Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire Family History Guide
Ashby de la Zouch is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Leicestershire.
Other places in the parish include: Blackfordby, Oakthorpe, Moria, and Donisthorpe.
Parish church: St. Helen
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1561
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1564
Separate registers exist for Blackfordby
- Parish registers: 1653
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1630
Separate registers exist for Donisthorpe
- Parish registers: 1838
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1838
Nonconformists include:
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- Repton, Derbyshire
- Staunton Harold
- Smisby, Derbyshire
- Cole Orton
- Ashby de la Zouch Holy Trinity
- Ticknall, Derbyshire
- Packington
Parish History
Ashby de la Zouch
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH, a town, a parish, a subdistrict, and a district, in Leicester. The town stands in a pleasant situation, on the NW border of the county, on the rivulet Gilwiskaw, near the Midland railway and the Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal, 18 miles by road and 20¾ by railway NW by W of Leicester. It was anciently called Esseby; and it took the after part of its present name from the ancient Norman-French family of La Zouch. It belonged to that family from the time of Henry III. till 1461; it passed then to the Crown; and it was given to the family of Hastings, the ancestors of the present Marquis. The castle of the La Zouches stood on a rising ground at the S end of the town; and a stronger one was built on its site, out of its materials, in 1480, by Sir William Hastings. This gentleman was master of the mint, and introduced a new gold coinage; and he was created Baron Hastings by Edward IV., and beheaded in the Tower by Richard III. Mary, Queen of Scots, was for some time confined in the castle; James I.’s queen and son Henry were entertained in it, on their journey to London in 1603; James I. himself visited it in 1617; and Charles I. dined at it a few days before the storming of Leicester. Colonel Henry Hastings, son of the Earl of Huntingdon, and afterwards created Baron Loughborough, garrisoned it for Charles, was besieged in it by Fairfax, and surrendered it to Colonel Needham. The parliament thought it more likely, if left entire, to be serviceable to the Royalists than to themselves; and they ordered it to be dismantled in 1648. Only portions of the hall, the chapel, and the kitchen are now standing; but they form an extensive and picturesque mass of ruin, perhaps the finest in the country; and they show Tudor features of architecture which indicate that some parts were of later erection than the original pile. The scene of the grand tournament described in “Ivanhoe” is about a mile to the W, near the village of Smisby; and some Roman coins have been found in the vicinity.
The town consists chiefly of one principal street, with two smaller ones running in a parallel direction; and contains some well-built houses. The town. hall was built in 1857, and is a noble edifice. St. Helen’s church is fine decorated English; includes two chapels, separated by four lofty arches, springing from fluted pillars; and contains tombs of the Earls of Huntingdon, and of the good Countess Selina, who figures largely in religious history, and spent £100,000 in works of benevolence. Trinity church, at the west end of the town, is a handsome structure, in the early English style, with about 900 sittings, built in 1838, at a cost of £4,000. There are chapels for Independents, Baptists, Wesleyan Methodists, and Primitive Methodists; and the first was rebuilt in 1825, at a cost of nearly £2,000. The grammar school is a large edifice; was founded, in 1567, by Henry, Earl of Huntingdon; has endowments yielding £840 a year; holds ten exhibitions of £10 a year each, in Emanuel college, Cambridge; and had for its first master Joseph Hall, afterwards Bishop of Exeter, and author of well-known Christian writings. Two other public schools have £50 and £36 from endowment, and other charities £150. Ivanhoe baths, constructed in 1826, have a fine Doric edifice 200 feet long; are supplied, by pipes, from springs 3 miles distant, with mineral water containing bromine; and are noted for medicinal effect in scrofula and kindred diseases. The town is a summer resort of invalids and visitors; and has two good hotels, good lodging-houses, a theatre, a railway station, a head post office‡ and a banking office. A weekly market is held on Saturday, and fairs on the Monday before Shrove-Tuesday, Easter-Tuesday, Whit-Tuesday, 14 Sept., and 8 Nov. Trade is carried on in malting, stocking-making, hat-making, and in the traffic of neighbouring brickfields, smelting-works, and collieries. A coalfield lies around, of irregular outline, about 10 miles by 8; estimated to comprise 40,000 acres of workable area of coal, having nine seams, with an aggregate thickness of 33 feet; and includes pits at Swadlincote, Moira, Donnisthorpe, and Oakthorpe, belonging to the Marquis of Hastings, and pits at Snibston, Whitwick, Church-Gresley, Measham, Stannton-Harrold, and elsewhere, belonging to other proprietors. The town is governed by officers annually appointed at the court-leet of the lord of the manor; and is a seat of petty sessions and a polling-place. Pop., 3,772. Houses, 830. Bishop Joseph Hall and Dr. John Bainbridge were natives.
The parish includes also part of Blackfordby chapelry. Acres, 8,097. Real property, £39,884; of which £12,230 are in mines, and £1,130 are in railways. Pop., 6,958. Houses, 1,347. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £417. Patron, the Marquis of Hastings. Trinity church is a separate charge, with income of £180, in the patronage of the Vicar. The subdistrict includes the parishes of Osgathorpe and Calke, the latter electorally in Derby, and parts of the parishes of Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Breedon-on-the-Hill. Acres, 12,480. Pop., 8,290. Houses, 1,640. The district comprehends also the subdistrict of Hartshorn, containing the parishes of Willesley, Smisby, Hartshorn, and Ticknall, the extra-parochial tract of Bondary or Burton Road, and parts of the parishes of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Seal, Stretton-en-le-Field, Church-Gresley, and Measham, all, except the parts of Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Seal, electorally in Derby; the subdistrict of Measham, containing the parishes of Heather, Swepstone, and Snarestone, and parts of the parishes of Nailstone, Measham, and Appleby, the three last electorally in Derby; and the subdistrict of Whitwick, containing the parishes of Whitwick, Cole-Orton, Packington, and Ravenstone, parts of the two latter electorally in Derby, and part of the parish of Ibstock. Acres, 50,242. Poor-rates in 1866, £11,636. Pop. in 1861, 28,480. Houses, 5,931. Marriages in 1866, 239; births, 1,188, of which 96 were illegitimate; deaths, 599, of which 251 were at ages under 5 years, and 11 were at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 2,007; births, 9,902; deaths, 5,665. The places of worship in 1851 were 33 of the Church of England, with 10,081 sittings; 2 of Independents, with 655 s.; 13 of Baptists, with 2,934 s.; 27 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 4,455 s.; 7 of Primitive Methodists, with 1,040 s.; 3 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 160 s.; and 2 of Roman Catholics, with 289 s. The schools in 1851 were 49 public day schools, with 3,283 scholars; 48 private day schools, with 888 s.; 60 Sunday schools, with 4,191 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 29 s.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH (St. Helen), a market-town, parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of West Goscote, N. division of the county of Leicester, 18 miles (N. W. by W.) from Leicester, and 115 (N. W. by N.) from London; containing, with part of the ecclesiastical district of Woodville and part of the chapelry of Blackfordby, 5652 inhabitants. The name appears to be derived from the Saxon Asc, an ash, and bye, a habitation: it received the adjunct by which it is distinguished from other towns of the same name, from the family of La Zouch, in whose possession it continued from the latter part of the twelfth to the close of the fourteenth century. Sir William Hastings, created Baron Hastings by Edward IV., and who was beheaded by Richard III., built a strong castle here in the reign of the former monarch, in which Mary, Queen of Scots, while in the custody of the Earl of Huntingdon, was for some time kept in confinement; and in this castle also Anne, consort of James I., and her son Prince Henry, were magnificently entertained by the fourth earl of Huntingdon, on their journey from York to London in 1603. At the commencement of the parliamentary war, the fifth earl was one of the first that appeared in arms for the king in Leicestershire, and Ashby Castle was garrisoned for his majesty by the earl’s second son, Col. Henry Hastings, who was made general of the king’s forces in the midland counties, and, for his services to the royal cause, was in 1643 created Baron Loughborough. The king was here, on his march to and from Leicester, in May and June 1645. After sustaining a siege of several months from the army under Fairfax, Lord Loughborough surrendered the castle to Col. Needham, in February 1646, on honourable terms, the garrison being allowed to march out with all the honours of war. The castle was one of the fortresses demolished by order of a committee of the house of commons, about the end of the year 1649: the remaining portions form an extensive and interesting mass of ruins, consisting of the great tower, the chapel, the kitchen tower, and apart evidently of much earlier date than the tower, as some portion of it was standing in the time of Richard I. The late Marquess of Hastings expended a considerable sum in repairing parts of these ruins, and arresting the progress of decay; and on the site of a building which stood to the north of the castle, and at right angles with it, erected for the accommodation of the suite of James I. when visiting the Earl of Huntingdon, he raised a handsome structure in the later English style, designated the Manor-house.
The town, a great part of which was destroyed by fire in 1753, is pleasantly situated on the banks of the small river Gilwisthaw, at the north-western extremity of the county; and consists principally of one very spacious street, with two smaller streets extending in a parallel direction, and containing several substantial and well-built houses. It is lighted with gas, and measures have been lately taken for supplying it with water. South of the town stand the Ivanhoe Baths, a handsome structure of the Doric order, erected in 1826. The building consists of a centre, containing a spacious pump-room, surmounted by a lofty dome with rich architectural decorations; and of two wings, in each of which are six baths provided with every accommodation. The water is furnished from an adjacent mine, and contains, according to a recent analysis by Dr. Ure, larger proportions of the salts of chlorine combined with bromine than any other mineral water in the kingdom; it is employed both internally and externally, as a remedial agent in many chronic diseases, with great advantage. Commodious pleasure-grounds are attached to the baths; and the town contains lodging-houses, a handsome hotel, a theatre, and other sources of attraction requisite in a place of fashionable resort.
Ashby is situated in an extensive carboniferous district; the principal collieries are at Moira, and are the property of the Marquess of Hastings. The coal is worked at a thousand feet from the surface, and is of a superior quality; large quantities are transported to the southern and western counties, and it has been recently introduced in London with great success. The neighbouring wolds, which are now inclosed and populous, abound with minerals, particularly ironstone; there is also found an excellent clay, used for making yellow ware, extensive manufactories of which are carried on at Woodville and Gresley. A canal passes within three miles south-westward of the town, with which it is connected by a railroad; and after continuing a course of more than thirty miles, unimpeded by a single lock, it forms a junction with the Coventry canal. The market is on Saturday; and fairs are held on Shrove-Monday, Easter-Tuesday, Whit-Tuesday, the last Monday in Sept., and the 10th of Nov., for horses and cattle: this is stated to be the best market for strong horses in England. A constable and two head boroughs are appointed at the court leet of the lord of the manor. The powers of the county debt-court of Ashby, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Ashby.
The parish comprises about 7000 acres. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £14. 10. 4.; net income, £417; patron and impropriator, the Marquess of Hastings. 150 acres of land belong to the living in this parish, and 33 in that of Whitwick. The church is a spacious structure in the decorated English style, and contains, in an adjoining sepulchral chapel, several monuments of the Huntingdon family, among which is one to the memory of Francis, Earl of Huntingdon, and his countess, deserving particular notice. A church dedicated to the Holy Trinity was erected at an expense of £3000, on a site given by the late marquess, and was consecrated on the 13th of August 1840; it is a handsome structure, and contains 900 sittings, of which 600 are free. The cost of the building was defrayed by subscription, aided by the Incorporated Society, the Church Commissioners, and the Board at Leicester. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Vicar of Ashby: towards the endowment the Additional Curates’ Society granted £500, and the fund for the purpose now amounts to £1950, the interest of which and the pew-rents constitute the income of the minister. At Woodville is a district church: in the township of Blackfordby is a chapel of ease; and there are places of worship in the parish for Baptists, the Connexion of the Countess of Huntingdon, Independents, and Wesleyans.
The free grammar school was founded in 1567, by Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, and others, and endowed with 120 houses and 75 acres of land. It provides instruction to upwards of 100 boys; and has three exhibitions of £40 a year to either of the two universities, and ten exhibitions of £10 per annum to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, founded by Francis Ash, merchant, of London, together with a lectureship of £20 a year from the same foundation. A Blue-coat school was instituted in 1669, and endowed with £25 per annum, by Isaac Dawson; and a Green-coat school was established and endowed by Alderman Newton, of Leicester: they are now united, and contain about 50 boys. The Rev. Simeon Ash, a native of Ashby, gave £50 per annum, directing that £10 should be appropriated to the apprenticing of two boys yearly in some corporate town, and that the remainder should be distributed among the poor. The union of which Ashby is the head comprises seventeen parishes or places in the county of Leicester, and eleven in the county of Derby, and contains a population of 14,234. A great number of Roman coins has been found here. Bishop Hall, an eminent divine and satirist, and Dr. John Bainbridge, a celebrated astronomer and mathematician, were born in the town, the former in 1574, and the latter in 1582.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Blackfordby
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
BLACKFORDBY, a chapelry in Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Seal parishes, Leicester; 2 miles NW of Ashby-de-la-Zouch r. station. Post Town, Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Acres, 1,117. Real property, £3,064. Pop., 645. Houses, 129. The church was recently rebuilt. There are a Wesleyan chapel and a national school.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Oakthorpe
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
OAKTHORPE, a hamlet in Stretton-en-le-Field, Church-Gresley, and Measham parishes, Derbyshire; on the Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal, adjacent to Leicestershire, 3½ miles S W of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Acres, 715. Real property, with Donisthorpe, £2, 323. Pop. of O. alone, 654. Houses, 141. The manor belongs to the Marquis of Hastings.
A colliery is worked by the Moira company. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, and a national school.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Donisthorpe
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
DONISTHORPE, a hamlet in Seal, Measham, and Church-Gresley parishes, and a chapelry in Seal, Measham, Church-Gresley, Stretton-in-le-Field, and Ashby-de-la-Zouch parishes, Leicester and Derby.
The hamlet lies on the Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal, 1½ mile S by W of Moira r. station, and 4 SW of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Pop., 344.
The chapelry was constituted in 1838; and its post-town is Stretton-in-le-Field, under Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Rated property, £4, 350. Pop., 2, 132. Houses, 397. The property. is much subdivided. A number of the inhabitants are colliers.
The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Lichfield. Value, £145. Patron, the Bishop of Lichfield. The church is modern.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Parish Records
FamilySearch
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Ashby de la Zouch
Blackfordby
Donisthorpe
Use for:
England, Leicestershire, Donisthorpe
Directory Transcriptions
Kelly’s Directory of the Watch, Clock and Jewellery Trades 1880
ASHBY DE LA ZOUCH
Market day Saturday
Fancy Repositories
Orchard Charles Market street
Pearson George 3 Bath street
Tiptaft Mrs Thomas C Market st
Whyman Edwin Market street
Jewellers
Davonport Robert 384 Market st
Orchard Charles Market street
Peplow Samuel Kirk Market st
Stott John Bath street
Whyman Edwin Market street
Silversmiths
Orchard Charles Market street
Peplow Samuel Kirk Market st
Whyman Edwin Market street
Watch & Clock Makers
Davonport Robert 38A Market st
Peplow Samuel Kirk Market st
Stott John Bath street
Source: The Post office [afterw.] Kelly’s directory of the watch and clock trades, goldsmiths and jewellers [&c. afterw.] Kelly’s directory of the watch, clock and jewellery tradesBy Kelly’s directories, ltd · 1880
Ashby De La Zouch Leicestershire Principal Inhabitants Universal British Directory 1791
The inhabitants are as follows:
Gentlemen
Ashpinshaw Edward, Esq. (F.)
Chapman Thomas, Esq. (F.)
Hallam Henry, Esq. (F.)
Joyce Henry, Esq.
Hickingbottom Mr. John
Lee Thomas, Esq. (F.)
Pullin Benjamin, Esq. (F.)
Richards James, Esq. (F.)
Clergy
Prior Rev. John, Vicar and Master of the Grammar School
Prior Rev. John, jun.
Piddocke Rev. John
Povah Rev. Robert, Dissenting Minister
Physic
Beavington Thomas, (F.) Surgeon
Bolt William, Druggist
Dewes Benj. (F.) Druggist & Grocer
Kirkland Thomas, (F.) M.D.
Kirkland J. Tho. jun. (F.) Surgeon
Kirkland James, Surgeon
Kirkland John, Surgeon
Sowter John, Surgeon
Wilde Robert, (F.) Surgeon
Law
Green Thomas, Attorney
Pestell Ellis Shipley, Attorney
Piddocke Leonard, Attorney
Smith Henry, (F.) Attorney
Traders, &c.
Alt Mary, Milliner and Post-office
Alt William, Milkseller
Adcock Thomas, (F.) Schoolmaster
Adams James, Butcher
Adams Henry, Butcher
Ansell Joseph, Confectioner
Ashpinshaw John, (F.) Maltster
Allicock S. (F.) Professor of Greek
Ball James, (F.) Brick-maker
Baily Edward, Cornfactor
Ball Joseph, Gardener
Blenkarne James, (F.) Baker
Blenkarne Henry, Sadler
Brewin Tho. Victualler, Bull’s Head Inn
Brearey Robert, Mercer
Beavington William, Liquor Merchant
Brown Thomas, Instrument-maker
Bindley Thomas, (F.) Fellmonger
Bagnall Samuel, Painter
Beadsmore John, Woolcomber
Beadsmore John, jun. Woolcomber
Brooks William, (F.) Cordwainer
Bedford James, Brazier
Bradbury Jn. Linen & Woollen Draper
Blenkarne Henry, (F.) Plumber
Bacon John, Farmer
Chapman Robert, Hosier
Chapman Samuel, Maltster
Cattel Thomas, Confectioner
Clarkson Abraham, Grazier
Cockeram John, Stay-maker
Cheatle George, Cordwainer
Cheatle Benjamin, Butcher
Cheatle Benjamin, Worsted-maker
Cheatle William, Butcher
Cheatle Thomas, Feltmaker
Collyer John, Basket-maker
Charlesworth Thomas, Farmer
Charlesworth William, Hosier
Cromwell Oliver, Woolcomber
Cordeaux George, Victualler
Clarke Samuel (F.) Hosier
Chapman Thomas, jun. Hosier
Chapman Mrs. Boarding-school
Cannor John, Framework-knitter
Cattel John, (F.) Baker & Cornfactor
Davenport John, Flax-dresser
Davenport Robert, Seedsman
Dale Thomas, (F.) Baker
Ellis William, Woolstapler
Everard Thomas, (F.) Mercer
Elliot Charles, Turner
Farnell Joseph, (F.) Grocer
Farnell Henry, (F.) Baker
Farmer Thomas,, (F.) Taylor
Farmer William, Feltmaker
Freeman John, Nailer
Frith Thomas, Butcher
Hewes John, Peruke-maker
Geust [sic] Joseph, Plumber
Gilbert Thomas, Chair-maker
Gilbert William, Chair-maker
Gibbs John, Organist
Handley George, sen. Heel-maker
Handley George, Heel-maker
Handley John, Baker
Hallam Joseph, Engraver
Hilditch James, Schoolmaster
Hackett William, (F.) Victualler
Hardy William, Joiner
Hickin John, Victualler, Red Lion
Hudson Ralph, (F.) Farmer
Hatton Thomas, (F.) Plumber
Hatton Daniel, Grocer
Hollingsworth Thomas, Cheesemonger
Hull William, Farmer
Ingle Matthew, Farmer and Brazier
Ingle John, Mercer
Ison Thomas, Blacksmith
Joynes John, Butcher
Kerton Samuel, Merchant
Knight Thomas, (F.) Wheelwright
Knight Robert, Whitesmith
Kerby John, Worsted-maker
Kiddear William, Cordwainer
Knowles Charles, Farmer
Lamb Toby, Excise Officer
Large Samuel, Mercer
Lovatt Robert, Dealer
Lakin Nathaniel, (F.) Architect
Lakin Richard, Bricklayer
Lauty John, Dyer
Lagor Edward, Farmer
Litherland John, Farmer
Mee John, (F.) Shoe-maker
Matthew J. sen. Victualler, Golden Cross
Matthew John, Joiner
Mollody John, Tallow Chandler
Mollody James, Hatter
Meeson Edward, Supervisor of Excise
Moore Mathusala, Farmer
Newbold James, Taylor
Noon William, Watch-maker
Noon John, (F.) Joiner
Norton John, Framesmith
Newton John, (F.) Tanner
Nickinson Mrs. Farmer
Orton Ralph, (F.) Bear Inn
Oakey James, Taylor
Oakey Henry, Taylor
Pointon William, Peruke-maker
Palmer Walter, Worsted-maker
Parker Thomas, (F.) Gardener
Rowbottom Edward, Bricklayer
Rice William, Weaver
Rice Joseph, (F.) Queen’s Head Inn
Ratcliff Charles, Currier
Richards William, Framesmith
Reason William, Hatter
Springthorpe Mrs. White Hart Inn
Shaw Samuel, Farmer
Shaw Richard, Cabinet-maker
Snelson Joseph, (F.) Wheelwright
Snelson Joseph, jun. Wheelwright
Snelson Jonathan, (F.) Wheelwright
Smith Thomas, Turner
Slator William, (F.) Cooper
Slaney John, Hatter
Sheffield John, (F.) Maltster
Sabbin John, Farmer
Simpson William, (F.) Hosier
Smallwood Thomas, Shopkeeper
Sutton Thomas, (F.) Butcher
Selby John, Farrier
Sleath Thomas, Carrier
Salisbury William, Tawer
Salisbury Richard, (F.) Tanner
Salisbury Joseph, Bricklayer
Sheppard Thomas, Wheelwright
Sharpe Edward, (F.) Lamb Inn
Sharpe Wm. Victualler, Black Horse
Toon John, Shoe-maker
Tunley Hugh, Weaver
Thornley Mrs. Mercer
Twells Mrs. Stationer
Timms John, (F.) Miller & Cornfactor
Ward Richard, Farmer
Woodhouse Jonathan, Engineer
Wayte Thomas, Farmer
Worstall James, Tallow Chandler
Wright Benjamin, Blacksmith
Wright John, Currier
Wood Thomas, Mercer
Whetton Thomas, Grocer
Wartnaby Robert, Excise Officer
Widdowson Richard, Joiner
Worth John, Weaver and Sexton
Source: The Universal British Directory of Trade, Commerce, and Manufacture 1791. Vol. 5.
Maps
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Administration
- County: Leicestershire
- Civil Registration District: Ashby de la Zouch
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Leicester
- Diocese: Peterborough
- Rural Deanery: Akeley
- Poor Law Union: Ashby de la Zouch
- Hundred: West Goscote
- Province: Canterbury