Castle Donington Leicestershire Family History Guide
Castle Donington is an Ancient Parish in the county of Leicestershire.
Alternative names: Castle Donnington
Parish church: St. Edward
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1539
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1564
Nonconformists include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, General Baptist New Connexion, Independent/Congregational, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- Lockington
- Aston on Trent
- Melbourne
- Weston on Trent
- Isley Walton
- Breedon on the Hill
- Langley Priory
- Shardlow
- Diseworth
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
CASTLE-DONINGTON, a town, a parish, and a subdistrict in the district of Shardlow, and county of Leicester. The town stands near the river Trent, 3¼ miles W of Kegworth r. station, and 7½ NW by N of Loughborough. It was known at Domesday as Dunitone; it takes the first part of its present name from an old castle, now a fragment, said to have belonged to John of Gaunt; and it contains vestiges of a monastery, founded in the time of Henry II.
It has a church, four dissenting chapels, a large handsome parochial school, a post-office under Derby, and two chief inns. The church is very old; has a large chancel, with fine east window, and a handsome spire, 180 feet high; and contains a double canopied brass of 1458, and some old effigies. A weekly market is held on Saturday: and fairs on 18th March and 29 Sept. Several departments of manufacture are carried on. Pop., 2,291. Houses, 561.
The parish comprises 4,250 acres. Real property, £12,856. Pop., 2,445. Houses, 617. The property is subdivided. The manor belonged formerly to the Plantagenets and the Huntingdons; and belongs now to the Marquis of Hastings. Donington Park, the seat of the Marquis, a mile west of the town, is a grand edifice, in a mixed style of pointed and Tudor, by Wilkins; has picturesque grounds of 350 acres; and contains an extensive library and a large collection of valuable paintings. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £223. Patron, the Marquis of Hastings.
The subdistrict contains six parishes and an extra-parochial tract. Acres, 13,355. Pop., 5,775. Houses, 1,385.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
DONINGTON, CASTLE (St. Edward), a parish, in the union of Shardlow, hundred of West Goscote, N. division of the county of Leicester, 9½ miles (N. E.) from Ashby-de-la-Zouch; containing 3508 inhabitants.
This place derives the prefix to its name from an ancient castle, of which there are still some remains, seated on an eminence near the village. An hospital was founded in the reign of Henry II., by John de Lacy, constable of Chester, for a master and thirteen brethren and sisters, and dedicated to St. John the Evangelist; its revenue at the Dissolution was estimated at £3. 13. 4., and some vestiges of the buildings may be traced.
The parish is situated on the river Trent, by which it is bounded on the north-west, and comprises by admeasurement 3573 acres: the soil in the higher grounds is clayey, and in the meadows light and fertile. Fairs are held on March 18th, Whit-Thursday, and the 29th of September. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £8. 2. 3½.; net income, £223; patron, the Marquess of Hastings; impropriator, Mr. Bateman: the glebe contains about 84 acres, with a glebe-house.
There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans. £30 per annum, two-thirds of a bequest by Thomas Gray to this parish and that of Melbourne, are appropriated to the apprenticing of children, and the distribution of clothing and bread to the poor.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Directory Transcriptions
Kelly’s Directory of the Watch, Clock and Jewellery Trades 1880
CASTLE DONINGTON
Fancy Repository
Popple Misses Mary & Charlotte
Watch & Clock Maker
Hollis Walter
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
Maps
View detailed 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps from the National Library of Scotland Maps – includes OS 25 inch 1892-1918 maps, a vast range of other historical OS maps and land use maps. These maps reveal old street layouts, parish boundaries, and landmarks long since vanished.
Administration
- County: Leicestershire
- Civil Registration District: Shardlow
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Leicester
- Diocese: Peterborough
- Rural Deanery: Akeley
- Poor Law Union: Shardlow
- Hundred: West Goscote
- Province: Canterbury