A History of the County of Leicestershire

A History of the County of Leicestershire is in Victorian Books.

Victorian Books, A History of the County of Leicestershire: Volume 5 Gartree Hundred

A History of the County of Leicestershire: Volume 5 Gartree Hundred: Horninghold

Horninghold [Map] lies seven miles north-east of Market Harborough [Map] and four miles south-west of Uppingham [Map]. The parish, which is 1,217 a. in area, extends over the Middle Lias clays which underlie the hills on the borders of Rutland. The soil is chiefly clay and largely devoted to pasture. The road from Hallaton to Uppingham [Map], on which the village stands, crosses the parish from west to east; it is joined at the east end of the village by a road from Great Easton. There are two field tracks, one to Blaston, and one which crosses the road from Hallaton to Allexton and continues to Keythorpe.

Before the Conquest Horninghold [Map] was one of a group of estates apparently held by four thegns, Osulf, Osmund, Roulf, and Levrick. In 1086 the vill was said to be held by Robert de Todeni, lord of Belvoir, though it may have been given before this date to Robert's priory of Belvoir, which had been founded in 1076. At the beginning of the 12th century it was farmed by William D'Aubigny. Horninghold formed part of the original endowment of the priory and remained in its possession until the Dissolution. It was confirmed to the priory at various times during the Middle Ages.

Note A. the Dissolution the manor [Map] passed to the Crown, and in 1545 Henry VIII licensed Edward Elrington and Humphrey Metcalfe, to whom he had previously sold it, to alienate the manor and the rest of the former priory's property in the parish to John Beaumont and Henry Alycock. There was a lease of the manor outstanding for 41 years from 1531 which had been made by Belvoir Priory to Anthony Bewell, the priory's bailiff. On Beaumont's forfeiture the manor once more passed to the Crown, and in 1553 it was purchased for £566 by Edward Griffin, the Attorney-General, whose family owned the nearby manor of Gumley. In 1590 William Turpin of Knaptoft, whose father had owned land in Horninghold, purchased the manor from Edward Griffin's heir. Turpin was knighted in 1603 and died in 1617; his widow held the manor until her death about the end of 1633, and was succeeded by her daughter Elizabeth, who married Sir John Pretyman of Loddington (age 64).

The estate was settled upon their eldest son John and his wife Margaret on their marriage in 1649. John Pretyman died in 1658 leaving his widow as owner of the estate, which she brought to her second husband Sir John Heath, the second son of Sir Robert Heath of Brasted Place (Kent) and M.P. for Clitheroe (Lancs.) from 1661 to 1679. She died in 1676 and the available evidence suggests that Horninghold manor did not descend to her daughter and heir. It appears to have been sold by Heath to Sir Edward Hungerford (age 43), who was in possession by 1676 and presented to the living. Thereafter the manorial descent is lost. Sir Edward Hungerford died in 1711, but it is by no means certain that he could or would have retained the manor of Horninghold for more than a few years, for his extravagance was notorious and he is said to have disposed of more than thirty manors during his lifetime.

A History of the County of Leicestershire: Volume 5 Gartree Hundred: Stonton Wyville

In 1086 STONTON WYVILLE formed part of the extensive estates of Hugh de Grentemesnil (age 54). About 1130 Richard Basset held it, probably as an under-tenant of the Earl of Leicester to whose descendants it later passed, ultimately becoming part of the Duchy of Lancaster. Ralph Basset seems to have made claim to Stonton in 1252, but nothing further is known of the Bassets' tenancy.

The under-tenant in 1086 was another Hugh, founder of the family of Widville or Wyville from which the village took its name. His descendants held the manor until 1494 when the last William Wyville died, leaving a widow Margaret and the manor of Stonton in the hands of trustees. William's heir was his niece Katherine Warde, a child of eleven, who married Thomas Entwistle, the son of one of her uncle's trustees. The manor was leased from Thomas and Katherine by Sir Robert Brudenell, who married William Wyville's widow very shortly after her first husband's death, and in 1499 he purchased its reversion from them. The Brudenells did not obtain full possession of the manor until 1533, after Sir Robert's death. It descended in the Brudenell family, and was usually leased to a younger branch until the early 18th century. A lease for 61 years was made in 1582 and in 1635 the manor-house and demesne were leased, each time to Edmund Brudenell. In 1957 the owner was Mr. George Brudenell of Deene (Northants.).

Recognition of Stonton Wyville as the oldest of the Brudenell estates was made in 1628 when Thomas Brudenell was created Baron Brudenell of Stonton. An attempt to re-name the village Stonton Brudenell was made in the 17th century, and this name was used as late as the 19th, although it was never common.

In 1086 the Countess Judith (age 32) owned land in Stonton, held by an under-tenant named Osbern. Nothing further is known of this estate, which may have been wrongly attributed to Stonton Wyville.