "  The  Yeanleys,"  now  "  The  Inleys."*  Oxley  Grange  is  another  old  inclo- 
sure ;  it  lies  between  Sheepshed  and  White  Horse  Wood.  Oxele  occurs  in  an  Inquisition 
(given  below)  taken  at  Newtown  Linford  in  the  13th  of  Edward  I. 

The  boundaries  of  this  extensivef  and  remarkable  parish,  as  translated  from  the  Register 
of  Leicester  Abbey,  may  not  be  unacceptable  to  those  readers  connected  with  the  neigh- 
bourhood. 

"  Beginning  at  the  bercary  of  Lontherburg',  the  boundarj-  goes  to  the  heyweye  and  thence 

to  Charleston And  thence  through  the  middle  of  Charley  inclosure.     And  thence 

through  the  middle  of  the  ancient  Hall  of  Charley,  which  is  called  Erleshall.  And  thence 
to  Rohay  Well.  And  thence  to  Conston  Cross,  and  thence  to  the  Reynstones.  And  so  on 
to  Tynte-medowe,  leaving  Grenewode  on  the  left  hand.  And  so  on  to  Clepston.  Thence 
to  Fayrewey — and  thence  to  the  Erlesdyke,  close  by  Beltonwode,  following  the  Erlesdyke 
as  far  as  between  Walhyrne,  Beltonwode  and  Deryntonhaw.  And  thence  to  Wytonylde. 
And  thence  to  Lonelyreyne,  and  so  on  to  Oldedyke  ford — and  thence  to  Mydelslecheds — 
and  thence  to  Gothous  lydyaw  :  then  to  the  Gonhull,  and  so  to  Thorpe  Lydgate,  by  follow- 
ing a  C7-os.s."J  One  of  these  ancient  crosses,  formed  as  was  often  the  custom,  either  by 
cutting  or  raising  the  earth,  may  still  be  seen  in  Nettle  Hill,  nearly  opposite  Nanpantan. 

From  the  Earls  of  Winton  the  lordship  jjassed  to  the  three  daughters  of  Roger  de  Quincy, 
whose  respective  marriages  with  Ferrars,  la  Zouch,  and  Comyn,  have  been  so  often  referred 
to.  These  ladies  made  partition  of  the  lordship.  Two  parts,  in  1309,  were  the  possession 
of  William  Comyn,  who  obtained  them  in  fee  from  his  brother  .John,  Earl  of  Buchan ;  these 
parts  then  passed  by  marriage  to  Henry  Beaumont,  and  continued  to  be  a  possession  of  that 
family  till  1463,  when  they  were  forfeited  by  the  attainder  of  William  Viscount  Beaumont, 
and  conferred  by  Edward  VI.  on  William  Hastings,  his  Chamberlain,  to  be  held  of  the 
King  by  homage  only,  in  lieu  of  all  services.  After  the  execution  of  Lord  Hastings,  in  1483, 
Francis  Lord  Lovel,  nephew  of  William  Viscount  Beaumont,  obtained  from  Richard  III.  a 
grant  of  these  two  parts,  his  family  having  apparently  inherited  the  other  portion  by  descent 

*  Usque  vctcrcm  campum  de  Geroldoni^,  qui  vocatur  le  Halow,  juxta  Henley. —  Orel's  Chartularij  of  Garendon ; 
Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  8.34,  col.  1. 

f  It  contains  5171  acres. 
:|;  The  following  shows  the  parts  within  the  limits  of  the  Parish  Church  of  Sheepshed; — "  Inquisitio  faeta  apud 
Lindeneford,  Dominici  in  crastino  Translationis  Sancti  Thomae  Martyris  aimo  rcgni  regis  Edwardc  XIII.,  per  breve 
domini  super  limilibus  parochiarum  ecelesiarum  ahbatis  Leycestrie,  per  Johannem  de  Anesty  Rob'tum  Curther  de 
eadem,  Thomam  Dannct  do  eadem,  Rob'tum  le  Sawere  de  eadem,  Rob'tum  filium  Johannis  de  Groby,  Rob'tum 
Molendinarium  de  eadem,  Henricum  Gea  do  Bradgate  et  eetcros;  qui  dicunt  super  sacramentum  suum  quod  Haldel- 
neshay,  Wormingys,  Tenterwode,  Middelraken,  le  sykc  usque  Halywele  Lawcdyke  forde  et  idem  usque  Hyweycside 
quae  est  ad  barcariam  de  Loughteburg  predictam,  Sryebrokishe  ride,  el  Calange,  Oxele,  tota  warda  Godeberti,  Srym- 
toneshawe,  Crophyrst,  Birchwode,  Milnellys  [cum]  parcubus  de  Acley  et  Litlehau  sunt  infra  limites  parochie  ecclesiffi 
prffidicti  Abbatis  Leyc' in  Schcpepyshed. — Nichols'  West  Goscote,  p.  \^\\. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  177 

from  Alan  la  Zouch.  On  the  death  of  Lord  Lovel  (killed  in  Stoke  Field,  1485)  the  entirety 
again  reverted  to  the  Crown,  and  in  150-2  two  parts  of  this  lordship,  with  the  manor  of 
Loughborough  and  the  advowson  of  the  Churches,  were  granted  by  Henry  VIIL  to  Thomas 
Grey,  Marquis  of  Dorset,  in  exchange  for  the  manors  of  Grafton  and  llartwell.  By  the 
attainder  of  Henry  Grey,  Duke  of  Suffolk,  in  L533-4,  they  again  became  vested  in  the  Crown, 
and  were  sold  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  150'1,  to  Henry  Manners,  Earl  of  Rutland.  Francis, 
Earl  of  Rutland,  died  possessed  of  these  said  parts  in  1():32,  after  which  they  passed  with 
Garendon  to  his  grandson  George  Villiers,  the  second  Duke  of  Buckingham.*  The  other 
part  of  Sheepshed  (the  possession  of  the  Levels)  had  been  conferred,  in  1485,  on  Sir  John 
Savage,  of  Clifton,  co.  Chester,  Knight,  who  commanded  the  left  wing  at  Bosworth  Field — 
as  a  reward,  cum  aliis,  of  his  services  on  that  memorable  occasion.  Sir  John  Savage, 
gi-andson  of  the  above,  sold  Sheepshed  to  Thomas  Duport,  Esq.  Henry  Duport,  Esq.,  was 
owner  of  Sheepshed  in  1619.  The  manor,  with  nearly  the  whole  of  the  freehold,  soon 
afterwards  became  the  possession  of  Sir  Ambrose  Phillipps,  by  purchase  from  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham's  Trustees.  There  was  at  that  period  a  large  number  of  copyholds,  but  on  a 
trial  at  law,  about  twenty-five  years  ago,  it  was  decided  that  the  Lord  of  the  Manor  was  not 
bound  to  renew  the  lives  in  the  leases,  so  that  nearly  all  the  copyhold  property  has  now 
become  the  freehold  of  the  present  Lord  of  the  Manor,  Charles  ]\Iarch  Phillipps,  Esq. 

The  parish,  as  has  been  stated,  extends  far  into  the  Forest ;  in  fact,  this  lordship  and 
those  of  Barrow,  Whitwick,  and  Newtown  Linford  (a  member  of  Groby),  all  converge  to, 
and  nearly  meet  at  the  central  point,  Charley ;  an  extension  which  they  doubtless  acquired 
when  the  Forest  passed  from  the  Crown  to  the  Lords  of  Manors,  in  the  lime  of  Henry  H. 
A  considerable  tract  in  the  Sheepshed  portion  of  the  Forest,  near  the  part  where  the  Earl's 
Dyke  is  most  readily  traced,  is  still  called  Leicester  Plain :  which  name  it  probably  derived 
from  the  Earls  of  Leicester,  and  which  must  have  formed,  in  early  times,  an  important  part 
of  their  hunting  ga'ounds.  The  Earl's  Dyke  must  have  been  a  work  of  considerable  magni- 
tude; and  though  the  precise  period  of  its  formation  can  only  be  conjectured,  its  object  was 
apparently  to  serve  the  double  purpose  of  a  well-defined  boundarj'  and  mutual  deer  fence 
between  the  Earls  of  Leicester  and  Chester.     Its  bank  was,  doubtless,  surmounted  by  paling. 

IvESHEAD,  in  this  lordship,  is,  after  Bardon  and  Beacon,  the  noblest  of  the  Forest  hills. 
It  is  isolated  from  the  general  range,  and  when  viewed  from  some  points  presents  a  bold 
and  mountain-like  outline,  with  a  double  summit,  resembling  Sadde-back.  The  eastern  of 
these  summits  is  now  crowned  with  one  of  the  Ordnance  Station  Towers.  Swains'  Hill — 
a  name  which  suggests  the  probability  of  the  spot  having  been  a  Swanimote  Court — lies  at 
the  foot  of  Iveshead;  and  at  a  little  distance  from  the  latter  stands  The  Hangman's  Stone, 
which  furnishes  the  subject  of  a  Legend  appended  to  this  Chapter.  Scout-house  Hill, 
another  eminence  in  Sheepshed  parish,  is  said  to  have  been  so  named  from  its  having  had 
upon  it,  in  early  times,  a  lodge  for  deer-watchers  or  scouts.  It  is  marked  with  a  gallows 
in  Wild's  map  of  Charnwood :  having  been  the  spot  on  which  John  Harris,  of  Sheepshed, 
in  1730,  and  William  Warner,  of  Garendon,  in  173-2,  suffered  the  penalty  of  death — the 

*  Two  parts  of  Sheepshed  -were  held  of  the  King,  in  capite,  in  1320:  as  parcel  of  Groby  in  1326:  as  member  of 
Whitwick  in  1340  :  as  parcel  of  the  Honour  of  VVinton  in  1346  :  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  in  1407. 

A  a 


178  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

former  for  the  murder  of  Warner's  father,  and  the  latter  (his  associate  also  in  this  crime)  for 
returning  from  transportation  for  deer  stealing.* 

The  parts  of  Sheepshed  now  forming  an  appendage  to  the  Garendon  domain  will  be 
described  under  the  latter  place. 

THE  CHURCH, 

which  is  dedicated  to  St.  Botolph,  is  well  worth  the  attention  of  the  curious  in  ecclesiastical 
architecture.  It  was  evidently  erected  at  two  different  periods,  the  older  portion  being  built 
of  Forest  stone  and  the  more  recent  one  of  freestone.  It  contains  several  fine  monuments  of 
the  Duports,  the  Beaumonts,  and  of  the  Phillipps  family. 

Vicars.  Patrons. 

Gilbert,  1-2-20  

Simon  de  Reylestou,  1-252 Prior  and  Conventof  St.  Mary  dePratis, 

William  de  Wivelstone,  133i  )  Leicester. 

John  Hutchinson,  1534. 

Peter  Ollerenshaw,  from  1569  to  1621. 

Robert  Palmer,  1647  to  1658  i 

RobertLawrance,  Minister,  buried  Dec.  30,  1664  j  " 

Robert  Port,  1665  ;  buried  Jan.  26,  1671 j 

WilUam  Rose,  Feb.  14,  1670 \^''  '^^°°^^^  Beaumont,  Bart. 

Thomas  Barradaile  occurs  Vicar  1689 -. 

John  Robinson,  March  13,  1698  I 

Richard  Kay,  March  19,  1701 P"'  ^°^^™'^  PhiHipps. 

William  Antill,  Sept.  21,  1703 j 

Gervase  Bradgate,  Sept.  21,  1713 , 

Wall  Parker,  Nov.  26,  1717  William  Phillipps,  Esq. 

Thomas  Heath,  M.A.,  Feb.  2,  1735 ) 

William  Farnham,  Oct.  3,  1765 Samuel  Phillipps,  Esq. 

Charles  Alsopp,  June  12,  1777 Sir  William  Gordon,  K.  B. 

Joseph  Harriman  Hamilton,  1831 C.  M.  Phillipps,  Esq. 

*  The  circumstances  coiuiected  with  this  shocking  deed  present  some  rather  peculiar  features,  William  Warner, 
senior,  who  had  saved  some  property  in  the  service  of  the  Garendon  family,  had  a  house  in  the  Park.  He  was  a 
widower,  and  had  a  son  and  daughter.  The  son,  suspecting  him  of  an  intention  of  marrying  one  of  the  domestics  at 
the  Abbey,  hired  or  persuaded  Harris,  who  was  the  lover  of  the  sister,  to  murder  the  old  man.  Old  Warner  left  the 
servants'  hall  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  and  was  discovered  the  next  nioniing  inhumanly  murdered  in  the  centre  of 
the  Park.  The  son  impeached  Harris  (who  had  hitherto  borne  a  good  character)  and  claimed  the  King's  pardon,  but 
being  indicted  for  deer  stealing  he  was  transported.  Returning  from  transportation  he  was  apprehended  at  Castle 
Donington,  and  at  the  Assizes  next  following  ordered  for  execution  on  the  spot  where  his  confederate  or  victim  was 
then  hanging  in  chains. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 


171> 


LEGEXD  OF  THE  HANGMAN'S  STONE. 


It  happen'd  but  twice  in  the  tide  of  time, 
And  but  once  since  the  Conqueror  came, 

That  all  Shepeshed  men  were  in  bed  at  ten, 
And  ail  Whytwyk  wights  the  same. 

There  were  fat  red  deer  in  old  Bardon  Park — 

Fat  hogs  on  the  great  Ives  Head — 
Fat  goats  in  crowds  on  the  grey  Lubclouds — 

Fat  sheep  in  the  Forest  shed. 

There  were  coneys  in  store  upon  Warren  Hill, 

And  hares  upon  Long  Cliff  dell ; 
.\nd  a  pheasant*  whirred  if  a  foot  was  stirred 

In  the  Haw  of  the  Holy  Well. 

There  were  trout  in  shoals  in  the  Charley  Brook, 

And  pike  in  the  Abbot's  Lake, 
And  herons  in  flocks  under  Whytwyk  rocks. 

Their  nightly  rest  would  take. 

All  these  were  the  cause  why  the  Shepeshed  men 

And  the  Whytwyk  wights  the  same. 
Never  slumber'd  when  the  clock  told  ten, 

But  watch'd  for  the  sylvan  game. 

What  matter  that  Warders  and  trusty  Regarders 

Look'd  well  to  the  Forest  right ; 
The  .Shepeshed  encroachers  were  aye  practis'd  poachers. 

And  their  day  was  "  the  noon  of  night." 

If  the  smaller  prey  did  not  hap  in  their  way. 

What  matter  ?     The  sheep  and  deer 
Were  a  goodlier  meal,  and  the  verb  to  steal 

Was  neuter  or  nameless  here. 

John  of  Oxley  had  watch'd  on  the  round  Cat  Hill, 

He  had  harried  all  Timber  Wood; 
Each  rabbit  and  hare  said  "  ha  I  ha !"  to  his  snare. 

But  the  ven'son  he  knew  was  good. 


A  herd  were  resting  beneath  the  broad  oak — 

(The  Ranger  he  knew  was  abed :) 
One  shaft  he  drew  on  his  well  tried  yew, 

And  a  gallant  hart  lay  dead. 

He  tied  its  legs,  and  he  hoisted  his  prize, 

And  he  toil'd  over  Lubcloud  brow ; 
He  reach'd  the  tall  stone  standing  out  and  alone. 

Standing  then  as  it  standeth  now. 

With  his  back  to  the  stone  he  rested  his  load. 

And  he  chuckled  with  glee  to  think 
That  the  rest  of  the  way  on  the  down  hill  lay, 

And  his  wife  would  have  spiced  the  strong  drink. 

That  rest  of  the  way  John  of  Oxley  ne'er  trod : 

The  spiced  ale  was  untouched  by  him ; 
In  the  morning  grey  there  were  looks  that  way, 

But  the  mountain  mists  were  dim. 

Days  pass'd  and  he  came  not — his  children  play'd 

And  wept — then  gambolled  again ; 
They  saw  with  surprise  that  their  mother's  wet  eyes 

Were  still  on  the  hills — in  vaiu ! —  •   «  »  •   * 

A  swineherd  was  passing  o'er  Great  Ives  Head, 

When  he  noticed  a  motionless  man ; 
He  shouted  in  vain^no  reply  could  he  gain — 

So  down  to  the  grey  stone  he  ran. 

All  was  clear. — There  was  Oxley  on  one  side  the  stone. 

On  the  other  the  down-hanging  deer ; 
The  burden  had  slipp'd,  and  his  neck  it  had  nipp'd : 

He  was  hanged  by  his  prize — all  was  clear  I 

The  Gallows  still  stands  upon  Shepeshed  high  lands. 

As  a  mark  for  the  Poacher  to  own, 
How  the  wicked  will  get  within  their  own  net : 

And  'tis  still  call'd  "  The  Grey  Hangman's  Stone.' 


*  Much  uncertainty  prevails  respecting  the  period  of  the  introduction  of  the  pheasant  into  England.  The  following 
extract  from  a  Grant  of  Edward  the  Confessor  to  Randolph  Peperking,  in  the  Records  of  the  Exchequer  (Encyp. 
Londinensis,  Art.  Pheasant),  will  prove  that  it  was  much  earlier  than  is  generally  supposed  :  — 

STtlje  etiiuarii  Sorting 

l&alif  gibcn  of  mr  JTorfat  anD  ftrrpingf, 

®f  tfje  IjunDvrii  of  Clljflmfr  anD  Dancing, 

Zo  KanDulpi)  Prpftiitng  anD  fjis  ftmBltng, 

Si23it1)  ijarte  anD  IjinDf,  Dot  anD  bocfet, 

fBixc  anD  foi,  tat  anD  bvotlit, 

825ilDt  fointU.  toitJ)  Jis  floritc, 

JTeaant  t)m  anD  ftsant  totUt, 

SQiti)  g;rtfnf  anD  toilDt  atob  anD  stotftt,  &t.  *:. 


180  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

GARENDON-GERALDONIA. 

( Gerondon,  Gerouldon,  Garendon,  Gereweden,  Wereweden,  Garendedon,  Garraden, 

Garraton.J 

Abbatia  de  Gerendon,  filia  de  Waverley. — Monasiicon,  Vol.  I.,  p.  68. 

Garendon,  from  its  former  consequence  as  a  Religious  House,  its  present  beauty  as  a 
private  residence,  and  its  extensive  connexion  with  the  Forest,  justly  claims  a  distinguished 
place  in  this  History.  To  do  ample  justice  to  the  Abbey  and  the  noble  domain  that  now 
surrounds  it,  would,  however,  require  a  volume  instead  of  the  few  pages  which  the  plan  of 
this  work,  already  much  extended  beyond  the  originally  contemplated  limit,  will  allow. 

Garendon  Abbey,  according  to  Burton  and  Dugdale,  was  founded  by  Robert  Bossu, 
Earl  of  Leicester,  A. D.  1133.  Other  writers  have  assigned  a  later  date  to  the  foundation, 
viz.,  1169.*  This  discrepancy  may  have  arisen  from  a  circumstance  which  seems  to  have 
escaped  the  notice  of  Historians,  viz. : — that  the  Abbey  was  not  originally  erected  on  the 
site  which  it  afterwards  occupied,  and  on  which  the  present  mansion  stands.  This  fact  of 
a  previous  site  seems  highly  probable,  at  least,  from  a  passage  in  the  Garendon  Chartulary, 
in  the  possession  of  the  Ord  family,  where  Roger  de  Quincy  permits  the  Abbot  and  Convent 
"  to  inclose  with  a  fence  and  ditch  all  his  wood  of  Kntt  (Knightlhorpe),  and  the  whole  space 
from  the  hedge  on  the  western  side  of  the  Goat-house  to  the  head  of  the  Thweyt  towards 
the  Forest,  where  their  Abbey  was  anciently  founded." — f  Ubi  Ahhatia  eoriim  antiqui- 
tusfiiitfiindata.)  Another  passage  points  to  the  present  Hermitage  Plantationf  as  the 
probable  spot  on  which  the  Abbey  was  originally  begun ;  for  it  is  shown  by  the  note  sub- 
joined that  "  the  Thweyt"  (the  locality  of  which  is  now  lost)  was  to  the  west  of  what  is  still 
called  Thorpe  Brand.J  Want  of  water,  greater  eligibility  of  situation,  or  even,  as  in  the 
case  of  Dale  Abbey,  some  supposed  miraculous  intimation  may  have  led  to  the  removal. 
Or  it  may  have  arisen  from  the  dispute  about  the  right  to  the  domain  of  Garendon,  which 
appears  to  have  existed  between  Bossu  and  William  Gerebert,  the  latter  asserting  that  the 
lordship,  of  which  Garendon  was  a  member,  had  been  unjustly  taken  from  his  father;  but 
still  willinglv  granting  it  for  the  foundation  of  the  Abbey  fad  fundament  ion  Ahbatie  //bens 
concedo),  and  jiromising,  if  the  Divine  Mercy  should  ever  enable  him  to  recover  the  manor, 
that  he  would  greatly  augment  the  possessions  of  the  Monks. § 

*  Knighton,  who  was  followed  by  Tanner  in  the  first  edition  of  his  Notitia  Monastica,  states  1169. 

f  The  name  seems  to  afl'ord  some  clue.     So  far  as  I  can  learn,  it  has  been  for  time  immemorial  given  to  this  place,  and 

Hermitages  are  known  to  have  been  the  original  commencement  of  many  Religious  Houses. 

X  Geoffrey,  son  of  Ralph  de  Louteburg,  granted  to  the  Abbey  of  Garendon  all  his  right  in  the  wood  of  Thorpe 
Anker  and  Garendon,  "  a  fossato  inter  campuni  de  Thorp  et  campum  de  Gerandon  usque  ad  le  Brende ;  et  a  le  Brende 
usque  ad  le  Thweyt :  et  a  le  Thweyt  usque  ad  hayam  subter  caprinam  ab  occidentali  parte,  qua  descenditur  ad  Ab- 
batiam. 

§  See  the  Carta  Gereberti  from  the  Garendon  Chartulary  (Nichols'  West  Goscote,  p.  814>,  which  on  several 
accounts  is  singularly  curious.  It  is  without  date,  but  is  addressed  to  Alexander,  who  was  Bishop  of  Lincoln  from 
1123  to  1147,  and  it  is  therefore  conclusiveof  the  last  foundation  of  the  Abbey  having  taken  place  between  those  periods. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  181 

The  Abbey  was  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  for  the  Cistercian  Oudkr,  whose 
strict  rule  has  been  so  fully  described  in  the  notice  of  Mount  St.  Bernard  as  to  render  it 
unnecessary  for  me  to  dwell  upon  it  here.  Unfortunately  there  is  extant  no  engraving  of 
this  mitred  Abbey,  but  that  it  was  an  edifice  of  considerable  size  and  consequence  may  be 
gleaned  from  various  circumstances  incidentally  mentioned  in  the  voluminous  records  still 
preserved  respecting  it,  as  well  as  from  the  Inventory  taken  at  the  Dissolution.  The  founder 
endowed  it  with  five  carucates  and  three  yard  lands  in  Garendon,  two  in  Ringlethorpe, 
certain  lands  in  Dishley  and  Ravenstone,  the  wood  of  Sheepshed  (a  mile  and  a  half  long 
and  a  mile  broad),  and  Michelholm,  in  the  lordship  of  Lockington,  for  a  fishery  in  the  Trent.* 

But  if  the  founder's  grants  to  the  Abbey  were  neither  numerous  nor  extensive,  those  of 
succeeding  benefactors  were  so.  Ernald  de  Bois,  his  Senesch;il,  with  the  permission  of  the 
Earl,  gave  to  the  Monks  of  Garendon  the  whole  village  of  Bittlesden,  Bucks.,  that  an  Abbey 
of  the  same  Order  might  be  there  founded.t  Bossu,  however,  further  assisted  the  Monks  of 
Garendon,  by  procuring  for  them  from  Ranulph,  Earl  of  Chester,  a  perpetual  grant  of  the 
Castle  and  vill  of  Mountsorrel,  the  lordship  of  Charley,  a  large  portion  of  Chamwood  Forest, 
and  Holy  Well  Haw.  They  obtained,  also,  from  the  same  Ranulph,  the  privilege  of  common 
pasture  for  all  their  cattle  in  Barrow.  Margaret,  Countess  of  Winton  (sister  of  Bossu),  was 
a  large  benefactress.  Roger  de  Quincy,  William  Earl  of  Warwick,  the  Despensers,  the 
de  Burghs,  the  Mowbrays,  the  Harcourts,  the  Rosels  of  Rempstone,  &c.,  &c.,  conferred 
many  gifts  and  grants,  several  of  which  are  coupled  with  the  condition  that  they  should  be 
buried  in  the  Abbey,  with  the  obsequies  usually  performed  for  one  of  their  departed  Monks. 
But  a  mere  enumeration  of  the  benefactions  coufeired  on  this  Abbey  would  occupy  so  many 
pages  that  it  must  suffice  to  refer  the  reader  to  the  copious  and  well-digested  account  given 
by  Mr.  Nichols,  who,  in  addition  to  abstracts  and  analyses  of  the  two  valuable  Chartularies 
in  the  possession  of  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne  and  Mr.  Craven  Ord,  gives,  from  an  In- 
spcvimits  of  1340,  an  exemplification  of  one  hundred  and  ninety-nine  gifts  and  grants  to 
this  house.  Among  the  many  things  worthy  of  notice  in  these  Chartularies  and  the  Register 
are  : — the  gift  of  a  burgess  in  Leicester,  who  should  buy  them  bread  and  lodge  them  :|  the 
gift  of  villans,  with  their  chattels  and  sequel  :§  the  release  of  a  villan  from  his  homage, 
which  was  granted  for  the  sum  of  5.y.  :||  the  grant  of  the  whole  salvinage,  &c.,  of  all  the  wild 
beasts  in  the  inclosure  of  Knit,  to  fence  in,  hunt,  and  take :  an  exemption  of  this  Abbev 
from  pontage,  pavage,  and  murage,  through  the  whole  realm  :1[  the  particulars  of  a  compo- 

*  "In  nianerio  meo  de  Loclientun  in  Michelholmio  ad  faciendam  unam  piscariam  locum  competentem  in  Trente." 

I'ide  Chartam  Fundatoris. 
t  An  old  manuscript  cited  by  Burton  under  Thorpe  Arnold,  says,  "  Tempore  Regis  Stephani  Eraaldus  de  Bosco 
seneschallus  Roberti  comitis  Leicestriae  fundavit  Abbathiara  de  Bittlesdon,"  on  which  Dugdale  remarks,   "  Ita  incepta 

et  fundata  est  Bittlesden  anno  Gratioe  MDCXLVII anno  XIII  a  fundatione  de  Gerondon  :"  which  furnishes 

another  confirmation  of  the  year  1133-4  being  the  date  of  the  foundation. 

X  Grant  of  Robert  Bossu. 
§  Grant  of  Roger  de  Quincy.     "  Sequela"  meaning  the  little  treasures  which  bad  taste  and  worse  feeling  has,  of 
late  years,  led  people  to  call  "  encumbrances."     The  word  is,  perhaps,  descriptive  of  the  then  prevailing  modes  of  life ; 
the  whole  family /oWouiin^r  the  villan  to  his  labour. 

II  The  lord  was  Robert  Putrell  (Poutrell)  and  the  villan  Robert  of  Hoton. 


182  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

sition  of  three  marks  for  tithes  due  from  the  Monks  to  the  Parson  of  Prestwolcl,  for  their 
lands  in  that  lordship  :*  a  mandate  of  Henry  HI.  (1254)  to  the  Abbot  to  receive  and  enter- 
tain Jewish  converts  for  two  years  :t  a  singular  gift  of  Quenilda,  wife  of  Ralph  Stabularius, 
which  recites  that  before  her  marriage  she  had  given  on  the  altar  of  Dishley  Church,  all 
her  right  and  claim  to  lands  held  by  the  Monks  in  Costock — the  Monks  in  return  agreeing 
to  maintain  her  for  life — and  after  her  man-iage  she  quit-claims  these  lands  to  the  Monks 
(the  witnesses  to  this  quit-claim  are  all  females — Petronilla,  Edalina,  Giva,  Emma,  and 
Agnes) :  an  exemption  for  the  Cistercian  Order  from  being  cited  into  the  Secular  Comts, 
and  from  the  episcopal  authority  of  any  Bishop  (p.  819) :  a  writ  from  Edward  I.,  dated 
Kynges-Clypeston  (Clipstone  in  Sherwood),  XVI"  die  Octobris  (16th  of  October),  anno 
regni  nostri  XVIII.,  shortly  before  which  Edward  had  probably  hunted  in  Chamwood  : 
an  exception  in  favour  of  the  Abbot  of  Garendon  from  the  order  prohibiting  any  Cistercian 
going  beyond  the  seas. — An  indenture  of  Henry  de  Beaumont — "  To  all  those  wich  these 
li'es  indented  schall  se  or  here,  Henr'  of  Beaumo't  erle  of  Boghan,  constabull  of  the  Scottis 
and  Alys  his  wyfTe,  gi-etyng  in  Gode :  know  ye  hus  to  have  gyflTen  and  granted  licence  for 
us  and  owre  heires  to  monk  William  of  Erie  and  monk  Robert  his  sun,  that  thei  mey  gyffe 
all  their  londes  and  ten'tys  wich  thei  have  in  the  tonne  of  Alton  and  Rawnston  (whiche 
londes  and  ten'tys  be  of  oure  fee)  to  thabbat  and  monkys  of  the  Abbe>-  of  Garadon,"  &c.,  &c. 
In  addition  to  these  may  be  named  some  "  peculiar  and  especial"  grants  and  privileges 
from  Popes  Lucius  II.,  Alexander  IV.,  and  Anastasius  III. 

From  the  same  source,  too,  is  derived  the  following: — "  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  1219, 
Saer  de  Quincy,  Earl  of  Winton,  and  Robert  son  of  William  lIarcourt,J  and  William  Earl  of 
Arundel,  set  out  to  the  Holy  Land :  and  before  they  arri\'ed  there,  the  Lord  Saer  de  Quincy 
being  seized  on  the  way  by  a  grievous  illness,  having  summoned  his  attendants,  entreated 
them  and  bound  them  by  an  oath  that  after  his  death  they  would  burn  his  heart,  and  having 
carried  the  ashes  to  England,  would  bury  it  at  Garendon" — which  was  done.  He  died  in 
the  month  of  November,  and  his  body  was  buried  at  Acre.  Roger  de  Quincy,  his  son,  died 
A.D.  1264,  and  was  buried  in  the  Abbey  Church  of  Garendon.  Margaret,  Countess  of 
Winton,  sister  of  Robert  Earl  of  Leicester,  and  mother  of  the  above  Roger,  was  buried  at 
the  entrance  of  the  same  Church. 

The  following  list  of  the  Abbots  of  Garendon  is  partly  taken  from  Nichols'  Abstract  of 
the  Register,  and  partly  from  other  sources : — 

Galfridus  Abbas  occurs  with  Robert  Bossu  as  witness  to  a  grant  of  Camerarius  de 
ClintonS..     He  may  therefore  be  concluded  to  have  been  the  first  Abbot. 

Tliurstan  occurs  as  Abbot  in  1176. 

•  This  is  of  considerable  interest,  as  showing  the  liability  of  the  Cistercians  to  pay  tithes.     Mr.  Carte  (see  a  note 
in  Nichols'  West  Goscote,  page  787)  was  of  opinion  that  they  were  only  liable  for  lands  rented  by  them:  but  the 
original  composition,  and   Hugh  Malet's  grant,  clearly  show  that  the  lands  they  held  in  Prestwold  were  their  own 
property, 
t  Reginald,  Abbot  of  Garendon,  was  severely  wounded  by  night  on  his  sick  couch,  by  one  of  these  convicts,  in  119G, 

which  led  to  their  expulsion. — See  Chartulary. 
+  This  William  gave  to  the  Monks  of  Garendon  the  lordship  of  Stanton-undcr-Bardon,  very  shortly  after  the  foimdation 

of  the  Abbey. 


*  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  183 

1189,  Obiit  Tuistanus  Abbas  Gereldunae.     Successit  Wilheluius  Prior  ejusdem  domtls* 

1195,  Wilhehnus  Abbas  Gereldunae  diraisit  abbatiam  suam.  Successit  Wilhelnins 
Abbas  Miravallis.t 

119(),  Regiimldus  Abbas  Geroldonia;  graviter  vuhieratus  est  in  infirmatorio  suo  nocte 
propter  quod  niissum  est  per  generale  capitulum  Cistertii  ut  omnes  conversi  ejusdem  loci 
di  spergerenlur.  J 

1-219,  Adam  Abbas  septimus  Wavcrle  ecssit;  successit  ei  Adam  Abbas  Gereldonis. 

1-2-26,  Cedente  Wilheluio  subrogatur  Keginaldus  Prior  Geroldoniae  ejusdem  domus  Abbas 
decimus. 

1234,  Cedente  Reginaldo,  subrogatur  Andreas  Prior  de  Garadon  ejusdem  domds  Abbas 
undecimus. 

Simon  was  Abbot  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  Robert  de  Thorp  1-274.  Thurslan  appears 
to  have  succeeded. 

Roger  occurs  in  1-281.     Eustace  was  his  successor. 

In  1-295  Johannes  Abbas  Gereudonise  profitetur  obedieutiam  episcopo  Lincoln,  et  bene- 
dicilur  8  kal.  Junii. 

In  13-20  John  de  Sutton  was  Abbot. 

In  1349  William  de  Sanct4  Cruce,  late  Abbot  of  Garendon,  was,  at  the  King's  instance, 
made  the  first  Abbot  of  St.  Mary  de  Grace,  or  East  Minster,  London,  founded  by  Edw.  III. 

Thomas  Syeston,  alias  Shepyshed,  was  Abbot  in  1510,  and  held  that  office  till  the  Dis- 
solution, in  1536.§ 

There  were  at  that  period  fourteen  Monks.  The  Abbey  was  valued  by  the  Commis- 
sioners at  £129.  6s.  8d.  clear  annual  value.    The  Valor  Ecclesiasticus  makes  it  £159.  19.s.  lOrf. 

But  the  numerous  Granges  belonging  to  this  Abbey  afford,  perhaps,  better  evidence  of 
the  extent  of  its  possessions  than  mere  numerical  statements.  These  were — Dishley,  Rin- 
gelthorpe,  Systonby,  Alton,  Ravenstone,  Stanton,  Burton-on-the-Wolds,  Goadby,  and  Holy- 
well, in  Leicestershire,  Rempstone  and  Costock  in  Nottinghamshire,  and  Heathcote  in  the 
Peak  of  Derbyshire. 

It  was  in  1540  that  Henry  VIII.  by  his  letters  patent  (in  consideration  of  the  sum  of 
£•2356.  5s.  lOc^.)  granted  to  Thomas  Manners,  Earl  of  Rutland,  the  site  and  late  domain  of 
Garendon  Abbey,  together  with  the  manors  of  Garendon,  Dishley,  Wymeswold,  Sheepshed, 
Weston,  Swithland,  Burton  Undershawe,  Worthington,  Mountsorrel,  Thorpe  Acre,  Leicester, 
and  Cortlingtock  ;  the  Rectories  and  Chantry  of  Garendon  and  Dishley ;  the  Manor  of 
Sutton  Bonington,  Nottingliamshire,  and  the  Manor  and  Grange  of  Ravenstone,  in  the  coun- 
ties of  Leicester  and  Derby ;  with  all  rights  and  privileges  to  which  the  said  Abbey  was 
in  any  way  entitled. || 

A  branch  of  the  Digby  family  appears  to  have  occupied  the  Abbey  soon  after;  for 
Francis  Digby,  of  Garendon,  Gentleman,  on  the  30th  of  November,  1551,  received  a  pardon 
from  Edward  VI.  for  having  counterfeited  the  lawful  coin  of  the  realm. 

Subsequently,  the  Earls  of  Rutland  seem  to  have  made  Garendon  theii'  occasional  resi- 

*  Annales  Waverl.  f  Ibid.  +  Ibid.  j  The  Abbots  of  Garendon  sat  in  Parliament. 

II  See  Grant,  &c.,  copied  by  Nichols,  p.  S38,  from  Peck's  manuscript  of  the  original,  at  Garendon,  1730. 


184  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

dence;  for  Sir  Thomas  Beaumont,  in  his  "  Shepherdesse"  (written  about  1621),  after  highly 
extolling,  in  the  song  of  one  of  the  Charnwood  shepherd  bards,  the  personal  and  mental 
graces  of  Catherine,  Marchioness*  of  Buckingham,  the  daughter  of  Francis,  Earl  of  Rutland, 
says  :— 

"  Her  father,  high  in  honour  and  descent, 
Commands  the  Sylvans  on  the  North  of  Trent ; 
He  at  this  time,  for  pleasure  and  retreate, 
Comes  down  from  Belvoik — his  ascending  seate — 
To  which  great  Pan  has  lately  honour  done : 
For  there  he  lay — so  did  his  hopeful  son. 
But  when  this  Lord,  by  his  accesse,  desires    . 
To  grace  our  dales,  he  to  a  house  retires 
Whose  walles  are  watered  by  our  silver  brookes. 
And  makes  the  shepherds  proud  to  view  his  lookes." 

Sir  Thomas  Beaumont's  poem,  in  addition  to  its  many  "  happy  conceits,"  is  valuable  as 
incidentally  affording,  at  least,  a  poet's  testimony  on  a  subject  on  which  historians  have  not 
agreed,  viz. : — that  the  union  of  the  magnificent  favourite  with  the  "  Beauty  of  Belvoir" 
was  one  of  mutual  affection,  and  neither  forced  on  an  unwilling  lover  by  the  lady's  noble 
father,  nor  effected  by  any  unworthy  stratagems  on  the  part  of  Villiers.  Arthur  Wilson  and 
other  writers  have  attempted  to  show  that  it  was  a  stolen  match ;  that  Buckingham  "  having 
taken  off  the  Lady  Catherine  from  her  father's  house,  detained  her  for  some  time  in  lodgings, 
and  only  married  her  when  alarmed  by  the  threats  of  the  Earl  that  his  greatness  should  not 
protect  him  if  he  wounded  the  honour  of  the  family."  Mr.  Jesse,  in  his  Memoirs  of  the 
Court  E)i(jhind,  says  "  the  affair  is  altogether  involved  in  mystery."  Certainly  the  beauty 
and  wealth  of  the  young  heiress — the  richest  in  the  kingdom — forbid  the  supposition  that  a 
parvemo  like  Buckingham,  even  when  basking  in  the  full  sunshine  of  the  Court,  should  not 
consider  her  a  fitting  match.  The  probability  therefore  is,  that  the  objections  were  on  the 
Earl  of  Rutland's  side.  That  the  Duke  was  a  kind  and  affectionate  husband  is  indisputa- 
ble. Sir  Henry  Wootton  says,  "  he  loved  her  dearly,  and  well  expressed  his  love  by  be- 
queathing her  all  his  mansion  houses — a  power  to  dispose  of  his  whole  personal  estate,  and 
a  fourth  part  of  his  lands  in  jointure. t  The  Duchess,  who  was  in  a  room  above  her  husband 
at  the  moment  he  was  assassinated  by  Felton,  manifested  the  excess  of  her  feelings  on  the 
occasion  in  a  way  that  showed  the  strength  of  her  attachment.! 

The  slight  connexion  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  with  the  Forest  does  not  call  for  any 
lengthened  notice  of  him  in  these  pages,  but  I  cannot  with  so  much  propriety  omit  some 
mention  of  his  mother,   who  may  be  said  to  be  a  native  of  it.     Of  this  remarkable  lady 

•  Nichols,  Vol.  III.,  p.  200,  states  that  George  Villiers,  Marquis  of  Buckingham,  was  married  in  1620,  and  created  Duke 
in  1623;  though  in  the  Villiers  Pedigi-ee,  on  the  preceding  leaf,  he  dates  his  marriage  in  1626  and  his  death  in  1628. 

t  Reliq.  Wotton,  p.  236. 
J  Lord  Carleton,  in  a  letter  to  the  Queen,  thus  describes  the  scene ; — "  The   Duchess  of  Buckingham  and  the 
Countess  of  Anglesea  came  forth  into  a  gallery  that  overlooked  the  hall,  where  they  might  behold  the  blood  of  their 
dearest  lord  gushing  from  him.     Ah  1  poor  Ladies  !  such  was  their  scrcechings,  tears,  and  distractions,  that  I  never  in 
my  life  heard  the  like  before,  and  hope  never  to  hear  the  like  again." — Jesse. 


^4^  if*  ,    /   ^ 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  185 

Mr.  Jesse  says  : — "  The  Peerages,  ever  complaisant,  speak  of  her  as  having  been  the  daughter 
of  Anthony  Beaumont,  of  Glenfield,  in  the  county  of  Leicester,  Esq."  Her  own  importance 
at  the  Court  of  James,  and  the  grandeur  achieved  by  her  family,  may  render  her  actual 
origin  a  matter  of  interest.  Roger  Coke,  in  his  "  Detection  of  the  Court  of  England" 
informs  us,  on  the  authority  of  his  aunt,  who  was  connected  by  marriage  with  the  Villiers 
family,  that  she  was  a  kitchen-maid  in  old  Sir  George  Villiers'  establishment ;  that  he  became 
enamoured  of  her,  and  persuaded  his  lady  to  place  her  about  her  own  person ;  and  adds 
that,  after  the  death  of  his  wife.  Sir  George  presented  her  twenty  pounds  to  improve  her 
dress,  which  appears  to  have  produced  such  a  wonderful  effect  that  shortlj'  afterwards  he 
married  her.  Weldon  styles  her  "  A  gentlewoman  whom  the  old  man  fell  in  love  with  and 
married."  Arthur  Wilson's  account  is  somewhat  different.  The  old  Kjiight,  he  informs  us, 
was  on  a  visit  to  his  kinswoman  Lady  Beumont,  at  Cole-Orton,  in  Leicestershire,  where  he 
found  "  a  j'oung  gentlewoman  of  that  name,  allied  and  yet  a  servant,  who  caught  his  affec- 
tions, and  whom  he  afterwards  took  for  his  wife."  Her  name  was  undoubtedly  Beaumont, 
and  however  distantly,  she  was  certainly  connected  with  the  Leicestershire  family.*  "  By 
the  death  of  Sir  George  Villiers,  in  1606,  she  was  left  a  widow,  with  only  £-200.  a  year. 
She  was  afterwards  twice  manied  ;  first  to  Sir  William  Rayner,  and  secondly  to  Sir  Thomas 
Compton.  The  unexampled  rise  of  her  son  was  a  new  era  in  her  existence ;  it  raised  her 
from  an  impoverished  country  lady  to  be  the  proud  manager  of  a  Court.  On  the  1st  of  July, 
1618,  she  was  created,  by  letters  patent.  Countess  of  Buckingham  in  her  own  person:  an 
unusual  kind  of  distinction,  of  which  the  last  example  was  in  the  days  of  Queen  Mary.  The 
Countess  did  not  leave  her  family  in  the  back-ground — and  if  beauty  be  deserving  of  rank, 
the  honours  conferred  on  them  were  not  ill  bestowed."t 

Her  youthful  grandchildren — the  issue  of  the  marriage  of  the  Duke  with  Lady  Catherine 
Manners — were  the  constant  pet  companions  of  James  I.  For  hours  every  day  would  the 
Monarch  romp  with  them,  though  he  had  been  remarkable  for  cold  reserve  towards  his  own 
little  ones.  The  author  of  Aulicus  Coquinaria3  styles  them  a  race  "  handsome  and  beautiful" 
— an  hereditary  advantage,  says  Mr.  Jesse,  if  we  may  judge  by  many  a  fair  face  of  later 
times. — The  Countess  of  Buckingham,  the  extraordinary  mother  of  an  extraordinary  son, 
ended  her  days  at  the  Gate  House,  Whitehall,  in  1632,  and  was  interred  iu  Westminster 
Abbey. 

Catherine,  Duchess  of  Buckingham,  whom  Nichols  erroneously  calls  the  Duchess 
Dowager,  formed  a  second  marriage  with  the  Earl  of  Antrim.  The  King  disliked  the  match, 
but  forgave  the  widow  of  his  beloved  friend.  Buckingham  left  four  children  by  her. — 
Charles,  who  died  an  infant ;   George,  the  witty  Duke,  who  succeeded  him  ;  Francis,  who 

*  Nichols,  in  the  Villiers  Pedigree  (East  Goscote,  p.  198),  styles  her  "  Lady  Mary  Compton, daughter  of 

Anthony  Beaumont,  seventh  son  of  William  Beaumont  of  Cole-Orton,"  which  leads  one  erroneously  to  conclude  that 
she  was  "  Lady  Mary"  when  Sir  George  married  her !  i  Jones,  in  his  account  of  Cole-Orton  Hall,  makes  her  "  the 
daughter  of  Francis  Beaumont." 

f  Besides  the  unexampled  rise  of  her  son  George,  she  lived  to  see  her  eldest  son  Viscount  Purbeck ;  her  third. 
Earl  of  Anglesea ;  and  her  daughter  Countess  of  Denbigh.  Of  the  two  half  brothers  of  the  Duke  (the  sons  of  Sir 
George  Villiers,  by  his  first  wife,  Audrey  Saunders)  William  was  one  of  the  first  Baronets;  and  from  Sir  Edward, 
President  of  Munster,  descend  the  Viscounts  Grandison  and  the  Earls  of  Clarendon  and  Jersey. — Jesse. 

i3b 


186  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

fell  in  the  civil  wars ;  and  Mary,  married  to  the  Duke  of  Richmond*  After  the  death  of  her 
father,  the  Earl  of  Rutland,  in  1632,  the  Duchess  became  possessed  of  Garendon  in  fee ;  and, 
by  a  fine,  conveyed  the  estate  to  Trustees,  who  re-conveyed  it  to  her  son. 

George,  the  second  Duke,  having  been  declared  a  traitor  by  the  Roundheads,  Garendon, 
together  with  the  manor  of  Sheepshed,  &c.,  &c.,  was  sold  June  10,  1652,  under  an  Act  of 
Parliament,  for  the  consideration  of  ^354.  11*.  b\d.,  to  John  Thurlowe,  John  Hunt,  and 
Nathaniel  Waterhouse.f  The  Duke,  however,  recovered  possession  in  1657,  chiefly  by  the 
interest  of  Lord  Fairfax,  whose  daughter  he  had  married  after  having  been  rejected  by  one 
of  Cromwell's  daughters. 

In  1682  the  mansion  house  was  the  residence  of  John  Barwell,  Esq.,  of  Kegworth,  and 
at  this  period  the  lordships  of  Garendon  and  Sheepshed  were  purchased  of  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham  for  the  sum  of  3£28,000.,J  by  Ambrose  Phillipps,  Esq.,  at  that  time  an  eminent 
Barrister  of  the  Middle  Temple,  but  shortly  after  knighted  and  appointed  King's  Sergeant. 

[I  had  prepared  for  insertion  here  a  copious,  and  indeed  an  elaborate  account  of  the 
PniLLirrs  family,  who  from  their  long  and  honourable  connexion  with  the  County,  and 
particularly  with  the  Forest,  have  an  especial  claim  to  notice  in  these  pages,  but  want  of 
space  obliges  me  to  omit  it.  A  sketch  of  the  celebrated  poet,  Ambrose  Phillipps,  is  omitted 
for  the  same  reason.]  § 

An  anxiety  to  improve  and  adorn  the  estate,  and  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  large 
population  connected  with  it,  may  be  said  to  have  been  hereditary  in  the  Phillipps  family. 
Ambrose  Phillipps,  Esq.,  grandson  of  Sir  Ambrose,  called,  while  on  his  travels  in  Italy, 
"  The  handsome  Englishman,"  erected  the  tasteful  triumphal  arch  that  graces  the  Sheep- 
shed entrance,  and  also  the  obelisk  and  temple.  He,  too,  designed,  and  his  brother  Samuel 
erected,  the  chaste  garden-front,  which  has  been  so  generally  admired.  Sir  William 
Gordon,  K.G.,  who  mamed  the  widow  of  the  last-named  gentleman,  appears  to  have  treated 
the  fine  timber  of  the  estate  as  unsparingly  as  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  had  previously  done 
— in  the  Park  alone  he  felled  trees  that  realized  £'5000.  (and  in  other  parts  of  the  domain 
ii4,500.  more) ;  so  that  the  present  well  wooded  state  of  this  beautiful  Park  of  400  acres, 
is  a  matter  of  surprise  to  those  who  know  how  it  has  been  denuded. 

But  great  as  has  been  the  spirit  of  improvement  in  the  owners  of  Garendon,  it  was 
reserved  for  the  present  greatly  and  justly -esteemed  possessor,  Charles  March  Phillipps, 
Esq., II  to  add  the  crowning  grace,  by  the  addition  of  so  large  a  part  of  the  contiguous  Forest 
as  probably  to  have  doubled  both  the  value  and  beauty  of  the  domain.  H 

*  Jesse's  *'  Court  of  England.^' 

f  From  a  manuscript  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  intituled  "  Purchasers,  &c.,  of  the  Estates  of  the  Royalists,  in  the  years 

I651-I654."— iVicAote. 
J  The  Duke  is  said  to  have  delayed  the  execution  of  the  conveyance  till  he  had  cut  down  timber  to  the  amount  of 

£5000!— Sroy's  Tour. 

§  Their  descent  from  the  de  Lisles,  great  benefactors  to  the  Abbey,  is  a  coincidence  deserving  mention. 

II  Who  represented  the  Coimty  of  Leicester  in  several  Parliaments. 

H  Some  of  the  Chamwood  farms  belonging  to  the  Garendon  estate,  especially  those  called  The  Hurst  Farm  and 
Inglebury  Lodge,  respectively  occupied  by  Mr.  Cumberland  and  Mr.  Webster,  are  little  inferior  either  in  quality  or 
cultivation  to  the  best  farms  in  Leicestershire. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  187 

With  a  taste  and  judgment  that  cannot  be  too  much  admired,  ]\Ir.  ^larch  Phillipps  has 
formed  from  liis  Forest  Lodge  green  drives  of  some  miles  in  length,  extending  to  Five  Tree 
Hill  and  Xanpantan.  These,  winding  through  thriving  plantations  of  larciies,  laurels,  and 
rhododendrons,  amidst  most  picturesque  rocks,  and  formed  of  closely  shorn  Forest  turf, 
afford  a  luxury  unsurpassed  by  any  estate  in  the  kingdom. 

The  accompanying  sketch  of  Long  Cliff  is  taken  from  a  part  of  one  of  these  green  rides, 
and  may  serve  to  give  a  faint  idea  of  some  of  the  beauties  of  this  part  of  the  Forest;  but 
neither  the  pencil  nor  the  pen  can  adequately  describe  the  exquisite  distant  and  varied  pros- 
pects which,  through  the  vistas  of  these  line  plantations,*  are  constantly  presented  to  the  eye. 

Loughborough,  when  viewed  from  the  summit  of  Long  Clitf,  has  a  noble,  city-like 
appearance,  and  may  remind  the  spectator  of  the  loveliness  of  situation  ascribed  to  it  bv 
Camden,  from  the  circumstance  of  its  contiguity  to  the  Forest. t — From  this  point,  too,  the 
trains  of  the  Midland  Counties'  Railway  may  be  observed,  almost  uninterruptedly,  from 
Sileby  to  Derby,  and  form  a  pleasing  object  darting  across  the  grand  panorama. 

The  wonderful  changes  in  the  effects  of  the  Forest  landscapes,  caused  by  the  vaiiations 
of  the  atmosphere,  can  scarcely  have  failed  to  be  noticed  by  those  at  all  acquainted  with  the 
district.  These  changes,  during  March  and  April  of  the  last  year  (when  I  was  a  sojourner 
on  the  Forest),  were  so  striking  and  so  varied  as  often  to  fill  my  mind  with  perfect  astonish- 
ment !  At  one  period  a  fog,  acting  as  a  magnifier,  threw  an  uncertainty  and  even  a  witchery 
over  the  hills  that  were  singularly  pleasing.  At  another,  snow  might  be  observed  lying 
on  the  mountain  tops,  while  verdiu-e  and  warm  sunshine  cheered  the  valleys.  Then,  ap- 
pearances very  like  what  are  called  "  dissolving  views,"  would  present  themselves.  Often, 
the  mists  would  brood  on  the  steep  hill  sides,  while  the  peaks  were  gilded  with  the  risiuf 
or  setting  sun.  Again — the  peaks  were  hidden  in  a  cap  of  clouds,  while  the  slopes  and 
low  grounds  were  all  brightness. 

And  now  the  mists  from  earth  are  clouds  in  heaven  : 

Clouds  slowly  castellating  in  a  calm 

Sublimer  than  a  storm :  while  brighter  breathes 

O'er  the  whole  firmament  the  breadth  of  blue, 

Because  of  the  excessive  purity 

Of  all  those  hanging  snow-white  palaces.— H'n/so;!. 

The  rainbow,  always  more  grand  and  vivid  in  mountain  districts,  is  peculiarly  so  on 
Chamwood.  From  the  summit  of  Long  Cliff  I  noticed  one  of  such  extraordinary  brilliancy 
and  beauty  as  I  never  before  beheld ;  one  base  of  the  mighty  arch  (it  was  near  sunset)  rested 
like  a  pillar  of  fire  on  the  top  of  Buck  Hills,  while  the  other  shed  all  the  prismatic  colours, 
with  a  vividness  quite  new  to  me,  over  the  groves  of  Gareudon.  The  peculiar  purple  haze 
which  often  invests  the  Forest  hills  is  exceedingly  beautiful.     Nor  should  the  fem  fires 

•  The  Long  Cliff  Plantation  is  not  yet  of  twenty  years'  growth,  and  the  larches  are  not  inferior  to  those  of  an  equal  age 
in  the  celebrated  Forest  of  Athol. 

t  Nunc  veri)  secundum  locum  a  Leicestrii  inter  omnia  hujus  comitates  oppida  sibi  suo  jure  vindicat,  sive  amplitu- 
3inem,  sive  structuram,  sive  etiam  sylvarum  amoaiitatem  spectes;  sub  ipso  enim  Saltus  de  Charnwood  sive  Charley 
longe  expanditur. — Camden^  p.  389. 


188 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 


now,  alas !  becoming  yearly  a  greater  novelty — be  forgotten.  One  evening,  while  I  was 
making  some  astronomical  observations  from  the  top  of  Long  Cliff,  one  of  these  suddenly 
flashed  out  near  Whittle  Hill,  and,  almost  simultaneously,  another  on  Ives  Head.  The 
effect  was  extremely  fine ;  the  busy,  but  blameless  incendiaries,  were  plainly  discernible, 
and  presented  to  the  imagination  a  tolerable  jjicture  of  the  Persian  Fire-worshippers. 

The  Forest  air  seems  to  claim  some  notice. — No  person  can  visit  Charnwood  without 
immediately  becoming  sensible  that  he  is  in  a  fresher  and  purer  atmosphere  than  that  which 
surrounded  him  in  the  valleys.  Invalids  are  quickly  aware  of  the  bracing  effect  of  the 
Forest  breezes,  and  persons  affected  with  asthma  find  almost  instantaneous  relief.  What 
is  called  "  change  of  air"  may,  therefore,  be  enjoyed  by  the  inhabitants  of  Leicestershire 
without  going  out  of  the  county,  and  the  change  will  probably  be  found  as  great  and  as 
efficacious  as  a  removal  to  places  a  hundred  miles  distant. 

I  regret  that  I  neglected  to  make  observations  on  the  barometer  and  thermometer  during 
my  abode  on  Charnwood ;  neither  can  I  learn  that  any  person  has  so  carefully  done  this,  as 
to  furnish  any  data.  The  result,  I  am  persuaded,  would  greatly  tend  to  confirm  the  grow- 
ing opinion  of  the  extreme  salubrity  of  the  Forest. 

Near  Long  Cliff  is  the  hill  of  Nanpantan* — beneath  which  is  the  neat  Forest  cottage  of 
Thomas  Warner,  Esq.,  and  under  the  Buck-hills  is  that  of  William  Paget,  Esq.  The  Sweat- 
ing Tree,  which  created  a  great  sensation  a  few  centuries  ago,  stood  between  the  Outwoods 
and  the  Holy-well,  on  the  spot  now  occupied  by  Mr.  Giles's  cottage. 


The  following  lines  of  Bancroft,  a  Midland  County  Poet  of  the  seventeenth  century- 
omitted  in  their  proper  place — form  a  suitable  pendant  to  the  description  of  Grace  Dieu : — 


Gracedew,  that  vuider  Charnwood  stand'st  alone 

As  a  grand  relicke  of  Religion, 

I  reverence  thine  old  (but  fruitful)  worth, 

That  lately  brought  such  noble  Bcaumonts  forth, 

Whose  brave,  heroic  Muses,  must  aspire 

To  match  the  Anthems  of  the  Heavenly  quire. 


The  mountaines  crown'd  with  rocky  fortresses 
And  sheltering  woods  secure  thy  happinesse : 
Thou  highly  favour'd  art  (though  lowly  plac'd) 
Of  Heaven,  and  with  free  Nature's  bounty  grac'd 
Herein  grow  happier,  and  that  bliss  of  thine 
Nor  pride  o'ertop  nor  envy  undermine  1 


He  thus  addresses  the  surrounding  Forest : — 


Charnwood  !  if  all  thy  stones  were  turn'd  to  bread, 
(As  once  the  fiend  did  such  a  motion  make) 

It  would  be  more  than  ever  Xerxes  fed, 
Or  Tcnariffe  and  M\x\a.  both  could  bake ; 

And  hungry  Churles  that  rail  at  Souldiers 
Would  rend  up  Rock-bread  and  turn  Pioneers. 


•  It  deserves  to  be  recorded  as  a  singular  fact,  that  John  Cartwright,  Esq.,  caught  at  this  place,  in  1837,  two  sea 
birds,  seldom  seen  south  of  the  most  northern  part  of  Scotland,  whose  short  wings  and  heavy  body  would  incline  one 
to  doubt  the  possibility  of  their  arriving  so  far  inland.  Mr.  Churchill  Babington,  to  whom  Mr.  Cartwright  allowed 
me  to  send  one  of  them,  has  inserted  it  in  his  short  supplement  to  the  "  Ornithology  of  Charnwood  Forest." — (Se^ 
Appendix,  p.  7.3.) 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD.  189 

HOLY-WELL  HAW. 

(Hole-welle,  Haliwell,  Haliwella,  Halliwellhaga,  Huluvella.) 

A  little,  lowly  Hermitage  it  was, 

Down  in  a  dell,  hard  by  a  Forest  side. 
Far  from  resort  of  people  that  did  pass 

In  travel  to  and  fro  !     A  little  wide 
There  was  a  little  Chapel  edified. 

Wherein  the  Hermit  duly  went  to  say 
His  holy  things,  each  mom  and  even-tide; 

Thereby  a  crystal  stream  did  gently  play, 
Which  from  a  sacred  fountain  welled  forth  away. — Spenser. 

Holy-well  Haw,  ouce  a  lonely  little  Hermitage,  but  now  a  farm  house,  on  the  borders 
of  the  Forest,  derives  part  of  its  name  from  a  well,  to  the  waters  of  which,  even  in  recent 
times,  considerable  virtues  have  been  attributed.  The  adjunct  Haw,  which  the  reader  will 
have  frequently  noticed  in  these  pages,  simply  signifies  an  inclosure.*  The  precise  date  of 
the  foundation  has  not  been  clearly  ascertained ;  it  existed,  however,  as  a  Hermitage,  pre- 
viously to  1180,  as  appears  by  the  gi'ant  of  Robert  de  Jort,  by  whom  it  was,  perhaps,  origi- 
nally erected  as  a  sort  of  HospUium  for  wayfarers  crossing  the  Forest.f 

The  Garendon  Chartulary  says  "  Heremitorium  de  Halliwellhaga  dedit  nobis  Robertus 
de  Jort  et  decern  acras  terre  in  cauipo  de  Wymundewaldi." 

In  the  Testa  de  NeviU  the  Abbot  of  Garendon  is  said  to  have  held,  in  1-240,  "  unam 
vicariamj  [vaccariam]  cum  quodam  parvo  bosco:  et  appellatur  Haliwelle  Hawe  de  feodi 
Robert!  filii  David." 

"In  1326,"  says  JVIr.  Nichols  (Vol.  III.,  p.  12-2),  when  speaking  of  this  Hermitage,  "the 
Abbot  of  Rocester,  in  Dovedale,  obtained  leave  to  remove  the  Chapel  of  Holy-well  to  a 
Chantry  founded  in  the  Abbey  Church  at  Rocester  for  the  soul  of  Robert  Cotes  :§  and  it  was 
then  found  that  the  said  Abbot  held  a  virgate  of  land  in  Holy-well  for  the  use  of  the  said 
Chantry."     This  is  utterly  wrong,  as  may  at  once  be  seen  by  a  reference  to  Tanner's  Notitia, 

*  It  perhaps  literally  means  only  a  fence ;  and  hence  the  thom  most  used  Lq  fencing  is  termed  Aau'thom. 

t  Prfeterea  et  Heremitorium  de  Hallwell-haw  concessi  et  confirmavi  in  perpetuam  eleemosinam  ita  plenarie  in 
longitudine  et  latitudine  sicut  habuerunt  anno  Incamationis  MCLXXX.  Teste  Gilberto  de  Segrave,  &c.  Ranulph, 
Earl  of  Chester,  confirms  this  grant,  and  speaks  of  the  place  as  "  defeodo  meo  de  Haliwell-hac/d." — See  Chartulary. 

J  Nichols  (Vol.  III.,  Part  I.)  suggests  that  this  word  should  probably  be  "  ftercariam."  He  was  somewhat  nearer 
to  the  truth  than  the  Testa,  but  it  is  singular  that  he,  so  conversant  with  the  Garendon  Chartularies,  should  have  failed 
to  see  what  was  the  right  word.  "  Item  unam  vaccariam  que  vocatur  Haliwell  que  taxatur  ad  LVlIs.  Illlrf."  are  the 
words  of  one  of  his  own  extracts  from  that  source. 

§  It  was  probably  similarity  of  name  and  of  loneliness  of  situation  that  led  Mr.  Nichols  to  consider  that  Holy-well 
Haw  Hermitage  was  the  Chantry  founded  for  the  soul  of  Robert  Cotes  :  but  Tanner  is  quite  conclusive  to  the  con- 
trary, quoting  letters  patent  (19  Edward  II.,  p.  1,  m.  10).     "  Rex  concessit  abbati  de  Koucestre  in  Dovedale  quod 

ipse  capellam  de  Halywell  in  Com.  Waru-ic a  loco  illo  amovere  et  cantariam  pro  animabus  Roberti  de  Cotes 

et  Ricardi  Fylon  in  eSidem  capelli  dudiira  ordinatam  in  eccl.  convent,  ipsius  Abbatis  de  Roucestre  facere  et  susten- 
"tare."  And  under  Rocester  he  gives — "  Pro  Cantarii  Roberti  Cotes  et  Ricardi  Fitton  in  capelia  de  Halliwell  siti  in 
loco  solitario  et  periculoso  propter  latrones  super  regiam  stratam  de  Watling  Strele  transferendi  usque  ad  eccl.  conv. 
in  Roucester." 


190  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

under  Haly  Well  (p.  583)  and  Rocester  (p.  497),  where  it  plainly  appears  that  it  was  Haly 
Well,  in  Warwickshire,  whence  the  Chantry,  founded  there  for  the  souls  of  Robert  Cotes 
and  Richard  Fitton  (elsewhere  Fylon),  was  removed  to  the  Abbey  of  Rocester.  The  Chantry 
thus  removed  was  on  Watling  Street  (super  regiam  stratam  de  Watlyng  Strete),  and  not 
near  Charnwood. — Holy-well  Haw  is,  however,  mentioned  in  the  Garendon  Register  as 
hemgjuxtd  veterem  viam ;  called  also  via  Regia. — (See  p.  18,  and  the  notes  on  p.  189.) 

In  1330  it  a])pears  by  a  precept  from  King  Edward  HI.  to  the  Sheriff  of  the  county, 
that  the  Abbot  of  Leicester  had  purchased,  in  13-29,  from  Henry,  Lord  Beaumont,  a  certain 
parcel  of  wood  in  Holy-well  Haw,  for  which  the  Abbot  had  paid  £-28.  to  the  said  Lord 
before  his  having  entered  into  rebellion :  and  the  same  having  been  seized  by  the  King  on 
account  of  the  attainder,  the  Sheriff  was  directed  to  restore  it  to  the  Abbot. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  neighbouring  Hermitage  of  Alderman  Haw,  it  is  not  ascertained 
at  what  period  this  Hermitage  ceased  to  have  any  resident  Monks ;  it  appears,  however, 
from  the  Garendon  Register,  that  it  had  long  before  the  Dissolution  been  used  as  a  Vaccary. 

The  Hermitage  is  now  a  part  of  the  possessions  of  Charles  March  Phillipps,  Esq.  A 
Gothic  doorway  and  a  few  other  portions  of  ancient  building  appear  to  be  remains  of  the 
original  fabric.  The  Holy-well  still  sends  forth  its  most  pellucid  waters  as  in  the  days 
when  it  was  regarded  as  a  Bethesda.  The  whole  scene  is  singularly  quiet  and  beautiful ; 
Spenser's  lines,  indeed,  most  accurately  describe  it. 

I  gleaned  the  leading  parts  of  the  following  Legend  of  Holy  Well  from  an  aged  person 
at  Whitwick,  where  the  name  of  Comyn,  as  connected  with  the  ancient  Castle  of  that  place, 
"  a  matter  of  five  hundred  years  ago,"  is  still  mentioned.  The  popular  idea  seems  to  be, 
that  the  Comyns  were  great  giants.  One  of  them,  said  my  informant,  attempted  to  carry  off 
one  of  the  Ladies  of  Groby  Castle,  who  left  that  place  for  security,  intending  to  take  sanc- 
tuary at  Grace  Dieu.  Going,  however,  by  a  circuitous  route,  to  avoid  Charley  and  Whit- 
wick, she  was  benighted,  and  would  have  perished  in  the  Outwoods,  but  for  one  of  the  Monks 
of  the  Holy  Well.  The  anachronisms  and  violations  of  history  occumng  in  the  narrative 
need  not  be  pointed  out  to  the  intelligent  reader.  There  is,  however,  as  observed  below, 
some  truth  mixed  up  with  what  is  evidentlj'  fabulous.  The  tradition  may,  in  fact,  have 
arisen  from  Douglas's  carrying  of!"  Eleanor  Ferrars. — (See  under  Groby  and  Charley.) 

I  may  be  permitted  here  to  express  a  hope  that  the  "  legendary  lore"  with  which  I  have 
occasionally  endeavoured  to  relieve  these  pages,  may  not,  in  any  way,  lead  the  reader  to 
attach  less  importance  to  statements  professedly  historical.  It  seemed  hardly  right,  indeed, 
that  the  topographer  should  leave  wholly  unnoticed  all  matter  of  a  merely  traditionary 
nature ;  partly  because  of  the  portion  of  truth  frequently  mingled  with  these  tales,  and 
partly  because  they  may  be  considered  as  somewhat  characteristic  of  the  Forest  peasantry. 

A  popular  writer,  Mr.  Featherstone,  in  his  "  Legends  of  Leicester,"  has  introduced,  with 
good  effect,  some  of  the  traditions  of  Charnwood,  and  a  series  of  "Legends  of  the  Forest" 
formed  the  leading  Chapters  of  the  London  Magazine  in  1825,*  but  those  which  are  given 
in  these  pages  have  not  before  appeared  in  print. 

*  One  of  these,  entitled  "The  Archer  of  Ulvescroft,"  was  obligingly  forwarded  tome  by  a  stranger  (I  presume 
the  author),  through  the  hands  of  Mr.  Moore.  It  is  so  interesting,  that  nothing  but  its  having  previously  been  pub- 
lished couid  justify  my  omitting  it. 


PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 


191 


LEGEND  OF 

The  oaks  of  the  Forest  were  Autumn-tiiiged, 
And  the  winds  were  at  sport  with  their  leaves, 

When  a  Maiden  traversed  the  rugged  rocks 
That  frown  over  Woodhouse  Eaves. 

The  rain  fell  fast — she  heeded  it  not — 

Though  no  hut  or  home  appears ; 
She  scarcely  knew  if  the  falling  drops 

Were  rain-drops  or  her  tears. 
Onward  she  hied  through  the  Oktwoods  dark — 

(And  the  Outwoods  were  darker  then  :) 
She  feared  not  the  Forest's  deep'ning  gloom — 

She  feared  unholy  men. 
Lord  Comyn's  scouts  were  in  close  pursuit, 

For  Lord  Comyn  the  Maid  had  seen, 
And  had  marked  her  mother's  only  child 

For  his  paramour,  I  ween. 

A  whistle,  a  whoop,  from  the  Buyk  Hylls'  side. 

Told  Agnes  her  foes  were  nigh  : 
And,  screened  by  the  cleft  of  an  aged  oak, 

She  heard  quick  steps  pass  by. 
Dark  and  dread  fell  that  Autumn  night : 

The  wind-gusts  fitful  blew  ; 
The  thunder  rattled  : — the  lightning's  glare 

Showed  Beacon's  crags  to  view. 

The  thunder  neared — the  lightning  played 

Around  that  sheltering  oak ; 
But  Agnes,  of  men,  not  God  afraid, 

Shrank  not  at  the  lightning's  stroke  ! 
The  thunder  passed — the  silvery  moon 

Burst  forth  from  her  cave  of  cloud, 
And  showed  in  the  glen  "red  Comyn's"  men. 

And  she  breathed  a  prayer  aloud : — 

"  Maiden  mother  of  God !  look  down — 

List  to  a  maiden's  prayer : 
Keep  undefiled  my  mother's  sole  child — 

The  spotless  are  thy  care."     »  »   »  ♦  * 
The  sun  had  not  glinted  on  Beacon  Hill 

Ere  the  Hermit  of  Holy  Well 
Went  forth  to  pray,  as  his  wont  each  day. 

At  the  Cross  in  Fayre-oke  dell. 
Ten  steps  had  he  gone  from  the  green  grassy  moimd 

Still  hemming  the  Holy  Well  Haw, 
When,  stretched  on  the  grass — by  the  path  he  must  pass- 

A  statue-like  form  he  saw  ! 
He  crossed  himself  once,  he  crossed  himself  twice. 

And  he  knelt  by  the  corse  in  prayer : 
"  Jesu  Maria !  cold  as  ice — 

Cold — cold — but  still  how  fair !" 


THE  HOLY  WELL. 

The  Hermit  upraised  the  stiffened  form. 

And  he  bore  to  the  Holy  Well : 
Three  Paters  or  more  he  muttered  o'er. 

And  he  filled  his  scallop  shell. 
He  sprinkled  the  lymph  on  the  Maiden's  face, 

And  he  knelt  and  he  prayed  at  her  side — 
Not  a  minute's  space  had  he  gazed  on  her  face 

Ere  signs  of  life  he  spied.     •  »  •  »  » 
Spring  had  invested  the  Charnwood  oaks 

With  their  robe  of  glist'ning  green, 
When  on  palfreys  borne,  one  smiling  mom, 

At  the  Holy  Well  Haw  were  seen 

A  youth  and  a  Lady,  passing  fair, 

Who  asked  for  the  scallop  shell ; 
A  sparkling  draught  each  freely  quaffed. 

And  they  blessed  the  Holy  Well. 
They  blessed  that  Well,  and  they  fervently  blessed 

The  holy  Hermit  too ; 
To  that  and  to  him  they  filled  to  the  brim 

The  scallop,  and  drank  anew. 
"  Thanks,  Father !  thanks !— To  this  Well  and  thee," 

Said  the  youth,  "but  to  Heav'n  most, 
I  owe  the  life  of  the  fairest  wife 

That  Charnwood's  bounds  can  boast. 
The  blushing  bride  thou  seest  at  my  side, 

(Three  hours  ago  made  mine) 
Is  she  who  from  death  was  restored  to  breath 

By  Heav'n's  own  hand  and  thine. 
The  Prior  of  Ulvescroft  made  us  one, 

And  we  hastened  here  to  tell 
How  much  we  owe  to  kind  Heav'n  and  thee, 

For  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Well. 
In  proof  of  which — to  the  Holy  Well  Haw 

I  give,  as  a  votive  gift, 
From  year  to  year  three  fallow  deer. 

And  the  right  of  the  Challenge  drift. 
I  give,  besides,  of  land  two  hides. 

To  be  marked  from  the  Breedon  Brand : 
To  be  held  while  men  draw  from  the  Well  in  this  Haw 

A  draught  with  the  hollow  hand." 
The  Hermit  knelt,  and  the  Hermit  rose, 

And  breathed  "Benedicite" — 
"  And  tell  me,"  he  said,  with  a  hand  on  each  head, 

"  What  Heav'n-sent  pair  I  see  ?" 
"  This  is  the  lost  de  Ferrars'  child. 

Who  dwelt  at  the  Steward's  Hay ; 
And,  Father,  my  name — yet  unknown  to  fame — 

Is  simply  Edward  Grey." 


192  PAROCHIAL  HISTORY  OF  CHARNWOOD. 

CONCLUSION. 

With  Holy  Well  Haw  the  reader  is  brought  to  the  point  from  which  the  circuit  of  the 
Forest,  adopted  in  the  Parochial  History,  commenced ;  and  also  to  the  close  of  the  bodj'  of 
the  work ;  and  however  distrustful  of  the  reception  of  my  own  portion  of  these  labours,  I 
can  refer  him  to  the  contributions  of  those  gentlemen  with  whom  it  is  my  pride  to  have  my 
name  associated,  in  the  full  confidence  that  the  Appendix  will  be  regarded  as  a  valuable 
accession  to  the  sciences  of  which  it  treats. 

Should  the  historical  part  of  the  book  be  considered  too  diffuse  on  some  points,  and  too 
barren  on  others,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  records  of  the  Forest,  as  a  Forest,  are, 
unfortunately,  extremely  scanty  and  unsatisfactory ;  while  it  may  fearlessly  be  asserted,  that 
no  county  district  of  equal  extent  has,  connected  with  it,  such  an  extraordinary  array  of 
names  of  high  historical  interest.  This  consideration  will  at  once  account  for  the  seemingly 
undue  preponderance  of  biographical  matter.  Indeed,  I  could  scarcely,  with  clearness, 
have  been  less  prolix  on  some  of  the  remarkable  characters  introduced :  particularly  on 

"  her  most  gentle — most  unfortunate : 
Crowned  but  to  die — who  in  her  chamber  sate 
Musing  with  Plato,  though  the  horn  was  blown 
And  every  ear  and  every  heart  was  won, 
And  all,  in  green  array,  were  chasing  down  the  sun !" 

It  would  have  been  gratifying  to  be  able  to  adduce  historical  proof  of  some  points  which 
now  rest  on  conjecture  or  tradition — but  my  inability  to  do  this  did  not  appear  to  warrant 
the  suppression  of  all  matter  of  this  nature. 

The  reader  will  have  been  enabled,  it  is  hoped,  to  draw  from  the  copious  details  pre- 
sented to  him,  a  tolerably  correct  idea  of  the  Forest,  both  in  remote  and  recent  times.  To 
those  acquainted  with  the  locality  it  will  have  required  but  little  exertion  of  the  imagination 
to  picture  what  it  must  have  been  in  the  times  when  it  was  a  part  of  the  Great  Forest  of 
Arden :  or  in  those  times  when  our  Kings,  and  the  Earls  of  Chester  and  Leicester,  the  Fer- 
rars,  the  Comyns,  the  Beaumonts,  the  Hastings,  and  the  Greys,  found  in  its  recesses  some 
compensation  for  the  absence  of  the  one  sole  more  exciting  scene — the  battle  field. 

The  gradual  decay  of  the  sylvan  honours  of  the  Forest  will  have  been  gleaned  from  the 
\\liole  work,  rather  than  from  any  separate  chapter. 


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APPENDIX. 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


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APPENDIX. 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


The  centre  of  England  is  occupied  by  a  wide  and  fertile  plain,  stretching  through  the 
counties  of  Nottingham,  Leicester,  South  Derby,  Warwick,  Worcester,  Stafford,  North  Shropshire, 
and  Cheshire.  This  plain  appears  such  only  when  viewed  on  a  large  scale;  its  surface  is  not 
absolutely  flat,  but  slightly  undulated  into  long  sweeping  ridges  and  gentle  slopes,  never  rising 
or  falling  much  from  a  certain  mean  level,  and  presenting,  when  viewed  from  a  moderate  height, 
a  plain  horizon.  Rising  from  this  plain  are  several  detached  ranges  or  clusters  of  small  hills  or 
elevated  grounds :  of  these  the  hills  around  Dudley,  those  south  of  Atherton,  and  Charnwood 
Forest,  are  the  most  remarkable.  Charnwood  Forest  lies  between  the  three  towns  of  Leicester, 
Ashby-de-la-Zouch,  and  Loughborough.  It  comprises  a  cluster  of  hills  which  rise  boldly,  although 
to  no  great  elevation,  above  the  surrounding  country,  having  well-marked  features,  not  only  con- 
trasting it  with  the  adjacent  plain,  but  differing  one  from  tbe  other.  We  should,  without  any 
previous  knowledge  of  its  structure,  distinguish  the  rounded  and  massive  forms  of  its  sienitic  hills, 
from  the  lighter  and  more  delicate  outline  of  the  slates,  and  these  from  the  rough  and  craggy 
ridges  bristling  with  rocks  of  the  porphyries  and  greenstones.  Its  aspect,  therefore,  alone,  is  suffi- 
cient to  assure  the  geologist  that  he  will  find  something  in  it  of  interest,  since  he  knows  that  every 
feature  and  outline  of  the  surface  of  the  earth,  depends  either  on  the  nature  of  the  rock  within  or  the 
conditions  under  which  it  has  been  placed,  both  of  which  things  it  is  his  object  and  hope  to  dis- 
cover. To  the  geological  student,  indeed,  especially  to  one  who  has  never  studied  the  lower  or 
older  rocks,  the  district  of  Charnwood  Forest  offers  peculiar  advantages;  he  here  gets,  within  a 
small  space,  a  sufficient  number  of  the  most  striking  characters  of  the  slate  rocks  and  their  asso- 
ciates, neatly  exposed  and  arranged,  without  being  overwhelmed  by  the  accumulated  difficulties 
and  novelties  of  the  larger  and  loftier  districts  of  Wales,  Cumberland,  or  Cornwall. 

The  physical  geography  of  Charnwood  Forest  is  seen  by  a  glance  at  the  ordnance  map  of  the 
district;  it  consists  of  some  ranges  of  low  hills,  running  nearly  N.  N.  W.  and  S.  S.  E.,  and  some 
detached  or  projecting  masses.  The  two  highest  points  are  Bardon  Hill  and  Beacon  Hill,  each 
of  which  rises  about  eight  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  sea,  and  about  seven  hundred  above  the 
level  of  the  Soar,  at  Leicester.  The  general  level  of  the  surrounding  country  is  about  two  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  Soar;  so  that  on  approaching  the  boundaries  of  the  Forest,  the  sensible  height 
of  its  two  highest  points  is  about  five  hundred  feet.  This  will  not  apply,  however,  to  Bardon  Hill, 
as  viewed  from  the  Ashby-de-la-Zouch  side;  the  coal  field  of  that  neighbourhood  is  also  above  the 
general  level  of  the  surrounding  country,  and  Bardon  Hill  only  rises  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  railway  at  Snibston. 

Charnwood  Forest  forms  a  small  centre  of  drainage,  the  brooks  running  every  way  from  it;  all 
of  them,  however,  fall  into  the  Soar,  with  the  exception  of  those  on  the  flanks  of  Bardon  Hill, 
which  run  into  the  Sence,  and  thence  into  the  Anker.  As  both  the  Anker  and  the  Sence,  how- 
ever, flow  into  the  Trent,  the  whole  must  be  included  within  the  basin  of  drainage  of  that  river. 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FORMATIONS. 

The  oreological  structure  of  the  district  is  rather  more  complicated,  and  presents  greater  variety, 
than  might  be  expected  from  its  small  extent.     It  comprehends  the  following  formations: — 

Aqueous  Rocks. 

1.  Lias. 

2.  New  red  sandstone. 

3.  Coal  measures. 

4.  Mountain  limestone. 
6.  Slate  rocks. 

Igneous  Rocks. 

1.  Sienite. 

2.  Porphyry,  greenstone,  and  their  varieties. 

AQUEOUS  ROCKS. 

1.  Lias. — Of  this  large  and  important  formation,  so  conspicuous  a  feature  in  the  geology  of 
England,  the  base  or  lowest  part  only  is  seen  in  our  district ;  it  consists  of  alternations  of  thin 
beds  of  light-coloured  limestone,  with  beds  of  dark  blue  laminated  clay,  or  shale.  The  following 
sections  of  quarries  at  Barrow-upon-Soar,  and  the  village  of  Hoton,  will  give  a  good  idea  of  its 
character : — 


HOTON. 

/  Limestone ....   8 

1.  Raffle  I  Shale 10 

'  Limestone 8 

2.  Shale 

3.  Top  floor,  limestone    

4.  Shale 

5.  Hurs,  coarse  limestone  .... 

6.  Shale 

7 .  Pockey,  granular  limestone 

8.  Shale , 

9.  Little  floor,  limestone 

10.  Shale 

11.  Bottom  floor,  bluestone,  flintstone,  blue  lime 

stone 


fl. 

?, 

2 

0 
6 
0 
10 
0 
8 
2 
3 
6 

6 

8 

0 

4 

0 

.3 

n 

n 

0 

1 

e- 
1 

20 

BARROW. 


/'. 


1.  Shale 6  0 

2.  Rummels,  limestone 1  0 

3.  Dark  shale 4  0 

4.  Limestone 0  6 

5.  Shale 1  0 

6.  Limestone 0  8 

7.  Shale 1  2 

8.  Limestone 0  5 

9.  Shale 1  6 

10.  Limestone  0  9 

11.  Shale 4  0 

12.  Limestone 0  6 

13.  Shale 7  0 

14.  White  hurls,  limestone   1  0 

28  6 


It  will  be  perceived  that  these  sections,  while  preserving  a  general  resemblance,  have  not  an  abso- 
lute uniformity.  The  beds  of  limestone  thin  out  and  come  in  again  in  various  directions,  so  as  to 
vary  both  in  number  and  thickness,  and  in  the  thickness  of  the  beds  of  shale  between  them.  The 
limestone  of  Barrow  is  celebrated  for  its  quality  of  setting  under  water,  and  is  largely  exported. 
It  is  also  well  known  for  the  abundance  and  beauty  of  the  fossil  fish  and  ichthyosauri  which  have 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  5 

been  found  in  it,  a  collection  of  which  is  generally  kept  on  sale  by  Mr.  Lee,  of  that  place. 
Various  other  points  along  the  line  of  the  limestones  are  likewise  rich  in  organic  remains  (more 
especially  Corllingstock,  I  believe),  and,  were  they  examined  by  persons  residing  on  the  spot, 
would  no  doubt  richly  repay  their  trouble. 

2.  New  red  sandstone. — Immediately  below  the  lias  are  found  beds  of  red  marl,  generally 
spotted  and  streaked  with  white,  or  pale  green.  These  marls  frequently  contain  beds  of  sofl 
sandstone,  of  the  same  colours,  and  some  beds  of  a  conglomerate  of  small  pebbles.  In  the  upper 
parts,  however,  the  beds  are  almost  entirely  marl ;  and  at  a  probable  depth  of  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  or  two  hundred  feet  below  the  lias,  a  great  quantity  of  gypsum  is  found.  This  gypsum 
is  nearly  continuous,  if  not  quite,  from  Leicester,  by  Syston,  to  Burton  Bandals,  near  Loughbo- 
rough ;  it  occurs  generally  in  the  state  of  a  compact  white  amorphous  sulphate  of  lime,  lying  in 
one  or  two  thick  beds.  In  the  marls  above  and  below  these  beds  are  found  many  large  nodular 
blocks  of  gypsum,  and  almost  innumerable  veins  traversing  the  beds  in  every  direction,  and  being 
frequently  fibrous  and  crystalline.  Some  distance  below  the  gypsum  the  marls  become  more 
scarce,  and  give  place  to  the  sandstones,  w  hich  gradually  pass  down  into  a  mass  of  light  greenish 
brown  sandstone,  that  forms  the  Dane  Hills,  near  Leicester.  Below  this  are  more  red  sandstones 
and  conglomerates,  with  occasional  beds  of  marl.  How  far  the  upper  portion  of  the  new  red 
sandstone  of  England  can  ever  be  divided  according  to  the  analogies  of  the  formation  in  Germany 
is  at  present  uncertain,  and  the  neighbourhood  of  Charnwood  Forest  does  not  seem  likely  to  throw- 
light  on  the  question  ;  for  our  purposes,  at  all  events,  it  is  best  to  consider  it  as  one  continuous  and 
coherent  mass,  the  upper  part  of  which  is  the  most  abundant  in  clay,  the  lower  the  most  arena- 
ceous. The  thickness  of  the  whole  formation  is  an  important  practical  question,  which  it  will  be 
best  to  consider  hereafter. 

3.  Coal  measures. — This  important  and  valuable  formation  consists  of  an  alternation  of  indu- 
rated clays  and  sandstones  with  beds  of  coal.  The  character  of  these  three  materials  continually 
varies.  The  argillaceous  parts  are  sometimes  in  the  state  of  soft,  unctuous  potter's  clay,  some- 
times sandy  and  laminated,  when  they  are  called  shale,  sometimes  hard  and  compact,  when  they 
are  denominated  "clunch,"  or  "bind,"  sometimes  light-coloured,  or  even  white,  and  sometimes 
black,  and  sufficiently  bituminous  to  burn  sluggishly.  They  often  contain  balls,  or  thin  seams  of 
ironstone,  consisting  principally  of  carbonate  of  iron.  The  sandstones  vary  from  a  sofl  earthy  rock 
to  a  hard  gritstone,  composed  of  quartz  pebbles ;  and  the  coals,  from  a  drossy  bituminous  shale, 
called  batt,  to  soft,  tender,  or  sulphureous  coal,  hard  bright  stone  coal  of  good  quality,  or  in  some 
instances,  even  cannel  coal.  The  argillaceous  portions,  principally  indurated  clay,  are  by  far  the 
most  abundant  material;  next  in  abundance  come  the  sandstones;  and  at  different  distances 
between  the  alternating  beds  of  these  two,  lie  the  thin  seams  of  coal.  In  the  deep  sinking,  at  Moira 
colliery,  a  detailed  section  of  which  is  given  by  Mr.  Mammatt,  in  his  "  Geological  Facts  of  the 
Ashby  Coal  Field,"  the  coal  measures  were  pierced  by  a  shaft  to  the  depth  of  one  thousand  and 
forty  feet,  and  by  boring,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  farther.  The  following  is  an  analysis 
of  the  section  : — The  total  number  of  beds,  of  all  substances,  passed  through  in  one  thousand  and 
eleven  feet,  is  four  hundred.  Of  these,  forty-one  are  coal,  many  very  thin  ;  about  twenty  sand- 
stone, chiefly  thick ;  and  the  rest  clay,  shale,  clunch,  or  bind,  with  occasional  thin  seams  of  iron- 
stone. Of  the  beds  of  coal,  the  main  coal  has  a  thickness  of  fourteen  feet;  another  bed  has  a 
thickness  of  four  or  five  feet;  thirteen  beds  have  a  thickness  of  two  or  three  feet;  eleven  are  only 
from  one  to  nine  inches  in  thickness,  and  the  remainder  are  between  one  and  two  feet.  Below  the 
main  coal  five  beds  have  been  bored  through,  one  of  which  was  six  feet  thick  and  the  rest  about 


6  GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

three :  making  a  total  number  of  forty-six  beds  of  coal,  with  an  aggregate  thickness  of  one  hundred 
feet.  The  hard  sandstones  are  some  of  them  twenty  or  thirty  feet  thick,  but  are  very  variable  in 
extent,  being  much  more  abundant  in  some  places  than  others;  their  aggregate  thickness  in  the 
deep  sinking,  before  mentioned,  being  not  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  We  thus  get  a 
thickness  of  one  thousand  feet  of  argillaceous  matter,  with  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two 
hundred  feet  of  arenaceous  beds,  distributed  about  it  in  irregular  cakes  and  patches,  and  one  hun- 
dred feet  of  carbonaceous  matter,  in  thin  and  regular  seams.  It  is  deserving  of  notice,  that  the 
beds  of  coal,  although  they  alter  their  thickness  and  quality  in  different  localities,  are  yet  much 
more  persistent  than  the  shales,  and  these  than  the  sandstones;  moreover,  the  irregularities  in  the 
beds  of  coal  do  not  seem  to  have  originated  in  themselves,  but  to  have  been  produced  in  them  by 
irregularities  in  the  deposition  of  the  other  materials.  Thus,  a  bed  of  coal  three  or  four  feet  thick 
in  one  place,  is  split  up  in  another  into  two  or  three  beds,  of  one  or  two  feet  in  thickness,  by  the 
intervention  of  bands  of  shale,  which,  though  extremely  thin  at  first,  insensibly  thicken  till  they 
remove  the  beds  of  coal  to  considerable  distances  apart,  or  even  obliterate  one  or  other  of  them 
entirely.  Again,  the  difference  in  the  thickness  of  the  beds  of  coal  is  frequently  apparent  rather 
than  real ;  as  the  main,  or  fourteen  feet  coal,  is  in  fact  made  up  of  several  beds,  which  rest  one  on 
the  other,  without  the  intervention  of  shale  or  sandstone.  All  these  circumstances  are  highly  in- 
structive, when  we  come  to  speculate  on  the  origin  of  the  coal  measures.  The  shales  and  sand- 
stones contain  a  great  abundance  of  fragments  of  various  plants  ;  of  these,  Mr.  Mammatt  gives 
nearly  a  hundred  plates  in  his  work  before  mentioned  :  to  which,  and  to  Lindley  and  Hutton's 
Fossil  Flora,  the  reader  is  referred  for  their  descriptions.  Those  figured  by  Mr.  Mammatt  are 
chiefly  stigmaria,  sigillaria,  calamites,  lepidodendron,  and  ferns. 

4.  Mountain  limestone. — The  mountain  limestone  of  this  district  puts  on  very  various  aspects, 
differing  both  from  the  general  character  of  the  mountain  limestone  of  F,ngland,  and  from  itself, 
in  different  quarries.  It  is  sometimes  a  hard  blue  limestone,  nearly  pure  carbonate  of  lime,  in 
thick  regular  beds  ;  sometimes  the  beds  are  separated  by  partings  of  shale,  and  the  limestone  be- 
comes nodular  and  concretionary.  Again,  it  contains  in  some  places  so  much  carbonate  of  mag- 
nesia, as  to  become  a  yellow  subcrystalline  magnesian  limestone  ;  and  lastly,  in  Gracedieu  quar- 
ries, it  in  some  places  loses  altogether  the  character  of  a  limestone,  and  becomes  a  blotchy  red  and 
yellow  sandy  and  indurated  marl,  called  by  the  quarrymen  "  dirt."  This  variable  character  joins 
with  other  circumstances  to  show  the  debased  condition  of  the  formation,  that  it  is  here  approach- 
ing its  original  boundary,  and  on  the  point  of  disappearing  altogether ;  it  is  still,  however,  the 
representative  of  the  true  mountain  limestone,  and  contains  the  crinoidea,  producta,  enomphalus, 
and  various  fossils  of  that  formation,  and  of  no  other.  Its  appearing  in  the  state  of  magnesian 
limestone  is  by  no  means  an  uncommon  occurrence,  since  even  in  the  heart  of  Derbyshire,  and  in 
Yorkshire,  large  beds  of  magnesian  limestone  are  found,  forming  an  integral  portion  of  the  moun- 
tain limestone,  and  surrounded  by  beds  composed  only  of  carbonate  of  lime.  Wherever  this  is 
the  case,  the  fossils  are  almost  always  found  in  the  state  of  casts,  as  they  appear  at  Breedon ;  the 
shell  having  disappeared,  and  its  external  and  internal  form  alone  remaining  in  the  rock. 

5.  The  slate  rocks. — To  this  formation  we  forbear  applying  any  particular  term  ;  because, 
although  from  its  mineral  character  it  appears  analagous  to  the  Cambrian  rocks  of  Professor  Sedg- 
wick, we  have  no  other  evidence  by  wliich  to  class  it.  In  the  present  state  of  geological  science, 
when  our  ideas  regarding  the  older  rocks  have  undergone  such  a  revolution,  and  our  knowledge  of 
them  has  so  much  increased — when  Cornwall,  for  instance,  once  considered  the  only  "primitive" 
district  of  England,  is  found  to  contain  nothing  older  than  the  old  red  sandstone,  it  would  be  highly 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  7 

injudicious  to  depend  on  mere  mineral  character  as  conclusive  as  to  the  age  of  the  slates  of  Cham- 
wood.  No  organic  remains  have  as  yet  been  discovered  in  them,  and  their  entire  isolation  from 
their  congeners,  precludes  our  having  recourse  to  the  best  of  all  evidence,  that  of  superposition  ; 
it  is  therefore  uncertain  whether  they  belong  to  the  Devonian,  Silurian,  or  Cambrian  systems,  the 
probability  only  being  in  favour  of  the  latter. 

The  slate  rocks  of  Charnwood  vary  from  a  coarse  grey  wacke  conglomerate  to  fine-grained  roofing 
slate.  The  rock  called  greywacke  consists  of  a  dark-coloured  highly  indurated  clay,  containing 
small  pebbles  or  fragments  of  crystalline  rocks,  firmly  aggregated  together.  It  is  evidently  a  me- 
chanically-formed rock,  the  result  of  the  wearing  down  of  previously-existing  crystalline  rocks  by 
the  action  of  water,  and  the  deposition  of  the  debris  or  fragments  in  that  fluid.  In  the  production 
of  the  finer-grained  slates,  the  same  process  has  gone  on  to  a  greater  extent ;  the  particles  having 
been  worn  down  into  the  finest  mud  before  they  were  finally  deposited.  It  is  perfectly  possible, 
and  highly  probable,  that  volcanic  eruptions  may  have  taken  place  in  the  bed  of  the  seas  in  which 
the  slates  were  formed,  and  their  accumulation  have  been  thus  assisted  in  two  ways ;  namely,  by  the 
actual  ejection  of  volcanic  dust  and  ashes  and  lava  into  the  water,  and  the  rending  and  shatterino- 
of  the  older  rocks  making  them  an  easier  prey  to  the  action  of  the  currents.  But  whatever  may  have 
been  the  source  from  which  the  materials  were  derived,  we  see  that  their  original  arrangement  and 
deposition  was  a  purely  mechanical  process ;  the  particles  being  strewn  out  in  regular  layers,  one 
above  the  other,  according  to  their  relative  specific  gravities  and  other  circumstances.  This  is  often 
perceptible  even  in  hand  specimens  of  slate  rock.  We  can  see  bands  of  different  texture  traversing 
the  rock,  alternately  with  and  passing  into  one  another  by  imperceptible  gradations,  but  always 
preserving  the  same  straight  lines  and  the  same  relative  distances,  and  being  evidently  the  result  of 
the  tranquil  deposition  in  water  of  coarse  particles  at  one  time  and  fine  at  another,  with  every  gra- 
dation between  the  two.  This  is  just  what  we  observe  in  most  stratified  rocks,  and  it  generally  forms 
the  grain  or  bedding  of  the  rock  along  which  it  splits  most  easily,  precisely  from  the  circumstance 
of  there  being  less  mutual  coherence  in  the  particles  deposited  at  different  times,  and  forming  dif- 
ferent layers,  however  short  the  interval  between  each,  than  in  those  deposited  at  the  same  time, 
which  form  one  layer.  In  slate  rocks,  however,  we  are  struck  by  the  circumstance  that,  although  the 
grain  of  the  rock  and  the  lines  of  deposition  are  distinctly  visible,  there  is  no  longer  any  tendency 
to  split  in  their  direction  ;  but  on  the  contrary,  in  some  other,  transverse,  and  often  at  right  angles 
to  them.  This  tendency  to  split  is  called  "cleavage,"  and  is  entirely  independent  of  the  original 
bedding  and  structure  of  the  rock ;  sometimes  coinciding  with  the  stratification,  sometimes  as 
widely  as  possible  apart  from  it.  Not  only  is  it  independent  of  the  stratification  of  the  rocks,  but 
of  their  position,  preserving  often  the  same  angle  with  the  horizon  and  bearing  of  the  compass 
through  large  districts  and  great  mountain  masses,  in  which  the  beds  incline  at  various  angles  and 
in  various  directions ;  sometimes,  on  the  contrary,  changing  its  angle  or  bearing,  while  that  of  the 
beds  remains  the  same.  It  is  most  strikingly  developed  in  the  finest-grained  beds,  which  can  be 
split  along  its  direction,  sometimes  to  almost  any  degree  of  thinness,  while  the  coarse-grained  beds 
split  indeed  only  in  that  direction  but  rudely  and  roughly,  forming  coarse  slabs.  In  some  of  the 
quarries  in  which  fine  slate  is  got,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  detect  the  original  bedding  of  the  rock, 
except  by  observing  the  light-coloured  marks  or  bands  which  may  be  seen  on  an  old  and  weathered 
face  of  the  quarry,  and  which  are  sometimes  so  faint  as  to  require  particular  lights  to  detect  them. 
In  other  parts,  where  the  variations  in  texture  are  more  marked,  alternations  of  variously-coloured 
stripes  of  purple,  blue,  green,  or  white,  frequently  not  more  than  an  inch  wide,  and  perfectly 
parallel  to  each  other,  are  perceptible  at  first  sight,  and  at  considerable  distances  ;   these  are  tech- 


8  GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

nically  called  "the  stripe, "  and  always  give  the  true  bedding  and  dip  of  the  rock,  and  are  often 
discernible  on  weathered  surfaces,  even  through  the  coat  of  lichens  with  which  they  are  covered. 
Associated  with  the  regular  greywacke  and  clay  slate  of  Charnwood  Forest,  we  have  flinty  slate,  a 
hard,  smooth,  fine-grained  rock,  containing  much  silicious  earth,  ringing  with  a  metallic  sound, 
and  rarely  cleavable  into  thin  slate  ;  and  also  quartz  rock,  a  pale  grey  or  yellowish  brown,  finely 
granular  rock,  rarely  if  ever  traversed  by  a  true  cleavage,  but  split  up  in  various  directions,  by 
minute  joints,  and  breaking  into  rude  cubes  or  prisms,  having  a  deep  red  external  surface. 

IGNEOUS  ROCKS. 

1.  Sienife.— This  rock  consists  of  a  congeries  of  imperfectly  developed  crystals  of  quartz  and 
feldspar,  with  or  without  hornblende,  mutually  imbedded  in  and  intertangled  with  one  another. 
It  is  usually  of  a  pink  or  reddish  brown  colour,  from  the  colour  of  the  feldspar,  but  it  assumes 
many  hues  and  varieties  both  of  texture  and  other  characters.  It  contains,  occasionally,  a  few 
specks  of  mica,  when  the  rock  becomes  a  true  granite. 

2.  Porphyry. — If  one  of  the  mineral  constituents  of  sienite  were  to  remain  compact  or  uncrys- 
tallised,  while  crystals  of  the  other  were  disseminated  about  it,  the  rock  would  be  called  a  por- 
phyry. Porphyry  is  a  term  applied  to  any  rock  which  contains  disseminated  crystals  in  a  compact 
base,  the  kind  of  porphyry  being  determined  by  the  nature  of  the  base.  When  the  disseminated 
crystals  are  rounded,  or  almond  shaped,  and  seem  as  if  they  had  been  formed  in  cavities  or  cells 
of  the  base,  the  rock  is  termed  amygdaloid.  When  the  mineral  constituents  form  a  congeries  of 
small  crystals,  of  an  uniform  colour  and  close  aggregation,  the  rock  is  called  greenstone  ;  and  when 
the  crystalline  structure  is  so  fine  as  to  be  invisible  to  the  naked  eye,  and  the  rock  appears  com- 
pact, it  is  called  trap,  or  basalt.  All  these  varieties,  and  many  intermediate  ones,  frequently  occur 
in  the  same  district  of  rocks,  and  a  perfect  passage  might  be  traced  in  different  parts  of  Charnwood 
Forest,  from  compact  trap  into  sienite.  Frequently,  the  only  way  to  distinguish  a  crystalline  rock 
from  a  granular  slate  rock,  or  greywacke,  is  carefully  to  examine  a  fresh  fracture  with  a  pocket 
magnifying-glass,  in  order  to  see  whether  the  crystalline  particles  have  sharp  edges,  and  are  in 
their  original  state  of  close  intertangled  aggregation,  or  with  rounded  edges,  like  grains  of  sand 
rolled  and  compacted  together.  Sometimes,  however,  it  is  impossible  to  decide  what  to  call  the 
rock,  more  especially  in  detached  specimens ;  for  if  a  mechanically-formed  granular  rock  be,  after 
deposition,  subjected  to  heat,  the  change  produced  upon  it  may  vary  in  every  possible  manner, 
according  to  the  degree  of  heat,  and  also  according  to  its  own  constituent  parts,  and  their  different 
proportions  and  conditions,  so  that  the  same  degree  of  heat  may  render  certain  portions  of  the 
same  rock  entirely  crystalline  without  producing  any  such  change  on  other  portions.  For  all  these 
difficulties  the  student  must  be  prepared,  and  not  suffer  them  to  dishearten  him,  resting  assured 
that  use  and  practice  will  imperceptibly  enable  him  to  overcome  them. 

JOINTS. 

There  is  one  structure  common  to  both  igneous  and  aqueous  rocks,  which  may  be  advantage- 
ously studied  in  Charnwood  Forest :  and  that  is,  the  jointing  of  the  rocks.  All  rocks  are  more  or 
less  jointed  or  traversed  by  divisional  planes,  in  various  directions,  by  which  they  are  naturally 
cut  up,  as  it  were,  into  blocks  of  greater  or  less  size,  according  to  circumstances.  In  stratified 
rocks  there  are  generally  two  principal  sets  of  joints  perpendicular  to  the  beds,  and  crossing  each 
other  at  right  angles  ;  there  are,  however,  often  others  in  different  directions,  and  they  commonly 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  9 

increase  in  number  in  proportion  to  the  hardness  and  fineness  of  the  rock.  In  igneous  rocks  thej' 
are  very  numerous,  and  often  very  rejfular,  and  they  occur  at  all  angles  with  the  horizon,  and 
frequently  quite  horizontal  ;  they  give  to  the  sienites  very  often  the  appearance  of  regular  bedding 
for  considerable  distances,  and  in  the  slate  rocks  are  very  deceptive,  as  it  is  often  impossible  to 
distinguish  them  from  the  beds  without  the  aid  of  the  stripe  or  other  indications.  The  coal  is 
traversed  by  a  peculiar  jointing,  the  f;ices  of  which  are  called  by  the  workmen  "slynes ;"  these  pre- 
serve a  remarkable  regularity  in  tlieir  bearing  by  compass  over  particular  districts,  as  does  also  the 
more  general  system  of  joints  in  all  rocks,  as  will  be  observed  hereafter.  The  cause  of  this  general- 
jointed  structure  is  at  present  but  imperfectly  understood  :  it  is,  however,  of  the  highest  utility,  as 
without  it,  it  would  be  impossible  to  quarry  any  hard  stone  whatever. 

RELATIONS  AND  LOCALITIES  OF  THE  FORMATIONS. 

Having  thus  given  a  slight  sketch  of  the  nature  and  characteristic  circumstances  of  the  mate- 
rials which  are  to  be  found  in  Charnwood  Forest,  it  remains  to  describe  their  several  localities, 
and  their  actual  and  relative  positions.  We  shall  thus  get  an  idea  of  the  solid  geometry, — of  the 
internal  anatomy,  as  it  were,  of  the  district, — and  shall  be  able  to  entertain  some  speculations  on 
the  relative  dates  and  modes  of  action  of  the  causes  by  which  the  rocks  have  been  formed  and 
placed  in  their  present  positions. 

If  we  take  an  ordnance  map,  or  the  map  affixed  to  this  work,  and,  commencing  about  a  mile 
south  of  Sheepshed,  just  south  of  the  old  canal,  draw  a  line  through  the  following  places,  we 
shall  describe  a  boundary  that  will  nearly  coincide  with  that  of  the  old  Forest,  will  be  approxi- 
mately that  of  the  new  red  sandstone,  and  will  enclose  all  the  slate  rocks  of  the  district.  Follow- 
ing the  canal  to  its  termination,  near  Forest  Gate,  the  boundary  pursues  a  waving  line,  sweeping 
outside  the  ridges  and  a  little  up  the  valleys,  down  to  Woodhouse  Eaves,  Swithland  slate  quarries 
and  Holgate  Lodge  ;  running  close  round  Bradgate  Park,  it  curves  up  the  valley  of  Newtown 
Linford  for  some  distance,  returns  through  Sheet  Hedges  Wood,  sweeps  round  the  sienite  of 
Groby  and  runs  thence  close  to  Markfield,  turns  up  the  valley  between  that  place  and  Cliff  Hill, 
thence  by  Horse-pool  Grange,  Stanton,  and  Battle-flat  Gate,  to  Hugglescote  ;  from  this  place  it 
follows  up  the  brook  to  Whitwick  Waste,  and  thence  down  another  brook  to  Whitwick,  runs 
through  the  lower  part  of  that  village  to  the  back  of  Gracedieu,  passes  between  the  slate  and  the 
limestone  to  the  corner  of  the  turnpike-road,  and  sweeps  outside  the  little  ridge  of  Ringan  Hill, 
to  Blackbrook.  Here  the  boundary  of  the  new  red  sandstone  becomes  irregular,  and  some  portion 
of  it  runs  up  the  valley  of  Blackbrook  into  the  very  heart  of  the  Forest ;  the  slate,  however,  again 
appears  in  White  Horse  Wood,  outside  of  which  lies  the  new  red  sandstone,  which  continues 
thence  along  the  canal  to  the  point  where  we  first  took  it  up. 

On  the  southern  part  of  the  district  thus  circumscribed  are  four  patches  of  sienite ;  namely. 
Cliff  Hill,  Markfield  Knoll,  Groby,  and  one  at  the  lower  end  of  Bradgate  Park.  On  the  northern 
side,  the  ridge  called  Ringan  Hill  and  the  neighbourhood  of  the  old  reservoir,  a  tract  almost  a 
mile  long  and  half  a  mile  wide,  is  composed  of  quartz  rock,  the  remainder  of  the  enclosed  district 
consists  of  slate  rocks  and  porphyries. 

A  large  outlying  lump  of  sienite  is  found  at  Mountsorrel,  which  extends  from  that  village  to 
Kinchley  Hill,  and  from  Rothley  to  tlie  immediate  vicinity  of  Quorndon.  Outside  the  bounda- 
ries thus  described,  the  new  red  sandstone  stretches  away  in  every  direction,  till  it  passes  on  the 
east  beneath  the  Lias,  and   on   the  north-west  is  broken  through   by  some  patches  of  mountain 


10  GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

limestone  and  the  coal  6eld  of  Ashby-de-la-Zouch.  We  will  first  examine  the  rocks  enclosed 
within  this  boundary,  then  briefly  notice  the  coal  field  and  its  associated  rocks,  and  afterwards 
examine  the  relations  of  the  overlying  red  marls  and  sandstones. 

In  traversing  the  northern  part  of  Charnwood  Forest,  we  should  be  struck  by  one  of  its  prin- 
cipal features,  a  beautiful  and  fertile  valley,  proceeding  each  way  from  a  central  point  called 
Bawdon  Castle,  and  dividing  the  Forest  into  two  equal  portions.  One  of  these  valleys  runs  south- 
east, and  contains  the  picturesque  ruins  of  Ulverscroft  Abbey  ;  the  other,  and  the  most  marked 
and  decided  valley,  runs  north-west,  between  Ives  Head  and  High  Sharpley,  and  contains  the 
new  Church  called  the  Oaks  Church.  A  beautiful  prospect  is  afforded  from  the  heart  of  the  Forest 
over  the  country  to  the  north-west,  Breedon  Hill  being  a  conspicuous  object  in  the  middle  dis- 
tance, and  the  faintly-marked  hills  of  Derbyshire  closing  the  horizon.  If  we  draw  a  slightly 
curved  line  from  White  Horse  Wood  along  the  north-east  side  of  this  latter  valley,  close  under 
Ives  Head,  by  Bawdon  Lodge,  down  the  little  valley  called  Long  Dale  to  Holgate  Iiodge,  we 
shall  trace  an  important  geological  feature,  the  anticlinal  line,  namely,  of  the  slate  rocks  of  Charn- 
wood Forest.  An  anticlinal  line  means  that  line  from  which  the  beds  "dip"  or  decline  on  either 
hand.  The  ridge  of  the  roof  of  a  house  may  be  said  to  be  an  anticlinal  line  with  regard  to  the 
slates  that  cover  it.  In  nature,  however,  an  anticlinal  line  does  not  always  form  a  ridge,  but  is 
often  marked  by  a  valley,  which  is  what  we  should  expect,  if  we  recollect  that  it  is  the  line  along 
which  previously  horizontal  beds  have  been  reared  into  an  inclined  position  by  some  powerful 
force ;  and  that,  therefore,  it  is  likely  that  along  that  line  the  beds  must  frequently  have  been 
broken  through,  and  great  destruction  been  caused,  more  especially  if  they  still  remained  under 
water,  and  were  exposed  to  its  currents.  From  this  line  in  Charnwood  Forest  the  beds  dip  on 
either  hand  :  those  on  the  north-east  being  inclined  to  the  north-east,  those  on  the  south-west 
plunging  towards  the  south-west.* — (See  sections  No.  1  and  2.) 

In  examining  the  facts  on  which  this  assertion  is  founded,  we  will  commence  on  the  northern 
side,  and  make  the  circuit  of  the  Forest,  giving  the  details  of  each  remarkable  spot  as  a  guide  to 
the  student,  and  as  enabling  him  to  compare  his  observations  with  our  own. — A  mile  and  a  half 
south  of  the  village  of  Sheepshed  is  a  large  and  conspicuous  quarry,  in  a  high  hill  called  Moorley 
Hill.  This  is  a  very  instructive  spot ;  the  stone  is  a  coarse-grained  greywacke,  generally  of  a  grey 
colour,  but  marked  with  a  pale  red  and  white  "stripe"  on  the  weathered  surfaces,  which  is  pecu- 
liarly distinct  and  cannot  be  mistaken.  This  stripe  indicates  the  bedding  of  the  rock,  which  is 
found  to  dip  at  an  angle  of  thirty-five  degrees  true  north-east.f  The  cleavage  is  but  imperfectly 
developed,  but  it  is  nearly  perpendicular  to  the  beds.  Three  regular  systems  of  joints  are  ob- 
servable, besides  many  irregular  ones.     The  lines  of  bearing  of  these  are — 

Joint  A N.  24°  E Perpendicular. 

Joint  B North Ditto. 

Joint  C N.SO"  W Ditto. 

A  small  quarry  may  be  found  in  a  hill  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  west  of  this,  close  to  some  brick- 
yards, in  which  the  rock  is  similar  but  of  a  coarser  grain,  and  where  the  beds  dip  at  an  angle  of 

»  This  anticlinal  line  was  first  traced  by  Professor  Sedgwick,  from  whose  personal  instructions  delivered  on  the  spot 
we  derive  great  part  of  our  knowledge  of  tliis  district. 

f  The  bearings  in  this  article  will  always  be  true,   an  allowance  of  twenty-four  degrees  having  been  made  for  the 

variation  of  the  compass. 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  11 

seventy  dep^rees  to  a  point  fifteen  degrees  north  of  true  east.  This  must  be  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood  of  the  anticlinal  line,  as  near  Finny  Hill  Lodge  the  dip  is  south-west,  and  just 
opposite  the  west  end  of  White  Horse  Wood  a  little  quarry  on  the  road  side  exposes  a  quartzose 
rock,  which  from  some  indications  appears  also  to  dip  south-west,  but  enough  of  it  was  not  exposed 
to  make  the  observation  certain. — Returning  along  the  boundary  of  the  slate  rocks  towards  the 
east  we  find,  on  a  hill  called  Nanpantan,  a  small  quarry  which  shows  a  dip  of  forty-five  degrees 
true  north-east :  and  a  little  below,  at  Forest  Gate,  there  are  two  small  quarries,  one  one  each  side 
of  the  road,  which,  taken  together,  are  very  instructive.  On  the  north  side  of  the  road  a  shallow 
cutting  in  a  compact  slate  rock  is  observed,  with  a  very  faint  and  imperfectly-developed  cleavage, 
but  greatly  cut  up  by  joints  in  many  directions.  At  first  sight  the  stratification  is  imperceptible, 
and  one  of  the  sets  of  joints  would  be  likely  to  be  taken  for  the  bedding  in  one  part  of  the  quarry, 
were  it  not  traversed  by  another  set  of  joints  which  is  equally  like  bedding  in  another  part  of  the 
quarry.  A  careful  examination  of  the  face  of  the  rock  discloses  a  few  faint  streaks  of  colour  here 
and  there,  scarcely  a  quarter  of  an  inch  wide  and  rather  irregular;  they  result,  however,  from  dif- 
ference of  texture,  and  represent  the  true  stratification  of  the  rock.  They  dip  north-east  at  an 
angle  of  eighty-five  degrees,  and  if  any  doubts  should  remain  of  their  being  true  marks  of  strati- 
fication, it  would  be  dispelled  by  visiting  the  quarry  on  the  other  side  of  the  road,  where  the  rock 
is  seen  to  become  more  and  more  distinctly  marked  till  it  exhibits  a  clear,  well-characterised  stripe, 
with  precisely  the  same  inclination,  namely,  north-east,  at  eighty-five  degrees.  The  joints  are  not 
so  much  inclined  to  the  horizon  as  the  beds,  and  do  not  preserve  a  very  marked  regularity.  Over 
the  rough  edges  of  the  slate  beds  in  the  first  quarry  lies  a  thickness  of  six  or  eight  feet  of  red 
marls  and  slialy  sandstones,  belonging  to  the  new  red  sandstone  formation,  in  a  perfectly  horizon- 
tal and  undisturbed  position.  Diagram  No.  1  represents  these  facts. — Passing  up  the  valley  of 
the  brook  to  the  Buck  Hills,  we  find  the  Little  Buck  Hills  to  consist  of  slate,  dipping  north-east, 
at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees,  but  at  the  foot  of  the  Great  Buck  Hill,  near  the  brook,  is  a  small 
quarry  of  a  true  close-grained  greenstone,  which,  no  doubt,  is  a  portion  of  a  larger  mass  in  the  bod  v 
of  the  hill. 

The  Whittle  Hills  are  composed  of  a  compact  greenish  grey  flinty  slate,  of  a  very  close  and 
smooth  texture,  split  up  near  the  surface  by  a  vast  number  of  fine  joints  into  small  pieces  forming 
rude  prisms.  This  rock  is  extracted  in  small  shallow  excavations,  and  the  pieces  are  shaped  and 
polished  and  converted  into  hones,  or  whittles,  as  they  are  locally  called.  Hence  the  name  of  the 
hills.  A  very  considerable  trade  is  carried  on  by  the  few  cottagers  in  the  neighbourhood,  most  of 
the  fine  hones  used  in  the  Midland  Counties  at  least,  if  not  elsewhere,  being  derived  from  this 
spot.     The  beds  of  the  Whittle  Hills  dip  nearly  north-east,  at  about  forty-five  degrees. 

In  the  rocks  at  the  summit  of  Beacon  Hill  the  several  characters  of  the  slate  are  well  expressed. 
The  stripe  is  clear,  and  the  surfaces  of  the  beds  are  often  exhibited,  and  are  strictly  parallel  to  it. 
They  dip  twenty  degrees  north  of  east,  at  an  angle  of  forty  degrees.  The  cleavage  is  perpendicular 
to  the  horizon,  and  strikes  twenty  degrees  south  of  east. 

Joints. — A N.  20°  W Perpendicular. 

B N.  20°  E Ditto. 

C N.  70°  W Ditto. 

D N.  70°  E Irregular. 

In  Broombriggs  and  Sly  Hills,  the  continuation  of  the  ridije  of  the  Beacon,  the  slate  is  rather 


12  GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

of  a  coarser  grain  than  that  of  the  Beacon,  the  dip  is  much  the  same,  but  the  principal  joints  vary, 

being 

A N.    5°  W Perpendicular. 

B N.  85°  E Ditto. 

Or  nearly  true  north  and  south  and  east  and  west. 

Near  the  church  at  Woodhouse  Eaves  the  dip  of  the  rock  is  sixty  degrees,  east  twenty-five 
degrees  north  ;  the  cleavage  dips  north-east,  at  eighty  degrees,  its  strike  being  exactly  east  thirty- 
five  degrees  south.  The  joints,  though  very  numerous,  are  not  sufficiently  symmetrical  to  be 
worth  measuring. 

At  Swithland  the  slate  rock  acquires  a  much  finer  grain  than  in  the  northern  parts  of  the 
Forest,  and  consequently  has  a  much  better  and  more  regular  cleavage  ;  it  becomes,  therefore, 
fine  roofing  slate,  and  is  largely  quarried  for  that  purpose.  There  are  three  quarries  near  the 
road,  only  one  of  which  is  now  worked.  The  stripe  is  generally  faint,  but  on  some  of  the  old 
weathered  faces  of  the  quarries  it  may  be  detected,  and  thus  the  lines  of  bedding  be  distinguished 
from  the  joints.  The  beds  dip  east  thirty  degrees  north,  at  about  forty  degrees.  The  cleavage  is 
nearly  perpendicular  to  the  horizon,  and  strikes  east  twenty-seven  degrees  south. 

Joints. — A Nearly  N.  and  S Perpendicular. 

B N.N.W Ditto. 

Flakes  of  chlorite  may  frequently  be  detected  on  the  surfaces  of  the  cleavage  planes. 

Beds  of  red  marl  rest  in  the  hollows  and  wrap  round  the  peaks  of  the  slate  rocks,  and  in  one 
place  the  slate  was  followed  under  the  red  marl,  whicli  was  left  in  a  low  arch  as  a  roof,  till  a  por- 
tion fell  and  caused  the  death  of  a  man.  These  beds  will  be  mentioned  more  particularly  when 
we  come  to  consider  the  relations  of  the  new  red  sandstone  to  the  Forest  rocks. 

There  is  another  large  slate  quarry*  in  Swithland  wood,  where  the  dip  of  the  rock  is  nearly 
due  east,  the  cleavage  striking  north  fifteen  degrees  east,  and  dipping  at  an  angle  of  seventy-two 
degrees.  We  arrive  here  near  the  extremity  of  the  anticlinal  line,  where  the  rocks  have  not  been 
so  violently  rent  asunder,  and  where  they  accordingly  begin  to  bend  round  and  arch  over,  and  the 
two  sides  to  coalesce.  Accordingly,  having  arrived  at  Old  John  Hill,  although  we  have  undoubt- 
edly crossed  the  anticlinal  line,  we  find  the  dip  of  the  rocks  to  be  south  instead  of  south-west, 
while  the  last-mentioned  pit  in  Swithland  wood  is  east  instead  of  north-east.  No  doubt,  at  some 
intermediate  point,  either  at  the  surface  or  beneath  the  covering  of  new  red  sandstone  on  the  east, 
the  dip  would  be  found  south-east,  and  thus  a  termination  of  the  anticlinal  line  arrived  at  in  this 
direction.  However  that  may  be,  the  slate  on  the  summit  of  Old  John  dips  sixty  degrees  nearly 
due  south,  the  cleavage  being  nearly  perpendicular  and  striking  with  the  strike  of  the  beds,  or 
nearly  east  and  west.  About  one-third  of  the  way  down  the  hill,  blocks  of  sienite  are  met  with, 
and  near  the  old  pool  on  the  south  edge  of  Bradgate  Park,  the  rock  is  found  entirely  to  consist  of 
sienite,  which  occupies  a  space  of  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  across.  The  junction  of  the  slate  and 
sienite  is  not  exposed.     About  a  mile  and  a  half  south  of  this,  at  the  village  of  Groby,  another 

*  The  slates,  when  quarried  and  split  and  trimmed,  are  divided  into  large  slates  and  small  slates.  All  those  whose 
surface  exceeds  one  hundred  square  inches  are  called  large,  those  below  that  size  being  called  small.  The  large  slates 
sell  for  2s.  6rf.  a  score,  the  small  for  2s.  &r/.  per  hundred,  reckoning  the  long  hundred,  or  six  score.  The  men's  wages 
vary  from  2s.  to  2s.  6d.  a  day,  but  their  work  is  much  cut  up  now  by  the  Welsh  slates  being  brought  so  near  them  as 
to  impede  the  sale. 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  13 

large  mass  of  sienite  is  found,  lialf  a  mile  across,  forming  a  low  dome,  surrounded  on  one  side  bv 
new  red  sandstone,  and  on  the  other  by  slate  rocks,  as  is  supposed.  It  is  largely  quarried  in  the 
centre,  near  the  village,  but  there  is  no  exposure  near  its  junction  with  the  slate  rocks.  It  is  a  red 
coarse-grained  sienite,  very  hard  and  durable.  It  is  traversed  by  many  joints  in  various  directions  • 
occasionally  a  set  of  these  will  be  so  symmetrical,  as  at  first  sight  to  give  the  rock  the  exact  ap- 
pearance of  stratification  for  a  considerable  distance  ;  w  hen  viewed  on  the  lar^e  scale,  however 
this  symmetry  disappears,  and  the  rock,  when  examined  closely,  has  no  grain  or  appearance  of 
lamination.  At  one  corner  of  the  large  quarry  a  portion  of  new  red  sandstone  may  be  seen  resting 
horizontally  on  the  sienite  in  an  undisturbed  position. 

Between  Groby  and  Markfield,  in  a  field  on  the  left  hand  side  of  the  road  is  a  slate  quarry, 
from  which  fine  roofing  slate  is  extracted.  The  beds  dip  south-west,  at  an  angle  of  thirty  deurees. 
The  cleavage  is  perpendicular,  and  strikes  west  fifteen  degrees  north.  One  symmetrical  set  of 
joints  strikes  north  fifteen  degrees  east,  and  is  perpendicular  to  the  horizon,  while  another,  having 
the  same  strike,  is  only  inclined  at  an  angle  of  twenty  degrees  to  the  horizon,  dippino-  westerly. 
The  latter  joint  is  called  a  slipper  by  the  men,  and  when  we  examined  the  quarry  it  formed  its 
floor.  Beds  of  new  red  sandstone  are  seen  in  the  side  of  the  quarry,  resting  horizontally  on  the 
upturned  slate.  At  the  cross  roads,  opposite  Markfield  Knoll,  is  a  small  quarry,  from  which  road 
stone  is  extracted.  It  consists  of  a  greywacke  slate,  alternating  with  bands  of  a  small  greywacke 
conglomerate.  Instructive  hand  specimens  may  be  procured  from  this  quarry,  showing  the  vari- 
ations in  texture,  or  the  alternations  of  fine  and  coarse-grained  bands  producing  the  stripe;  these 
are  traversed  by  the  cleavage  at  an  angle  of  about  sixty  degrees,  the  surface  produced  by  the 

cleavage  being  smooth  in  the  fine-grained  portions  and  rough  and  uneven  in  the  coarser  parts. 

The  beds  dip  thirty-four  degrees,  south  twenty-three  degrees  west.     Cleavage  strikes  west  thirty 
degrees  north,  perpendicular. 

Joints. — A X.  S°  W Perpendicular. 

B KuUows  the  dip  of  the  beds. 

A  bed  of  trap  rock  is  also  seen  in  this  quarry,  apparently  conformable  to  the  slate  rocks.  This 
slate  dips  towards  the  sienite  of  Markfield  Knoll,  which  is  immediately  adjacent,  and  shows  no 
sign  of  any  local  disturbance.  The  sienite  of  the  Knoll  is  of  a  greyer  hue  than  that  of  Groby, 
but  does  not  otherwise  differ  much  from  it.  Separated  from  Markfield  Knoll  by  a  little 
valley  is  Cliff  Hill,  which  consists  of  similar  sienite.  Both  of  them  are  round-backed  eminences, 
with  no  exposure  of  rock  around  their  bases,  or  in  their  immediate  neighbourhood,  to  o-ive  any 
idea  of  the  nature  of  their  relations  with  the  surrounding  slate  rocks.  So  far  as  neo-ative  evidence 
goes,  however,  there  is  no  appearance  of  any  local  disturbance,  which  we  should  have  supposed 
could  hardly  fail  of  appearing  iiad  the  sienite  been  violently  erupted  through  the  slate.  On  the 
contrary,  the  next  hill  to  Cliff  Hill,  called  Billa  Barrow  Hill,  exposes  beds  of  slate  at  its  summit 
which  dip  quite  regularly  south  twenty-five  degrees  west,  at  an  angle  of  thirty-five  deo-rees.  No 
further  exposure  of  rock  takes  place  along  the  boundary  till  we  arrive  at  Hill  Top,  about  a  mile 
farther  on.  Here  the  slate  rock,  with  a  well-marked  stripe,  dips  eighty  degrees,  south  thirty  de- 
grees west.  Proceeding  towards  the  interior  of  the  Forest  we  find  those  remarkable  bosses  of  rock 
called  the  Rice  Rocks,  dipping  nearly  south-west,  and  the  same  inclination  wherever  a  bit  of  slate 
rock  is  visible ;  as,  for  instance,  at  Copt  Oak,  where  there  is  a  small  quarry  at  the  back  of  the 
church,  and  another  by  the  road  side  going  to  Charlev  Knoll. 


14  GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Not  far  from  Copt  Oak  is  a  broad-backed  eminence,  called  Hammercliff.  This  is  an  interest- 
incr  locality.  Its  summit  consists  of  a  red-coloured  sienite,  not  unlike  that  of  Markfield  Knoll, 
but  perhaps  a  little  less  crystalline.  This  sienite  passes  into  a  porphyry  which  mantles  round  it 
and  forms  the  slope  of  the  hill  on  every  side.  The  porphyry  has  a  dark  grey  base,  with  light- 
coloured  disseminated  crystals,  and  is  somewhat  different  in  appearance  from  the  other  porphyries 
of  the  neighbourhood.  Like  the  other  sienitic  hills,  Hammercliff  is  comparatively  isolated,  sloping 
regularly  down  on  every  side,  and  exposing  no  junction  with  the  neighbouring  slate  rocks. 

The  wooded  eminence  of  Bardon  Hill  is  composed  entirely  of  greenstone  and  porphyry,  of  a 
fine  orain  and  intensely  hard.  Similar  rocks  probably  extend  a  good  way  round  the  base  of  the 
hill,  as  there  is  a  small  deserted  quarry  in  the  fields,  below  the  farm  house  called  Robin  Butts,  the 
stone  of  which  is  compact  earthy  trap  rock,  having  much  the  aspect  of  an  altered  rock,  but  pre- 
senting no  appearance  of  lamination  or  bedding. 

Green  Hill,  just  north-east  of  Bardon,  seems  to  be  entirely  composed  of  igneous  rocks.  The 
most  abundant  rock  is  a  porphyry  with  a  dark  compact  base  and  Cjuadrangular  crystals  of  feld- 
spar. This,  however,  sometimes  contains  roundish  amorphous  crystals  of  quartz,  having  an  inter- 
nal structure  imperfectly  radiated,  and  being  apparently  formed  in  cells  in  the  rock.  Portions  of 
this  rock  are  a  true  amygdaloid,  but  when  viewed  en  masse  on  their  weathered  surfaces  have  every 
appearance  of  a  gritstone  containing  small  cjuartz  pebbles.  Here  and  there  crystals  of  quartz  and 
feldspar  are  intertangled  in  this  rock,  which  in  those  spots  assumes  the  characters  of  a  sienite. 

Along  the  ridge  from  Green  Hill  to  High  Towers  all  these  varieties  of  true  igneous  rocks  are 
found,  with  some  others,  mingled  in  inextricable  confusion  with  various  slate  rocks.  Hand  spe- 
cimens may  be  got,  not  three  inches  across,  one  side  of  which  shall  be  a  slate  rock  of  the  finest 
grain,  and  with  no  appearance  of  crystallization,  while  the  other  is  a  perfect  congeries  of  small 
crystals,  forming  a  complete  greenstone.  There  is  frequently  a  gradation  also  from  one  into  the 
other,  a  few  detached  crystals  first  appearing  in  the  slate,  and  gradually  becoming  more  numerous 
on  one  side  and  disappearing  on  the  other.  Wherever  a  considerable  mass  of  fine-grained  slate 
rocks  exists,  it  is  invariably  highly  indurated  and  siliceous,  becoming  in  some  cases  almost  a  horn- 
stone.  One  mass  of  slate  rock,  of  which  a  space  three  or  four  yards  across  was  exposed,  seemed  to 
dip  towards  the  south-east,  so  that  it  had  probably  suffered  some  local  disturbance  ;  in  general, 
however,  the  beds  of  slate,  wherever  they  were  clearly  shown,  were  found  to  preserve  their  regular 
inclination.  One  large  projecting  crag  of  rock,  of  which  diagram  No.  3  is  a  sketch,  exhibited 
some  beds  of  hard  flinty  slate,  with  an  imperfect  cleavage,  nearly  perpendicular  to  the  horizon, 
and  a  clearly  developed  dark  purple  stripe,  dipping  about  fifty  degrees  to  the  south-west;  over 
this  slate  lay  some  thick  masses  of  the  amygdaloidal  porphyry  just  described.  The  base  line  of 
the  porphyry  seemed  perfectly  conformable  with  the  uppermost  bed  of  the  slate,  being  separated 
fiom  it  by  a  seam  two  or  three  inches  thick  of  brittle  splintery  rock,  apparently  belonging  to 
the  slate. 

The  crags  between  Tin  Meadow  and  Whitwick  consist  entirely  of  porphyry.  This  is  a  well- 
characterised  rock,  consisting  of  a  dark  green  base,  with  disseminated  crystals  of  light  flesh-coloured 
feldspar,  of  a  regular  form,  and  here  and  there  an  amorphous  crystal  of  quartz.  At  the  back  of 
the  village  of  Whitwick  are  some  quarries  in  a  more  close-grained  porphyritic  greenstone.  High 
Cadman,  High  Sharpley,  and  Great  Gun  Hill,  consist  of  porphyries  like  those  already  described, 
with  intertangled  masses  of  slate  rock  more  or  less  altered  from  their  original  condition.  At  the 
west  end  of  High  Sharpley  is  a  mass  of  slate  that  has  a  chloritic  aspect  and  texture,  and  might  be 
called  chlorite  slate.     It  is  impossible,  however,  to  disentangle  all  the  varieties,  so  as  to  give  any 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  15 

intellioible  description  of  their  characters  and  conditions.  Similar  rocks  probably  form  the  slope 
of  the  hills  towards  Gracedieu,  but  in  tlie  gorge  of  the  old  reservoir  we  are  arrested  by  a  total 
change  in  the  mineral  character  of  the  rock.  We  have  here,  instead  of  slates,  a  well-characterised 
hard,  fine-grained  quartz  rock,  of  a  pale  yellow  and  grey  colour.  It  lies  in  regular  beds,  and  fre- 
quently exhibits  clear  lines  of  lamination  and  a  perfect  "  stripe."  It  no  longer,  however,  splits 
readily  along  the  lines  of  lamination,  and  though  it  has  no  regular  cleavage  it  breaks  in  various 
directions  into  rude  cubes  and  prisms.  The  larger  blocks  are  traversed  by  a  great  number  of  fine 
hidden  joints,  crossing  each  other  more  or  less  nearly  at  right  angles,  and  when  struck  with  a 
hammer  they  break  along  these  into  pieces  not  larger  than  a  man's  fist.  Although  these  joints  are 
imperceptible  at  first  sight,  their  faces,  when  opened,  have  a  brick  red  colour  which  soils  the  fin- 
gers, resulting  from  the  oxidization  of  the  iron  contained  in  the  stone.  This  quartz  rock  does  not 
differ  in  any  essential  particular  from  the  quartz  of  Hart's  Hill,  near  Atherstone,  or  of  the  Lickey 
Hill,  near  Broomsgrove.  The  beds  dip  west  twenty  degrees  south,  at  an  angle  of  sixty  degrees  : 
they  occupy  a  space  about  a  mile  long  by  half  a  mile  across,  appearing  on  the  road  near  the 
Turnpike  Gate,  and  forming  the  little  eminence  there  called  Ringan  Hill.  Immediately  north- 
east of  the  gorge  of  the  old  reservoir  are  some  quarries  of  soft  red  sandstone,  lying  Cjuite  horizon- 
tally, and  the  cutting  of  the  road  between  Blackbrook  and  White  Horse  Wood  exposes  several 
beds  of  light  yellow  and  red  sandstone,  with  beds  of  marl,  all  belonging  to  the  new  red  sandstone, 
and  this  formation  seems  to  stretch  thence  up  the  valley  into  the  heart  of  the  Forest. — The  little 
quarry  mentioned  before  as  opposite  the  corner  of  White  Horse  Wood,  shows  a  quartzose  rock 
which  seems  like  a  passage  from  the  regular  compact  cjuartz  on  the  west  into  the  greywacke  slate 
on  the  east  side  of  it. 

The  sienite  of  Mountsorrel  does  not  differ  essentially  from  that  of  Groby.  It  is  very  largely 
quarried  near  the  village,  and  forms  a  very  durable  stone.  Xear  the  lane  at  the  corner  of  Buddon 
Wood  is  an  old  quarry,  in  which  a  dyke  of  porphyritic  greenstone  is  seen  cutting  through  the 
sienite.  It  is  perpendicular,  twelve  or  fourteen  feet  across,  runs  due  east  and  west,  and  has  clear 
well-defined  edges  or  walls  separating  it  from  the  sienite.  There  is  occasionally  a  small  space 
between  the  trap  and  the  sienite,  filled  with  a  soft  crumbling  rock,  apparently  the  debris  of  the 
sienite.  In  one  part,  a  large  mass  of  the  sienite  was  incorporated  with  the  greenstone  in  the  centre 
of  the  dyke.  Another  small  quarry,  at  the  south-west  corner  of  the  Common,  called  Simpson's 
Quarry,  shows  also  a  small  trap  dyke  similar  to  the  last,  but  not  more  than  four  feet  wide.  It  is 
also  perpendicular,  and  has  the  same  bearing,  namely,  true  east  and  west.  The  joints  of  the 
sienite  did  not  always  traverse  the  trap,  which  last  had  joints  that  did  not  affect  the  sienite. 

We  proceed  now  briefly  to  describe  the  position  of  the  other  rocks  lying  below  the  new  red 
sandstone,  namely,  the  mountain  limestone  and  the  coal  measures.  Close  on  the  north-west 
corner  of  the  Forest,  at  Gracedieu,  is  a  series  of  old  and  recent  lime  quarries,  of  no  great  depth, 
in  a  patch  of  limestone,  that  may  be,  perhaps,  from  three  to  five  hundred  yards  across.  In  the 
quarries  at  present  worked  there  is  an  alternation  of  impure  mottled  concretionary  stone,  slightly 
calcareous,  hard  blue  carbonate  of  lime,  and  yellow  dolomite,  or  magnesian  limestone.  The  beds 
are  very  irregular,  thinning  out  rapidly,  and  none  of  them  persistent  through  any  great  extent. 
They  dip,  on  the  whole,  about  north  north-west,  at  an  angle  of  twenty  degrees.  Over  them,  on 
their  western  side,  lie  several  feet  of  soft  red  sandstone,  perfectly  horizontal,  and  belonging  to  the 
new  red  formation. 

On  a  line  running  true  north  north-west  from  Gracedieu  are  four  other  patches  of  limestone, 
namely,  at  Osgathorpe,  Barrow  Hill,  Breedon  Cloud,  and  Breedon  Hill.     The  two  latter  are  far 


16  GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

the  largest,  and  consist  almost  entirely  of  dolomite  or  magnesian  limestone.  Breedon  Cloud, 
however,  contains  some  beds  of  carbonate  of  lime.  Its  beds  dip,  on  an  average,  about  forty-eight 
degrees,  west  five  degrees  north,  but  are  slightly  bent  and  contorted  in  some  places.  Breedon 
Hill  is  traversed  by  a  vast  number  of  joints,  which  at  first  sight  obscure  the  stratification.  This, 
however,  may  be  distinguished  by  lines  of  a  cellular  structure,  which  are  rather  numerous,  and 
always  parallel  to  the  beds.  The  dip  varies,  in  different  parts  of  the  hill,  from  forty-flve  degrees 
to  seventy  degrees,  but  is  always  towards  the  same  point,  namely,  west  fifteen  degrees  south.  If 
the  anticlinal  line  of  the  Forest  be  produced  towards  the  north,  it  will  run  nearly,  but  not  quite, 
parallel  to  the  line  along  which  these  patches  of  limestone  are  arranged.  The  two  lines  would 
intersect  each  other  a  little  beyond  Breedon  Hill,  and  would  be  farthest  apart  at  Gracedieu.  Now 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  inclined  position,  or  the  elevation  of  these  portions  of  limestone,  is 
due  to  the  action  of  the  same  force  which  elevated  Charnwood  Forest.  And  we  see  that,  in  pro- 
portion as  the  line  of  the  limestones  approximates  to  the  produced  anticlinal  line  of  the  Forest, 
the  dip  of  the  limestone  becomes  greater  in  amount,  and  its  direction  more  nearly  coincides  with 
that  of  the  slates. — The  dip  of  Breedon  is  south  of  west,  at  an  angle  exceeding  fifty  degrees,  that 
of  Cloud  Hill  a  little  north  of  west,  at  an  angle  not  exceeding  thirty-five  degrees,  that  of  Gracedieu 
is  nearly  north  north-west,  and  does  not  exceed  twenty  degrees.  The  position  of  the  beds  of 
Breedon,  therefore,  is  almost  entirely  the  result  of  the  force  which  acted  along  the  anticlinal  line, 
but  that  of  the  beds  of  Gracedieu  is  partly  the  result  of  that  force  and  partly  owing  to  an  original 
inclination  towards  the  north,  which  they  probably  had  at  the  time  of  their  deposition. 

About  a  mile  and  a  half  west  of  these  limestones  is  another  more  considerable  exposure  of  the 
formation,  extending  from  Staunton  Harold  through  Calke  Park  to  Ticknall.  This  is  a  low, 
irregular,  dome-shaped  mass;  or  it  may  possibly  be  a  low  ridge,  traversed  by  a  slight  anticlinal 
line,  running  north-west  and  south-east.  At  Ticknall,  the  mountain  limestone  consists  of  hard 
beds  of  blue  limestone  in  the  lower  part,  over  which  are  several  feet  of  shale,  alternating  with 
limestone,  and  upon  these  lie  a  few  beds  of  limestone  completely  dolomitised  and  resembling  that 
of  Breedon.  The  limestone  here  dips  nearly  north-east,  at  an  angle  of  about  fifteen  degrees;  upon 
it  rest  several  feet  of  variegated  marls,  quite  horizontal.  An  abundance  of  fossils,  more  especially 
the  large  producta  hemisphoerica,  is  found  in  these  quarries.  In  Calke  Park,  near  the  Upper 
Pool,  is  a  small  quarry  in  the  higher  or  doloraitic  limestone,  where  the  beds  dip  south-west,  at  an 
angle  of  about  fifteen  degrees.  These  beds  thus  plunge  in  the  direction  of  the  coal  field  immedi- 
ately adjacent,  under  which  they  must  of  course  pass,  and  of  which  they  undoubtedly  would  be 
found  to  form  the  base,  should  it  be  ever  penetrated. — At  Dimminsdale,  between  Calke  and 
Staunton,  the  limestone  is  seen  to  rest  in  a  long  low  arch,  as  it  is  horizontal  in  the  centre,  while 
on  the  west  side  it  dips  slightly  to  south-west,  and  on  the  east  to  the  north-east,  at  an  angle  often 
degrees.  Parts  of  this  limestone  are  also  dolomitic,  and  it  contains  bunches  of  galena  or  lead  ore, 
which  are  extracted  in  what  is  technically  called  a  pipe  work  ;  the  ore  being  followed  by  a  small 
horizontal  gallery  or  pipe. — The  side  of  this  little  valley  apparently  consists  of  shale,  and  at  the 
top  of  the  banks  some  hard  blocks  of  stone,  like  millstone  grit,  are  found  ;  so  that  we  have  here  a 
representation,  on  a  small  scale,  of  the  whole  of  the  lower  part  of  the  great  carboniferous  formation 
of  the  North  of  England.  Round  the  northern  side  of  this  tract  of  limestone,  as  well  as  round  the 
bases  and  between  the  detached  pieces  of  limestone  before  mentioned,  the  new  red  sandstone 
sweeps  in  level  beds,  concealing  their  connexion  from  our  sight. 

We  have  neither  time,  space,  nor  materials,  for  entering  into  the  details  of  the  coal  field,  and 
therefore  can  only  refer  our  readers  to  Mr.  Mammatt's  work,  mentioned  before,  in  which  they  will 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  17 

find  all  those  that  have  been  hitherto  published.  The  following,  however,  is  a  slight  sketch  of  its 
leading-  features: — The  coal  field  forms  an  irregular  basin,  its  beds  rising,  so  far  as  is  known,  on 
every  side  from  its  deepest  portion,  which  is  Moira  colliery.  The  lower  beds  seldom  rise  to  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  their  outcrop  being  concealed  by  the  new  red  sandstone,  which  sweeps 
round  the  coal  field  with  a  very  irregular  boundary,  concealing  every  thing  from  sight  that  does 
not  rise  above  its  level.  The  whole  coal  field  seems  to  be  divided  into  two  irregularly-shaped 
basins  or  troughs,  by  an  anticlinal  line,  that  runs  somewhere  from  Smisby  by  Ashby  to  Willesley 
or  Packington.  The  portion  west  of  this  line  is  called  the  Moira  coal  field,  that  east  of  it  the 
Coleorton  coal  field.  Tiie  Moira  coal  field  crops  out  most  decidedly  towards  the  south,  namely, 
around  Measham.  Along  the  northern  edge  the  inclination  is  more  gentle,  and  its  eastern 
boundary  is  much  broken  by  faults.  The  Coleorton  coal  field,  on  the  contrary,  crops  out  en- 
tirely towards  the  north,  inasmuch  as  in  that  direction  the  mountain  limestone  appears  from  be- 
neath it.  The  bottom  coals  are  worked  at  Lount :  from  which  point,  taken  as  an  apex,  the  coal 
measures  form  an  irregular  triangular  trough,  inclining  gently  towards  the  south  or  south  south- 
east, and  having  its  edges  bent  up  to  the  north-east  and  south-west  respectively.  The  base  of  this 
triangle  is  not  known,  as  the  coal  measures  gradually  sink  towards  the  south  beneath  the  new  red 
sandstone,  and  are  worked  beneath  it  at  various  depths.  At  Snibston  they  passed  through  one 
hundred  and  seventy  feet  of  red  marls  and  sandstones,  and  twenty  feet  of  trap  rock,  before  they 
came  to  the  coal  measures.  At  Whitwick  colliery  they  pierced  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  feet 
of  red  sandstone,  and  sixty  feet  of  trap,  before  they  reached  the  coal  measures.  The  trap  is  very 
irregular  both  in  thickness  and  extent;  it  turns  the  coals  to  coke,  and  hardens  the  coal  measure 
sandstones,  when  it  comes  in  contact  with  them,  but  we  believe  it  does  not  affect  the  new  red 
sandstone. 

At  Ibstock  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  feet  of  new  red  sandstone  was  found,  but  at  Heather 
it  is  entirely  absent,  while  at  Bagworth  colliery,  the  most  southerly  point  at  which  coal  has  been 
obtained,  they  passed  through  no  less  than  three  hundred  and  fifteen  feet  of  alternations  of  red 
and  white  sandstones  belonging  to  the  new  red  formation.  Very  few  faults  occur  in  the  Coleorton 
coal  field,  %vhile  in  the  Moira  field  they  are  very  numerous,  and  of  great  extent.  A  great  fault 
runs  in  a  directly  straight  line  from  Bamborough  through  Moira  colliery,  Swadlincote,  and  Spring 
Wood  to  the  Decoy  in  Bretby  Park,  a  distance  of  five  miles.  It  causes  a  downcast  on  the  east  of 
four  hundred  and  twenty  feet,  the  same  beds  being  that  much  lower  on  one  side  of  the  fault  than 
they  are  on  the  other. — (See  section  No.  3.) 

The  main  coal  at  Moira  is  fourteen  feet  thick,  but  consists  of  two  portions,  the  upper  and  the 
lower,  of  which  the  former  only  is  worked.  Towards  the  north-west  these  two  portions  become 
separated  by  a  bed  of  shale,  which  thickens  from  ten  inches  at  Swadlincote  to  nearly  sixty  feet, 
which  is  its  thickness  at  Newhall.     Here  the  lower  coal  is  the  best,  and  is  the  only  one  worked. 

It  is  probable  that  what  is  called  the  main  coal,  at  Coleorton,  which  is  six  feet  thick,  together 
with  another  six  feet  coal,  separated  from  it  by  about  sixty  feet  of  shale  and  stone,  also  represent 
the  main  coal  of  Moira.  In  the  southern  part  of  the  Coleorton  field  this  upper  six  feet  coal  di- 
minishes in  thickness  and  quality,  and  the  lower  coal  only  is  worked.  If  this  view  be  correct,  it 
is  the  same  coal  which  is  worked  as  the  "  main  coal"  in  every  part  of  the  whole  coal  field,  however 
various  may  be  its  thichness,  or  the  thickness  and  quality  of  the  beds  above  and  below  it. 

On  all  the  rocks  hitherto  described  we  have  found  resting,  at  one  point  or  other,  beds  belonging 
to  the  new  red  sandstone  ;  we  will  now  notice  their  relations  a  little  more  particularly.  If  we 
consider  the  new  red  sandstone  as  divided  into  two  portions,  the  upper  part  consisting  principally 


18  GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

of  red  and  variegated  marls,  with  gypsum,  the  lower  chiefly  of  red  and  white  sandstones,  we  find 
the  latter  occurring  on  the  west  and  north  sides  of  Charnwood  Forest,  the  former  on  the  east  side. 
The  beds  which  mantle  round  and  obscure  the  edges  of  the  coal  field  are  part  of  the  lower  division  ; 
they  are  quite  unconformable  to  the  coal  measures,  the  level  beds  of  the  one  resting  on  the  up- 
turned edges  of  the  other.  Even  where  the  inclination  of  the  coal  measures  is  very  gentle,  we 
find  the  beds  of  coal  gradually  rising,  and,  as  it  is  called,  cropping  out  successively  into  the  new 
red  sandstone.  The  same  is  the  case  with  the  mountain  limestone,  the  highly-inclined  beds  of 
Breedon,  &c.,  rising  abruptly  from  the  level  beds  of  new  red  sandstone  that  sweep  around  them. 
On  the  west  side  of  the  Forest,  as  the  hills  rise  very  boldly,  the  new  red  sandstone  is  not  seen 
actually  upon  the  slate  rocks  :  but  on  the  east  side  the  slope  is  more  gentle,  and  accordingly  we 
see  beds  of  red  marl,  belonging  probably  to  the  upper  part  of  the  formation,  resting  horizontally 
on  the  slate  rocks  at  various  points.  In  the  small  quarry  at  Forest  Gate,  about  six  or  eight  feet  of 
this  formation  reposes  on  the  sharp  edges  of  the  slate,  as  shown  in  diagram  No.  1.  In  the  little 
valley  of  Woodhouse  Eaves  it  runs  considerably  within  the  boundaries  of  the  slate  rocks,  lying  in 
llie  hollow  of  the  hills.  The  top  of  the  red  marl  is  here  worked  for  brick-making,  and  it  has  been 
sunk  through  in  the  wells  of  the  village,  and  found  to  alternate  with  regular  thin  "floors"  of  white 
sandstone,  as  is  frequently  the  case.  In  Swithland  slate  quarries  it  is  seen  resting  horizontally  on 
the  upturned  edges  of  the  slate  beds  ;  and  it  is  here  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  stratification  of  the 
red  marl  conforms  to  the  uneven  surface  of  the  slates,  rising  up  on  the  slope  of  its  peaks  and  sink- 
ing gently  in  its  hollows,  showing  its  deposition  to  have  been  very  gradual  and  tranquil,  and  also 
that  the  slate  rocks  had  been  both  upheaved  and  worn  into  peaks  and  hollows  before  the  deposition 
of  the  red  marl.  Red  marl  runs  up  all  the  valleys  of  the  Forest  on  the  east  side,  some  distance 
beyond  its  general  boundary ;  and  indeed  it  is  scarcely  possible,  without  actual  excavation,  to  say 
how  far  it  intrudes  into  them.  In  the  very  heart  of  the  Forest,  by  the  road  side  from  Copt  Oak 
to  Charley  Lodge,  are  brick-pits  in  a  red  diluvial  clay,  which  is  nothing  more  than  the  washing 
of  the  red  marl  beneath.  This  is  shown  by  a  considerable  excavation  in  a  field  four  or  five  hun- 
dred yards  on  the  north-east,  where  the  red  marl  is  seen  with  regular  white  floors  of  soft  sandstone 
and  a  horizontal  stratification.  The  valley  hence  round  Charley  Hall  is  evidently  filled  with 
red  marl,  as  may  be  deduced  from  the  richness  of  the  land,  contrasted  with  that  of  the  slate 
rock.  Several  old  marl-pits  may  be  found  in  the  valley,  and  one  is  now  open  near  a  large  new 
house  not  far  from  Charley  Church,  which  is  called,  I  believe.  Upper  Blackbrook.  There  are 
some  brick-pits  at  a  considerable  height  above  the  valley,  in  a  lane  opposite  White  Horse  Wood, 
the  bottom  of  which  exposes  a  regular  floor  of  the  fine  light-coloured  sandstone  characteristic  of 
the  red  marl.  This  floor,  or  thin  bed,  dips  towards  the  valley,  or  about  west,  at  an  angle  of  eight 
or  ten  degrees,  which  is  no  doubt  the  original  position  in  which  it  was  deposited,  and  not  due  to 
its  subsequent  elevation.  In  the  valley  below,  as  shown  by  the  cutting  on  the  road  side,  are  some 
thick  beds  of  light-coloured  sandstone,  alternating  with  red  sandstones  and  thin  beds  of  marl, 
and  evidently  belonging  not  to  the  upper,  but  to  the  lower  or  second  division  of  the  new  red  sand- 
stone of  this  district.  There  are  two  remarkable  circumstances  connected  with  these  beds  of 
marl  and  sandstone  thus  reposing  on  Forest  rocks.  The  first  is  their  horizontality,  compared 
with  the  highly-inclined  position  of  the  beds  on  which  they  rest.  The  second  is  the  height  at 
which  they  are  found,  being  considerably  above  that  to  which  the  beds  of  the  formation  generally 
attain  in  the  surrounding  country. 

We  have  now  only  to  notice  the  position  of  the  lias  on  tlie  extreme  east  of  the  district.     The 
boundary  of  the  lowest  bed  of  this  formation  passes  at  the  back  of  Bunny  old  wood  down  the 


GEOLOGY  OF  CIURNWOOD   FOREST.  19 

valley  between  East  and  West  Leake,  sweeps  round  Normanton  Hills  and  Stanford  Hills  through 
Stanford  Park,  to  the  little  brook  just  north  of  the  village  of  Hoton.  Here  the  boundary  is  some- 
what obscure,  but  it  passes  somewhere  east  of  Hoton,  between  Prestwold  and  Burton,  and  comes 
clown  to  the  bank  of  the  Soar,  just  north  of  Barrow.  From  Barrow  it  runs  down  to  Sileby  and 
Cossington;  it  tlien  turns  up  the  right  bank  of  the  Wreke  to  Ratcliif,  where  it  crosses  the  river 
and  runs  in  an  undulating  line  by  Rearsby,  Queniborough,  Barkby,  Humberstone,  to  Evino-ton, 
and  thence  nearly  south-west  towards  Warwickshire. 

The  very  undulating  line  wliich  defines  the  boundary  a  few  miles  north  and  south  of  Barrow- 
upon-Soar,  is  not  due  solely  to  unequal  denudation.  Barrow  is  one  of  the  most  westerly  points  of 
the  lias,  yet  it  is  there  lower  and  more  near  the  level  of  the  Soar  than  at  many  places  fiirther  east, 
or  in  the  direction  of  the  general  dip  of  the  formation.  This  could  not  be,  unless  it  were  brought 
down  by  faults,  or  affected  by  local  curvatures  and  changes  of  dip.  There  may  be  some  small 
faults,  but  we  believe  that  the  lias  and  red  marl  of  this  district  are  affected  by  slight  anticlinal 
and  synclinal  lines  running  in  the  direction  of  the  general  dip  of  the  formations,  or  nearly  east 
and  west,  and  producing  small  curvatures,  bending  the  beds  into  long  ridges  and  furrows,  as  it 
were,  or  causing  several  shallow  parallel  troughs,  the  sides  of  which  dip  gently  north  and  south 
respectively.  At  the  quarries  near  Hoton  this  is  certainly  the  case,  the  beds  in  the  quarries 
dipping  slightly  to  the  north,  while  those  in  a  cutting  on  the  road  side,  at  a  short  distance  in  that 
direction  dip  south.  Careful  examination  would,  I  believe,  show  the  same  thing  to  take  place  at 
Barrow. 

DILUVIUM. 

Although  we  have  now  briefly  described  the  characters  and  position  of  all  the  solid  reo-ularly 
bedded  rocks  that  enter  into  the  structure  of  the  district  under  examination,  there  is  yet  another 
mass  of  materials  we  must  examine  before  we  enter  on  any  speculations  concerning  the  causes 
which  have  produced  the  rocks  or  the  forces  which  have  acted  on  them.  Resting  on  the  ren-ularly 
bedded  rocks,  indiscriminately,  here  and  there  are  found  piles  of  sand  or  gravel,  or  masses  of  clay, 
sometimes  a  few  inches  thick,  sometimes  a  hundred  feet.  Various  names  are  given  to  this  accu- 
mulation of  earthy  matters, — diluvium,  diluvial  drift,  gravel,  superficial  drift,  erratic  block  group, 
and  others,  all  more  or  less  applicable  to  particular  cases,  but  none  of  them  unexceptionable  when 
generally  applied.  Perhaps  the  term  diluvium,  if  taken  in  a  general  sense,  and  not  restricted  to 
the  action  of  diluvial  agency,  at  any  particular  period  or  in  any  particular  manner,  is,  after  all 
the  best.  It  is  obvious  that  there  must  be  considerable  difficulty  in  separating  and  classifyino- 
that  which  has  been  produced  irregularly  and  partially,  and  which  is  left  in  a  confused  condition. 
The  diluvium,  however,  of  the  neighbourhood  of  Cliarnwood  Forest  may  be  classed  into  three 
divisions.  The  eastern  drift,  the  quartzose  gravel,  and  the  Forest  drift.  By  the  eastern  drift  is 
meant,  simply,  that  the  formations  from  the  ruins  of  which  it  has  been  chiefly,  if  not  wholly  de- 
rived, are  now  found  on  the  east  of  our  district.  It  consists,  generally,  of  dark  blue  clay,  or  coaree 
light-coloured  sand,  containing  pebbles  and  fragments  of  lias  limestone  and  lias  fossils,  oolitic 
limestones  and  oolitic  fossils,  lumps  of  hard  chalk,  chalk  flints  and  chalk  fossils. 

The  quartzose  gravel  consists  almost  w  holly  of  quartz  pebbles  and  sand.  The  pebbles  are 
perfectly  rounded  and  smooth,  the  sand  frequently  very  fine.  Long  and  continued  attrition  in 
water  is  the  only  agency  that  could  reduce  hard  pieces  of  quartz  into  this  condition.  The  fossils 
and  fragments  of  the  eastern  drift,  on  the  contrary,  are  but  slightly  worn,  and  some  of  them  are 


•20  GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

uninjured.  In  the  quartzose  gravel  there  are  sometimes  found  pieces  of  mountain  limestone,  small 
pebbles  of  coal,  and  occasionally  dark  pebbles,  that  may  be  fragments  of  slate  rocks.  The  quartz 
pebbles  are  by  far  the  most  abundant,  and  are  of  three  kinds, — white  subcrystalline  quartz,  from 
veins,  probably  from  Charnwood  Forest,  hard  fine-grained  yellow  and  liver-coloured  quartz  rock, 
like  that  of  Blackbrook,  in  Charnwood  Forest,  Hartshill,  near  Atherstone,  or  the  Lickey,  near 
Bromsgrove,  and  a  granular  quartz  which,  from  an  occasional  vegetable  marking,  is  apparently 
derived  from  the  sandstones  of  the  coal  measures. 

The  Forest  drift  consists  of  large  blocks  of  sienite,  porphyry,  and  slate  rock,  scattered  over  the 
face  of  the  country,  and  generally  lying  naked  on  the  ground  and  unaccompanied  by  any  other 
materials. 

The  eastern  drift  is  most  abundant  on  the  south  and  east  of  the  Forest.  The  ridge  of  high  land 
from  Thurcaston  to  Glenfield  is  almost  entirely  composed  of  it.  South  of  Leicester,  along  the 
whole  line  of  the  railway  to  Rugby,  there  are  the  most  enormous  accumulations  of  it.  Many  of 
the  deep  cuttings  of  the  railway  are  wholly  in  diluvium,  and  do  not  even  reach  the  bottom  of  it. 
The  quartzose  gravel  is  most  abundant  on  the  west  and  north  of  the  Forest ;  it  lies  in  great  abun- 
dance over  some  part  of  the  Ashby  coal  field,  and  on  the  hills  overlooking  the  valley  of  the  Trent. 
The  Forest  drift  lies  chiefly  on  the  soutii  of  the  Forest.  An  occasional  block  may  be  seen  to  the 
north  or  east ;  one  large  block  of  Forest  rock  was  observed  in  the  village  of  Wymeswold,  and  they 
may  be  observed  occasionally  on  all  sides  of  the  Forest.  Over  the  table  land,  however,  called 
Leicester  Forest,  large  blocks  of  slate  and  sienite  are  very  numerous.  They  are  frequently  as 
much  as  a  yard  in  diameter,  and  though  most  commonly  well  rounded,  they  occur  sometimes  quite 
ano-ular  and  unaltered  in  form  from  what  they  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  wiien  originally 
tietached  from  their  parent  rock.  As  we  recede  from  the  Forest  they  undoubtedly  become  less 
numerous,  smaller,  and  more  perfectly  rounded  ;  and,  as  far  as  we  are  aware,  cannot  be  traced  to 
a  o-reater  distance  than  about  twenty  miles  towards  the  south,  and  not  nearly  so  far  in  any  other 
direction. 

CONCLUSIONS  AND  SPECULATIONS. 

We  have  hitherto  confined  ourselves  to  geological  description,  we  must  now  entertain  a  little 
o-eological  history.  Having  examined  the  characters  and  conditions  of  the  things  as  they  are,  we 
must  deduce  a  few  conclusions  and  enter  on  a  few  speculations  as  to  the  causes  which  produced 
them,  and  to  which  these  characters  and  conditions  are  owing. — In  the  first  place,  we  know  that 
the  slate  rocks  were  formed  under  water,  and  that  that  water  was  part  of  an  ocean.  In  Charn- 
wood Forest  we  have  no  direct  evidence  of  this  fact,  but  we  deduce  the  conclusion  partly  from  the 
structure  of  the  slate  rocks,  which  agrees  with  that  of  other  rocks  formed  by  the  deposition  of 
sediment  in  water,  and  partly  from  analogy,  since  slate  rocks  similar  to  those  of  Charnwood  Forest 
exist  in  other  parts  of  England  and  Wales,  and  these  often  contain  an  abundance  of  marine  shells 
and  corals.  Now,  as  much  of  the  sediment  which  formed  the  slate  rocks  must  have  been  very  fine, 
in  order  to  produce  rocks  of  so  fine  a  grain,  and  as  there  are  innumerable  alternations  of  fine  and 
coarse-grained  beds,  and  the  total  thickness  of  tlie  rocks  is  very  great,  so  great  indeed  as  to  be 
unknown,  tlie  time  required  for  the  production  of  these  rocks  must  have  been  very  great.  Because 
we  cannot  conceive  any  circumstances  which  could  at  once  fill  a  large  body  of  water  with  fine 
earthy  matters,  and  cause  it  to  be  suddenly  deposited,  much  less  can  we  understand  how  any 
natural  causes  could  produce  a  frequent  alternation  of  depositions  of  fine  and  coarse  sediment, 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  21 

with  every  gradation  between  the  two,  in  a  limited  space  of  time.  Moreover,  from  the  very  nature 
of  their  formation,  these  beds  must  have  been  originally  horizontal,  or  nearly  so,  as  it  would  be 
impossible  to  deposit  large  beds  of  fine  sediment  on  a  great  slope. 

Associated  with  the  slate  rocks  are  certain  other  rocks  called  porphyry  and  sienite;  these  we 
know  to  be  igneous  rocks,  or  to  have  been  once  in  a  state  of  fusion  or  intense  heat. — Of  this,  also, 
there  is  no  direct  evidence  in  Cliarnwood  Forest,  beyond  their  mineral  structure:  and  we  deduce 
the  conclusion  in  this  case,  also,  partly  from  this  structure  and  partly  from  analogy.  The  crys- 
talline condition  of  their  several  parts  could  only  liave  resulted  from  their  particles  having  once 
had  free  motion  among  themselves,  and  having  been  at  liberty  to  arrange  themselves  according  to 
the  chemical  laws ;  in  other  words,  from  the  rock  having  been  once  fluid.  And  we  know  that  flu- 
idity to  have  resulted  from  heat,  because  in  other  localities  rocks  identical  with  these  can  be  proved 
to  have  once  had  intense  heat,  from  the  eflect  they  have  produced  on  surrounding  rocks,  and  from 
other  arguments.  A  trap  rock,  which  differs  but  little  from  porphyry,  has  changed  coal  in  contact 
with  it  into  coke,  in  Whitwick  colliery. 

Some  of  the  beds  of  porphyry  seem  to  be  interstratified  with  beds  of  slate,  in  a  regular  manner, 
as  if  they  had  been  poured  out  over  those  beneath  them  while  these  formed  the  bed  of  the  sea,  and 
had  been  afterwards  covered  by  the  gradual  deposition  of  those  above  them.  Other  masses  of 
porphyry  cut  through  the  beds  of  slate  and  enclose  large  pieces  of  them,  and  the  slates  are  highly 
indurated  and  partly  crystalline,  as  if  they  had  been  subject  to  intense  heat.  It  appears,  then, 
that  during  the  time  these  beds  of  slate  were  being  formed,  volcanic  action  was  going  on  among 
them  at  frequent  intervals,  and  great  additions  made  to  their  mass  by  the  intrusion  of  large  streams 
of  melted  rock  or  lava,  and  the  ejection  of  volcanic  ashes  and  powder.  As  this  volcanic  action, 
however,  took  place  beneath  the  pressure  of  a  great  superincumbent  mass  of  water,  its  results  would 
necessarily  be  very  different  from  any  we  can  observe  in  subaerial  volcanoes.  The  volcanic  ashes 
would  be  held  some  time  in  suspension  by  the  water,  and  by  the  action  of  its  currents  would  be 
strew  n  out  over  large  areas,  in  a  regular  manner,  being  deposited  at  last  as  beds  of  fine  mud  or 
clay,  which  from  subsequent  pressure,  and  perhaps  from  the  subsequent  general  action  of  heat, 
would  become  highly  indurated,  and  form  hard  compact  rock.  The  lavas,  also,  as  they  would 
cool  under  great  pressure,  would  be  more  perfectly  crystalline,  and  form  much  heavier  and  com- 
pact rocks,  than  those  formed  by  lava  streams  cooling  only  under  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere. 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  porphyries,  taken  as  a  mass,  were  contemporaneous  with  the  slate 
rocks,  also  taken  en  masse,  and  that  the  two  had  a  partly  common  origin.  Of  the  age  of  the  sie- 
nites,  however,  we  have  not  such  clear  evidence,  inasmuch  as  their  junction  with  the  slate  rocks  is 
nowhere  exposed.  It  is  often  found  to  be  the  case,  that  where  granites  or  sienites  and  slate  rocks 
come  together,  the  granites  are  newer  than  the  slates,  forming  the  centres  from  which  the  slates 
incline,  and  being,  in  fact,  the  tangible  result  of  the  very  power  by  which  the  slates  have  been 
upheaved.  It  might  therefore,  at  first,  be  supposed  that  this  was  the  case  in  Charnwood  Forest, 
and  that  the  sienite  was  produced  at  the  time  the  anticlinal  line  of  the  slates  was  formed,  and  at  a 
time  long  posterior  tO  the  formation  of  the  slates  themselves ;  such,  however,  we  believe  not  to  be 
the  case,  and  we  incline  to  regard  the  sienite  as  contemporaneous  with  the  porphyries,  or  nearly 
so,  from  the  following  considerations.  In  the  first  place,  in  Hammerclifl^  Hill  the  porphyries  pass 
into  sienite  with  such  an  apparently  imperceptible  gradation,  as  would  force  us  to  believe  them 
at  least  to  have  been  produced  at  the  same  time,  and  to  be  parts  of  the  same  mass  of  melted  matter, 
assuming  different  forms,  according  to  slight  modifications  in  its  conditions  of  cooling.  In  the 
second  place,  no  sienite  is  seen  along  the  anticlinal  line  of  tlie  Forest,  and  no  local  disturbance  is 


22  GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

exhibited  in  the  dip  or  strike  of  the  slates  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  lumps  of  sienite 
at  Groby  and  Maikfield.  The  sienite,  therefore,  must  have  existed  before  any  inclination  was 
o-iven  to  the  slate  rocks  of  the  Forest,  and  it  could  not  be  connected  with  the  disturbing  power 
that  produced  that  inclination,  or  we  should  either  have  found  it  where  the  greatest  disturbing 
force  acted,  namely,  along  the  anticlinal  line,  or  where  we  do  find  it  we  should  have  found  some 
disturbance. 

Ao-ain,  the  small  sienite  hills  which  protrude  through  the  new  red  sandstone,  some  miles  south 
of  the  Forest,  namely,  at  Enderby,  Croft,  Narborough,  Potter's  Marston,  and  Sapcote,  and  the 
occurrence  of  sienite  in  an  abortive  sinking  for  coal  at  Kirby  Muxloe  (if  the  latter  circumstance 
be  correct),  show  a  very  general  extension  of  sienite  beneath  the  new  red  sandstone  far  from  the 
Forest.  Now  at  some  places  this  sienite  seems  on  the  point  of  passing  into  porphyry  ;  at  none  is 
there  any  evidence  of  the  age  of  its  production ;  and  its  whole  bearing  and  character  seem  to  us 
to  favour  the  supposition  of  its  being  nearly,  if  not  quite,  contemporaneous  with  the  slates  and 
porphyries,  and  of  its  having  formed  with  them  a  connected  ridge  of  primary  rocks,  at  a  period 
long  anterior  to  the  formation  of  any  of  the  secondary  rocks  by  which  it  is  now  covered  and  sur- 
rounded. 

Taking  for  granted  that  the  sienite  existed  before  the  movement  which  produced  the  anticlinal 
line,  its  age  is  certainly  thrown  back  very  near  to  that  of  the  slates,  since  we  believe  it  possible  to 
show,  or  at  least  to  render  it  highly  probable,  that  some  movement  of  elevation  took  place  in  the 
slate  rocks  of  Charnvvood  Forest,  along  the  general  direction  of  their  present  anticlinal  line,  long 
anterior  to  the  formation  of  the  carboniferous  group. 

For  this  purpose,  however,  it  will  be  necessary  to  enter  a  little  on  the  general  geological  struc- 
ture of  Eno-land  and  Wales. — The  carboniferous  formation  of  the  north  of  England  consists  of  an 
immense  accumulation  of  shales,  sandstones,  limestones,  and  coals,  of  which  the  coal  is  generally 
found  at  the  top  and  the  limestone  at  the  bottom.  The  whole  series  may  be  divided  into  three 
groups. — 1.  Coal  measures.     2.  Millstone  grit.     3.  Mountain  limestone. 

The  same  groups  mav  be  applied  to  the  carboniferous  formation  of  Gloucestershire  and  south 
Wales,  but  here  the  two  lower  portions  are  much  thinner  than  in  the  north  of  England.  To  make 
amends  for  this,  the  old  red  sandstone,  which  in  the  north  of  England  is  partial  and  almost  want- 
ino-,  swells  out  in  the  south  to  an  amazing  bulk,  and  becomes  a  large  and  important  formation. 
Beneath  the  carboniferous  and  old  red  sandstone  formations  are  found  shales,  sandstones,  lime- 
stones and  slate  rocks  belonging  to  the  Silurian  and  Cambrian  formations.  We  see,  then,  that 
both  in  the  north  and  south  of  England  the  coal  measures  are  separated  from  the  Silurian  and 
Cambrian  systems  by  a  vast  body  of  other  rocks,  and  we  know  that  all  these  rocks  were  formed 
under  water,  and  that  a  great  part,  at  least,  were  formed  in  the  sea.  Along  a  band  of  country, 
however,  extending  from  Radnorshire  to  Leicestershire,  and  including  the  coal  fields  of  Shrop- 
shire, south  Staffordshire,  Warwickshire  and  Leicestershire,  the  upper  part  only  of  the  carbonif- 
erous system  is  found  ;  namely,  the  coal  measures,  which  rest  upon  the  Silurian  and  Cambrian* 
systems,  without  the  intervention  of  either  millstone  grit,  mountain  limestone,  or  old  red  sand- 
stone. On  the  north  side  of  the  Shropshire  coal  field,  indeed,  as  on  that  of  Ashby-de-la-Zouch, 
small  patches  of  mountain  limestone  are  found,  but  evidently  of  a  debased  and  unimportant  cha- 
racter, thinning  out  towards  the  south,  and  but  the  thin  remnants  and  extreme  boundaries  of  the 
great  formation  on  the  north.     On  the  south  of  the  Shropshire  coal  field,  also,  old  red  sandstone 

•  The  term  Ciimlirian  is  applied  liere  provisionally  to  the  slates  of  Hartshill  and  Chamwood. 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  23 

is  found,  but  tins  is  also  very  thin,  compared  witli  the  bulk  it  attains  as  it  recedes  from  the  coal 
field  towards  the  south.  It  appears,  then,  that  along  the  line  running  through  these  four  midland 
coal  fields,  there  is  an  old  ridge  of  rocks,  which  existed  as  a  range  either  of  shallows  or  of  islands 
in  the  old  sea,  in  which  the  old  red  sandstone  and  mountain  limestone  were  deposited,  and  that 
from  this  ridge  the  sea  became  deeper  on  either  hand.  Whether  any  points  of  this  range,  such  as 
Charnwood  Forest,  ever  reached  above  the  water,  and  actually  formed  an  island,  on  which  grew 
the  luxuriant  vegetation  now  entombed  in  the  coal  measures,  we  cannot  ascertain  :  but  that  the 
range  generally  had  a  considerable  elevation  above  the  general  bottom  of  this  old  sea  is  nearly 
certain. 

Another  direct  argument  in  corroboration  of  this  conclusion  may  be  deduced  in  the  following 
way: — All  the  lines  of  greatest  disturbance  in  the  four  coal  fields  before  mentioned,  both  in  the 
coal  measures  and  the  rocks  beneath  them,  are  parallel,  or  nearly  so  ;  ranging  between  north  and 
south  and  north-west  and  south-east.  It  follows,  from  what  we  know  of  geological  dynamics,  that 
the  first  production  of  these  lines  was  a  simultaneous  one  ;  that  the  force,  whatever  it  was,  which 
first  produced  these  parallel  fractures,  and  marked  out  the  directions  along  which  any  subsequent 
elevating  force  must  necessarily  act,  extended  over  the  whole  area,  including  the  four  coal  fields, 
at  one  and  the  same  time.  Now  in  the  Shropshire  and  south  Staffordshire  coal  fields,  the  coal 
measures  rest  sometimes  on  one  part  of  the  Silurian  formation,  sometimes  on  another  ;  disturbing 
and  denuding  forces  therefore  had  been  at  work  on  the  Silurian  rocks  before  the  coal  measures 
were  deposited.  Even  in  particular  localities,  the  two  things  are  unconformable,  or  rest  in  dis- 
cordant positions.  On  the  north  end  of  the  Wren's  nest,  near  Dudley,  the  Dudley  limestone 
plunges  at  an  angle  of  sixty  or  seventy  degrees  beneath  the  coal  measures  which  sweep  round  and 
abut  against  it,  lying  at  an  angle  of  not  more  than  ten  degrees  with  the  horizon,  as  may  be  seen 
in  a  large  open  work  in  the  ten  yard  coal  close  by.  Great  fractures  and  elevations  in  the  Silurian 
rocks,  then,  were  here  produced  long  before  the  deposition  of  the  coal  measures,  which  consequently 
gives  an  equally  ancient  date,  at  least,  for  the  movements  throughout  the  district,  and  therefore  for 
the  first  movements  in  the  slate  rocks  of  Charnwood  Forest.  Could  we  strip  off  the  new  red  sand- 
stone from  the  Coleorton  coal  field,  we  should  most  probably  see  the  coal  measures  resting  con- 
formably on  mountain  limestone  between  Lount  and  Gracedieu,  and  abutting  unconformably 
against  the  slates  and  porphyries  between  Whitwick  and  Bardon. 

Still  another  argument  might  possibly  be  deduced,  from  the  great  amount  of  denudation  which 
took  place  among  the  hard  rocks  of  the  Forest  anterior  to  the  deposition  of  the  new  red  sandstone, 
and  which  it  is  difficult  to  think  could  have  been  produced  in  a  limited  period  of  time. 

Resuming  now  our  history,  we  may  say  that,  after  the  deposition  of  the  slate  rocks  and  the 
formation  of  the  porphyries,  there  elapsed  a  very  great  and  unknown  period  of  time.  During  the 
earliest  part  of  this  period,  the  igneous  rocks  were  cooled  and  the  aqueous  rocks  consolidated.  The 
jointed  structure  of  both  was  also  produced  ;  but  whether  by  a  purely  mechanical  process,  or  by 
an  action  obeying  higher  and  more  general  laws,  we  do  not  at  present  know.  During  some  part 
of  this  interval,  also,  the  whole  mass  of  the  slate  rocks,  in  common  with  the  other  slate  rocks  of 
England  and  Wales,  were  subjected  to  the  action  of  a  very  general  and  powerful,  though  myste- 
rious force,  which  entirely  sealed  up  and  compacted  together  the  original  lamination  and  line  of 
bedding  in  the  slate  rocks,  and  gave  them,  as  a  mass,  a  tendency  to  split  in  other  directions,  often 
with  the  greatest  regularity  and  the  most  perfect  parallelism.  The  compass  bearing  of  these 
cleavage  planes,  which  thus  traverse  the  slates,  varies  in  different  places :  but  taking  the  whole 
Forest  together,  it  is  most  frequently  found  to  strike  about  twenty  degrees  north  of  west  and  south 


24  GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

of  east,  or  north  north-west  and  east  south-east.  The  angle  the  cleavage  planes  make  with  the 
horizon  is  also  found  to  vary  a  little,  but  they  are  always  highly  inclined  and  frequently  perpen- 
dicular. They  pay  no  respect  to  the  angle  which  the  beds  make  with  the  horizon,  being  equally 
perpendicular  whether  the  beds  are  highly  or  slightly  inclined.  Hence  another  argument  may  be 
di'awn  for  the  early  period  at  which  the  beds  had  acquired  some  inclination,  since  it  appears  to 
have  been  before  they  were  traversed  by  the  cleavage,  and  they  must  have  been  traversed  by  the 
cleavage  before  the  existence  of  the  shales  of  the  coal  measures,  or  why  were  they  not  also  affected 
by  this  cleavage  ?  At  all  events,  from  the  arguments  before  given,  it  is  highly  probable  that, 
during  the  long  interval  which  elapsed  after  the  formation  of  the  slates,  they  were  acted  upon  by 
elevating  forces,  as  well  as  by  the  secret  agency  which  produced  the  cleavage. 

What  was  the  exact  condition  of  the  district  in  other  respects,  during  any  part  of  this  interval, 
we  do  not  know.  It  may  have  been  an  island;  but  whether  above  or  under  water,  it  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  deep  sea,  in  which  were  formed  immense  accumulations  that  are  now  limestones, 
shales,  and  sandstones,  teeming  with  fragments  of  organic  beings,  this  ancient  sea's  inhabitants. 
A  small  portion  of  these  accumulations  is  seen  in  the  mountain  limestones  on  the  north-west  of 
the  Forest.  This  extensive  sea  seems  gradually  to  have  been  filled  up  or  made  shallower,  and 
either  converted  into  a  fresh-water  lake,  or,  as  is  more  probable,  to  have  been  swept  over  by  the 
outpouring  of  some  vast  river  draining  a  neighbouring  continent.  Heaps  of  sand  and  mud,  and 
the  wreck  and  ruin  of  matted  Forests,  rank  with  more  than  the  luxuriance  of  a  tropical  vegetation, 
were  at  all  events  brought  in  by  some  mighty  and  continuous  tide,  and  being  deposited  in  its 
depths  were  converted  into  the  coal,  shale,  and  sandstone,  that  now  compose  the  coal  measures. 
These  have  a  thickness  of  more  than  a  thousand  feet,  and  must  of  themselves,  under  any  conceiv- 
able circumstances,  have  occupied  immense  periods  of  time  in  their  formation.  It  is  probable 
that,  during  that  time,  little  or  no  disturbance  was  given  to  the  rocks  by  elevatory  or  other  forces. 
In  a  neighbouring  district,  indeed,  in  the  coal  field  of  Warwickshire,  we  know  that  the  whole  of 
the  coal  measures,  and  some  of  the  bottom  beds  of  the  lowest  part  of  the  new  red  sandstone  (the 
rothe  todle  liegende),  were  deposited  tranquilly  and  without  interruption,  since  we  find  the  beds 
of  the  red  sandstone  passing  down  by  a  regular  gradation  into  the  coal  measures,  the  point  of 
junction  being  marked  by  some  thin  beds  of  fresh-water  limestone,  and  the  whole  mass  partaking 
of  the  same  inclination,  and  affected  by  the  same  dislocations.  It  must  have  been,  therefore,  some 
time  after  the  close  of  the  carboniferous  period,  that  the  great  and  general  movements  of  elevation 
and  disturbance  took  place,  which,  in  common  with  all  the  other  carboniferous  districts  of  Eng- 
land, acted  on  the  Charnwood  Forest  district,  gave  to  the  slates  additional  elevation  and  a  fur- 
ther dislocation,  set  on  edge  the  mountain  limestone  of  Breedon,  Osgathorpe,  and  Gracedieu,  as 
well  as  that  of  Calke  and  Ticknall,  raised  up,  cracked,  and  broke  through  the  coal  measures  in 
various  directions,  and  heightened  or  produced  all  the  different  faults,  anticlinal  lines,  and  dis- 
turbances, which  are  now  found  in  these  several  formations.  Still  the  district  was  beneath  the 
level  of  the  sea,  and  it  may  easily  be  conceived  that  these  powerful  movements  in  the  solid  matters 
of  its  bed  must  be  accompanied  with  frequent  and  strong  currents  in  its  waters.  We  find,  accord- 
ingly, tliat  powerful  denuding  forces  were  at  work  at  this  time,  by  which  the  broken  fragments  of 
the  rocks  were  swept  away  and  rolled  into  pebbles,  and  their  surfaces  for  a  long  time  worn  down 
and  the  netritus  converted  into  sand  or  clay,  forming  the  conglomerates,  sandstones  and  marls  of 
the  new  red  sandstone  formation.  This  formation  is  nothing  more  than  an  ancient  marine  dilu- 
vium, on  a  large  scale.  Of  the  quantity  of  materials  destroyed  to  form  its  beds  we  may  acquire 
some  notion,  when  we  consider  that  all,  or  nearly  all  the  valleys  in  the  hard  rocks  of  Charnwood 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHAHNWOOD  FOREST.  25 

Forest  were  scooped  out,  and  immense  portions  of  the  coal  measures  removed,  before  it  was  de- 
posited. If  we  were  to  draw  an  accurate  section  of  the  Forest,  and  continue  tiie  lines  of  its  beds 
from  their  present  broken  edges  till  they  met  near  the  anticlinal  line,  and  thus  formed  one  lofty 
unbroken  ridge,  we  should  get  a  measure  by  which  to  estimate  how  much  has  been  carried  off 
from  this  ridge  to  form  the  present  comparatively  low  and  eroded  surfixce  of  the  ground.*  Now 
all  this  was  carried  away,  and  even  more  than  this,  before  the  new  red  sandstone  was  deposited  : 
because  all  the  present  valleys  contain  new  red  sandstone,  lying  in  level  beds,  sweeping  up  them 
and  conforming  to  their  outline,  and  to  a  certain  extent  filling  them  up  and  rendering  the  depres- 
sion less  than  it  would  be  were  the  surfixce  of  the  slate  rocks  universally  exposed.  If  we  pass  from 
the  Forest  to  the  coal  measures  we  find  evidence  of  an  almost  equal  amount  of  degradation.  If 
we  look  at  section  No.  3,  it  will  be  seen  that,  on  one  side  of  the  great  fault  there  exhibited,  the 
beds  are  four  hundred  and  thirty  feet  higher  than  on  the  other,  but  the  present  surface  of  the 
ground  shows  no  such  elevation,  all  that  part  therefore  marked  by  dotted  lines  must  have  been 
removed.  But  even  on  the  other  side  of  the  fault,  the  beds  existing  immediately  below  the  surface 
of  the  ground  are  not  the  highest  beds  of  the  formation  ;  there  has,  in  all  probability,  been  some 
beds  above  them,  which  have  been  removed.  And  if  we  look  at  the  whole  coal  field,  and  see  its 
broken  and  distorted  position,  the  lower  beds  coming  out  to  the  surface  in  one  place,  lying  hun- 
dreds of  yards  below  other  beds  in  another  place, — we  are  compelled  to  ask  ourselves  what  has 
become  of  the  remainder  of  these  beds  ?  Wherever  we  find  beds  that  we  know  once  to  have  been 
horizontal,  and  to  have  been  covered  by  others  in  a  horizontal  position,  coming  up  successively 
to  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  there  ending  suddenly,  we  must  be  assured  that  they  are  but  a 
part  of  what  once  existed,  and  that  the  remaining  portion,  however  vast  may  have  been  its  extent, 
has  been  removed  by  denudation. 

There  must  have  been,  then,  in  the  Ashby  coal  field,  as  in  all  others,  a  most  enormous  destruc- 
tion and  denudation  of  once  existing  materials,  to  produce  the  present  surface:  and  though  the 
whole  of  this  may  not  have  taken  place  before  the  deposition  of  the  new  red  sandstone,  yet  much 
of  it  did,  and  it  is  of  the  very  ruin  and  rubbish  of  this  denudation  that  the  new  red  sandstone  is 
formed.  Many  of  the  pebbles  in  the  neighbouring  conglomerate  beds  of  the  new  red  formation 
consist  of  coal  measure  sandstones,  which  preserve  their  vegetable  markings,  some  of  them  of 
pieces  of  mountain  limestone,  perfectly  rounded,  others  may  be  derived  from  some  of  the  Forest 
rocks,  but  the  majority  are  of  quartz.  It  is  at  first  sight  difficult  to  say  why,  when  we  find  so 
many  quartz  pebbles  in  the  new  red  sandstone,  we  should  not  find  an  equal  number  of  slate,  or 
even  of  porphyry  or  sienite,  but  I  think  a  reason  may  be  found  in  the  different  characters  of  these 
rocks.  The  porphyries  and  great  part  of  the  sienites  consist  of  enormous  compact  blocks,  which 
water  may  wear  down,  indeed,  but  could  never  break,  and  no  ordinary  current  could  wash  awav. 
The  slates  are  more  easily  broken  into  small  pieces,  but  those  pieces  are  comparatively  flat,  sharp, 
and  very  angular,  so  as  easily  to  be  converted  into  shingle,  but  not  easily  rolled  to  anj-  great  dis- 
tance. These  shingles,  by  constant  mutual  attrition,  would  be  ground  down  into  fine  mud  or 
sand,  and  would  scarcely  ever  be  so  rounded  as  to  be  called  pebbles.  The  quartz,  on  the  con- 
trary, though  very  hard,  is  traversed  by  so  many  fine  joints,  as  to  be  easily  shivered  by  a  slight 
blow,  or  even  to  fall  to  pieces  under  the  influence  of  the  weather,  and  it  breaks  into  small  cuboidal 
blocks,  not  larger  than  a  man's  head  nor  smaller  than  his  fist.     Whichever  way  these  blocks  rest 

*  If,  in  sections  No.  1  and  2,  the  lines  of  stratification  in  the  Forest  rocks  be  produced  upwards,  till  they  nearly 
meet,  a  distorted  image  of  their  original  condition  -will  be  produced,  because  the  scales  of  height  and  length  arc  neces- 
sarily different  in  drawing  any  section,  in  order  to  reduce  it  within  reasonable  horizontal  limits. 


26  GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

they  present  an  equal  surface  to  the  water :  a  slight  current  would  set  them  in  motion,  a  very  little 
wearing  down  of  their  corners  would  give  them  a  spherical  figure,  they  would  then  be  easily  rolled, 
and  soon  converted,  by  their  mutual  attrition,  into  the  smooth,  perfectly  rounded  quartz  pebbles, 
so  common  in  the  conglomerates  of  the  new  red  sandstone  and  the  gravel  which  is  derived  from 
them.  If,  therefore,  a  district  consisting  of  slates,  porphyries,  and  quartz  rock,  were  now  sub- 
jected to  the  action  of  strong  tides  and  currents  and  the  dash  of  a  heavy  surf,  the  parts  farthest 
removed  and  rolled  into  pebbles  would  be  the  quartz  rock,  while  the  slates  would  be  more  proba- 
bly re-converted  into  their  original  clay. 

It  is  in  the  lower  beds  of  the  new  red  sandstone  that  we  find  the  greatest  abundance  of  con- 
glomerates, as  if  there  were  a  particular  period  during  which  the  pre-existing  rocks  were  most 
fractured,  or  were  acted  upon  by  the  strongest  currents ;  and  the  higher  beds  of  new  red  sandstone 
gradually  become  more  and  more  fine,  as  though  the  sea  were  becoming  more  tranquil  and  more 
clear,  till  at  last  it  contained  nothing  in  suspension  in  any  part  of  it  but  the  finest  mud  or  clay. 
At  one  particular  period  the  water  held  in  solution  a  large  portion  of  sulphate  of  lime  (perhaps 
derived  from  the  bursting  out  of  hot  springs),  which  being  precipitated,  formed  the  beds  of  gypsum 
found  in  the  upper  part  of  the  red  marls.  At  length  the  sea  ceased  altogether  to  deposit  red  marls 
or  sandstones,  but  occasionally  threw  down  some  thin  bands  of  very  fine  blue  clay,  and  sometimes 
preci))itated  a  still  thinner  band  of  carbonate  of  lime,  the  two  things  alternating  with  each  other 
and  spreading  over  various  small  limits,  according  to  the  varying  conditions  of  the  water,  or  the 
detritus  it  contained.  The  inhabitants  of  the  sea  at  this  time  were  entirely  different  from  the 
beings  that  peopled  it  when  the  mountain  limestone  was  formed.  Of  the  multitude  of  corals  and 
univalve  and  bivalve  shells  found  in  that  formation,  not  one  occurs  in  the  lias,  but  on  the  con- 
trary, both  bivalve  and  univalve  shells  of  different  species  and  even  different  genera.  The  fish 
enclosed  in  such  numbers  in  the  limestones  of  the  lias,  are  generically  distinct  from  the  fish  the 
fragments  of  whose  scales  and  teeth  are  found  in  the  coal  measures  and  mountain  limestones.  No 
reptiles'  bones  have  ever  yet  been  discovered  in  the  two  latter  formations,  while  in  the  lias  innu- 
meralile  ichthyosauri  and  plesiosauri,  marine  lizards  of  enormous  size  and  strengtii,  have  left  their 
skeletons  in  the  now  solid  rock,  and  like  Ossian's  heroes  might  say  to  the  stones — 

"  Daughters  of  the  streams,  now  reared  on  high,  speak  to  the  feeble  after  Sehna's  race  have  failed." 

After  the  epoch  of  the  deposition  of  the  lias  we  have  no  record  left  of  what  took  place  in  our 
district  during  an  enormous  interval  of  time,  whose  lapse  is  measured  by  the  formation  in  other 
parts  of  our  island  of  the  higher  secondary  rocks,  and  by  the  production  of  the  whole  of  the  Ter- 
tiary rocks.  At  a  comparatively  very  recent  period,  however,  the  district  has  been  again  traversed 
by  currents  of  water,  which  probably  causing  still  further  denudation  over  the  slate  rocks  and 
coal  measures,  has  also  greatly  worn  down  and  eaten  away  the  beds  of  lias  and  new  red  sandstone 
themselves.  The  detached  patches  of  red  marl  in  the  valleys  of  the  Forest  were  probably  once 
more  extensive  than  they  are  now.  The  original  surflice  of  the  new  red  sandstone  was  probably 
a  nearly  perfect  plane,  rising  gently  on  every  side  towards  the  Forest,  filling  its  valleys  and 
mantling  round  its  sides,  leaving  none  but  the  higher  peaks  exposed  to  view.  Over  this  nearly 
horizontal  plane  lay  the  lias,  equally,  if  not  more  horizontal,  thinning  out  and  ending  probably 
towards  the  Forest,  but  approaching  it  much  more  nearly  than  it  does  now.  To  produce  the  ex- 
isting undulating  surface,  all  the  lias  west  of  its  present  irregular  and  broken  boundary,  and  much 
of  tlie  new  red  sandstone  beneath,  has  been  removed  by  currents  of  water,  scooping  and  hollowing 


GEOLOGY  OF  CIIARNWOOD  I'OIIE.ST.  27 

it  out,  and  prodiicinjr  the  present  valley  of  the  Soar  and  its  collateral  valleys.  Portions  of  the 
higher  beds  of  new  red  sandstone,  namely  the  variei^ated  marls,  protected  by  the  solid  rocks  around 
them,  have  been  left  in  the  Forest  to  show  the  heij^ht  the  formation  once  attained,*  and  to  mark 
the  destruction  caused  by  the  denuding  forces.  When  this  denudation  took  place  we  cannot  pre- 
cisely say,  but  probably  just  prior  to  or  during  the  time  the  gravel  was  deposited.  The  quartzose 
gravel  on  the  north-west  of  the  district  is,  indeed,  little  else  than  the  conglomerate  beds  of  the  new- 
red  sandstone,  partially  stirred  and  redintegrated.  It  is  often  exceedingly  difficult  to  say  which 
is  a  modern  gravel  bed  and  which  is  an  old  conglomerate.  Occasionally,  however,  a  chalk  flint 
or  a  lias  fossil  may  be  detected  in  quartzose  gravel,  and  we  may  then  conclude  that  this  gravel 
was  stirred  by  the  currents  of  the  modern  diluvial  period.  It  may  easily  happen  that,  in  the  same 
gravel-pit,  the  lower  part  has  never  been  moved  since  the  time  of  the  new  red  sandstone,  while  the 
upper  has  been  acted  upon  by  modern  currents,  and  yet  no  perceptible  difference  be  apparent 
between  the  two.  That  the  currents  which  brought  in  the  great  accumulations  we  have  called  the 
eastern  drift,  proceeded  far  beyond  the  boundaries  where  much  of  that  drift  is  to  be  seen  is  certain, 
as  chalk  flints  are  occasionally  scattered  over  the  surface.f  We  accordingly  find,  in  some  gravel- 
pits,  a  mixture  of  the  eastern  drift  with  quartz  pebbles.  The  subject,  however,  of  the  diluvium, 
and  the  currents  of  water  or  other  causes  which  produced  it,  is  a  far  too  wide  and  intricate  one 
to  be  discussed  within  our  limits.  Neither  shall  we  do  more  than  touch  on  the  tempting  subject 
of  the  Forest  drift.  Mere  currents  of  water  can  certainly  hardly  be  supposed  to  have  transported 
huge  blocks  of  sienite  or  slate  for  miles  from  their  ancient  abodes,  over  an  undulatino-  surface  of 
ground,  composed  of  soft  and  yielding  materials.  The  agency  of  icebergs  is  the  most  probable 
hypothesis,  but  though  we  have  sailed  among  fields  of  ice  for  weeks,  and  could  sometimes  have 
counted  fifty  icebergs  from  the  mast  head  at  one  time,  we  do  not  consider  ourselves  warranted  in 
giving  an  opinion.  The  subject  is  at  present  one  beset  with  difficulties,  and  among  other  geolo- 
gical desiderata,  a  good  description  and  explanation  of  the  gravel  beds  or  diluvium,  or  the  erratic 
block  group,  is  one  of  the  most  desirable. 

The  speculations  here  entertained  may  perhaps  appear  to  those  who  enter  on  them  for  the  first 
time,  as  useless  or  extravagant.  They  could  not  possibly  commit  a  greater  mistake.  Our  very 
existence  as  a  great  commercial  nation  is  based  upon  our  mineral  wealth,  more  especially  the 
abundance  of  our  coal  and  iron.  So  vast,  however,  is  the  drain  on  the  coal  fields  at  present 
worked,  that  already  do  we  begin  to  look  forward  to  the  time  when  these  supplies  may  fail.  So 
greatly,  too,  does  the  existence  of  coal  at  a  particular  depth  beneath  the  surface  add  to  the  value 
of  land,  that  the  imagination  of  the  possessor  becomes  inflamed  with  the  bare  possibility  of  its 
being  the  case,  and  he  too  often  loses  the  substance  in  grasping  at  the  shadow.  Even  in  these  our 
days,  in  spite  of  all  the  warning  of  geologists,  men  are  led  on  by  the  over  ardent  or  the  desio-nino-, 
to  squander  their  money  in  search  of  coal  where  its  existence  is  improbable  or  even  impossible. 
Even  for  the  purpose,  then,  of  regulating  or  restraining  private  speculation,  it  is  of  importance 
thoroughly  to  understand  the  structure  of  the  neighbourhood  of  the  mineral  districts.  But  it  be- 
comes a  question  of  the  most  vital  interest  to  the  existence  and  future  prosperity  of  the  nation  at 

*  It  is  not  meant  that  even  the  highest  beds  of  the  new  red  sandstone  ever  attained  the  same  general  height  over 
the  suiTOunding  country  which  they  have  in  the  Forest,  as  they  would  naturally  be  deposited  on  a  gentle  slope,  rising 
higher  on  the  sides  of  the  hUls  than  elsewhere. 

f  I  foimd  one  large  chalk  flint  (among  several  other  instances)  near  Ashbourne,  containing  the  cast  of  an  inoeera- 
mus,  and  lying  loose  on  the  surface  of  the  ground.  In  some  red  clay  at  Compton,  near  Wolverhampton,  many  lias 
and  oolitic  fossils  were  found,  some  years  ago. — J.  B.  Jukes. 


•28 


GEOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


large,  when  we  come  to  consider  in  what  places  and  at  what  depths  the  coal  measures  may  exist, 
where  they  are  not  visible  at  the  surface  of  the  ground  ?  To  determine  this  question  it  is  neces- 
sary particularly  to  examine  the  boundary  faults  of  the  present  coal  fields  and  to  understand  their 
nature,  and  also  to  have  accurate  ideas  not  only  of  the  general  relations  of  the  coal  measures  and 
new  red  sandstones,  but  also  of  the  particular  relative  positions  they  may  occupy  in  particular 
localities.  It  is  desirable  to  ascertain  all  the  possibilities  of  the  case  :  what  may  be  the  possible 
thickness  which  the  new  red  sandstone  may  ever  attain,  and  what  may  be  the  possible  or  probable 
rocks  on  which  it  may  rest.  To  acquire  this  knowledge  we  must  speculate,  we  must  reason,  we 
must  theorize,  as  it  is  called.  We  must  rise  from  the  mere  observation  of  the  rocks  themselves  to 
an  inquiry  into  the  causes  that  produced  them,  before  we  can  ever  hope  to  make  mining  operations 
more  than  a  mere  mole-like  groping  in  the  dark,  and  give  it  the  characters  of  scientific  certainty 
and  assurance.  The  two  most  important  practical  cjuestions  on  which  geological  science  must 
shortly  be  brought  to  bear  in  the  central  districts  of  England  are,  the  nature  of  the  boundary  faults 
of  our  present  coal  fields  and  the  possible  thickness  of  the  new  red  sandstone.*  As  we  are  not, 
however,  now  writing  a  mineral  report,  we  will  enter  no  farther  on  the  subject,  but  hope  that  what 
has  been  said  may  be  of  use  to  the  student,  or  of  interest  to  the  general  observer,  in  their  excur- 
sions about  the  wild  hills  and  interesting  neighbourhood  of  Charnwood  Forest. 


'''""'^  \  \,r1  :i!!l|v;^ 


THE  H,\NGrNG  STONE  ROCK,  NEAR  THE  OAKS  CHAPEL. 


'  It  has  been  reported  that,  at  the  experiment  at  New-found  Pool,  near  Leicester,  they  pierced  to  a  depth  of  1000  feet 
in  the  new  red  sandstone  without  passing  through  it. 


LAND-SLIP  ON  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


The  following  singular  piece  of  solemn  nonsense,  though  -nTitten  with  all  the  gravity  of  sober  truth,  is  taken 
from  the  Harleian  Manuscripts  in  the  British  Museum.  Nichols  terms  it  an  "  obscene  pamphlet,"  and 
only  barely  mentions  it.  Its  absurdity  is  its  chief  recommendation  to  these  pages,  in  which  it  would 
certainly  have  found  no  place  had  it  deserved  the  epithet  Mr.  Nichols  applied  to  it.  Perhaps  a  better 
specimen  of  the  state  of  geological  science  in  the  seventeenth  century  could  not  be  adduced.  I  have  in 
vain  tried  to  discover  who  the  "Two  Lovers  of  Art"  were — a  literary  fnend  thinks  "J.  W."  might  be 
Bishop  Wilkius,  author  of  a  "  Voyage  to  the  Moon  !  !"  -. — 

A  Brief  Relation  of  a  Wonderful  Accident,  a  Dissolution  of  the  Earth,  in  the  Forest 
of  Charnwood,  about  two  miles  from  Loughborough,  in  Leicestershire ;  lately  done,  and  dis- 
covered, and  resorted  to,  by  many  People,  both  old  and  young. 

Published  by  two  Lovers  of  Art,  J.  C.  and  J.  W.,  MDCLXXIX. 

(quarto;   containing  six  pages.) 

TO  THE  READER. 

To  your  ingenuous  acceptation,  we  communicate  these  our  observations ;  not  for  '  filthy  lucre's 
sake,'  but  for  public  satisfaction,  and  truth's  sake;  being  provoked  thereto  by  some  persons  of 
quality.  Considering  the  evil  custom  of  erroneous  reports,  and  the  fearful  rumours  of  ignorant 
people. 

Read,  and  judge  charitably,  without  critical  and  incredulous  censure :  here  is  no  wandering 
prolixity,  nor  superfluous  embellishment  of  eloquence,  but  a  scrutiny  into  the  proper  antithesis, 
apparelled  with  necessary  language.     Be  candid,  not  cunning. —  Vale. 


The  figure  is  almost  circular,  posited  in  a  declining  position  to  the  horizon  ;  it  being  the  end 
or  fragment  of  a  hilly  body,  and  contains  about  two  acres  of  ground. 

In  its  upper  division,  or  primary  breach,  the  lower  or  fallen  part  of  it,  lies  a  yard  (in  some 
places)  beneath  the  unmoved  body.  About  three  parts  of  this  circular  wonder  shows  symptoms 
of  the  efficient  cause;  and  the  rest  shows  little,  or  no  defect. 

About  three  paces  from  the  upper  breach,  or  prime  division,  is  a  second  trench  all  down  one 
curve  of  the  circle,  aforesaid,  and  some  second  fractures  be  on  the  other  side  these ;  over  the  prime 
trench,  or  breach,  lieth  a  narrow  pathway ;  the  fallen  part,  whose  hypotenusal  should  fall  upon 
the  true  angular  point  (if  it  had  a  perpendicular  fall)  is  subverted,  and  turned  aside  one  foot  or 
more. 

Between  the  prime  breach  and  second  curvery  fracture,  the  earth  shows  a  perpendicular  descent 
or  down-right  falling,  because  it  doth  thrust  itself  within  its  former  bounds;  on  the  other  side  of 
the  curve,  which  is  higher  ground,  the  parts  of  the  earth  fallen,  and  unfallen,  show  the  distance  of 
a  foot ;  which,  if  it  should  be  raised  to  a  parallel,  with  its  former  bounds,  would  differ  half  a  yard. 
The  sine  for  these  curves  is  the  radius  or  total  sine. 


30  LAND-SLIP  ON  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

The  lower  part  of  the  periphery  (or  arch  opposite  to  the  primary  breach)  is  rolled  in,  with  an 
overshooting  of  its  bounds ;  as  if  it  were  driven,  being  light  in  substance,  and  stones  (in  some 
places  thereof)  thrust  forth  themselves.  This  lower  curve  contains  about  half  the  radius  for  its 
versed  sine. 

The  unbreached  part  of  the  periphery  lies  on  the  lower  side  of  the  hill,  in  respect  to  the  hill's 
ridge. 

Some  persons  judge  water  to  be  the  cause  of  the  breach  ;  others  say  wind. 

The  latter  we  account  proper,  and  consider  both,  in  method  and  manner  following. 

1. — That  it  was  not  water. 

2. — That  it  was  occasioned  by  wind. 

Reasons  ne(jative,  and  affirmative,  that  it  was  not  ivater. 

1.  Water  doth  naturally  run  in  a  channel  hasting  forward,  yea,  and  that  when  the  ground  is 
level ;  but,  where  the  ground  descendeth,  through  which  it  is  to  pass,  there  it  forceth  with  a  more 
direct  course,  and  speedy  stream  ;  not  dilating  itself,  but  rather  drawing  its  body  into  more  narrow 
bounds. 

2.  If  water  had  been  the  cause,  then  it  should  not  have  run  in  a  round  figure,  where  the  hill  is 
so  much  descending;  unless  some  artificial  pipes  had  been  laid,  which  by  the  attractive  power  of 
the  air  should  draw  the  water  up  again  ;  which  if  fancy,  or  any  person's  supposition,  should  incline 
to,  yet  nevertheless  it  would  have  more  powerful  force  in  its  descent,  than  ascent. 

•3.  Had  water  (by  its  violent  billows)  caused  this  accident,  it  would  either  have  done  it  by  an 
eruption  outwards,  or  a  dissolution  of  the  earth  within  ;  whereby  the  upper  superficies  should  have 
fallen  in,  or  sunk  within  its  counterminal  sides.  Indeed,  some  part  of  the  ground  we  allow  to  be 
depressed,  but  another  part  is  not,  but  rather  heightened,  by  rolling  up ;  and,  how  any  thing 
should  produce  contrary  effects  to  its  nature  is  marvellous  ! 

4.  Had  water  been  the  cause,  by  demolishing  the  entrails  of  the  earth  then  (running  in  a 
channel),  the  breach  should  be  opposite  to  its  current;  and  should,  from  hence,  the  current  of 
water  be  guessed  to  fall  where  the  ground  is  fallen  in,  all  down  one  curve  of  the  circle,  then  should 
not  another  breach  considerable  appear  from  its  production,  and  the  earth  would  have  been  over- 
shot or  carried  that  way  as  the  current  of  water  ])ast  ;*  but  the  earth  is  carried  that  way  where  no 
such  falling-in  appears. 

That  it  ivas  wind. 

1.  Because  it  is  so  improbable  to  be  water;  we  judge  wind  might  be  the  cause,  forasmuch  as 
it  is  its  property  to  produce  such  effects. 

2.  For  wind  being  gathered,  and  straitened  within  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  in  order  to  an 
earthquake,  doth  at  last  (by  a  volatile  motion)  break  or  burst  forth  in  some  place  or  other,  with 
great  violence ;  rending,  twisting  in,  and  burying  the  earth  within  its  own  bowels ;  and  in  its  mo- 
tion, arching,  flying,  and  searching  about,  might  (very  naturally)  cause  this  breach. 

3.  Because  the  lower  part  of  the  periphery,  which  is  overshot,  lies  rolled  in,  huft,  or  blown, 
darting  from  its  swollen  (or  enlarged)  pores,  stones  of  a  considerable  weight;  as  also  the  root  of  a 
tree,  which  is  turned  up  in  the  primary  breach. 

*  I  may  just  mention  here  that  I  copy  the  orthography,  whether  correct  ornot. — A. 


LAND. SLIP  ON  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  31 

4.  This  being  the  front  of  a  hilly  range,  the  earthquake  might  come  running  along,  and  there 
disburden  itself;  and  that  moreover,  as  it  is  free  from  rocks,  the  ground  solvible,  and  consequently 
the  pores  more  easily  extended. 

Arguments  corresponding  u'ilh  the  former  reasons. 

1.  If  water  had  been  the  cause;  then  from  a  slant  descent  or  ascent,  the  breach  would  have 
shown  itself  in  a  right-lined,  or  serpentine  figure,  and  more  especially  in  a  right-lined  figure,  its 
surface  having  declination. 

But  this  breach  is  circular,  and  declining,  contrary  to  a  right-liued,  or  cucular  figure. 

Therefore  the  cause  could  not  be  water. 

2.  Water  was  not  the  cause,  but  rather  wind ;  for  wind  is  volatile,  light,  and  forcible,  and 
known  to  be  of  circular  motion  :  where  it  is  straitened,  and  wants  liberty  to  disburden,  or  disperse 
itself  into  its  own  element,  it  searches  a  passage ;  and,  by  operation  is  (by  philosophers)  accounted 
the  cause  of  earthquakes ;  it  vents,  and  turns  up  the  earth  in  its  delivery  thence. 

But,  in  this  breach,  the  figure  is  circular,  diversely  fractured,  blown  of  huft  up,  and  writhed, 
which  are  the  symptoms  of  an  earthquake. 

Ergo,  wind  was  the  proper  and  true  cause. 

Now  it  remains,  that  we  answer  three  objections,  and  conclude. 

1.  Some  may  say,  had  there  been  an  earthquake,  why  was  it  not  discerned,  felt,  or  discovered, 
by  one  or  other  ? 

2.  Though  towns  be  not  very  nigh,  yet  there  be  some  inhabitants  on  the  Forest  nigh  resident ; 
and  would  not  they  have  been  sensible  of  some  motion  or  noise  which  accompany  earthquakes  ? 

3.  There  be  many  trees,  not  far  off;  would  not  some  of  them  have  received  prejudice  by  over- 
turnin"-,  or  rocks,  where  you  suppose  the  windy  commotion  ran  along  ? 

Answer  to  the  Objections. 

1.  Had  there  been  any  inhabitants  dwelling  on  the  said  hill  they  might  then  have  felt  it. 

2.  As  for  them  that  dwell  nigh,  they  might  very  well  be  insensible  of  noise,  or  motion,  which 
might  happen  in  the  night;  and  because  earthquakes  (more  general  ones)  have  been  experienced 
to  operate  in  one  part  of  the  town,  and  not  in  another  part  of  the  same ;  or  in  a  various  manner, 
in  a  little  distance;  no  wonder  then  if  such  inhabitants  perceive  it  not. 

3.  As  for  the  trees,  how  should  they  be  prejudiced  where  the  earthquake  came  not?  But, 
had  trees  stood  where  the  breach  was  made,  they  would  probably  have  been  overthrown,  as  the 
root  of  a  tree  aforesaid ;  and,  as  for  the  rocks  not  being  removed  over  the  windy  passage,  they 
might  be  spared  for  the  same  reason  that  the  ground  in  those  places  was;  and  both  spared, 
because  the  disturbance  hastens  along  to  the  front,  as  a  stone  to  its  centre. 


SINGULAR  APPEARANCE  IN  THE  LAKE  AT  GARENDON. 


The  following  account  of  a  singular  appearance  in  the  Lake  near  Garendon  Abbey,  is  a  proper  pendant  to  the 
foregoing  account  of  the  "  Dissolution  of  the  Earth."  There  are,  besides,  some  statements  in  it  which 
render  it  historically  interesting,  as  showing  the  prevailing  superstitions  of  the  times  ; — 

The  most  strange  and  wonderful  Apparition  of  Blood  in  a  Pool  at  Garraton,  in  Lei- 
cestershire, which  continued  for  the  space  of  four  days ;  the  redness  of  the  colour  for  the  space  of 
those  four  days  every  day  increasing  higher  and  higher,  to  the  infinite  amazement  of  many  hun- 
dreds of  beholders  of  all  degrees  and  conditions,  who  have  dipped  their  handkerchiefs  in  this 
bloody  pool ;  the  scarlet  complexion  of  the  linen  will  be  a  testimonial  of  this  wonderful  truth  to 
many  succeeding  generations. 

Printed  at  London,  by  J.  H.,  1645. 


Whoever  shall  consider  these  sad  times,  wherein  not  only  the  son  riseth  against  the  father,  the 
brother  against  the  brother,  and  the  spirit  of  dissention  and  war  is  spread  over  the  whole  face  of 
the  earth,  but  such  prodigious  and  wonderful  things  have  appeared  as  no  age  before  have  ever 
seen  or  heard  of;  he  must  confess  that  he  liveth  now  in  the  evening  of  time,  and  in  the  last  age  of 
the  world,  wherein  all  things  do  begin  to  suffer  a  change.  I  will  not  trouble  you  with  any  thing 
which  in  this  nature  hath  heretofore  been  delivered  to  you.  The  sword  at  Plaisto  flourishing 
without  hands,  and  the  great  stone  clambering  up  the  stairs,  and  whatsoever  there  is  strange  or 
wonderful,  are  but  sluggish  miacions  compared  to  this,  which  doth  the  rather  prefer  itself  to  your 
observation  ;  because  in  the  business  of  Plaisto  there  were  to  be  seen  for  the  most  part  but  some 
knavish  lights,  and  as  it  were  the  hocvs  pocus  of  a  spirit :  but  in  this  which  shall  now  be  repre- 
sented unto  you,  the  immediate  anger  of  God,  in  great  characters  of  blood,  is  most  apparently  to 
be  read.  At  Garraton,  a  town  in  Leicestershire,  not  far  from  Loughborough,  is  a  great  pond  of 
water,  which  for  many  generations  hath  been  known  to  be  there  time  out  of  mind  :  it  is  above  an 
acre  in  the  length,  and  about  an  acre  in  the  breadth.  It  was  made  at  first  to  satisfy  the  thirst  of 
the  cattle,  which  from  the  commons  and  pastures  thereabout,  did  daily  resort  unto  it ;  and  some- 
times it  allayed  the  drought  of  the  poor  and  thirsty  traveller ;  but  now  (as  if  it  were  another  ele- 
ment) it  altered  both  its  nature  and  complexion,  for  the  beasts  did  refuse  to  drink  thereof;  and 
some  few  days  afterwards  being  passed,  they  would  not  come  near  the  water ;  which  the  country- 
men and  inhabitants  who  were  owners  of  the  cattle  thereabouts  perceiving,  they  rejiaired  to  the 
pond  to  see  what  the  reason  of  this  strange  thing  should  be.  Amazed  at  the  novelty  of  this  sight, 
they  departed  from  the  place.  They  make  a  relation  of  it  to  their  friends ;  and  one  neighbour 
brings  in  another  to  behold  this  wonderful  chance.  The  noise  is  spread  over  all  the  country  ;  and 
in  thronging  numbers  they  make  haste  to  see  it.  The  water,  which  at  first  began  to  look  but 
reddish,  doth  now  look  higher  and  higher;  and  as  the  people  came  in  it  did  increase  in  colour. 
This  continued  for  the  space  of  four  days,  the  country,  far  and  near,  who  had  notice  of  it,  coming 
in  to  be  spectators  of  it.  It  waxed  more  red  the  second  day  than  it  seemed  at  the  first;  and  far 
more  red  the  third  day  than  it  did  on  the  second ;  and  on  the  fourth  day  it  grew  a  perfect  sanguine. 


SINGULAR  APPEARANCE  IN  THE  LAKE  AT  GARENDON.  33 

Tliere  is  no  wonder  in  this  nature  but  carrieth  some  devotion  in  it.  The  people  stand  round  about 
the  banks  of  the  pond  ;  and,  from  looking  on  the  water  they  look  up  to  heaven,  from  whence  they 
believe  that  the  wonder  came.  With  reverence  they  discover  this  miracle  of  the  water  turned  into 
wine  ;  but  of  the  water  turned  into  blood,  they  never  heard  of  that  wonder  before.  Some  of  them, 
more  hardy  than  the  rest,  would  undertake  to  taste  of  it,  to  understand  if  it  were  already  as  much 
in  taste  as  in  complexion  ;  but  they  were  severely  charged  by  those  that  did  stand  by  them,  and 
were  told  that  they  might  follow  the  more  wise  example  of  the  beasts  ;  for,  since  the  cattle  refused 
to  drink  of  the  water,  by  so  doing  they  would  now  show  themselves  more  brutish  than  the  beasts. 
The  water  still  continueth  in  its  bloody  colour,  and  had  all  one  standing  face  of  blood  ;  and  withal 
it  seems  so  thick,  that  if  a  high  wind  had  blown,  it  is  believed  that  it  would  very  hardly  at  all,  or 
else  very  gently  have  moved.  Every  day  brought  in  new  observers  to  behold  this  admirable  pool ; 
and  who  had  but  seen  it  the  day  before  could  not  be  content  with  one  day's  wonder,  but  must 
come  the  next  day  to  behold  it  againe.  It  was  the  object  of  all  the  eyes  thereabouts ;  and  on 
their  return  homewards  the  subject  of  all  their  discourse :  the  knights,  the  gentlemen,  and  the 
ladies,  the  peasants  and  their  families,  stood  all  close  together  round  about  it ;  and  being  overcome 
with  the  amazement  of  the  sight,  there  was  no  regard  unto  degrees  or  distinctions  of  persons  ;  and 
it  seemed  they  learned  this  instruction  from  the  pond,  which  they  now  make  use  of,  that  they  were 
all  but  one  blood.  From  the  observations  of  the  blood,  they  fall  into  the  consideration  at  last,  of 
the  bloody  times  wherein  they  live  ;  and  being  so  near  to  Loughborough,  they  grow  in  discourse 
of  how  much  blood  hath  been  spilt  by  the  lord  of  Loughborough  his  means,  who,  being  there  the 
great  agent  of  the  King,  hatli  robbed  many  house-keepers  in  those  parts  of  their  goods  and  their 
treasure,  and,  which  is  far  more  dear  to  them,  many  of  their  children's  lives.  Report  in  the  way 
is  made  how  many  families  hath  he  robbed  of  their  fathers,  and  how  many  he  hath  left  without 
their  children.  They  report  from  the  beginning  all  the  skirmishes  that  have  been  made  in  those 
parts,  and  all  the  battles  that  have  been  fought,  and  all  the  sieges  that  have  been  laid  and  raised ; 
and  passing  from  one  devouring  business  to  another,  they  do  curse  the  proceedings  of  the  civil 
war.  The  true  narration  of  this  water  turned  into  blood  may  be  put  into  succeeding  calendars; 
and  it  may  be  printed  in  its  own  rubrick.  In  our  days  did  this  prodigious  sight  appear;  and 
afterwards  the  crimson  colour  of  the  pond  did  begin  to  change,  and  every  day  to  look  paler  and 
paler,  until  at  length  it  by  degrees  turned  unto  its  first  complexion  of  water,  the  bloody  substance 
sinking  down  and  by  its  own  weight  settling  itself  in  the  bottom  of  the  pond.  In  the  mean  time, 
the  rumour  of  this  flying  up  and  down  the  country,  there  being  above  one  thousand  witnesses  to 
justify  the  truth  of  it.  One  Master  Neale,  a  gentleman  of  good  account,  living  at  Great  Leake 
in  Nottinghamshire,  being  travelling  on  his  occasions  to  London,  and  hearing  the  report  of  it  to 
be  commonly  spoken,  as  he  did  ride  upon  the  way,  though  it  was  four  miles  out  of  the  road,  he 
resolved  to  see  it ;  and,  making  haste,  easily  overcame  the  length  of  the  way,  out  of  a  desire  to 
enjoy  the  novelty  of  the  sight.  Being  arrived,  he  sat  a  long  time  on  horseback  at  the  entrance 
into  the  pond  musing  and  looking  on  it  (for  it  was  just  at  that  time  when  the  water  did  begin  to 
return  to  its  first  complexion),  and  perceiving  the  red  substance  in  the  nature  of  a  filmy  body  to 
descend  towards  the  bottom,  he  did  put  spurs  to  his  horse,  who  did  fling  back,  and  snorted,  and 
was  unwilling  to  go  into  the  pond  ;  but  after  he  had  forced  him  to  enter  a  little  way  into  it,  and 
stirred  towards  the  bottom  of  the  water  with  his  cane,  he  perceived  clots,  as  it  were,  of  congealed 
blood  in  great  abundance  to  rise  up  ;  and  having  staid  upon  the  top  of  the  water  for  a  little  space, 
to  descend  afterwards  by  degrees  again.  Not  able  to  satisfy  himself  with  any  reason  from  whence 
this  wonder  should  arise,  he  departed  ;  but  the  country  people  resolving  to  examine  and  dive  into 


34  SINGULAR  APPEARANCE  IN  THE  LAKE  AT  GARENDON. 

the  cause  thereof,  they  had  a  meeting  amongst  themselves  for  that  intent,  and  concluded  at  it  to 
have  the  pond  drained,  it  being  believed  that  the  enemy  had  thrown  some  carcases  into  the  pond 
to  stain  the  water,  and  to  bring  thereby  some  sudden  destruction  upon  the  cattle.  This  belief 
beino'  entertained,  the  sluice  is  opened,  and  now  the  water  comes  tumbling  forth  as  if  it  were  glad 
of  its  liberty,  and  was  afraid  to  stay  any  longer  in  the  portentous  place ;  where,  before  it  was  in  a 
swift  torrent,  it  made  good  its  passage  as  if  one  part  were  in  emulation  to  overtake  the  other  ;  and 
the  latter  strove  with  the  former  for  the  honour  of  proceeding  ;  and  to  perfect  the  work,  wherein 
some  deeper  places  of  the  pond  the  water  stood  still,  and  could  not  disadvantage  itself  into  the 
channel,  the  countrymen,  some  with  scoops  and  some  with  pails,  did  carry  forth  the  water.  With 
many  hands  they  overcame  the  task,  which  seemed  at  first  almost  impossible.  And  the  pond 
being  drained,  and  found  nothing  but  fish,  of  which  in  divers  kinds  there  were  gi"eat  store,  and 
these  fish  seemed  still  to  be  very  good,  and  nothing  the  worse  for  that  miraculous  accident  which 
bad  made  red  the  water.  We  may  learn  by  this  what  God  can  do ;  who,  in  a  most  wonderful 
way,  can  express  his  power  without  the  least  damage  to  his  creatures.  Howsoever,  the  pond 
being  drained  dry,  which  may  increase  the  wonder,  the  blood  in  many  places  was  discovered  in 
extended  degrees  to  be  like  so  many  scarlet  carpets  on  the  bottom  of  the  pool,  to  the  unspeakable 
amazement  of  the  beholders  ;  and  indeed  they  may  well  put  wonder  on  it ;  for  though,  in  our  own 
Chronicles  and  in  other  Histories,  we  have  read  sometimes  of  clouds  that  have  rained  drops  of 
blood,  which  though  it  is  very  wonderful,  yet,  because  philosophers  have  undertaken  to  give  a 
natural  reason  for  it,  it  subtracteth  something  from  the  greatness  of  the  wonder :  but  this,  as  no 
cause  can  be  assigned  for  it,  so  no  story  as  I  remember  can  example  it ;  but  being  as  far  beyond 
nature  as  example,  it  sheweth  itself  to  proceed  from  the  immediate  power  and  the  hand  of  God. 
I  will  not  presume  to  give  you  the  interpretation  of  it ;  nor  say  it  is  suitable  to  the  present  condi- 
tion of  these  bleeding  times;  neither  will  I  be  so  hardy  as  to  affirm,  that  the  four  days  wherein 
the  water  every  day  seemed  to  increase  in  the  redness  of  its  colour  doth  signify  the  four  years  of 
the  war,  which  now  are  already  or  nearly  expired,  and  that  as  the  water  every  day,  for  the  four 
days,  exceeded  one  another  in  the  defines  of  its  sanguine  dye,  it  looked  every  day  redder  than 
before,  so  the  war  for  these  four  years  hath  every  year  been  one  year  more  bloody  than  the  other ; 
surely  it  will  prove  good  news,  could  I  from  hence  assure  you,  that,  as  after  the  four  days  being 
ended,  the  water  did  begin  to  return  in  its  first  genuine  colour  ;  so  the  fourth  year  of  this  war 
being  expired,  the  kingdom  shall  again  return  to  its  ancient  blessing  and  habit  of  peace;  and 
that  as  the  water  bringing  its  first  cleanness,  the  blood  did  sink  down  and  vanish  away,  so  now 
the  crying  sin  of  blood  shall  be  washed  away  from  this  kingdom  by  the  cleanness  of  a  new  life 
and  by  the  tears  of  true  repentance.  There  were  many  of  the  town  of  Garraton,  both  men  and 
women,  and  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  thereabout,  who  dipped  their  handkerchiefs  in  this 
pond  when  it  was  of  a  bloody  colour  ;  and  the  linen  retaining  the  complexion  of  blood,  it  will  be 
u  testimonial  to  succeeding  times  of  this  most  strange  and  wonderful  accident,  and  of  the  truth  of 
what  we  write. 


BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


The  following  catalogue  of  wild  plants,  found  in  Chamwood  Forest  and  its  vicinity, 
will  give  a  general  idea  of  the  Botany  of  the  Forest.  The  greater  number  of  the  flowering 
plants  have  come  under  the  immediate  observation  of  the  Compiler ;  for  others  he  is  indebted 
to  authority  on  which  he  can  rely ;  pailicularly  to  a  friend  residing  near  the  Forest.  The 
list  of  Cryptogamia,  in  particular,  would  not  have  been  so  full  as  it  is,  but  for  his  assistance. 
The  Compiler  has  had  comparatively  few  opportunities  of  detecting  these  minuter,  but  not 
less  interesting  treasures  of  Creation,  his  residence  being  at  some  distance  from  any  portion 
of  the  Forest.  Swithland  slate  quarries,  the  \Miitwick  rocks,  and  Bardon  and  Beacon  hills, 
would  doubtless  afford  many  other  species  to  an  ardent  investigator,  whose  time  was  wholly 
at  his  own  disposal. 

In  the  following  list,  those  plants  which  are  marked  with  an  asterisk,  have  been  com- 
municated by  the  same  friend,  who  has  also  given  several  new  stations  for  many  of  the 
plants  which  had  been  noticed  by  the  Compiler. 

The  species  are  named,  and  the  arrangement  made,  from  Sir  W.  J.  Hooker's  British 
Flora,  the  best  authority  on  the  subject. 

Class  1.— MONANDRIA  MONOGYNIA. 

Hippttris  vulgaris.     Common  mare's-tail.     Groby  pool. 

Class  II.— DIANDRIA  MONOGYMA. 

Ligustrum  vulgare.     Privet.     In  hedges. 
Veronica  serpyllifoUa.     Thyme-leaved  speedwell. 

scutellata.     Marsh  speedwell.     Groby  pool. 

anagallis.     Water  speedwell.     Ditto. 

beccabunga.     Brooklime.     Common. 

officinalis.     Common  speedwell.     Dry  banks. 

montana.     Mountain  speedwell.     Moist  woods. 

•    chamadrys.     Germander  speedwell.     Common. 

hederifolia.     Ivy-leaved  speedwell.     Common. 

* agrestis.     Green    procumbent  field    speedwell;    varying  with   ciliated  or  hairy  fruit. 

Common. 

polila.     Grey  procumbent  field  speedwell.     Common. 

arcensis.     Wall  speedwell.     Common. 


Pinguicula  vulgaris.     Common  Butterwort.     Near  the  reservoir,  Swannington,  very  sparingly- 


38  BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Lycopus  europcEua.      Common   gipsywort,   or   water    horehound.      Groby    pool,    Rothley,   &c. 

Common. 
Circcea  lutetiana.     Common  enchanter's  nightshade.     Woods. 
Fraxinus  excelsior.     Common  ash. 
Lemna  Irisulca.     Ivy-leaved  duckweed.     In  ponds  at  Groby,  Osgathorpe,  and  Loughborough. 

—  minor.     Lesser  duckweed.     In  ponds.     Common. 

* gibba.     Loughborough. 

DIGYNIA. 

Anthoxanthum  odoratum.     Sweet-scented  vernal  grass.     Common. 

Class  IIL— TRIANDRIA  MONOGYNIA. 

Valeriana  dioica.     Small  marsh  valerian.     Ditches  and  marshy  meadows. 

— -  officinalis.     Great  wild  valerian.     Ditto. 

*Fedia  olitoria.     Corn  fields  about  Thringstone. 
* dentata.     Ditto. 

his pseudacorus.     Yellow  water  iris,  or  com  flag.     Groby  pool. 

Scirpus  lacustris.     Lake   club-rush,  or   bull-rush.     Groby  pool,  Loughborough,  and    Rothley 
Temple. 

selaceus.     Bristle-stalked  club-rush,  or  bull-rush. 

sylvaticus.     Wood  club-rush.     Sheet-hedges  wood,  Loughborough,  Rothley,  &c. 

Eleocharis  palustris.     Creeping  spike-rush.     Groby  pool. 

acicularis.     Least  spike-rush.     Ditto. 

•  fluitans.     Floating  spike-rush.     In  shallow  ponds. 

Eriophorum  angustifolium.     Common  cotton-grass.     Groby  pool,  and  near  Kite-hill. 

pubescens.-f     Groby  pool. 

Nardus  slricta.     Mat-grass.     Moors  and  heaths. 

DIGYNIA. 

Alopecurus  pratensis.     Meadow  foxtail.     Common. 

agrestis.     Slender  foxtail.     Cultivated  fields. 

geniculaiis.     Floating  foxtail.     In  wet  and  marshy  places. 

Phalaris  arundinacea.     Reed  canary-grass.     Groby  pool.     Common. 
Phleum  pratense.     Common  cat's-tail,  Timothy  grass.     Common. 

* nodosum.     Near  Pocket  gate,  &c. 

Milium  effiusum.     Spreading  millet-grass.     In  woods. 
Calamagroslis  epigejos.     Wood  small  reed.     In  woods.     Rare. 
Agrostis  vulgaris.     Fine  bent-grass.     Common. 

alba.     Marsh  bent-grass.     Pocket  gate.     Common. 

Catabrosa  aquaiica.     Water  whorl-grass.     Groby  pool  and  Gracedieu. 
.lira  ccespilosa.     Turfy  hair-grass.     Common. 

flexuosa.     Waved  hair-grass.     Heaths. 

t  Found  at  Swannington  witli  shorter  hairs,  and  blacker  glumes.     This  seems  to  be  tlie  plant  which  has  been  mistaken 
by  various  Botanists  for  Eriop/iomm  gracile. — t'.  B. 


BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  39 

Aira  carynphyllea.     Silvery  hair-grass.     Barren  grounds. 

priecox.     Early  hair-grass.     Ditto. 

cristata.     Local. 

Melica  uniflora.     Wood  raelic-grass.     Shady  woods. 

cceridea.     Purple  melic-grass.     Boggy  heaths. 

Holcus  mollis.     Creeping  soft-grass.     Common. 

lanaliis.     Meadow  soft-grass.     Common. 

Arrhenalherum  avenaceum.     Common  oat-like  grass.     Hedges.     Common. 

Poa  aquatica.     Reed  meadow-grass.     Groby  pool,  and  Osgathorpe. 

fluitans.     Floating  meadow-grass.     Common. 

rigiila.     Hard  meadow-grass.     Barren  grounds,  Gracedieu,  &c. 

compressa.     Flat-stemmed  meadow-grass.     On  dry  walls,  Sheepshed. 

trivialis.     Rougbish  meadow-grass.     Common. 

■  praienxis.     Smooth-stalked  meadow-grass.     Common. 

annua.     Annual  meadow-grass.     Common. 

memoralis.     Wood  meadow-grass.     In  woods. 

* distans.     Distant  meadow-grass.     Thringstone  and  Cloud  wood  ;  differing  from  the  marine 

forai. 

Triodia  decumbens.     Decumbent  heath-grass.     Heathy  pastures. 

Briza  media.     Common  quaking-grass.     Common. 

Dactylis  glomerata.     Rough  cock's-foot  grass.     Common. 

Cijnosurus  crislaliis.     Crested  dog's-tail  grass.     Common. 

Fesluca  ovina      Sheep's  fescue-grass.     Elevated  pastures  and  hills. 

duriuscula.     Hard  fescue-grass.     Common. 

bromoides.     Barren  fescue-grass.     On  walls. 

loliacea.     Spiked  fescue-grass.     Meadows. 

pratensis.     Meadow  fescue-grass.     Common. 

Bromiis  giganteus.     Tall  brome-grass.     Shady  woods. 

a.'iper.     Hairy  wood  brome-grass.     Ditto. 

sterilis.     Barren  brome-grass.     Ditto. 

mollis.     Soft  brome-grass.     Common. 

* racemosus.     Thringstone  and  other  places.     Not  rare. 

* arvensis.     Near  Loughborough. 

Avenafatua.     Wild  oat.     Corn-fields,  Thringstone.     Not  plentiful. 

pubescens.     Downy  oat.     Pastures. 

Jlavescens.     Yellow  oat.     Ditto. 

Arundo  phragmites.     Common  reed.     Groby  pool. 

Hordeum  miirinum.     Wall  barley.     Common. 

pratense.     Meadow  barley.     Common. 

Triticum  caninum.     Fibrous-rooted  wheat-grass.     Woods  and  banks. 

■ —    repens.     Creeping  wheat-grass,  or  couch-gra-ss.     Common. 

Brachypodium  sylvaticum.     Slender  false  brome-grass.     Woods. 

Loliiim  pereiine.     Perennial  darnel,  or  rye-grass.     Common. 

TRIGYNL\. 

Montia  fontana.     Water  blinks,  or  water  chickweed.     Rills  and  wet  places. 


40  BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Class  IV.— TETRANDRIA  MONOGYNIA. 

Dipsacus  syhestris.     Wild  teasel.     Road  sides  and  hedges,  near  Groby. 
* piloms.     Small  teasel.     Near  Osgathorpe. 

Scabiosa  succisa.     Devil's-bit  scabious.     Meadows  and  pastures. 
* arvensis.     Loughborough,  &c. 

Galium  verum.     Yellow  bed-straw.     Common. 

cruciatum.     Crosswort  bed-straw.     Common. 

palusfre.     White  water  bed-straw.     In  ditches. 

* uliginosum.     White  water  bed-straw.     Sides  of  ditches. 

saxalile.     Smooth  heath  bed-straw.     Heaths.     Common. 

aparine.     Goose-grass,  or  cleavers.     Common. 

« mollugo.     Great  hedge  bed-straw.    Thringstone  and  Garendon.     Not  uncommon. 

Asperula  odorata.     Sweet  woodruff.     Woods,  Gracedieu. 

Sherardia  arvensis.     Blue  sherardia.     Corn-fields. 

Plantago  major.     Greater  plantain.     Common. 

media.     Hoary  plantain.     Common. 

lanceolata.     Ribwort  plantain.     Common. 

coronopus.     Buck's-horn  plantain.     Iveshead,  Lower  Blackbrook,  &c. 

Cornus  sanguinea.     Wild  cornel,  or  dog-wood.     Woods  and  hedges. 

Parietaria  officinalis.     Common  pellitory-of-the-wall.     Bradgate  ruins,  Gracedieu,  &c. 
Alchemilla  vulgaris.     Common  lady's  mantle.     Pastures. 

arvensis.     Field  lady's  mantle,  or  parsley-piert.     Common. 

Sanguisorba  officinalis.     Great  burnet.     Meadows. 

TETRAGYNIA. 

Ilex  aquifolium.     Common  holly.     Common. 

Potamogeton  pectinatus.     Fennel-leaved  pond-weed.     Groby  pool.     Common. 

gramineus.     Grassy  pond-weed.     Ditto.     Rare. 

« zosterafolius.     Grass  wrack-like  pond-weed.     Rothley. 

* oblongus.   Swamp  at  the  source  of  the  rivulet,  running  from  Kite-hill  to  the  Reservoir. 

* densus.     Opposite-leaved  pond-weed.     Common. 

crispus.     Curled  pond-weed.     Ponds. 

perfoliatus.     Perfoliate  pond-weed.     Groby  pool,  Loughborough,  &c. 

lucens.     Shining  pond-weed.     Ditto. 

natans.     Broad-leaved  pond-weed.     Common. 

Sagina  procumbens.     Procumbent  Pearlwort.     Common. 
apelala.     Annual  small-flowered  pearlwort.     Common. 

Mcenchia  erecta.    Upright  maenchia.    Banks  of  Groby  pool,  Reservoir,  and  near  the  Oaks  Chapel. 
Radiola  millegrana.     Thyme-leaved  flax-seed.     Near   the  Reservoir;  also  near  Whitwick,  by 
the  road  side. 

Class  V.— PENTANDRIA  MONOGYNIA. 

*Echium  rulgare.     Viper's  bugloss.     Gracedieu. 

*Pulmonaria  officinalis.     Lung- wort.     I  have  received  a  specimen  said  to  be  from  Gracedieu. 


BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  41 

*Lycopsis  arvensis.     Field  Ijugloss.     Beaumanor  and  Gracedieu. 
Lithospermum  officinale.     Common  gromwell.     Woods.     Not  common  here  except  at  Gracedieu. 

arvense.     Corn-fields.     Local. 

Symphytum  officinale.     Common  comfrey.     Groby  pool,  Gracedieu,  &c. 

Myosotis  pahistris.     Great  water  scorpion-grass,  or  forget-me-not.     Moist  ditches  and  sides  of 
ponds.     Groby  pool.     Common. 

cccspitosa.     Tufted  water  scorpion- grass.     Gracedieu,  and  the  Reservoir. 

arvensis.     Field  scorpion-grass.     Common. 

versicolor.     Yellow  and  blue  scorpion-grass.     Dry  banks. 

Cynoglossum  officinale.     Common  hound's-tongue.     Woods. 

Anagallis  arvensis.     Scarlet  pimpernel,  or  poor  man's  weather-glass.     Corn-fields. 

tenella.     Bog  pimpernel.     Groby  pool,  and  in  boggy  meadows. 

Lysimackia  vulgaris.     Great  yellow  loose-strife.     Meadow  in  front  of  the  new  Monastery. 

nemorum.     Yellow  pimpernel,  or  wood  loose-strife.     Woods. 

niimmularia.     Creeping  loose-strife,  moneywort,  or  herb  twopence.     Marshy  places 

Primula  vulgaris.     Common  primrose.     Common. 

elatior.     Oxlip.     Woods. 

veris.     Cowslip.     Common. 

Menyanthes  trifoliafa.     Common  buck-bean,  or  marsh  trefoil.     Groby  pool.     Rare. 

Erythraa  centaurium.     Common  centaury.     Dry  pastures,  Thringstone.     Sparingly. 

Hyoscyamus  niger.     Common  henbane.     Bradgate  ruins,  and  Gracedieu. 

.itropa  belladonna.     Common  dwale,  or  deadly  nightshade.     Near  Gracedieu. 
*Verbascum  thapsus.     Great  mullein.     Gracedieu. 

Holanum  dulcamara.     Woody  nightshade,  or  bitter-sweet.     Hedges. 
* nigrum.     On  the  Leicester  side  of  the  Forest. 

Conrolndiis  arvensis.     Small  bind- weed.     Corn-fields  and  hedge  banks, 

sepiinn.     Great  bind-weed.     Hedges. 

Jasione  monlana.     Annual  sheep's-bit,  or  sheep's  scabious.     Dry  heathy  pastures. 

Campanula   rotundifolia.     Round-leaved  bellflower,  or  harebell.     Common. 

patula.     Spreading  bellflower.     Lane  near  Buddon  wood.     Rare. 

latifolia.     Giant  bellflower.     Woods.     Sheet-hedges  wood  and  Gracedieu  wood. 

Lnnicera  periclymenum.     Common  honeysuckle,  or  woodbine.     Common. 

Khamniis  calkarlicus.     Common  buck-thorn.     Woods.     Gracedieu. 
* frangula.     Alder  buck-thorn.     Pocket-gate. 

Euonymiis  europwus.     Common  spindle-tree.     Woods.     Cloud  wood. 

Viola  hirta.     Hairy  violet.     Near  the  Reservoir,  and  Cloud  wood. 

odorata.     Sweet  violet.     Common. 

pahistris.     Marsh  violet.     Bardon  hill,  and  Reservoir. 

canina.     Dog's  violet.     Common. 

* Var.  flavicornis.     Yellow-spurred  violet.     Heaths.     Common. 

tricolor.     Pansy  violet,  or  heart's-ease.     Common. 

Rihes  rubrum.     Red  currant.     Woods. 

— — -  grossularia.     Common  gooseberry.     Woods. 
* nigrum.     Black  currant.     In  a  hedge  at  Thringstone,  not  truly  wild,  as  is  neither  R.  ru- 
brum nor  grossularia  in  this  county. 


42  BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


DIGYXIA. 

*Of,i/iana  amarclla.     Field  gentian.     Gracedieu. 

* pneumonanthe.     Near  Whittle  hill,  at  the  edge  of  a  bog. 

*Cuscu(a  epithymum.     Forest  rocks,  near  Gracedieu,  growing  on  heath  ;  called,  from  the  threads 
by  which  it  wraps  itself  about  other  plants,  "  Devits  guls." 

Hijdrocotyle  vulgaris.     Marsh  pennywort.     Groby  pool,  and  marshes  about  the  Whitwick  rocks. 

Sanicula  europaa.     Wood  sanicle.     Woods. 

Helosciadhim  nodijlorum.     Procumbent  marsh-wort.     Rivulets  and  water-courses. 

repens.     Creeping  marsh-wort.     Rivulets  and  water-courses. 

Sisoii  amomum.     Hedge  bastard  stone-parsley.     Hedge  banks,  Belton,  &c. 

Mqopodium  podagraria.     Gout-weed,  or  herb  gerarde.     Waste  places  and  ruins.     Bradgate. 

BiniiumJ/exuosum.     Common  earth-nut.     Pastures.     Common. 

PimpineUa  saxifraga      Common  burnet  saxifrage.     Dry  pastures. 

magna.     Greater  burnet  saxifrage.     Near  Groby  pool. 

Slum  angustifolium.     Narrow-leaved  water  parsnip.     Ditches  and  water-courses,  Rothley. 

CEnaiithe  Jistiilosa.     Common  water-drop- wort.     Ditches.     Common. 

peucedanifolia.     Sulphur-weed  water-drop-wort.     Groby  pool. 

phellandrium.     Fine-leaved  water-drop- wort.     Groby  pool  and  Rothley  Temple. 

JEthusa  cynapium.     Common  fool's  parsley.     Garden  weed. 

Silaiis  pratensis.     Meadow  pepper  saxifrage.     Meadows. 

Angelica  sylrestris.     Wild  angelica.     Marshy  woods. 

Pastinaca  saliva.     Common  wild  parsnip.     Near  Groby,  and  Bardon. 

Heracleum  sphondxjlium.     Common  cow-parsnip,  or  hog-weed.     Common. 

Daucus  carota.     Wild  carrot.     Near  Groby. 

Torilis  anthrisciis.     Upright  hedge-parsley.     Common. 

nodosa.     Knotted  hedge-parsley.     Gracedieu.     Common. 

* infesla.     Spreading  liedge-parsley.     Common. 

Scandix  pecten.     Shepherd's  needle.     Corn-fields. 

Anihriscus  sylrextris.     Wild  beaked  parsley.     Common. 
* vulgaris.     Common  beaked  parsley.     Waste  ground.     Not  rare. 

Ckierophyllum  lemulentum.     Rough  chevil.     Common. 

Conium  maculatum.     Common  hemlock.     Common. 

Chenopodium  poli/spermum.     Many-seeded  goose-foot.     Banks  of  Groby  ])ool. 

* acutifolium.     Cossington.     A  variety  of  C.  polyspermum. 

* olidum.     Cole-Orton. 

* ficifolium.     Cole-Orton. 

bonus  Henricus.     Mercury  goose-foot.     Waste  places. 

rubrum.     Red  goose-foot.     Dunghills,  and  under  walls. 

•    album.     White  goose-foot.     Common. 

Ulmus  campestris.     Common  small-leaved  elm.     Common. 

montana.     Broad-leaved,  or  wych  elm.     Common. 

* suberosa.     Cork-barked  elm.     Common. 

Viburninu  opulus.     Common  guelder  rose,  or  water  elder.     Woods. 


BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  43 

Sambiiciis  ebulus.     Dwarf  elder,  or  danewort.     Near  Beaumanor. 
nigra.     Common  elder.     Common. 

TETRAGYNIA. 

Paniassia  palas^tiis.     Grass  of  Parnassus.     Groby  pool,  and  Tin  meadows. 

PENTAGYNIA. 

Linum  cafharticum.     Puroing-  flax.     Common. 
* perenne.     Scattered  plants  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Thringstone. 

HEXAGYXIA. 

Drosera  rotundifolia.     Round-leaved  sundew.     Near  the  Reservoir. 

POLYGYXIA. 
^Mtjosurus  minimus.     Common  mouse-tail.     Slieepshed  ;  one  specimen. 

Class  VI.— HEXANDRIA  MONOGYNIA. 

Berberis  vulgaris.     Common  barberry.     Woods.     Not  a  native. 
PepUs  portula.     Water  purelane.     Marshy  places.     Whitwick,  &c. 

Galanfhus  nitalis.     Snowdrop.     Bradgate  ruins,  and  Gracedieu  wood. 

Narcissus pseicdo-narcis.iu.i.     Common  daffodil.     Bradgate  ruins,  and  Gracedieu. 

Convallaria  majalis.     Lily-of-the-valley.     Gracedieu  wood  and  Buddon  wood. 

* multiflora.     Solomon's  seal.     A  specimen  was  brought  me,  along  with   Pvh/g»iu<iii 

bistorta,  and  other  plants,  from  White-horse  wood  ;  but  I  could  never  find  it  there. 
*FritiUaria  melcagris.     Fritillary.     Worthington. 
*Acorus  calamus.     Sweet  sedge.     Between  Loughborough  and  Zouch  mills. 

Allium  vineale.     Crow  garlic.     Near  Groby  pool,  Thringstone,  and  Gracedieu. 

vrsiiium.     Bear's  garlic.     Sheet-hedges  wood. 

Hyacinthus-noH-scriptus.     Wild  hyacinth,  or  bluebell.     Woods. 

Jnnciis  glaucus.     Hard  rush.     Common. 

effusus.     Soft  rush.     Common. 

cong/omeralus.     Common  rush.     Common. 

acutiflorus.     Sharp-flowered  jointed  rush.     Common. 

lampocarpus.     Shining-fruited  jointed  rush.     Common. 

uliginosus.     Lesser  bog  jointed  rush.     Common. 

* Var.  subverticillatus.     Charnwood  heath. 

compressux.     Round-fruited  rush.     Common. 

biifonius.     Toad  rush.     Common. 

squarrosHS.     Heath  rush.     Heathy  bogs. 


Luzula  sylvatica.     Great  hairy  wood  rush.     Sheet-hedges  wood. 

pilosa.     Broad-leaved  hairy  wood  rush.     Sheet-hedges  wood. 

campeslris.     Field  wood  rush.     Pastures. 

>t congesta.     Whitwick  rocks;  a  variety  of  the  last. 


44  BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

TRIGYNIA. 

Rumex  crispus.     Curled  dock.     Common. 

sanguinetis.     Green-veined  dock.     Gracedieu  wood.     Common. 

acutus.     Sharp  dock.     Common. 

obtusifolius.     Broad-leaved  dock.     Common. 

maritimus.     Golden  dock.     Banks  of  Groby  pool. 

aceiosa.     Common  sorrel.     Common. 

acefosella.     Sheep's  sorrel.     Common. 

* hydrolapaihum.     Great  water  dock. 

Triglochin  palustre.     Marsh  arrow  grass.     Groby  pool,  Gracedieu,  &c. 

POLYGYNIA. 

Alhma  plantago.     Greater  water  plantain.     Ponds,  and  margins  of  streams. 

Class  VIIL— OCTANDRIA  MONOGYNIA. 

Acer  pseudo-platanus.     Greater  maple,  or  sycamore. 

campeslre.     Common  maple.     Hedges. 

Erica  tetralix.     Cross-leaved  heath.     Common. 

cinerea.     Fine-leaved  heath.     Roecliff  and  Sharpley.     Not  common  elsewhere  on  the 

Forest. 

Calluna  vulgaris.     Common  ling.     Common. 

Vaccinium  myrtillus.     Bilberry,  or  whortle-berry.     Woods. 

Epilobium  hirsutum.     Great  hairy  willow-herb.     Common. 

parriflorum.     Small-flowered  hairy  willow-herb.     Common. 

montaiuim.     Broad  smooth-leaved  willow-herb.     Common. 

telragonum.     Square-stalked  willow-herb.     Groby  pool. 

palustre.     Narrow-leaved  marsh  willow-herb.     Groby  pool. 

Daphne  laureola.     Spurge  laurel.     Sheet-hedges  wood. 

TRIGYNIA, 

Polygonmn  hislorfa.     Bistort,  or  snake-weed.     Meadow  near  Newtown  Linford  Church. 

ariciilare.     Knot-grass.     Common. 

* aeiculare.     Several  varieties  occur  about  Thringstone,  one  of  which  is  quite  prostrate, 

with  the  stipules  very  much  torn. 

convolvulus.     Climbing  buck-wheat.     Common. 

amphibium.     Amphibious  persicaria.     Groby  pool. 

persicaria.     Spotted  persicaria.     Common. 

hydropiper.     Biting  persicaria.     Groby  pool. 


TETRAGYNIA. 

Paris  quadrifolia.     Common  herb  Paris.     Sheet-hedges  wood,  Gr.acedieu,  &c. 
Adoxa  moschalellina.     Tuberous  moschatell.     Hedge  banks  and  shady  places. 


BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  45 

Class  IX.— ENNEANDRIA  HEXAGYNIA. 

Bniomus  umbellatus.     Flowering  rush.     Groby  pool  and  Rothley  Temple. 

Class  X.— DECANDRIA  DIGYNIA. 

Scleranfhiis  aHniius.     Annual  knawel.     Corn-fields. 

Chrysoplenium  alternifolium.     Alternate-leaved  golden  saxifrage.     Near  Groby  mill. 

oppositifolium.     Common  golden  saxifrage.     Near  Groby  mill,  Gracedieu,  &c. 

Saxi/raga  granulata.     White  meadow  saxifrage.     Meadows. 

(ridactylites.     Rue-leaved  saxifrage.     On  walls  and  rocks. 

Diaiitlnix  dclloides.     Maiden  pink.     Rocks  near  Groby. 

TRIGYNIA. 

Stellaria  media.     Common  chickweed,  or  stitchwort.     Common. 

holostea.     Greater  stitchwort.     Common. 

graminea.     Lesser  stitchwort.     Common. 

glauca.     Glaucous  marsh  stitchwort.     Groby  pool. 

uligiiiosa.     Bog  stitchwort.     In  rills  and  ditches. 

Areiiaria  trinervis.     Three-nerved  sandwort.     Shady  woods,  and  under  hedges. 

serpyllifolia.     Thyme-leaved  sandwort.     Rocks. 

rubra.     Purple  sandwort.     Rocks. 

PENTAGYNIA. 

Cotyledon  umbilicus.     Wall  pennywort.     Swithland  slate  quarries. 
Sedum  acre.     Biting  stone-crop,  or  wall  pepper.     Walls  and  rocks. 

refle.rum.     Crooked  yellow  stone-crop.     Walls  at  Bradgate,  and  Gracedieu  Abbey. 

Oxalis  acefosella.     Common  wood  sorrel.     Woods. 

Agroslemma  githago.     Corn  cockle.     Corn-fields. 

Lychnis  flos-cuculi.     Meadow  lychnis,  or  ragged  Robin.     Common. 

dioica.     Red  or  white  campion.     Common. 

Cerastium  ivlgatum.     Broad-leaved  mouse-ear  chickweed.     Common. 

— ■ —  viscosum.     Narrow-leaved  mouse-ear  chickweed.     Common. 

* . — . —  semidecandrum.     Little  mouse-ear  chickweed.     Common. 

aquaticum.     Water  chickweed.     Common. 

Spergula  arvensis.     Corn  spurrey.     Corn-fields.     Common. 

nodosa.     Knotted  spurrey.     Groby  pool,  and  Gracedieu. 

Class  XL— DODECANDRIA  MONOGYNLA.. 

Lythrum  salicaria.     Spiked  purple  loose-strife.     Groby  pool,  and  Loughborougli. 

DIGYNIA. 
Agrimonia  eupaioria.     Common  agrimony.     Common. 


46  BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

TRIGYNIA. 

Reseda  liileola.     Dyer's  rocket ;  yellow  weed.     Cloud  wood  lime  quarries. 

DODECAGYNIA. 
Sempervivum  tectorum.     Common  house  leek.     Cottage  roofs. 

Class  XII.— ICOSANDRIA  MONOGYNIA. 

Prunus  insititia.     Wild  buUaee-tree.     Hedges. 

spinosa.     Black  thorn,  or  sloe.     Hedges. 

cerasus.     Wild  cherry.     Woods. 

PENTAGYNIA. 

Cratagus  oxycaiitha.     Hawthorn,  or  May.     Common. 
Fyrus  mains.     Crab.     Common. 

aucuparia.     Quicken  tree,  mountain  ash,  or  rowan  tree.     Common. 

Spiraa  ulmaria.     Meadow-sweet.     Queen  of  the  meadows.     Common. 

POLYGYNIA. 

Rosa  spinosissima.     Burnet-leaved  rose.     Rocks  near  Groby,  and  Gracedieu  wood. 

canina.     Common  dog  rose ;  including  several  varieties.     Common. 

arvensis.     Trailing  dog  rose.     Common. 

* tomentosa.     Osgathorpe. 

Rubus  idaus.     Raspberry.     Woods. 

fruticosus.     Common  bramble,  or  blackberry.     Common. 

corylifolius.     Hazel-leaved  bramble.     Common. 

cassius.     Dewberry.     Common. 

* Koehleri.     Koeler's  berry.     Very  common  about  Thringstone,  and  very  variable. 

* rhamnifolms.     Thringstone,  &c. 

* rhamnifolms.     Var.  cordifolius.     Ditto. 

* suberectus.     Swannington,  &c.     This  part  of  the  county  seems  very  rich  in  the  genus ; 

probably  another  species  or  two  might  be  added  to  the  list,  but  their  extreme  difficulty  of 
determination  is  a  sufficient  reason  for  not  doing  so. 

Fragaria  vesca.     Wood  strawberry.     Common. 

Potentilla  anserina.     Silver  weed.     Common. 

argentea.     Hoary  cinquefoil.     Rocks  near  Groby  pool,  and  Buddon  wood. 

reptans.     Common  creeping  cinquefoil.     Common. 

fragariastrum.     Strawberry-leaved  cinquefoil.     Common. 

Tonnentilla  officinalis.     Common  tormentil.     Common. 

Gevm  urbanum.     Common  avens.     Common. 
* rivale.     Brook  avens.     Swannington. 


BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  47 

Class  XIII— POLYAXDRIA  MONOGYNIA. 

Papaier  argemone.     Long  prickly-headed  poppy.     Corn-fields,  Gracedieu  and  Rotliley. 

rhtras.     Common  red  poppy.     Ditto. 

t dubiuvi.     Doubtful  poppy.     Ditto. 

Chelidonium  majiis.     Common  celandine.     Bradgate  ruins. 
Tilia  europaa.     Common  lime,  or  linden-tree. 

parvifolia.     Small-leaved  linden-tree.     Woods. 

Nymphwa  alba.     Great  white  water  lily.     Groby  pool,  and  the  Soar,  near  Kegworth. 
Nupliar  liilea.     Yellow  water  lily.     Groby  pool,  Rothley,  &c.     Common. 

POLYGYNIA. 

Thalictrum  flainnn.     Common  meadow  rue.     Groby  pool. 

Anemone  nemorosa.     Wood  anemone.     Common. 

Ranunculus  aquatilis.     Water  crow-foot.     In  ponds  and  streams. 

* fluitans.     Rothley/ and  probably  elsewhere. 

* circinnaius.     Ditto.— Both  this  and  R.  fluitans  have  been  falsely  supposed  varieties 

of  R.  aqualilis. 

hederaceus.     Ivy  crow-foot.     In  ponds  and  streams. 

lingua.     Great  spearwort.     Groby  pool. 

flammula.     Lesser  spearwort.     Ditto. 

ficaria.     Pilewort  crow-foot.     Common. 

auricomus.     Wood  crow-foot.     Common. 

.  sceleratus.     Celery -leaved  crow-foot.     Ditches  and  pools. 

acris.     Upright  meadow  crow-foot.     Common. 

.  repens.     Creeping  crow-foot.     Common. 

bulhosus.     Bulbous  crow-foot.     Common. 

-hirsutus.     Pale  hairy  crow-foot.     Near  Groby,  and  Sheepshed. 


arvensis.     Corn  crow-foot.     Corn-fields. 


Caltha  palustris.     Common  marsh  marigold.     Common. 

Class  XIV.-DIDYNAxMIA  GYMNOSPERMIA. 

*  Mentha  sylvestris.     Not  very  uncommon. 

hirsuta.     Hairy  mint.     Common. 

arvensis.     Corn  mint.     Common. 

pulegium.     Pennyroyal.     Banks  of  Groby  pool. 


Thymus  serpyllum.     Wild  thyme.     Common. 

Origanum  rulgare.     Common  marjoram.     Bradgate  ruins,  and  Cloud  wood. 

Teucrium  scorodonia.     Wood  germander,  or  sage.     Woods. 

Ajuga  reptans.     Common  bugle.     Common. 

Ballota  nigra.     Black  horehound.     Common. 

Galeobdolon  luteum.     Yellow  weasel-snout.     Woods  near  Groby.     Common. 

Galeopsis  ladanum.     Red  hemp  nettle.     Swithland  slate-pits. 


48  BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Galeopsis  tetrahit.     Common  hemp  nettle.     Corn-fields. 
Lamium  album.     White  dead  nettle.     Common. 

purpureum.     Red  dead  nettle.     Common. 

* incisum.     Loughborough. 

* amplexicaule.     Loughborough,  and  Sheepshed. 

Belonica  officiiialis.     Wood  betony.     Woods.     Common. 

Stachys  sylvatica.     Hedge  wound-wort.     Common. 

* ambigua.     Ambiguous  wound-wort.     This  has  been  some  time  known  as  a  native  of 

this  part  of  Leicestershire,  but  is  very  doubtful  as  a  species;  probably  a  variety  of  S.  palus- 
iris.  I  have  not  found  it,  but  have  some  specimens  from  the  neighbourhood. — (Vide 
Smith's  Flora.) 

pahistris.     Marsh  wound-wort.     Groby  pool. 

* arvensis.     Thringstone. 

*Nepeta  cataria.     Gracedieu. 

Glechoma  hederacea.     Ground  ivy.     Common. 

Marrubium  i-ulgare.     White  horehound.     Ives  Head. 

Clinopodium  vulgare.     Wild  basil.     Common. 

Prunella  vulgaris.     Self-heal.     Common. 

Scutellaria  galericulata.     Common  skull-cap.     Groby  pool. 

minor.     Lesser  skull-cap.     Beacon  hill,  Ives  Head,  and  Charnwood  Heath. 

ANGIOSPERMIA. 

Bartsia  odontites.     Red  bartsia.     Common. 
Euphrasia  officinalis.     Common  eye-bright.     Common. 
Rhinanthus  crista  galli.     Yellow  rattle.     Common. 
.Melampyrum  pratense.     Common  yellow  cow-wheat.     Woods. 
Lathrcea  squamaria.     Greater  tooth-wort.     Gracedieu  wood. 
Pedicularis  palustris.     Marsh  red  rattle.     Groby  pool. 

sylvatica.     Dwarf  red  rattle.     Moist  heaths. 

Antirrhinum  majus.     Great  snapdragon.     Bradgate  ruins. 
Linaria  cymbalaria.     Ivy-leaved  toad  flax.     Ditto. 

vulgaris.     Yellow  toad  flax.     Near  Gracedieu. 

Scrophtdaria  nodosa.     Knotted  fig-wort.     Woods. 

aquatica.     Water  fig-wort,  or  betony.     Groby  pool. 

Digitalis  purpurea.     Purple  foxglove.     Common. 

Class  XV.— TETR ADYNAMIA  SILICULOSA. 

Coronopus  ruellii.     Common  wart-cress,  or  Swine's-cress.     Waste  grounds. 

Capsella  bursa  pastoris.     Common  shepherd's-purse.     Common. 

Teesdalia  nudicaulis.     Naked-stalked  teesdalia.     Rocks.     Not  very  uncommon. 
*Lepidium  campestre.     Common  pepper-wort.     Thringstone. 
*Cochlearia  armoracia.     Horseradish.     In  waste  grounds  here  and  there ;  not  indigenous. 

Draba  verna      Common  whitlow-grass.     Common. 


BOTANY  OF  CIIARNWOOD  FOREST.  49 

*Camelina  sativa.     Common  gold-of-pleasure.     Near  Thringstone,  in  1833;  since  extinct. 
*Alyssiim  calycinum.     Between  Broad  and  Chamber  hills,  in  1836;  since  extinct. 

SILIQUOSA. 

Caidamine  amara.     Large-flowered  bitter  cress.     Near  Groby  pool,  and  Graeedieu. 

praleiisis.     Common  bitter  cress.     Common. 

hirsu(a.-f     Hairy  bitter  cress.     Common. 

Barbarea  vulgaris.     Yellow  rocket.     Common. 
Nasturtium  officinale.     Water  cress.     Common. 

terrestre.     Marsh  nasturtium.     Groby  pool,  and  Rothley  Temple. 

amphibium.     Amphibious  nasturtium.     Groby  pool.     Common. 

Sisi/mbritnn  officinale.     Common  hedge  mustard.     Common. 

thalianum.     Common  swale  cress.     Common. 

* Sophia.     Flax  weed.     Cole-Orton. 

Erysimum  alUaria.     Jack-by-the-hedge,  or  garlic  treacle-mustard.     Common. 

Cheiranthus  cheiri.     Common  wall-flower.     Bradgate  ruins,  and  Graeedieu. 

brassica  napus.     Wild  navew,  rape,  or  cole-seed.     Corn-Helds.     Common. 

* rapa.     Turnip.     Naturalized. 

*Raphanus  raphanislrum.     Wild  radish.     Swannington,  1841. 

Sinapis  arrensis.     Wild  mustard,  or  charlock.     Corn-fields.     Common. 

Class  XVI.— MONADELPHIA  PENTANDRIA. 

Erodium  cicuiarium.     Hemlock,  or  stork's-bill.     Near  Groby  pool,  and  Graeedieu. 

DECANDRIA. 

Geranium  pratense.     Blue  meadow  crane's-bill.     Near  Groby,  Thringstone,  &c. 

, lucidum.     Shining  crane's-bill.     Near  Ulverscroft  ruins,  and  Buddon  wood  wall. 

Robertianum.     Herb  Robert,  or  stinking  crane's-bill.     Common. 

. molle.     Dove's-foot  crane's-bill.     Common. 

pusillum.     Small-flowered  crane's-bill.     Common. 

dissectum.     Jagged-leaved  crane's-bill.     Common. 

POLYANDRIA. 

Malra  sylrestris.     Common  mallow.     Common. 

rotundifoUa.     Dwarf  mallow.     Common. 

moschata.     jNIusk  mallow.     Near  Groby,  and  elsewhere.     Not  uncommon. 

Class  XVH.— DIADELPHIA  HEXAXDRIA. 

Corydalis  claviculata.     White  climbing  corydalis.     Bardon  bill;  abundant  on  Whitwick  range. 
Fumaria  officinalis.     Common  fumitory.     Corn-fields. 

+  Two  species,  both  common,  are  comprehended  by  British  Botanists  mider  this  name. — C.  B. 


50  BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOKEST. 

OCTANDRIA. 

Polygala  vulgaris.     Common  milk-woit.     Common. 

DECANDRIA. 

Ulex  europaus.     Common  furze,  whin,  or  gorse. 

nanus.     Dwarf  furze.     Heaths. 

Genista  tinctoria.     Dyer's  green-weed,  or  woad-waxen.     Heaths. 

anglica.     Needle  green-weed,  or  petty  whin.     Heaths. 

Cytisus  scoparius.     Common  broom.     Heaths. 

Ononis  arvensis.     Common  rest-harrow.     Heaths,  Thringstone. 

Anthyllis  vuhieraria.     Common  kidney-vetch,  or  lady's  fingers.     Near  Gracedieu.f 

Orobus  tuberosiis.     Tuberous  orobus.     Woods. 

Lathyrus  pratensis.     Meadow  vetchling.     Common. 

Vicia  cracca.     Tufted  vetch.     Common. 

saliva.     Common  vetch.     Common. 

angustifolia.     Narrow-leaved  crimson  vetch.     Thringstone.     Common. 

sepiiim.     Bush  vetch.     Common. 

Erviim  hirsidum.     Hairy  tare.     Common. 

tetraspermmn.     Smooth  tare.     Swannington.     Common. 

Ornithopus  perpusillus.     Common  bird's-foot.     Common. 

Melilotus  officinalis.     Common  yellow  melilot.     Common. 

Trifolinm  repens.     White  trefoil,  or  Dutch  clover.     Common. 

pratense.     Common  purple  trefoil.     Common. 

medium.     Zigzag  trefoil.     Thringstone.     Common. 

arveuse.     Hare's-foot  trefoil.     Near  Groby  pool,  Thringstone,  and  Gracedieu. 

fraqiferum.     Strawberry-headed  trefoil.     Near  Groby. 

* subterraneum.     Subterraneous  trefoil.     Gracedieu. 

procmnbens.     Hop  trefoil.     Near  Groby. 

Jiliforme.     Lesser  yellow  trefoil.     Common. 

* striatum.     Striated  trefoil.     Lower  Black-brook,  and  Swithland. 

Lotus  corniculatus.     Common  bird's-foot  trefoil.     Common. 

major.     Greater  bird's-foot  trefoil.     Common. 

X- tenuis.     Thringstone,  in  the  Parsonage  field,  1833  ;  it  has  since  disappeared. 

Medicago  lupulina.     Black  medick,  or  nonsuch.     Common. 
* maculata.     In  a  field  against  the  rocks  at  Thringstone. 

Class  XVHL— POLYADELPHIA  POLYANDRIA. 

Hypericum  quadrangulum.     Square-stalked  St.  John's  wort.     Sides  of  rivulets  and  water-courses. 

perforatum.     Common  perforated  St.  John's  wort.     Common. 

humifusum.     Trailing  St.  John's  wort.     Common. 

hirsutum.     Hairy  St.  John's  wort.     Common. 

pulchrum.     Small  upright  St.  John's  wort.     Heaths. 

f  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  it  there. — C.  B. 


BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  51 

Class  XIX.— SYNGENESIA  (EQUALIS. 

Traijopogon  pratensis.     Yellow  goat's-bearcl.     Near  Groby,  Tliringstone,  &c. 
iSonchus  ari'ensis.     Corn  sowtbistle.     Corn-fields.     Common. 

oleraceus.     Common  sowtbistle.     Common. 

*= asper.     Rougb  sowtbistle.     Confounded  with  the  last.     Common. 

Lactuca  virosa.     Strong-scented  lettuce.     Gracedieu  lime-works. 
Preiianlhes  muralis.     Ivy-leaved  wall  lettuce.     Swithland  slate-pits. 
Leontodon  taraxacum.     Common  dandelion.     Common. 
Aparifia  hispida.     Rough  bawk-bit.     Common. 

autumnalis.     Autumnal  hawk-bit.     Common. 

Thrincia  hirta.     Hairy  tbrincia.     Gravelly  places. 

Hieracium  pilosella.     Common  mouse-ear  hawk-weed.     Common. 

sylvaticum.     Wood  hawk-weed.     Woods,  and  rocks  at  Thringstone,  &c. 

paludosum.     Succory-leaved  hawk-weed.     Gracedieu  wood. 

sulauddm.     Shrubby  broad-leaved  hawk-weed.     Woods. 

mnbellatmn.     Narrow-leaved  hawk-weed.     Woods.     Bardon. 

Crepis  lectorum.f     Smooth  hawk's-beard.     Common. 

Hypochffris  radicata.     Long-rooted  cats-ear.     Common. 

Lapsana  communis.     Common  nipple-wort.     Common. 

Arctium  lappa.     Common  burdock.     Common. 

Serratula  tinctoria.     Common  saw-wort.     Common. 

Carduus  nutans.     Musk-thistle.     Near  Groby. 
<■ marianus.     Milk-thistle.     About  Gracedieu  ;  a  single  plant,  occasionally. 

Cnicus  lanceolatus.     Spear  ])lume-thistle.     Common. 

palustris.     Marsh  plume-thistle.     Common. 

arfensis.     Creeping  plume-thistle.     Common. 

eriophorus.     Woolly-headed  plume-thistle.     Near  Groby,  and  Cloud  wood. 

pratensis.     Meadow  plume-thistle.     Bardon  hill,  and  Pocket  gate. 

< acanthium.     Cotton-thistle.     I   have  seen — in   Mr.  Bloxam's   Herbarium,   I    think — a 

specimen  from  Mountsorrel. 

Carlina  vulgaris.     Common  carline  thistle.     Bardon  hill. 

Bidens  tripartita.     Trifid  bur-marigold.     Groby  pool. 

Eupatorium  cannabinum.     Common  hemp-agrimony.     Groby  pool,  Gracedieu,  ice.     Common. 

Tanacetum  vulgare.     Common  tansy.     Near  Groby. 

Gnaphalium  uliginosum.     Marsh  cud-weed.     Common. 

minimum.     Least  cud-weed.     Near  Groby  pool,  and  Black-brook. 

germanicum.     Common  cud-weed.     Common. 

•^ .-irlemisia  rulgaris.     Mug-wort.     Not  uncommon. 
«: absinthium.     Wormwood.     Gracedieu. 

Erigeron  acris.     Blue  fleabane.     Wall  near  Gracedieu  ruins. 

Tussilago  farfara.     Colt's-foot.     Common. 

f  The  Crepis  tectorum  of  English  Botany  and  British  authors  is  really  C.  virens  L. — C  B. 
The  rare  Crepis  biennis  is  found  in  great  abundance  at  Norton  juxta  Twjxross,  in  this  county. 


r2  BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Petasites  vulgaris.     Common  butter-bur.     Near  the  mill,  Groby  pool. 

* hybrida.     This  is  merely  the  fertile  plant,  but  is  much  rarer  than  the  other  form.     It 

has  long  been  known  as  an  inhabitant  of  the  vicinity  of  the  Forest;  as  at  Gracedieu,  &c. 

Senecio  vulgaris.     Common  groundsel.     Common. 

sylvalicus.     Mountain  groundsel.     Common. 

* tenuifolius.     Near  Black-brook  toll-gate. 

jacobtea.     Common  rag-wort.     Common. 

aquaticus.     Marsh  rag-wort.     Common. 

*Solidago  virgaurea.     Golden  rod.     Buddon  wood. 

Pulicaria  dysenterica.     Common  fleabane.     Common. 

Bellis  perennis.     Common  daisy.     Common. 

Chrysanthemum  leucanthemum.     Great  white  ox-eye.     Common. 
* segehim.     Corn-fields. 

Pyrethrum  parthenium.     Common  feverfew.     Bradgate  ruins. 

inodorum.     Corn  feverfew,  or  scentless  May-weed.     Common. 

Anthemis  cotula.     Stinking  camomile.     Corn-fields. 

Achillea  ptarmica.     Sneeze-wort  yarrow.     Pastures. 

millefolium.     Common  yarrow,  or  milfoil.     Common. 

Centaurea.  nigra.     Black  knap-weed. 

* scabiosa.     Near  Sheepshed. 

Class  XX.— GYNANDRIA  MONANDRIA. 

Orchis  morio.     Green-winged  meadow  orchis.     Common. 

mascula.     Early  purple  orchis.     Woods. 

lalifolia.     Marsh  orchis.     Near  Groby  pool,  Gracedieu,  &c. 

maculata.     Spotted  palmate  orchis.     Meadows.     Common. 

* conopsea.     Pocket-gate,  Bardon,  and  Swannington. 

Habenaria  viridis.     Green  habenaria.     Near  Thringstone. 

bifolia.j-     Butterfly  habenaria.    Woods.    Bardon,  Oakley,  and  Cloud  woods.    Rare. 

*Neoltia  spiralis.     Lady's  tresses.     Near  Sheepshed.     Rare. 

Listera  ovata.     Common  tway-blade.     Woods. 

* JVidus  avis.     Oakley  wood,  and  Cloud  wood. 

Epipaclis  latifolia.     Broad-leaved  helleborine.     Woods. 

palustris.     Marsh  helleborine.     Near  Groby  pool,  and  Pocket-gate. 

Class  XXI.— MONtECIA  MONANDRIA. 

Euphorbia  helioscopia.     Sun-spurge.     Gardens  and  waste  ground. 

e.rigua.     Dwarf  sun-spurge.     Corn-fields. 

peplus.     Petty  sun-spurge.     Gardens. 

amygdaloides.     Wood  sun-spurge.     Gracedieu  wood. 

Callilriche  verna.     Vernal  water  star-wort.     Ponds. 

* plalycarpa.     Near  Thringstone. 

ZannichelUa  palustris.     Horned  pond-weed.     Groby  pool. 

fThe  Leicestershire  species  is  not  the  true  H.  bifolia,  but  H.  cMorantka. — C  B. 


BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  53 

TRIANDRIA. 

Typha  lalifolia.     Cat's-tail,  or  reed-mace.     Ponds. 
Sparganium  ramosum.     Branched  bur-reed.     Ponds. 

simplex.     Unbranched  ujjright  bur-reed.     Rothlej'  Temple. 

Carex  pulicaris.     Flea  carex,  or  sedge.     Beacon  hill. 

intermedia      Soft  brown  carex.     Groby  pool. 

dimlsa.     Grey  carex.     Moist  pastures. 

vulpina.     Great  carex.     Near  water-courses. 

■    slelliilata.     Little  prickly  carex.     Beacon  hill. 

oralis.     Oval  spiked  carex.     Pastures. 

* remota.     Distant  spiked  carex.     Not  uncommon. 

sylvatica.     Pendulous  wood  carex.     Woods. 

Pseudo-cypenis.     Cyperus-like  carex.     Groby  pool,  and  Sheepshed. 

paltescens.     Pale  carex.     Meadows,  Swannington. 

"^ flava.     Yellow  carex.     Beacon  hill. — Common  on  wet  heaths,  as  well  as  a  dwarf  form, 

which  I  suppose  is  Carex  tederi  of  authors. 

bineri'is.     Green-ribbed  carex.     Beacon  hill,  and  very  common  on  the  Whitwick  range. 

■  prtecox.     Vernal  carex.     Meadows. 

pilulifera.     Round-headed  carex.     Beacon  hill. 

panicea.     Pink-leaved  carex.     Common. 

recurva.     Glaucous  heath  carex.     Common. 

ctpspitosa.     Tufted  bog  carex.     Groby  pool. 

acuta.     Slender  spiked  carex.     Ditto. 

paludosa.     Lesser  common  carex.     Ditto. 

riparia.     Great  common  carex.     Ditto. 

ampullacea.     Slender  beaked  bottle  carex.     Groby  pool,  and  Reservoir. 

hirta.     Hairy  carex.     Common. 

— ■ — •  Jiliformis.f     Slender-leaved  carex.     Beacon  hill. 

TETRANDRIA. 

Liltorella  lacustris.     Plantain  shore-weed.     Groby  pool. 
Alnus  glutinosa.     Alder.     Common. 
Urtica  urens.     Small  nettle.     Common. 

dioica.     Great  nettle.     Common. 

PEXTANDRIA. 

^Bryonia  dioica.     Red  bryony.     Mountsorrel,  &c. 

POLYANDRIA. 

*CeratophyUiim  demersum.     Horn-wort.     Rothley  Temple. 

f  Carex  paniculata,  penduta,  and  strigusa,  are  found  in  woods  near  Staunton  Harold. 


54  BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Mijriophylliim  spicatum,.-\     Spiked  water  milfoil.     Groby  pool,  Gracedieu,  &c. 
Sagittaria  sagiUifolia.     Common  arrow-head.     Groby  pool,  Rothley,  &c. 
Arum  maculatum.     Cuckoo  pint,  or  wake  Robin.     Common. 
Quercus  robur.     Oak.     Common. 

* sessiliflora.     Sessile  fruited  oak. 

Fagus  sylvatica.     Beech.     Common. 

Beiula  alba.     Birch.     Common. 

Carpinus  betuliis.     Hornbeam. 

Corylus  avellaiiu.     Common  hazel  nut.     Common. 

Class  XXII.— DICECIA  DIANDRIA. 

Salix  vitellina.     Yellow  willow,  or  golden  osier.     Woods. 

fusca  vat:  repens.     Dwarf  silky  willow.     Beacon  hill,  and  Bardon. 

viminalis.     Common  osier.     Common. 

aquatica.     Water  sallow.    Woods. 

aurita.     Round-eared  sallow.     Woods. 

caprea.     Great  round-leaved  sallow.     Woods. 

* helix.     Loughborough. 

* fragilis.     Common. 

* triandra.     Loughborough. 

* alba.     Common. 

* acuminata.     Common. 

TRIANDRIA. 

Empelnim  nigrum.     Black  crowberry,  or  crakeberry.     Heaths. 
Ruscus  aculeatus.     Butcher's  broom.     Sheet-hedges  wood. 

PENTANDRIA. 

Humulus  lupulus.     Common  hop.     Hedges  near  Groby,  Thringstone,  &c. 

HEXANDRIA. 
Tamus  communis.     Common  black  bryony.     Hedges. 

OCTANDRIA. 

Popuhis  alba.     Great  white  poplar,  or  abele.     Woods. 

tremula.     Aspen.     Woods. 

nigra.     Black  poplar.     Woods. 

ENNEANDRIA. 

Mercurialis  perennis.     Perennial,  or  dog's  mercury.     Woods, 
f  .1/.  alterniflornm  is  found  in  tliis  county,  in  a  pond  adjoining  the  road  side  between  Twycross  and  Appleby. 


BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  55 

MOXADELPHIA. 
Taxus  baceata.     Common  yew. 

Class  XXIII.— POLYGAMIA  MONCECIA. 

Alriplex  patida.     Spreading  halberd-leaved  orache.     Waste  grounds. 

angustifoHa.     Narrow-leaved  orache.     Ditto. 

Class  XXIV.— CRYPTOGAMIA  FILICES. 

Polypodium  ndgare.     Common  polypody.     Common. 

Aspidium  lobatitm.     Close-leaved  prickly  shield-fern.     Hedge  bottoms  and  woods. 

aculeatum.     Soft  prickly  shield-fern.     Ditto. 

Jilix  mas.     Blunt  shield-fern.     Common. 

spinulosum  var.  dilatatuin.     Broad  prickly-toothed  shield-fern.     Common. 

Aspleniiim  tnchomanes.     Common  wall  spleenwort.     Swithland  slate-pits,  and  Gracedieu. 

ruta  muraria.     Wall-rue  spleenwort.     Bradgate  stables. 

adiantum  nigrum.     Black-stalked  spleenwort.     Rocks. 

filix  fcemina.     Short-fruited  spleenwort.     Heathy  places. 

* Var.  with  a  purple  stem.     Very  fine  at  Chamwood  Heath,  in  1^40. 

Scolopendrium  vulgare.     Common  hart's-tongue.     Shady  rocks  near  Sheepshed  and  Beacon  hill. 

Pteris  aquilina.     Common  brakes.     Common. 

Blechnum  boreale.     Northern  hard  fern.     Heaths. 

Ophioglossum  vulgalum.     Common  adder's-tongue.     Near  Gracedieu,  and  Thringstone. 

Lycopodium  clavatum.     Common  club-moss.     Near  the  Reservoir,  and  Kite  hill. 

inundatum.     Marsh  club-moss.     Near  the  Reservoir. 

* selago.     In  the  cutting  of  the  old  canal,  near  Ticker  lane. 

Equisetum  arvense.     Corn  horse-tail.     Common. 

limosiim.     Smooth  naked  horse-tail.     In  ponds. 

palustre.     JNIarsh  horse-tail.     Marshy  places. 

hyemale.     Rough  horse-tail.     Brook  near  Gracedieu  lime-works. 

syliaticum.     Gracedieu  wood. 

fluviatile.     Roe  Clift'. 


PART  II. 


MUSCI. 


*Phascum  subitlatiim.     On  sandy  soils,  Osgathorpe,  &c. 

alternifoUum.     Ditto. 

cuspidatiim.     Cloud  wood. 


56  BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Sphagnum  oblusifolium.     In  bogs. 

squarrosum.     Ditto. 

acutifolium.     Ditto. 

cuspidatum.     Ditto. — The  limits  between  all  the  four  species  are  very  inconstant. 

Gymnostomum  ovatum.     On  the  ground,  in  light  soils. 

fruncalulum.     Ditto. 

pyriforme.     Ditto. 

Anictanglum  ciliatum.     Banks  of  Grobj'  pool,  and  Gracedieu. 
Tetraphis  pellmida.     Bardon  hill,  and  Gracedieu. 
Encalypla  rulyaris.     On  light  soils,  Gracedieu  and  Cloud  wood. 
Weissia  lanceolata.     Banks. 

controversa.     Ditto. 

cirrata.     On  old  rails  and  posts. 

Cirimmia  apocarpa.     Rocks.     Gracedieu  wood,  &c. 

pulvinata.     Walls  and  rocks.     Common. 

Didymodon  purpureus.     Walls. 

flexifolius.    Near  the  Reservoir. 

Trichostomum  lanuyinosum.     Swithland  slate-pits.     Rare. 

. heterostichum.     Rocks.     Bardon  hill,  and  Thringstone  rocks. 

aciculare.     Bardon  hill,  and  near  One-barrow  Lodge. 

Dicranum  bryoides.     On  banks. 

adiantoides.     Ditto. 

faxifolium.     Ditto. 

glaucum.     In  bogs. 

* flexuosum.     Cloud  wood,  and  Breedon. 

scoparium.     Banks.     In  fruit  at  Bardon. 

* squarrosum.     Thringstone.     Rare. — I  hardly  know  whether  the  plant  was  D.  xquar 

rosum  or  pellucidum  ;  it  was  found  barren,  and  I  have  mislaid  the  specimens. 

. varhtm.     Banks. 

heteromaUum.     Ditto. 


Tortula  enervis.     Thringstone.     Rare.     Also  at  Cloud  wood,  Breedon,  and  other  places. 

muralis.     On  walls.     Common. 

ruralis.     On  thatched  buildings.     Common. 

subulata.     On  banks. 

uiiguiculata.     On  the  ground. 

fallax.     Ditto. 

CincUdotus  fontinaloides.     Flood-gates,  Groby  pool,  and  Gracedieu  brook.     Rare. 
Polytrichum  undulalum.     On  moist  soils. 

.  piliferum.     On  walls. 

juniperinum.     Beacon  hill. 

.  commune.     Banks  and  woods. 

aloides.     Banks. 

nanum.     Ditto. 

Funaria  hygromelrica.     On  the  ground. 
Ortholrkhum  anomalum.     Rocks.     Breedon. 


BOTANY  OF   CHARNWOOD   1-OREST. 


57 


OrthutrUliinii  affine.     On  trees,  in  woods. 

diaphanum.     Ditto. 

striatum.     Ditto. 

Lyellii.     Bardon  hill. 

crispum.     On  trees,  in  woods. 

Bri/um  androgyimm.     Banks. 

palustre.     Bardon  and  Beacon  hills. 

argenteum.     Gravelly  soils.     Coleorton,  in  fruit. 

capillare.     On  banks. 

caspititium.     Ditto. 

nutans.     Ditto. 

alpinum.     Near  One-barrow  Lodge. 

ventricosum.     Bogs. 

roscutn.     Wood  near  Ulverscroft  cottage. 

ligulatum.     Woods  and  banks. 

hornum.     Old  banks. 

piinctatum.     Banks  of  streams,  and  ditches. 

Barlramia  pomiformh.     Banks,  Gracedieu.     Common. 

ithyphylla.\     Gracedieu. 

fontana.     In  bogs. 

Leucodon  sciuroides.     On  trees. 
Neckera  pumila.     On  trees,  in  woods. 

Anomodon  curtipendulum.     On  old  banks,  and  Bardon  hill. 

riticulosum.     Ditto. 

Daltonia  heieromalla.     Trees. 

Fontinalis  antipyretica.     Rocks  in   Groby  pool,  and  swamp  at  the  source  of  a  rivulet  running 

from  Kite  hill  to  the  Reservoir. 
Hypnum  trichomanoides.     At  the  bottom  of  trunks  of  trees. 

complanaium.     Ditto. 

undulatum.     Bardon  hill. 

denticulatitm.     Swithland  slate-pits. 

medium.     Near  Rothley  Temple. 

serpens.     On  the  ground. 

murale.     On  walls. 

purum.     On  banks. 

piliferum.     Sides  of  ditches. 

Schreberi.     Bardon  hill. 

sericeum.     On  rails,  thorns,  and  trees. 

lulescens.     On  banks. 

albicans.     Ditto. 

alopectirum.     In  woods. 

dendroides.     In  marshy  meadows.  Reservoir,  and  elsewhere. 

+  The  B.  ithyphylla  in  Mr.  Bloxam's  list  is  on  my  authority,  but  I  fear  it  may  be  a  variety  of  B.  pomiformis,  as  it 
grows  along  with  it,  and  the  specific  diflferences  are  but  slight.— C.  B. 


58  BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Hypnum  curvatum.     Trunks  of  trees. 

myosuroides.     Bardon. 

spleiidens.     Dry  banks. 

proliferum.     Ditto. 

prtelonyiim.     Hedge  bottoms. 

rutabidum.     On  the  ground. 

velutinuin.     On  stones. 

riiscifoUum.     Common  in  water. 

striatum.     Woods. 

confertum.     Stones  and  rocks. 

cuspidatum.     In  marshy  meadows. 

cordifolium.     In  bogs. 

loreum.     Bardon  hill. 

triquetrum.     Woods. 

breviroslre.     Bardon  hill.     Rare. 

squarrosum.     Banks. 

Jilicinum.     In  bogs. 

fluitans.     Groby  pool. 

* aduncum.     Not  uncommon  in  the  boggy  parts  of  the  Forest,  about  the  Whitwick  range. 

cupressiforme.     On  banks. 

molluscum.     Ditto. 

HEPATIC^. 

Riccia  crystalUna.     Bardon  hill. 

Marchantia  polymorpha. 

* conica.     Not  rare. 

* irrigua?  Gracedieu  wood,  by  the  brook,  1840,  but  barren.  The  absence  of  fruc- 
tification makes  me  a  little  uncertain  about  the  name  ;  but  authentic  specimens  of  M.  irrigua, 
from  Dr.  Taylor,  coincide  exactly  with  the  general  appearance  of  its  frond. 

Jungermannia  asplenioides.     Banks. 

emarginala.     Rocks  in  Sheet-hedges  wood. 

nemorosa.     Bardon  hill. 

undulata.     Bardon  brook. 

albicans.     Rocks  in  Sheet-hedges  wood. 

complanata.     Trees. 

bidentata.     Ditch  banks. 

■  platyphylla.     Bardon  hill. 

ciliaris.     Rocks  near  Groby  pool,  and  Thringstone  rocks. 

dilatata.     Trees. 

iamarisci.     Trees. 

Blasia.     Clay  banks,  and  sides  of  ditches. 

epiphylla.     Ditto. 

furcata.     Trees. 

_ pubescens.     Rocks. 


BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  59 

LICIIENES. 

*B(Bomyces  rufiis.     Gracedieu,  &c.     Not  very  unfiequent. 
*Calici urn  sessile.     On  Pertusaria  communis. 

* tymptiiiellum.     Timber.     Common. 

* chrijsocephalum.     Charnwood  Heath.     Rare. 

* curium.     Charnwood  Heath. 

* sp/uerocephalum.     Charnwood  Heath,  and  Thringstone. 

*Aiilioiii(i  (jxjrosa.     Seemingly  an  imperfect  state  of  0/)e^(a/)/ia.     Common. 

* astroidea.     Ditto. 

Opeqrapha  epipasla.     Trees. 

riifesceiis.     Ditto. 

atra.     Ditto. 

varia.     Ditto. 

scripta.     Ditto. 

Verrucaria  epidennidis.     Trees. 

* .    cinerea.     Charnwood  Heath. 

* alba.     Confounded  with   V.  gemmafa.     Not  yet  published  as  British.     On  Maple, 

at  Gracedieu,  &c.     Common. 

* punctiformis.     Common. 

« leucocephala.     Charnwood  Heath. 

* clopima.     Gracedieu  brook.     New  to  England. 

* iimbriiia.     Ditto. 

liridula.     Thringstone. 


* Eudocurpon  Jluviatile.     (E.  miniatiim,  (i.  Hookeri.)     Stones  in  Gracedieu  brook. 

* pallidum?     Mountsorrel.     Rare.     Perhaps  this  may  not  be  correctly  named,  but  it 

can  certainly  belong  to  no  other  species  in  this  catalogue. 
*Pertusaria  communis.     On  stone  at  Charnwood  Heath.     Common. 

* .   Var.  lejaphlaa. 

* fallax.     Not  rare. 

*Theloti-cma  lepadinum.     Charnwood  Heath. 
Lepraria  viridis.     Rocks,  and  stone  walls. 

Jlara.     Ditto. 

alia.     Ditto. 

nigra.     Ditto. 

* Jolilhus.     Stone  walls.     Not  rare. 

*Spiloma  sphwrale.     Aery  common  on  the  AYhitwick  range  :  but  no  lichen — a  fungus. 

* decolorans. 

* gregarium.     Cloud  wood. 

*  Variolaria  vitiligo.     Common. 

* conspurcata.     Common. 

* agehea.     Gracedieu  wood. 

discoidea.     Trees, 

faginca.     Ditto. 

*Urceolaria  scruposa.     Gracedieu,  &c.     Not  rare. 


60  BOTANY  OF  CHAHNWOOD  FOREST. 

*Urceolaria  calcarea.     Gracedieu. 

* Acharii.     Near  One-Barrow  Lodge. 

Lecidea  fusco-afra.     On  rocks. 

* confliiens.     Common. 

* lapicida.     Common. 

* elaochroma.     Bark  of  trees. 

* muscorum.     Near  the  Reservoir.    This,  like  L.  incana,  is  the  receptacle  of  several  obscure 

nearly-allied  plants. 

geographica.     Rocks.     Bardon  hill  and  Whitwick  range. 

* nliginosa.     Near  Thrinp^stone  rocks. 

* albo-atra.     Common. 

* LightfooHi.     Bardon,  on  birch. 

* quernea.     Barren.     Not  uncommon. 

* incana.     Common.     A  species  comprising  imperfect  forms  of  several  others;  any  mealy 

greenish  barren  lichen  being  so  called.     The  best  moderns  expunge  it. 

* e.rpallens.     On  fir  bark.     Thringstone  and  Bardon. 

* quadriculof.     Near  the  Reservoir. 

* coronata.     Ditto.     Rare. 

* rupestris.     Breedon  and  Cloud  wood. 

* rernaUs.     Rothley. 

* icmadophila.     On  heathy  ground,  about  the  Whitwick  rocks,  but  neither  fine  nor  abun- 
dant. 

* marmorea.     Whitwick  Church. 

* polytropa.     Whitwick  rocks.     Common.     Allied  to,  if  not  a  variety  of  Lcfflwo/ff  !■«;■/«. 

Lecfinora  atra.     On  trees. 

* coarctata.     Thringstone.     Found  on  brick.     Rare. 

* squamulosa.     Whitwick  rocks,  and  Bardon. 

* .sophodes.     Near  Ashby. 

•X glaucoma.     Rocks.     Common. 

subfusca.     On  trees. 

* crenulata.     On  old  walls,  at  Rothley.     Common.     But  no  true  species;    probably 

spoiled  Squamaria  saxicola. 

raria.     Rails. 

albella.     On  trees. 

* parella.     On  rocks.     Not  rare. 

* iartarea.     Not  common. 

vitellina.     Rocks. 


Squamaria  candelaria.     On  thorns  and  trees. 

murorum.     Walls.     Rothley  Temj)le. 

'■■ lanuginosa.     Whitwick  rocks,  1840. 

i cwsia.     Rothley. 

f saxicola.     In  exposed  places.     Common. 

Placodium  canescens.     Bark  of  trees.     Fertile  at  Thringstone. 

Pannelia  caperata.     Rocks. 
K- conspersa.     Thringstone. 


BOTANY  OF  CH\RN\VOOD   FOREST.  61 

Parmelia  sa.ralilis.     Fertile  at  Chanmootl  Heatli. 

* Borreri.  Common. 

oliracea.  Rails;  and  a  dark  var.  on  rocks. 

* peilala.  Common. 

pHlrendenta.     Trunks  of  trees. 

* pityrea.     Cole-Orton,  &c. 

steUaris.     Trunks  of  trees. 

* cijcloselis.     Rothley. 

* aleurites.     Bardon. 

* ■ —  ambigua.     Bardon. 

parietina.     On  walls. 

physodes.     Rocks. 

"Slicta  scrobiciilata.     Near  Switliland  slate-pits. 
*Collema  cristatum.     Common. 

* liinosum.     Thringstone. 

* flaccidumt'     Gracedieu  wood. 

* gratuilatum.     Rothley. 

* crixpum.     Common. 

* lacerum.     Gracedieu  wood.f 

Peltidea  caiiina.     On  banks. 

rufescens.     Ditto. 

* spuria.     Thringstone  rocks. 

*Umbilicaria  puxtulafa.     Near  Mountsorrel  windmill. 

Cefraria  glauca.  .  Bardon  hill. 

Borrera  ciliaris.     On  trees. 

teiiella.     Rocks. 

* furfwracea.     Charnwood  Heath,  &c.     Not  uncommon. 

Ecernia  prunastri.     Trees. 

Ramalina  fraxinea.     Trunks  of  trees. 

faxtigiata.     Ditto. 

fariuacea.     Ditto. 

Usnea  florida.     Old  rails.     Variable  and  barren. 

Alectoria  jubata.     Bardon  and  Beacon  hills,  Charnwood  Heath,  &c. 

Cornicularia  aculeata.     On  rocks. 
*Isidium  coecodes.     Gracedieu  wood. 

* paradoxum.     Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

* corallinum.  Thringstone  and  Bardon. — The  two  last  are  certainly  nothino;  but  mon- 
strosities of  Lecanora  parella  ;  as  is  the  first  of  Perlusaria  communis.  1  very  plainly  detected 
the  passage  of  Isidium  corallinum  into  Lecanora  parella,  at  Bardon,  I8;i9. 

Sphrerophoron  coralloides.     On  rocks.     Bardon  hill  and  Gracedieu. 

Cladonia  uncialis.     Bardon  hill. 

rangiferina.     Ditto. 

•f  There  are  also  some  other  species  of  this  puzzling  genus  found  iu  the  neighbourhood,  which  I  cannot  precisely 

determine. —  C.  B. 


^}0  BOTANY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Cludonia  furcala.     Ditto. 

* pungens  ?     Bardon. 

* Scyphophorus  sparassus.     Bardon. 

* alcicornis.     Thringstone  rocks,  sparingly. 

pyxidatus.     On  rocks. 

* neglectus.     Thringstone  rocks.     Rare. — Proliably  a  van  of  S.  p)/.r/rfa/MS. 

* radiatus.     Common. 

coriiutus.     On  rocks. 

gracilis.     Ditto. 

* Jiliformis.     Svvannington. 

* digitatus.     Bardon,  &c. 

cocciferus.     Bardon. 


CHARACE^. 


*  Chara  Jlexilis.     Reservoir. 
vulgaris.     In  ponds  at  Gracedieu. 


ORNITHOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


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OENITHOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 


The  following  list  of  birds,  found  in  or  near*  Charnwood  Forest,  has  been  drawn  up 
almost  solely  from  specimens  which  its  compiler  has  been  able  himself  to  examine,  or  of 
which  he  has  received  accounts  from  trustworthy  friends,  whose  names  are  uniformly  inserted 
in  their  proper  places ;  by  which  means,  though  the  catalogue  will  appear  smaller  than  it 
might  have  been  made  upon  a  different  plan,  it  is  hoped  that  it  will  be  found,  in  general,  more 
accurate  and  determinate.  Perhaps  the  list  of  land  birds  may  be  tolerably  complete :  but 
that  of  the  water  fowl,  as  being  uncertain  or  brief  visitants,  especially  the  duck  tribe  and 
sea  birds,  ])robabIy  falls  considerably  short  of  the  number  of  species  seen  or  killed.  When 
a  station  for  a  bird  is  recorded  without  any  authority  being  affixed,  or  account  given  of  what 
has  become  of  the  specimen  (if  killed),  the  Compiler,  in  whose  possession  the  bird  in  most 
cases  remains,  is  answerable  for  the  correctness  of  its  insertion. 

The  species  are  named  from  Selby's  Illustrations  of  British  Birds,  ■2nd  Edition,  Edin- 
burgh, 18;3:3. 

St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  January  14,  1842. 

LAND  BIRDS. 

Aqidla  Chri/saeta.  Golden  Eagjle.  Killed  in  Bradgate  Park,  in  April,  1841,  and  now  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Earl  of  Stamford,  at  Dunham  INIassey.     Communicated  by  Mr.  Potter. 

Halixtos  Albicilla.  Cinereous  Ea<jle.  A  specimen  killed  at  Swannington,  liy  Mr.  William 
Burton.     The  head  and  wings  only  were  preserved.     These  I  have  seen. 

Pandion  Halitetos.  Osprey.  One  shot  by  the  Marquis  of  Hastings,  at  Donington  Park,  October, 
1841,  is  in  his  Lordship's  collection.  I  am  informed  by  the  Rev.  Robert  Blunt,  that  one  was 
killed  also  at  Melbourne,  some  years  ago. 

Accipiter  Fringillarius.     Sparrow  Hawk. 

Falco  Pereqrinus.  Peregrine  Falcon.  A  very  fine  female  shot  five  or  six  years  ago  near  the 
Loughborough  outwoods.     Two,  a  male  and  female,  were  killed  at  Gopsal,  about  two  years  aijo. 

subbuteo.     Hobby.     Near  Thringstone,  one  specimen. 

Tinnuriculus.     Kestrel. 

^Esa7<»».     Merlin.     Near  Sheepshed. 

Biitco  lulgaris.  Common  Buzzard.  Two  shot  near  Charnwood  Heath,  1S39;  one  is  in  the  pos- 
session of  Thomas  Gisborne,  Esq.,  the  other  of  Kirkby  Fenton,  Esq. 

•  Eight  miles  has  been  taken  as  the  limit  of  "  vicinity :"  no  bird  seen  or  killed  at  any  distance  from  the  Forest 
greater  than  this  has  been  admitted.  The  same  is  true,  also,  of  the  additions  made  to  the  Rev.  A.  Bloxam's  Catalogue 
of  Plants. 


66  ORNITHOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Circus  cyaneus.     Hen  Harrier.     Thringstone,  1841.     Seen,  but  not  killed. 

Milvus  imlgaris.     Kite.     Shot  from  a  window  at  Long  Cliff,  in  the  act  of  watching  some  young 

tame  pigeons. 
Ofus  vulgaris.     Long-horned  Owl.     Heaths ;  not  very  common. 
brachi/otos.     Short-eared  Owl.     Woodcock  Owl.     Frequently  found  both  in  the  wilder  parts 

of  the  moors,  and  in  turnip  fields,  where  the  dogs  will  sometimes  point  it. 
Stri.rflammea.     Barn,  or  White  Owl. 
Ulula  ifridula.     Brown,  or  Tawny  Owl. 
Hirundo  rustica.     Swallow. 

iirbica.     Martin. 

riparia.     Sand  Martin. 

Cypselus  murarins.     Swift. 

Caprimulgus  Europftus.     Goat-sucker,  or  Fern  Owl.     Rocky  heaths,  about  Sharpley,  Kite-hill,  &c. 

Alcedo  Ispida.     Kingfisher. 

Muscicapa  Grisola.     Spotted  Fly-catcher. 

Lanitm  Collurio.  Red-backed  Shrike,  or  Little  Butcher-bird.  Two  old  birds  were  shot  in  Talljot- 
lane,  1834;  and  in  the  following  summer  there  was  a  brood  of  young  birds  (Bewick's  Wood- 
chat)  in  the  same  neighbourhood,  several  of  which  I  shot. 

Merula  viscivora.     Missel  Thrush. 

pilaris.     Fieldfare. 

musica.     Song  Thrush. 

Iliaca.     Redwing. 

vulgaris.     Blackbird. 

torquata.     Ring  Ouzel.     On  Strawberry-hill,  near  Sharpley,  in  the  summer  of  1840,  I 

observed  three  or  four  flying  about  among  the  rocks ;  and  had  a  specimen  brought  me  from 
the  same  place  a  few  years  previously. 

Cinclus  aquations.  Dipper,  or  Water  Ouzel.  Seen  in  the  shallow  pools  of  the  rocky  rivulet  which 
runs  from  Kite-hill  to  the  Reservoir,  when  the  Forest  began  to  be  inclosed,  by  a  relative  who 
has  had  frequent  opportunities,  in  Dovedale,  of  observing  the  habits  of  this  singular  bird. 

Sa.vicola  CEnanthe.     Wheatear. 

rubetra.     Whin-Chat. 

rubicola.     Stone-Chat. 

Erythraca  mbecula.     Redbreast. 
Phtenicura  ruiicilla.     Redstart,  or  Firetail. 

Salicaria  Locuslella  P  Grasshopper  Warbler.  A  bird  that  may  very  probably  be  this,  is  not  rare 
near  Charnwood  Heath  ;  but  it  lies  so  close  among  the  sedges  and  furze,  that  I  have  never 
yet  been  able  to  shoot  it. 

phragmitis.     Sedge  Warbler,  or  Reed  Fauvette.     Shot  at  Groby.     Communicated  by 

the  Rev.  A.  Bloxam. 

Philomela  Luscinia.     Nightingale.     About  Leicester,  Rothley,  Wanlip,  &c. 

Curruca  cinerea.     Whitethroat. 

Sylvia  hippolais.     Lesser  Pettychaps,  or  Chift'  Chaff. 

trochilus.     Yellow  Wren. 

Regulus  auricapillus.     Golden-crested  Wren. 
Parus  major.     Great  Titmouse,  or  Tom-tit. 


ORNITHOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  07 

Parus  cmruleus.     Blue  Titmouse. 

palustris.     Marsh  Ditto. 

ater.     Cole  Ditto. 

caudatus.     Lonij-tailed  Ditto,  or  Bottle  Tit. 

Accentor  modularis.     Hedge  Sparrow. 
MolacUla  alba.     Pied  Wagtail. 

Boanila.     Grey  Ditto. 

■ flava.     Yellow  Ditto. 

Anthua  pratenxis.     Meadow  Pipit,  or  Tit  Lark.     Common  on  the  heaths. 

arboreus.     Tree  Pipit.     Not  very  rare  at  Thringstone,  and  probably  found  elsewhere,  near 

the  Forest.  A  bird  little  known,  from  its  great  resemblance  to  the  last;  but  not  plentiful 
any  where,  according  to  Montague  and  Selby. 

Alaiida  arvensis.     Skylark. 

Pleetrophanes  nivalis.  Snow  Bunting.  A  specimen  shot  on  the  rocks  near  Whitwick,  four  or  five 
years  ago,  in  the  transition  from  the  white  to  the  tawny  plumage. 

Emberiza  miliaria.     Common  Bunting. 

citrinella.     Yellow  Bunting,  or  Yellow-hammer. 

Schteniculus.     Reed  Bunting. 

Passer  domesficus.     House  Sparrow. 

Fringilla  Calebs.     Chaffinch. 

montifringilla.     Brambling,  or  Mountain  Finch.     Several  shot,  twenty   years  ago,  at 

Swannington,  by  Mr.  Grundy,  who  kept  a  wounded  bird  for  some  time  in  a  cage.  It  lost  all 
its  yellow  and  red  plumage,  and  turned  dark  brown,  after  being  fed  on  hemp-seed.*  He  did 
not,  at  the  time,  know  its  name,  but  described  its  plumage  accurately,  and  on  being  shown  u 
stuffed  specimen,  recognized  it  immediately.  It  has  since  been  killed  near  Glenfield  ;  and 
in  January,  1841,  during  a  long  snow,  several  were  shot  at  Castle  Donington.  For  these  two 
last  notices  I  am  indebted  respectively  to  Mr.  Bloxam  and  Mr.  Blunt.  In  the  present  .Janu- 
ary (1842)  ten  or  twelve  have  been  shot  near  Cole-Orton. 

Carduelis  spinus.     Siskin.     In  flocks  at  Thringstone  and  Rothley  Temple,  among  alders,  1837. 

elegans.     Goldfinch,  or  Proud  Tailor.     The  "Goldfinch,"  however,  about  Thringstone, 

is  the  provincial,  but  incorrect  name  for  the  Yellow  Bunting. 

Linaria  cannabina.     Linnet. 

minor.     Redpole.     A  couple  shot  at  Thringstone,   1834,  and  a  small  tlock  appeared   at 

Gracedieu,  1841. 

Coccothraustes  vulgaris.     Hawfinch  Grosbeach.     One  shot  at  Cole-Orton,  another  at  Groby. 

chloris.     Green  Linnet. 

Lo.ria  curvirostra.     Crossbill.     In  great  flocks  in  the  winter  of  1S39,  splitting  the   fir  cones  at 

"  The  Oaks,"  near  Charnwood  Heath ;  and  in  some  tall  firs  at  Swannington.     They  were 

very  tame.     I  brought  down  several  at  one  shot. 
Pyrrhula  vulgaris.     Bullfinch. 
Slurnus  vulgaris.     Starling. 
Cormis  corax.     Raven.     Generally  to  be  seen  on  Sharpley,  a  few  years  since.     Still  in  Bradgate 

Park,  as  I  learn  from  Mr.  Bloxam. 

*  Bulfinches  turn  black,  according  to  Selby,  when  so  fed. 


68  ORNITHOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Comes  corone.     Carrion  Crow. 

comix.     Hooded  Crow.     Seen  by  Mr.  Tomlinson,  jun.,  near  Charnwood  Heath.     Heat- 
tempted  in  vain  to  shoot  it.     I  have  seen  specimens,  said  to  be  killed  near  Leicester. 

fruffilegus.     Rook. 

monedula.     Jackdaw. 


Pica  melanolewca.     Magpie. 

Garrulus  glandarius.     Jay. 

Picus  viridis.     Green  Woodpecker. 

major.     Great  spotted  Ditto.     Both  found  in  old  woods,  all  round  the  Forest;  but  the  latter 

not  very  common. 

minor.     Lesser  Spotted  Woodpecker.     NearGroby.     Communicated  by  the  Rev.  A.  Bloxara. 

Yunx  torqtiilla.     Wryneck. 

Silta  Europtea.     Nuthatch.     Rothley  Temple,  and  elsewhere,  in  old  orchards. 

Certhia  familiaris.     Creeper. 

Trofflodi/tes  Eiiropa-us.     Wren. 

Cuculus  canorux.     Cuckoo.     Five  or  six  of  these  birds  may  be  heard  at  the  same  time,  among  the 

rocks. 
Columba  Palumbiis.     Ring  Dove. 
Mnas.     Stock  Dove.     Mr.  Grundy  has  shot  "  Rock  Doves"  at  Bardon,  many  years  back, 

which  he  thought  came  from  the  Vale  of  Belvoir.     This  would  probably  not  be  C.  Livia,  but 

C.  Mnas,  which  is  still  common  in  Bradgate  Park,   as  I  learn  from  Mr.  Bloxam,  and  also  in 

Calke  Park,  the  seat  of  Sir  G.  Crewe,  Bart. 
Phadanus  Colchiczis.     Pheasant.     The  hybrid  bird,  also,  between  the  pheasant  and  the  common 

fowl,  occurs  occasionally  in  Birchwood,  near  Charley. 
Te/rao  Tetrix.     Black  Grouse,  or  Black  Game.     Near  Charnwood   Heath,   Sharpley,  &c.,  in 

tolerable  numbers,  till  the  last  two  years.     They  are  now  nearly  extinct. 
Lagopus  Scoticiis.     Red  Grouse.     A  brood  at  Tin  Meadows,  twenty  years  ago,  some  of  which  were 

shot  by  Mr.  Grundy,  when  in  search  of  Black  Game.     Since  then  Mr.  Gisborne  attempted 

to  introduce  the  bird  from  Scotland  and  the  Derbyshire  Moors,  but  without  success ;  it  being 

unable  to  bear  the  dust  of  the  journey,  as  the  game-keeper  thought. 
Perdix  cinerea.     Partridge* 
coturnix.     Quail.     Several  killed  one  season  between  Whitwick  and  Bardon,  some  years 

a"-o,  by  Mr.  Grundy,  who  kept  a  wounded  bird  alive  for  some  time.     It  has  not  been  observed 

there  since. 

WATER  BIRDS. 

.Irdea  cinerea.     Common  Heron. 

Boiaurm  stellaris.  Bittern.  One  was  shot  near  Ashby,  in  1834,  by  the  late  Mr.  Joseph  Cantrell ; 
another,  killed  at  Wanlip,  is  in  the  possession  of  Sir  George  J.  Palmer,  Bart. ;  a  third,  shot 
at  Glenlield,  is  in  the  possession  of  C.  Winstanley,  Esq.,  of  Braunston  Hall. 

»  It  may  be  added,  on  the  authority  of  Charles  March  Phillipps,  Esq.,  that  a  variety  of  the  Partridge,  with  white- 
breasted  horse-shoes,  is  still  met  with  on  Charnwood :  and,  so  far  as  that  gentleman  has  been  able  to  learn,  there 
only. — T.  R.  p. 


ORNITHOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST.  69 

Numeniiis  arquata.     Common  Curlew.     Shot  at  Ben's  Cliff;  now  at  Rothley  Temple. 

Phteopus.     Whimbrel  Curlew.     One  specimen  shot  near  Charnwood  Heath. 

To/anus  hypoleucos.     Common  Sandpiper.     Gracedieu  and  Groby  Pool. 

ochropux.     Green  Ditto.     Groby  Pool. 

Scolupax  rtisticola.     Woodcock. 

■ — gallinago.     Common  Snipe. 

gallinula.     Jack  Snipe. 

Ralliis  aqualicus.     Water  Rail.     Tlirinsjstone,  Rothley  Temple,  &c. 

Crex  pralensis.     Corn  Crake,  or  Land  Rail. 

Porzana.     Spotted  Crake.     Near  Leicester. 

Gallinula  chloropu.i.     Water  Hen. 

Fulica  atra.     Common  Coot.     Groby  Pool,  and  Barret  Pool. 

Ciirsorius  Isabellinus.  Cream-coloured  Swiftfoot.  The  third  and  last  specimen  found  in  Britain, 
was  killed  near  Timberwood  Hill,  October,  1827.  It  is  in  the  collection  of  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Gisborne,  of  Yoxall  Lodge,  and  was  lent  by  him  to  Mr.  Selby,  for  whose  splendid  work  it  was 
engraved.*  "  Bill  three  quarters  of  an  inch  long-,  black,  and  arched  towards  the  tip.  Irides 
pale  yellowish-grey.  Forehead  and  crown  of  the  head  pale  buff-orange,  passing  towards  the 
occiput  into  ash-grey  :  below  which,  backwards,  is  a  triangular  spot  of  black.  Over  each  eye, 
and  passing  round  the  hind  part  of  the  head  (below  the  black  spot)  is  a  band  of  pure  white. 
From  the  posterior  angle  of  the  eye  is  a  streak  of  black.  Throat  and  chin  pale  reddish- white. 
The  whole  of  the  body  sienna-yellow,  tinged  with  ash-grey,  palest  beneath.  Greater  cjuills 
brownish-black  ;  outer  tail-feathers  having  a  small  dusky  spot  near  their  tips.  Legs  long, 
with  the  tibise  naked  for  an  inch  above  the  tarsal  joint.  Toes  short ;  the  outer  united  to  the 
middle  toe  by  a  rather  broad  membrane,  the  inner  toe  by  a  smaller  one.  Claw  of  the  middle 
toe  pectinated  ;  a  peculiarity  belonging  also  to  all  the  other  species." — The  specimen  which 
was  first  found  in  Britain  was  sold  to  Donovan,  for  83  guineas,  and  is  now  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum. Only  two  other  individuals  of  the  species  have  ever  been  found  on  the  continent  of 
Europe;  one  in  Austria,  the  other  in  France.  A  native  of  the  northern  and  western  parts 
of  Africa.     In  shape  much  like  the  Lapwing,  but  smaller  by  one-third. 

Charadrias  pluvialis.     Golden  Plover.     Near  Charnwood  Heath. 

Vanellus  cristatus.     Lapwing,  or  Pee-wit. 

jlnser F     Wild  Goose. — Some  kind  of  Wild  Goose  appears  frequently  on  and  near  the  Forest. 

In  the  winter  of  1841,  I  fired  at  one  near  Thringstone,  but  without  effect.  It  was  one  of 
Selby 's  three  first  species;  probably  A.ferus,  the  Bean  Goose. 

Cygmisferus.  Whistling  Swan.  Seen  at  Bardon,  by  Mr.  Grundy,  formerly.  Many  have  been 
recently  killed  near  Burton-on-Trent.  In  the  more  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  Forest 
they  are  more  rarely  shot.  One  killed  near  Wanlip  Hall  was  added,  by  the  Dowager  Lady 
Palmer,  to  ]\Ir.  Gisborne's  extensive  collection  at  Yoxall  Lodge ;  and  I  hear  from  Mr.  Bloxam, 
that  another  has  been  killed  at  Groby. 

Spathulea  clypeata.  Shoveller.  Killed  near  Charnwood  Heath.  In  the  collection  at  Yoxall 
Lodge. 

Auaa  Boschas.     Wild  Duck  ;  Mallard. 

•  The  extreme  rarity  of  the  bird  may  justify  me  in  copying  the  description  given  of  this  specimen  by  Mr.  Selby,  in  his 
"Illustrations  of  British  Ornithology,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  219. 


70  ORNITHOLOGY  OF  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Querquedida  Crecca.     Common  Teal. 

Mareca  Penelope.     Wigeon. 

Mergiis  Merganser.     Goosander.     Near  Langley.     In  the  possession  of  R.  Cheslyn,  Esq. 

Podiceps  cristatus.     Crested  Grebe.     Groby  Pool.     Communicated  by  the  Rev.  A.  Bloxam. 

minor.     Little  Grebe ;  Dabchick.     Rothley,  Groby,  &c. ;  but  not  abundant. 

Sula  Bassana.  Solan  Gannet.  Picked  up  dead,  or  dying,  near  Buddon  Wood.  In  the  posses- 
sion of  Miss  Watkinson,  of  Woodhouse. 

Sterna  hirundo.     Common  Tern. 

nigra.     Black  Tern.     Both  these  marine  birds  are  sometimes  found  at  Groby  Pool,  Cole- 

Orton,  and  elsewhere. 

Larus  ridibundus.  Black-headed,  or  Red-legged  Gull.  A  specimen  in  its  winter  plumage,  shot 
near  Melbourne,  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Blunt,  of  Belton. 

canus.     Common  Gull.     Often  seen  and  shot.     Flocks  of  Gulls,  probably  L.  Rissa,  as  well 

as  this,  frequently  fly  over  Thringstone,  after  violent  storms.  None,  except  the  common 
Gull,  have  fallen  into  my  hands.  A  very  large  Gull,  which  I  have  not  seen,  was  killed  at 
Benscliff.     This  would  most  likely  be  L.  marinus,  the  great  black-backed  Gull. 

Cataractes  vulgaris.  Common  Skua.  One  shot  near  Wymesvvold,  December,  1841.  Communi- 
cated by  Mr.  Potter. 

Thalassidroma  Biillockii.  Fork-tailed  Storm-Petrel.*  One  found  in  Gopsal  Park  is  in  tlie  pos- 
session of  the  Earl  Howe.     Communicated  by  Dr.  Kennedy. 

Churchill  Babington. 


■  These  birds,  with  two  or  three  other  nearly-allied  species  of  Petrel,  are  known  to  mariners  as  "  Mother  Carey'i 

Chickens." 


BRIEF  ACCOUNT 


OF  THE  GEOLOGICAL  VLSIT  OF  PROFESSORS  SEDGWICK,  AIREY,  AND  WHEWELL, 
TO  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

BY  THE  LATE  C.  ALLSOP,  ESQUIRE. 

(obligingly    communicated    EY    CHARLES    MARCH    PHILLIPPS,    ESQUIRE.) 


[I  venture,  in  the  absence  of  Mr.  Jukes,  who  is  gone  out,  as  Naturalist,  in  a  voyage  of  exploration,  to  give 
the  following  interesting  and  important  remarks :  feeling  assured,  that  even  if  they  contradict  any  part 
of  his  own  "speculations,"  he  will  be  the  last  person  to  complain,  providing  they  at  all  conduce  to 
elicit  truth,  or  promote  the  science  of  which  he  is  not  only  a  Professor  but  a  devotee. — t.  r.  p.] 

The  examination  of  the  eastern  ranire  of  the  Charnwood  Forest  rocks,  by  Professors  Sedgwick 
and  Airey,  and  Mr.  Whewell,  commenced  with  the  sienite  rocks  at  Mountsorrel;  and  in  a  stone- 
quarry  on  Rothley  Plain  (at  Simpson's  Pit),  a  fault  or  dyke  was  pointed  out  to  them  by  a  friend 
of  mine,  who  accompanied  them  to  my  house. 

At  the  slate-quarries  at  Swithland,  and  on  the  low  range  of  schistose  rocks  above  Woodhouse 
Eaves,  their  attention,  as  I  understand,  was  particularly  directed  to  the  composition  of  the  rocks, 
and  the  dip  which  they  exhibited  to  the  horizon. 

Having  understood  that  the  dip,  or  angle  of  inclination  of  the  rocks,  was  an  object  of  particular 
inquiry,  as  soon  as  they  honoured  me  by  placing  themselves  under  my  guidance,  I  took  them  to 
the  top  of  Broombriggs,  where  the  dip  is  remarkably  developed.  From  thence  they  proceeded  to 
Beacon  Hill,  which  exhibits  a  similar  developement,  though  perhaps  not  quite  so  distinctly  marked. 

Whilst  the  party  was  on  Beacon  Hill,  I  mentioned  to  Mr.  Sedgwick  that  there  was  a  small 
mass  of  sienitic  rock,  at  the  base  of  Beacon  Hill,  on  S.  W.  W.  side,  evidently  in  situ ;  and  I  men- 
tioned to  him  this  fact,  because  the  general  character  of  the  surrounding  rocks  was  either  schistose 
or  porphyritic.  He  begged  that  I  would  immediately  conduct  them  to  it ;  and  when  we  reached 
it,  and  he  had  examined  it,  he  pronounced  it  to  be  sienite.  From  this  point  they  proceeded  to 
Whittle  Hill,  and  after  examining  the  quarry  recently  opened  for  the  purpose  of  raising  whetstones, 
they  went  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  to  ascertain  the  dip  of  the  rocks  that  presented  themselves  there. 
From  Whittle  Hill  they  proceeded  to  the  northern  base  of  Beacon  Hill :  and  I  took  occasion  to 
point  out  to  them  the  part  called  "  The  Falling  in,"  of  which  I  believe  there  is  some  account  recorded 
in  a  volume  of  the  Harleian  Miscellany,  and  of  which  the  tradition  is,  that  a  remarkable  subsidence 
took  place  in  a  rock  here  situated  (about  1680).  In  a  marl-pit,  near  the  northern  foot  of  Beacon 
Hill,  there  is  a  manifestation  of  freestone,  or  millstone  grit,  in  lamina,  which  was  examined  by 
Mr.  Sedgwick,  and  he  pronounced  the  whole  of  this  valley  an  oceanic  valley. 


72  VISIT  OF  PROFESSOR  SEDGWICK.,  ETC.,  TO  CHARNWOOD  FOREST. 

Their  next  attention  was  directed  to  the  HanginjT-stone  rocks,  and  the  range  immediately  above 
Beaumanor ;  examining,  however,  every  rock  that  they  passed,  with  a  view  to  the  ascertainment 
of  its  angle  of  inclination. 

The  result  of  the  day's  inquiry  showed  that  the  angle  of  inclination  was  invariably  towards  the 
east,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Forest;  and  on  the  following  morning,  Mr.  Sedgwick  informed  me 
that  he  was  desirous  of  ascertaining  the  dip  of  the  rocks  towards  the  western  side,  as  he  conceived 
they  might  possibly  discover  an  anticlinal  line,  which  would  facilitate  their  inquiries  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  rocks. 

I  took  occasion  to  ask  if  the  rocks  in  the  vicinity  of  Whitwick  had  been  minutely  examined, 
and  was  answered  in  the  affirmative ;  but  was  informed  that  they  were  of  a  porphyritic  character, 
and  from  their  massiveness  exhibited  no  angle  of  inclination.  It  was  then  agreed  that  they  should 
visit  a  lower  range  of  parallel  rocks  which  were  known  to  be  mere  schistose. 

Benscliff  was  the  first  rock  that  was  examined,  and  the  discovery  was  soon  made  that  the  dip 
on  this  rock  was  towards  the  ivest.  This,  as  it  appeared  to  me,  was  a  most  gratifying  result;  and 
it  was  not  less  so,  to  find  that  the  dip  on  Black  Hill  was  in  the  same  direction.  On  the  rocks 
above  Baldwin  Castle  and  Charley,  the  developement  was  not  quite  so  complete,  from  the  por- 
phyritic nature  of  the  rocks,  which  effaced  the  stratification. 

From  the  survey  of  this  lower  range  of  rocks,  including  the  rock  upon  which  the  new  Chapel 
is  erected,  the  inquiry  was  extended  to  Ives  Head.  I  did  not  accompany  them  to  the  top  of 
Ives  Head,  but  from  the  length  of  time  employed  there  I  concluded  some  difficulty  had  arisen  ; 
and  when  Mr.  Whewell  joined  me,  he  admitted  they  had  encountered  some  difficulty,  from  the 
angle  of  inclination  on  Ives  Head  not  being  in  accordance  with  their  theory  ;  and  that  Professors 
Sedgwick  and  Airey  were  gone  to  a  stone-quarry  they  had  caught  sight  of  at  a  short  distance  from 
the  road,  to  ascertain  if  it  would  furnish  them  with  any  additional  information. 

Whilst  this  inquiry  was  going  on,  Mr.  Whewell  and  I  proceeded  to  a  stone-quarry  I  had  dis- 
covered on  Morley  Hill,  and  here  the  dip  was  ascertained  to  be  towards  the  east ;  and  this  was  the 
point  they  were  all  so  solicitous  to  discover,  inasmuch  as  the  dip  of  the  rocks  on  Ives  Head  was 
towards  the  ^vest.  The  ascertainment  of  the  fact  of  the  dip  on  Ives  head  being  towards  the  west, 
and  on  the  Morley  Hill,  just  below,  towards  the  east,  proved  that  the  anticlinal  line  tr.aversed  the 
valley  between,  and  entered  the  Forest  here  ;  and  Mr.  Whewell  pointed  out  the  precise  spot  which 
it  miirht  be  supposed  to  traverse.  Mr.  Sedgwick  here  observed  to  me,  that  "the  rocks  were  of 
igneous  origin,  and  that  the  hills  were  entitled  to  be  called  mountains !"  "  Yes,"  added  Mr.  Whe- 
well  "  and  here  are  all  the  accompaniments  of  a  mountainous  chain.     Coal  measures  on  the  west 

carboniferous  limestone  on  the  north — and  sienitic  rocks  on  the  east  and  on  the  south ;  with  an 

anticlinal  line  traversing  the  centre — accounting  for  the  dislocation  of  the  strata,  and  referring  the 
origin  of  the  rocks  to  igneous  agency." 

Jiroombriygs,  Woodkouse, 

„    ,"oi  iQ«  Charles  Allsop. 

^ept.  24,  1833. 


SUPPLEMENT 


ORNITHOLOGY  OF  CHAENWOOD  FOREST. 


Circus  rvfux.  Marsh  Harrier,  or  Moor  Buzzard.  One  killed  and  another  seen  at  Buddon 
Wood,  in  1841,  by  the  Keeper  of  G.  J.  D.  Butler  Danvers,  Esq. 

Curntca  atricapilla.     Blackcap  Warbler.     Swannington,  Long  Whatton,  &c. 

Silcia  sibilatrLr.     Wood  Wren.     Not  uncommon. 

Freg'dus  Gracuhis.  Cornish  Chough.  One  killed  in  Calke  Park.  Communicated  by  the  Rev. 
A.  Bloxam. 

Limosa  ntfa.  Bar-tailed  God  wit.  Winter  plumage.  One  shot  in  the  meadows  near  Swarkestone  ; 
now  at  Cole-Orton  Hall,  the  seat  of  Sir  G.  H.  W.  Beaumont,  Bart. 

Charadrius  morinellus.  Dotterel.  Five  brought  down  at  a  shot  by  Mr.  Tomlinson,  junior,  at 
Charnwood  Heath.  Miss  Watkinson,  of  Woodhouse,  also  has  one,  taken  near  Buddon 
Wood. 

Hiaticula.     Ring  Plover.     Killed  at  Groby,  by  the  Keeper  of  the  Earl  of  Stamford, 

who  has  likewise  shot  the  three  following  birds  in  the  same  place. 

Fuligula  cristafa.     Tufted  Pochard,  or  Tufted  Duck. 

Clangida  vulgaris.     Golden  Eye.     Also  in  Loughborough  meadows. 

Cohjmbus  septenirionalis.     Red-throated  Diver.     The  immature  bird,  or  Speckled  Diver. 

arclicus.      Black-throated    Diver.     Donington    Park.      Communicated    by   the    Rev. 

Tiiomas  Gisborne. 

Mergulus  melanoleucos.  Rotche,  or  I/ittle  Auk.  A  pair  of  these  rare  arctic  birds  were  taken 
alive  at  Nanpantan,  Nov.  6,  1837,  in  a  turnip  field,  by  J.  Cartu  right,  Esq.,  of  Loughbo- 
rough, who  endeavoured,  without  success,  to  keep  them  alive  on  fish  and  insects. 

Lams  Rissa.     Kittiwake.     Bardun,  &c. 

Churchill  Babington. 


INDEX. 


X,  B. — Tin?  letter  n  preceding  the  figures  has  reference  to  the  note  at  the  bottom  of  the  pa; 


Abbey  of  Garendon   180 

Abbots  of  tiarendon,  list  of     182 

Abbot's  Barn,  at  Quorndon   72 

Abundance  of  timber  ou  t'haniwood  in  17th  century,       8 

Acle,  or  Akeley,  Deanery  of 174 

Park  of   175 

Acres,  number  of  contained  in  Charnwood 29 

Act  of  Inclosure,  its  effects  on  value  of  Forest  land,     30 
Adelaide,    the    Queen    Dowager's  visits    to    the 

Forest 162,  163 

Age  of  oaks,  extraordinary 10 

Albini,  Hugh  de.  Earl  of  Arundel 15,  17 

William  de 62 

Alderman's  Haw   15,  20,  45,  57,  72,  94 

AUsop,  the  late  Mr.  Charles,  memoir  of 35 

his  account  of  Professors  Sedgwick,  Airy, 

and  Whewell's  tour  over  the  Forest  (Appendix J     71 

Altar  Stone  at  Markfield   54 

Ancient  Cross,  formerly  at  Mountsorrel  70 

entrances  into  the  Forest 27 

road  leading  to  the  Forest 45 

Andrate,  or  Andraste,  a  Druidical  goddess 41,  94 

Andrsetes-berie,  or  Andrates-biLry,   a  British  town 

now  lost  41,45,  94,  95,  96 

Angodeston,  Angodesthorpe,  or  Osgathorpe  Chapel,   155 

Animals  formerly  abounding  in  Charnwood 7 

Antiquities  of  Charnwood 41 

Application  of  Bardon  Hill  to  scientific  purposes   . .   162 
Arden,  a  Celtic  Forest,  of  which  Charnwood  formed 

part 7,  n.  117 

Articles  of  Agreement  between  Hugh  de  Albini,  Earl 
of  Arundel,  and  Roger  de  Quincy,  Earl  of 
W  inton,  about  the  right  of  hunting  in  cer- 
tain parts  of  the  Forest 15 

between  the  Earl  of  Winton  and  Roger  de 

Somery   16 

between  Ranulph  de  Geroniis  and  Robert 

Bossu,  Earl  of  Leicester 65 

between  Roger  de  Quincy,  Earl  of  Win- 
chester, and  Roger  de  Somery,  Baron  of 
Dudley,  about  their  mutual  hunting  in 
Charnwood  Forest  and  Bradgate  Park  . . .      117 

Anindel,  see  Albini. 

Attachment,  Court  of 3 

Babington  Humphrey,  Clerk,  D.  D.,  founded  a  Hos- 
pital at  Barrow 63 

the  late  Thomas,  Esq.,   exertions   of  to 

secure  the  erection  of  Churches  in  Cham- 
wood  Forest    37 

Rev.  M.  D.,  his  account  of  the  Wood  of 

Challenge     .    17 

his  conjecture  respecting  the  ring  attached 

to  Celts  42 


PAGE 

Babington,  remarks  of,  respecting  the  Park  at  Barrow,     56 

on  the  "  Curia  Comitis"  57 

Churchill,  Esq.,    Ornithology  of  Cham- 
wood  presented  by. 

his  additions  to  the  Botany  of  Charnwood 

(Appendix J    65 

Baldwin  Castle 45 

Baliol,  John  99 

Bardon  Park 160 

Hill 161 

Baronial  Manor  House  formerly  at  Barrow    56 

Baron  Lane,  Mountsorrel,  anancient Cross stoodthere  70 

Barrow,  frequency  of  this  name  on  the  Forest 45 

upon-Soar,  Lordship  of    11,  12 

Parochial  History  of  55 

Church  of 60 

Hospital  of 62 

fossil  remains 64 

Basset,  Sir  Ralph,  died  seised  of  the  manor  of  Barrow,  59 

another,  held  a  Park  there    59 

Battle  of  the  Standard 20 

Battle  axe,  ancient,  found  ou  Charnwood 50 

Battle  Flat  ...160 

Beacon  Hill,  the  Author's  discovery  of  an  ancient 

Camp  there,  and  speculations  concerning  it 47 

Beacon  fires ;  remains  of  masonry ;  fortifications  ...  48 

Tower -18 

Beacon  Hill,  ftirther  discoveries ;  plan  of  the  fortifi- 
cations   49 

extent  of  view  from ;  curiosities  of  . . .  90 

Beal'manor,  history  of    "3 

garland  and  oaken  chair  there 84 

Beaumont  family,  origin  of 74 

Henry  de,  1st  Lord  Beaumont  and  Earl 

of  Buchan 59,  74,  86 

Alice  de,  wife  of  the  above 21,  86 

Jolui,  2nd  Lord  Beaumont 74 

Henry,  3rd  Baron  Beaumont  75 

Henrj',  4th  Baron  Beaumont 75 

. John,'  5th  Baron,  1st  Viscount     75 

William,  6th  Baron,  2nd  Viscount   76,  88 

■    Elizabeth  de 60 

John,  Esq.,  obtains  a  Grant  of  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  Nims  of  Grace  Dieu  ....   166 

Francis,  son  of  the  last 168 

Francis,  the  Dramatic  writer 168 

Sir  John 170 

Sir  Thomas    I'O 

Beaumont,    Barony    of,     descends    to     Sir    Brian 

Sfapleton,  K.nt.,  and  Sir  John 

Norres    77 

Mr.  Stapleton's  claims  to  it. .     77 

Beiinus,  ApuUo  wuishipped  by  the  Druids  under  this 
name '11 


76 


Bellamont,  Robert,  Earl  of  Mellent 13 

Belmeis,  William,   Alderman's   Haw  given  by  liim 

to  a  Religious  House 15 

William  de,  villate  of  Andrffites-burie  given 

by  him  to  the  Prior  of  Bermondsey 94 

Beltein,  a  Druidical  festival    93 

Belton,  Manor  of 15 

given  by  Roesia  de  Verdon  to  the  Nunnery 

of  Grace  Dieu 1 66 

Parochial  History  of 171 

Benedictine  Abbey  of  St.  Severus,  in  Normandy,  had 

part  of  the  tithes  arising  from  Barrow 61 

Benefaction,  singular  one  to  Quomdon 72 

Ben'sCliif  10 

a  Celt  found  there    42 

Bercaries,  what  they  were . .  n.  174 

Bermondsey,  Monks  of;  exchanged  Andrtetes-berie 

for  Wydeford,  in  Hertfordshire 94 

Prior  of,  a  dispute  between  him  and 

the    Abbot    of    Leicester    respecting 

Alderman's  Haw 95 

Bernard,  St.,  Monastery  of 157 

. Monks  of,  coins  found  by  them   on 

Chamwood   50 

Beveridge,  Bishop,  a  native  of  Barrow 61 

Blackbrook    «•     18 

Black  Prince,  held  lands  at  Barrow 55 

Blanchmains,  Robert,  3rd  Earl  of  Leicester  ...  13,  66,  97 
Blondeville,  Ranulph,  6th  Earl  of  Chester 12,  07 

his  sisters,  Matilda,  Mabel,  Agnes,  and 

Hawisia 12,  n.68 

Bloxam,  the  Rev.  Andrew,  his  remarks  on  Bradgate,   122 

contributes  the  Botany  of  the   Forest,   in 

conjrmction  with  Mr.  Churchill  Babmgton 

f  Appendix) 37 

Bois  Ernald  de,  gifts  of  to  the  Monks  of  Garendon,  181 
Boss'u,  Robert,  E.  of  Leicester,  13, 65, 97, 131, 143, 175, 180 

Bosville  Mr.,  his  claims    34 

Bosworth,  George,  Esq 1 04 

Botany  of  Chamwood  (Appendix ) 37 

Boundaries  on  the  Forest,  Manors  and  Parishes  haviug     31 

Parishes  allowed  Right  of 

Common,  as  being  Members 

of  Parishes  having  .    31 

Boundaries    of    Sheepshed,    from   the   Register   of 

Leicester  Abbey   176 

Bbadgate   11' 

Park  of 119 

present  appearance  of 120 

Chapel 121 

Braibroc,  Henry,  his  defence  of  the  Castle  of  Mount- 
sorrel  against  King  Henry  III 66 

Broad  Hill,  Mountsorrel,  ancient  earth  works  there,     69 

Broombriggs 35,  90 

Brotherton  de,  Earl  of  Norfolk,  arms  of  at  BaiTOW . .     62 

Bruce,  Robert  99 

his  murder  of  Comyn,  of  Badenoch  ..  101 

Buchan,  see  Comyn. 

district  of,  ravaged  by  Bruce 102 

Buckingham,  Mary,  Comitess  of,  her  origin 185 

Catherine,  Duchess  of 184,  1 85 

George  Villiers,  Duke  of,  her  son. ...    186 

Budd,  the  war  god  of  the  Druids 41 

Burgh,  Hubert  de   ;•     68 

Burghersh,  Bartholomew,  obtains  a  grant  of  Whit- 
wick  from  Edward  III 153 

Burton,  Mr.,  errors  of,  corrected 112,  143 

Burton,  mound  near  that  village   63 

Callingwood,  or  the  Claimed  wood 21 

Carausius,  coins  of,  found  on  Chamwood 51 


Cat  Hill    59 

Celt  found  on  the  Forest   42 

Chase  of  Chamwood,  to  what  Manors  it  belongs  ...  4 

Chantries,  two  founded  at  Quorndon 72 

Chapels  of  Copt  Oak  and  Woodhouse  Eaves    39 

Charley   6,15,19 

history  of 97 

Hall 105 

Charnley  identical  with  Charley    6,  46 

Charnwood    Inclosure,  Award  signed  Dec.  4,  1829. 

Courts  on 3 

to  what  Manors  the  Chace  belongs  . .  4 

woody  state  of,  down  to  the  middle  of 

the  18th  century .•   5 

derivation  of  the  name   6 

extent  of 7 

Romans  acquainted  with  it 7 

of  great  note  in  feudal  times  7 

its  state  in  the  1 3th  century    7 

"  Roboraria"    8 

abundance  of  timber  in  it  in  the  17th 

century 8 

sylvan  beauties  of 9 

ancient  oaks  of 10 

Territorial  description  of 11 

Burton's  description  of   11 

in  what  manner  the   Forest  and  its 

privileges  passed  to  the  various  owners  1 1 

— — Agreements   respecting   the  right    of 

hunting  therein   15 

Wood  of  Challenge 17 

— ancient  boundaries  and  modem  peram- 
bulations of 17 

valuation  of  Forest  privileges  in  the 

time  of  James  I 22 

Leicester   Forest    probably    identical 

with 22 

privileges  of  the  Commoners  and  Cot- 
tagers of   23 

tumults  there   23 

Memorial  to   Mr.   Herrick  in  conse- 
quence of  them   24 

circumference  of  the  Forest    24 

Perambulation  of 25 

Forest  Canal      27 

Inclosure   29 

quantity  of  land  contained  in   29 

. prejudices  against  Inclosure  of 30 

Commissioners  30 

grounds  on  which  claims  were  founded,  80 

■■ —  claims  of  the  six  Lords  of  the  Forest, 

and  of  Mr.  Danvers 32 

results  of  the  culture  of  the  Forest  land,  35 

Forest  Churches 36 

Oaks,   Woodhouse  Eaves,   and  Copt 

Oak  Chapels 39 

Antiquities  of 41 

. Romans  on    46 

ancient  fortifications  ^ 47 

Beacon  Tower 48 

Plan  of  the  ancient  Camp  on  Beacon 

Hill 49 

battle-axe  fomid  there 50 

spear  head,  and  ancient  coins 51 

ancient  mounds  on 53 

Parochial   History  of.     See  Barrow- 

upon-Soar,  Mountsorrel,  Quorndon, 
Beaumanor,  Woodhouse,  Woodhouse 
Eaves,  Woodthorpe,  Little  Haw,  Map- 
plewell,  Aldercnan's  Haw,  Charley, 
Groby,  Bradgate,  Thurcaston,  Swith- 


77 


PAGE 

land,  Roccliff,  Ulvescroft,  Whitwick, 
Bardon,  Bardon  Hill,  Markticld, 
Grace  Dieu,  Belton,  Sheepslu'd,  Gar- 
endon,  and  Alderman's  Haw. 

Charnwood    Heath   157 

Charter  of  Koesia  du  Verdon 165 

Chartularios  uf  Garendun  Abbey 180,  181,  182 

Charyte  (Brother),  his  Kentale  of  Leicester  Abbey,  n.     17 

Child,  Ayhvin,  Monastery  founded  by 94 

Cistercians,  origin  of  the  Order  of 157 

Claims  on  the  soil  of  the  Forest  at  the  time  of  Inclo- 

sure ;  on  what  founded     30 

of  the  Earl  of  Stamford ....     32 

of  Earl  Moira   32 

of  Mr.  March  Phillipps  . .    33 

of  Mr.  Herrick 33 

of  Mr.  Dawson   33 

of  the  Hon.  A.  R.  B.  Danvers     34 

for  Messuages,  Sites,  &c.,  number  of 34 

singular  one  of  Great  Wigston 34 

Claudius,  coins  of,  found  on  Charnwood 51 

ClilT  Hill 1G3 

Coins,  ancient,  found  on  Charnwood 50 

at  Uothley  Temple n.     73 

Commissaries  of  the  Peculiar  of  Groby  from  1565  . .    115 

Commissioners  of  Inclosure,  names  of  the 30 

appointed   to  visit  the   Nunnery  of 

Grace  Dieu     166 

Commoners  and  Cottagers  of  Charnwood,  privileges  of    23 
Comyn,  Alexander,  Earl  of  Buchan,  a  proprietor  of 

Charley,  incidental  history  of 98 

obtains  a  Grant  of  a  market  and  fair  for 

Whitwick,  from  Edward  1 ...   151 

Alexander,  son  of  the  former,  cruel  treat- 
ment of  his  wife  by  Edward  1 102 

beaten  by  Bruce ;  dies  at  Charley 102 

John,  brother  of  the  last 99,  152,  160,  165 

William,  brother  of  the  two  last  named,  ob- 
tains various  Grants  . .    000 

John,  of  Badenoch,  killed  by  Bruce   101 

Constance,  of  Bretagne  68 

Copt  Oak,  account  of 150 

Chapel    39 

"  Copy  of  the  Particular  for  a  Grant  to  John  Beau- 
mont, Esq.,  36  Henry  VIIl." 171 

Corrections    of    Nichols'    "Leicestershire."  —  See 
Nichols. 

Courts,  Forest,  on  Charnwood 3 

Cradork,  T.,  Esq. 39,87 

Cross,  ancient,  at  Mountsorrel    70 

SirRoberfs n.  18,  148 

cut  in  Nettle  Hill,  near  Nanpantan   176 

Crow  Hill 10 

"  Curia  Comitis,"  Rev.  M.  D.  Babington's  remarks 

on  the 56 

Dalby,  Edward,  Prior  of  Ulvescroft  at  the  time  of 

the  Dissolution 145 

Danvers,  the  Hon.  A.  R.  B.,  his  claims  at  the  time 

of  the  Inclosure    34 

• the,  notices  of 137 

Pedigree  of 140 

Chapel,  at  Swithland 138 

Dawson,  Edward,  Esq  ,  present  proprietor  of  Belton,   172 

Deanery  Churches,  Iheir  origin n.  175 

Despenser,  Hugh  le,  held  part  of  Charnwood  Forest,     14 

-i possessed  lands  at  Barrow. ...     58 

Despensers,  the,  historical  notices  of  73 

Pedigree  of 92 

Digby,  Francis,  of  Garendon,   Gent.,  pardoned  by 
Edward  VI.,  for  coining 183 


Disafforesting,  what  it  implied   2 

Dorset,  1st  Marquis  of 108,   1 1 1 

2nd  Marquis  of 79,  HI,   154 

Drayton's  Polyolbion,  description  of  Charnwood  from       9 

Earl's  Dyke,  at  Sheepshed n.  18,  19,  177 

Edward  I.,  King  of  England,  artifices  of,  to  secure 

the  Scottish  Crown 98 

his  barbarity  to  the  Countess  of  Buchan, 

wife  of  Alexander  Comyn,  of  Charley . .  102 
Erdington  Manor,  at  Barrow 58 

Giles  de 59 

Sir  Giles  de   59 

Thomas  de,  died  seised  of  the  Manor  of 

Barrow  GO 

Sir  Thomas   de,    demised   Oldfield   and 

Long-wong  to  the  Abbot  and  Convent  of 

St.  Mary,  Leicester 103 

Erleshall,  at  Charley 18,  104 

Essex,  Earl  of,  held  the  Manor  of  Beaumanor  by  lease,  79 

Exchequer,  modes  adopted  to  supply  it  in  1596  ....  84 

Falconers,  the,  ancient  family  of 131 

Pedigree  of     132 

Falconry   134 

Faniham,  John  de,  founded  a  Chantry  at  Quorndon,  57 

John,  monument  of  71 

Thomas,  owner  of  Charley  in  1647 104 

Chapel,  Piscina  there      71 

Famhams,  the,  of  Quomdon 70 

Fenton,  Kirkby,  Esq.,  his  improvements  on  the  Forest  157 
Ferrariis,  Sir  Wm.  do,  held  the  wood  of  Charnwood,  21 
Ferrars,  William  de 14,  19 

William  de,  1st  Baron  of  Groby 21 

value  of  his  possessions  at  the  time  of  his 

decease      106 

■    William,  2nd  Baron  of  Groby 107 

Henrj',  3rd  Baron 107 

William,  4th  Baron,  Henry,  oth  Baron,  and 

William,  6th  Baron 108 

Elizabeth 14,   108 

Eleanor  de,  carried  off  by  Douglas  . .  103,  n.  107 

Fitz-Pamell,  Robert,  Amicia,  and  Mary 13 

Forest  Canal 27 

Churches     37 

Law,  Courts,  and  Customs I 

Peasantry,  their  peculiarities   89 

Foresters,  their  duties 3 

Fortification,  ancient,  on  Charnwood    47 

Fynes  Place,  at  Belton 173 

Gallienus,  coins  of,  found  on  Charnwood   50 

Garendon  15 

history  of  the  Abbey    ISO 

Geology  of  Charnwood,  by  J.  B.  Jukes,  Esq. — See 
Appendix. 

Geroniis,  Ranulph  de   61,65 

Gisborne,   the   Rev.  Thomas,   his  poem,   "  Rothley 

Temple" 150 

■ Thomas,  Esq.,  his  Forest  improvements. .   157 

Gr.ace  Dieu,  history  of 164 

Additions  to 188 

Manor  House    1 70 

Granges  fonnerly  belonging  to  Garendon 18.3 

Grenfemaisnell,'Hughde,  13,94,95,106,131,136,151,171 

Ivo  de 13,  94,  95 

Gresley  Agnes,  first  Prioress  of  Grace  Dieu 165 

Grey,  Lord  Leonard     79 

Edward,  Lord  Ferrars  of  Groby 108 

Sir  John,  slain  at  St.  Albans    lOS 

Sir  Thomas,  afterwards  Marquis  of  Dorset   . .   108 


78 


Grey,  Sir  Richard   1U8 

■ Lady  Jane,  Pedijiree  of 123 

her  title  to  the  Cro-n-n  explained,  124 

account  of  her  last  hours 1 25 

her  sisters,  Lady  Katherine  and 

Lady  Mary   79,  122 

Lord  Thomas  and  Lord  John 126 

Sir  Henry    127 

Henry,  Lord  of  Groby,  1st  Earl  of  Stamford  ..  127 

Thomas,  Earl 127 

Thomas,  Lord,  son  of  the  last 128 

Harry,  Earl   129 

George  Hany,  Earl    129 

Groby    1^ 

Parocliial  History  of 106 

Peculiar  of   115 

Additions  to 116 

Grosvenor,  the  present  Lord  Robert,  a  descendant  of 

the  Falconers   133 

Gutch,  Rev.  Robert,  account  of  an  Ichthyosaurusfound 

at  Barrow,  communicated  by  him  to  the  Author. .  64 
Gyffard,  George,  curious  letter  of,  to  Lord  Cromwell,  144 
Hanging  Stone  near  the  Oaks  Chapel   43 

near  Beauraanor 43 

Hangman's  Stone    44,  177 

Legend  of  the 179 

Harcourt,  William,  gift  of  to  Garendon  Abbey   160 

"  ~ of  his 

56 


Harold,  King  of  England,  held  Barrow  as  part  of  his 
possessions 


Hastings,   Sir   Henry,   of  Humberstone,  purchases 

the  Manor  of  Whitwick  of  James  I.  .  .22,  154 

Sir  William,  brief  notice  of  his  life 77 

Marquis  of 108 

Dedication  of  this   Work  to. 

(See  Introduction. ) 

Hermitage  Plantation,  at  Garendon 180 

of  Holy-Well  Haw   187 

Herrick  family,  their  descent 80 

Historical  notices  of 80 

Lady,  beautiful  letter  of 81 

Heygate,   Sir  William,  Bart.,  his  improvements  at 

Roecliff  Manor    142 

High  Cademan,  or  Cadman    9,  159 

Holy  Cross «.  18 

Holy-Well  Haw 189 

Hood,  family  of  160 

Hurd,  Bishop,  Rector  of  Thurcaston 135 

Ichthyosaurus,  remarkable  one  foimd  at  BaiTOW. ...  64 

Inclosure  of  the  Forest 29 

Inventory  of  the  possessions  of  the  Nuns  of  Grace- 

Dieu n.  167 

Ives  Head 177 

Judd,  Sir  Andrew,  purchased  a  lease  of  Charley  . . .  104 


Land-slip  on  Chamwood  (Appendix )  . . . 
Latimer,  Bishop,  a  native  of  Thurcaston  , 

Legend  of  Lady  Aslin's  Pool 

the  Hangman's  Stone 

the  Holy  Well 


Leicester  supposed  to  have  been  founded  by  Lear. . 

— Forest  probably  identical  with  Chamwood, 

Earls  of.     See  Bossu  and  Blanchmains. 

Plain 

Leland,  Mr.,  error  of,  corrected 

Le  Mote,  at  Belton 

Little  Haw  ( Woodhouse) 

(Sheepshed) , 

Long  Cliff 

Loughborough  


90 
135 
156 
179 
191 


PAGE 

Louteburg,  Geoffrey  de.  Grants  of  to  the  Abbey  of 

Garendon    "■  180 

Lovel,  Francis  Lord   ....      .    . 77,  176 

M  aud,  held  a  third  part  of  the  Chase  of  Cham- 
wood       21 

Lupus,   Hugh,  supposed  by  Nichols  to  have  built 

Mountsorrel  Castle o5 

possessed  Beaumanor   73 

Manors  allowed  to  have  a  Boundary    31 

Mapplewell   93 

Markfield 163 

Martin,  Rev.  Robert,  his  opinion  on  the  Altar  Stone,  000 

Massey,  Thomas 104 

Memoir  of  the  late  Charles  AUsop,  Esij 35 

Memorial  to  Mr.  Herrick,  from  the  inhabitants  of 

several  parishes  around  Chamwood 24 

Meynells,  the,  from  whom  descended   n.     71 

Monastery  of  Mount  St.  Bernard )  57 

Monument  at  Quorndon 71 

Monuments  at  Barrow    62 

— at  Bradgate 121 

at  Swithland 139 

Mountsorrel,  Parochial  History  of   65 

— Castle,  siege  of 67 

Mosley,  Sir  Oswald,  Bart.,  his  account  of  the  Wood 

of  Challenge 20 

Nanpantan 187,  188 

Nichols,  John,  his  History  of  Leicestershire  highly 

comTaendei  (Introduction J  ...3,  n.  136 

. errors  of,  in  his  History  of  Leicester- 
shire, corrected,  p.  14,  21,  .30,  56,  58, 
67,  74.  75,  91,  98,  112,  117,  131, 
132, 136, 137,  138, 1.39, 153, 154, 155, 
173,  184,  185,  189,  190. 

Norfolk,  Margaret,  Duchess  of,  died  seised  of  the 
Manor  of  Barrow 59 

Norres,  Sir  John 77 

Henry 77 

Norway,  Maid  of 99 

Oak,  Copt 10 

Oaks  Chapel 39 

Old  John,  atowerinBradgate  Park,  whyso named,  n.  129 

Onebarrow  Lodge     157 

Ornithology  of  Charnwood  (^Appendix)   ...   65 

Osgathorpe   155 

Outlawry,   a   punishment   for   offences  against   the 

Forest  Laws 7 

Outwoods 10 

Oxgang,  a  measure  of  land n,  106 

Oxley  Grange    176 

Palace,  ancient,  at  Woodhouse  Eaves 87 

Pares,  Thomas,  Esq.,  his  Forest  residence  and  pos- 
sessions    000 

Miss,  residence  of,  at  Groby    114 

Parishes  having  a  Boundary 31 

allowed  Right  of  Common 31 

Park  at  Barrow 56,  57 

at  Quorndon   57 

at  Belton 00 

at  Sheepshed   1 75 

Park  Ford 57 

Parks  surrounding  the  Forest,  their  names 117 

Patrons  of  Barrow   62 

of  Sheepshed  from  1220    178 

Peasantry  of  Charnwood,  their  peculiarities    89 

Peculiar  of  Groby   37,  115 

Pedigree  of  Danvers  140 


79 


PAGB 

Pedip-ee  of  Despencer    92 

of  Falconer,  of  Thutcaston    132 

of  Grey 123 

showing  the  claimants  to  the  ScottishCrown  100 

Pensions,  amount  of,  allowed  to  the  Prior  and  Breth- 
ren of  Ulvescroft,  at  the  Dissolution   ....    145 

to  the  Nuns  of  Grace  Dieu   167 

Perambulation  round  Chamwood  Forest 25 

of   Sheepshed,   taken   at    Whitwick 

Castle  in  1289,  notes  from    7 

Perkins,     Rev.   Humphrey,    founded  a    School   at 

Barrow 63 

Phillipps,  Sir  Ambrose,  purchases  Beaumanor 170 

obtains   Garendon    by   pur- 
chase       177 

Charles  March,   Esq.,   improvements   ef- 
fected by  him  at  Garendon   186 

Piscina  in  Famham  Chapel 71 

Plague  at  Markfield 148 

Plea  between  John  Comyn  and  the  Abbot  of  Garendon  152 

Posturaus,  coius  of,  found  on  Chamwood 50 

Privileges  of  the  Commoners  and  Cottagers  of  Cham- 
wood previous  to  the  Inclosure 3.3 

Queen  Dowager's  visit  to  Bardon 162 

to  Bradgate 163 

Queen  Elizabeth  leased  lands  on  Chamwood 22 

confirms    Baidon    to    Sir    Henry 

Hastings,  Knt.,  and   John  Cutler, 

Gent 160 

Quern,  one  found  on  Chamwood   43 

Quincy,  Saer  de 14,  66,  97,  175 

singular  dying  request  of 182 

. Roger  de,  Earl  of  Winton,  14,  15,  98,  136,  143 

180,  181,  182 

Elizabeth  de 14,98 

■ —    Hawise  de   n.     21 

Helena,  or  Elena 14 

Margaret 14,  98,   n.  163 

Quou.NDON,  Park  of 57 

Parochial  History  of 7U 

Rabbit  Warrens  on  Chamwood n.  23 

Ranger,  his  otfice 4 

Rawdon,  present  Earl  of,   families  and  honours  of 

Hastings  and  Grey  de  RuthjTi  unitedin  his  person,  108 

Rawlins,  Mr.,  founded  a  School  at  Woodhouse  ....  86 

Regard,  Court  of .3 

Registrars  of  the  Peculiar  of  Groby  from  1565  115 

Riots  on  Chamwood 23 

Rivers,  Lord 110 

"  Roboraria,"  meaning  of 8 

Rock,  remarkable,  on  the  Mount  of  Alderman's  Haw,  45 

RoECLiFF  Manor 142 

Rohay  Well n.  18 

Romans,  the,  acquainted  with  Chamwood 7 

the,  on  Chamwood 46 

coins  of  the,  found  there 50 

Royal  Forests,  what  they  were 11 

Roval  visits  to  Bardon  Hill   1 62 

to  Bradgate  Park  163 

Royalty  of  the  Forest,  to  what  Manors  it  belongs  ...  4 
Rutland  Thomas  Manners,   Earl  of,  purchases  the 

site  and  domain  of  Garendon  of  Hen.  VIII.  183 

Earls  of,  formerly  resident  at  Garendon  . .  183 

Saltway,  a  British  road  96 

Schools,  Forest,  at  Woodhouse  Eaves 40 

at  Copt  Oak 40 

Scott  Agnes,  Jlonument  of 138 

Scout-house  Hill 177 

Searlesthorpe,  derivation  of  the  name    89 


Segrave,  Stephen,  privileges  granted  to  him  by  Mar- 
garet de  Quincy ».  163 

William  de,  elected  Prior  of  Charley 103 

"  Sequela" n.  181 

Severus,  St.,  Abbey  of,  had  part  of  the  tithes  arising 

from  Barrow 61 

Sheepshed,  Parochial  History  of 174 

Shirley,   Beatrix,  held   one-third  of  the   Manor  of 

Barrow 60 

Shrewsbury,  Earl  of,  his  gift  to  the  Monks  of  Mount 

St.  Bernard  159 

Soke,  meaning  of,  obscure   n.  174 

Solina,  a  Druidical  idol 41 

Somery,  Roger  de 16,  51,  117 

Stamford,  Earl  of,  his  claims 32 

Stanley,  Lord  n.  78 

Stanton-under-Bardon 160 

Staplcton,  Mr.,  his  claim  to  the  Barony  of  Beaumont,  77 

Steward's  Hay 114 

Stocks,  Mr.,  marries  the  Duchess  of  Suffolk,  mother 

of  Lady  Jane  Grey 79 

Subdivisions  of  Chamwood 21 

Suffolk,  Duke  of,  father  of  Lady  Jane  Grey   126 

Duchess  of 79 

Sully,  Mabel,  held  part  of  Barrow 58 

Raymond,  dies  seised  of  the  same          58 

Surrogates  of  the  Peculiar  of  Groby  from  1565   . .    .  115 

Swains'  Hill 177 

Swanimote,  or  Swainmote,  a  Forest  Court 3 

S wanimote  Rock 1 56 

Sweating  Tree 188 

SwiTHLAND,  historj'  of 136 

Sylvan  beauties  of  Chamwood 9 

Talley  Court  of  Exchequer,  memoranda  from 17 

Territorial  description  of  the  Forest 11 

Tetricus,  coins  of,  found  on  Chamwood   50 

Thurcaston,  history  of 131 

Additions  to 173 

Timber,  former  abundance  of  on  Chamwood 8 

Times  for  hunting  the  beasts  of  the  Forest   4 

Toot  Hill   113 

T)'nte  (or  Tin)  Meadows,  ancient  coins  found  there,  50 

Ulvescroft  Priory   15 

Parochial  History  of 143 

Bennet  de 144 

Vaccarv'  at  Holy-well  Haw   190 

Valuations  of  land  and  wood  at  Belton,  by  the  Com- 
missioners of  Henry  VIII 171 

Vcrdon,  Nicholas  de 164 

Roesia  de,   foundress  of  Grace  Dieu  Nun- 
nery    164,   171,  n.  173 

Vemometum,  a  Roman  Station,  supposed  by  Gale  to 

be  on  Chamwood 46 

Vere,  de.  Earl  of  Oxford,  held  portions  of  the  Forest,  21 

Veres,  de,  family  of,  how  connected  with  Chamwood,  21 

Via  Devana 106 

Views  of  the  Forest  from  a  distance. — Introduction. 

Vicars  of  Sheepshed  from  1220 178 

of  Barrow 62 

Vickars,  John,  Esq.,  a  proprietor  of  Charley 104 

Victorinus,  coins  of,  found  on  Chamwood   50 

Villiers.     See  Buckingham. 

Waldron,  Sir  Richard,  purchases  Charley   104 

Waleys,  family  of  the 136 

Waste,  The,  Chamwood  formerly  so  called n.     19 

Watkinson,  the  late  Mr.,  researches  of  at  Woodhouse     88 
Miss 87 


80 


Westminster,  the  present  Marquis  of,  a  descendant 

of  the  Falconers    113 

Whalley,  Geoflrey,  Prior  of  Ulveseroft 144 

Whatton,  Geofi'rey,  an  eccentric  character 93 

Whitwick   15 

Parochial  History  of 151 

Widvile,  Elizabeth,  sketch  of  her  life 109 

Sir  Richard 109 

Jolin 109 

Will  of  EUzabcth  WidvUe UU 


WoODHOusE,  Woodhouse  Eaves,  and  Woodthorpe, 

Parochial  History  of 86 

Woodhouse  Eaves  Chapel 39 

Woody  state  of  the  Forest  do^vn  to  the  middle  of  the 

18th  century 5 

Wordsworth,  William,  Esq.,  lines  on  Grace  Dieu  . .    1 64 

Wright,  Lord  Keeper,  a  native  of  Thurcaston 1.''5 

Zouch,  Alan  la 14 

a  Grant  of  various  possessions  con- 

lirmedbyhim  t>  '.he  Monks  of  Charley  103 


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PRINTED    BY    R.    ALLEN,    ALBION    OFFICES, 


KOW,    NOTTINGHAM 


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