Buckminster

Extract from White's Leicester and Rutland Directory 1877

BUCKMINSTER, a pleasant village and township, on the eastern side of a range of the Wold adjoining Lincoloshire, 10 miles E.N.E. of Melton Mowbray, and S. W. of Grantham, in 1871 had 312 inhabitants, living in 76 houses; but Buckminster parish, which is in Framland Hundred, Melton Mowbray Union, and County Court District, also includes Sewstern township, and had a total population of 544 persons, living in 133 houses, on 3053 acres of land. The rateable value of the township is £2352 5s. 6d. Mr. David Lee, the Executors of the late Mr. Jno. Marshall, and the Representatives of the late Mr. Arthur Marshall have land in the village; but the manor and the greater part of the soil belongs to the Earl of Dysart, of BUCKMINSTER PARK, which is situated on the north side of the village, and contains a large and handsome Grecian mansion, built in 1798, by Sir W. Manners, Bart., who was created a baronet in 1793, and was heir-apparent to the Earl of Dysart and Lord Huntingtower, of Scotland, titles which were created the Tollemache family, in 1643. 'When Domesday Book was compiled, the manor here was held by the Bishop of Lincoln, and subsequently by Adam de Bugeminster in 1222, Sir William, who served under Edward I. in the Scotch war,' Simon de Buckminster in 1297, 'and Roger, living in 1310. The manor then passed to the Sproxton family by marriage, then to that of Brabason, and then to Roger de Bellers, or Bellairs, who in 1319 gave it to the priory of Kirkby Bellairs. At the Dissolution in 1538 the manor was granted by Henry VIII. to Henry Digby, from whom it passed in 1548 to Henry Atten, and then to Thomas Cave. Sir Alexander Cave sold it to Edmund Hartropp in 1614, whose descendants held it until 1763, when the widow of Sir John Hartropp sold it to Lord William Manners, who was succeeded by his son John.'* On the death of his grandmother, the late Countess of Dysart, the present Rt. Hon. Sir Lionel John William Tollemache succeeded as Earl of Dysart and Lord Huntingtower. He was born in 1794 and married, in 1819, Eliza, daughter of the late Col. S. Toone. His son, the Hon. Lionel William Felix Tollemache, commonly styled Lord Huntingtower, died in 1872. The park and plantations comprise 351 acres. In a field called the Grange, on the south side of the village, are some traces of a religious house which belonged to Kirby Bellars Priory, to which the church was appropriated till the Dissolution, when the advowson and rectory were given to William Cavendish, the confidential servant of Cardinal Wolsey. The CHURCH (St. John the Baptist) is an ancient structure, comprising nave, chancel, north and south aisles, south porch, with north and south chapels, and steeple between south aisle and chapel, containing six bells, two of which were added by the present vicar and his brother, Captain Rabbetts, in 1873, as a memorial of. their mother. The church contains an octagonal font of 14th century design, sedelia, and a curious octagonal turret in the interior. An organ, by Bevington & Son, London, was placed in the church by the vicar, in1872. In the south aisle is a private vault of the Dysart family. The great tithes were commuted in 1849 for £390, and the small tithes for £4 per annum. The Earl of Dysart is impropriator of the former, and patron of the benefice, which is a vicarage, with Sewstern chapelry annexed, valued in K.B. at £8 7s. 31/2d., and now at £180 a year, in the incumbency of the Rev. Francis Deacle Rabbetts, M.A., who has a good residence, and 82A. lR. 31P. of glebe. The WESLEYANS hold service in a room here. A SCHOOL BOARD, formed on October 4, 1874, for the united district of Buckminster and Sewstern, consists of Mr. John Adcock (chairman), Messrs. A. Hack, W. Standland, and the Rev. F. D. Rabbetts. Mr. J. Musson, of Colsterworth, is clerk to the Board. The Board has arranged to have the National School under its control, subject to the approval or the Education Department. The poor of Buckminster have £25 4s. from Chester's Charity (1703), noticed with Barkeston at page 148, and also the interest of £20 (accumulations) now invested in Consolidated 3 per cent. Annuities, derived from the bequest of Mary Elston in 1725. The annual feast is on the Sunday after July 6. The Buckminster-cum-Sewstern Society of Church Bell-ringers was established in 1873. The vicar is the chairman. The Society of Framland Ringers was established in 1875. His Grace the Duke of Rutland is president, and the Bishop of Peterborough one of the vicepresidents. (See also Sewstern.)
Post viā Grantham ; but Colsterworth is the nearest Money Order and Telegraph Office. There is a WALL LETTER BOX, which is cleared at 3.35 p.m.

* From the 'Lincoln Diocesan Architectural Society's Report,' 1875

Adcock Jno, farmer. grazier & baker
Bartram Richard, chairmaker
Bartram William, farmer and grazier
Brown Mr John
Brown John and Edward, tailors
Brown Richard, assistant land agent to the Earl of Dysart
Charlesworth Thos. jun. parish clerk
Doubleday Edward, farmer, grazier, and victualler, Blue Bell
Dysart, Earl of, and Lord Hunting tower, Buckminster Park and Ham House, Surrey

Exton James, farmer and grazier
Fardell Valentine, bootmaker
Glassup Mrs Eleanor, farmer & grzr
Glassup Joseph, farmer and grazier
Hack Algernon, farmer and grazier
Hack Mrs Elizabeth
Hand Thomas, farmer and grazier, The Lodge
Harvey George, horse dealer
Manners Alfred, land agent to the Earl of Dysart
Manners Frederick, office clerk
Marshall Mrs Eleanor, farmer & grzr

Marshall Mrs Elizbth. farmer & grzr
North Henry, veterinary surgeon and grocer
Pepper John, gardener
Porter William, office clerk
Rabbetts Rev Francis Deacle, M.A. vicar, The Vicarage
Spencer Mr John
Stevens George, farm bailiff
Stevens Thomas, grocer & bootmaker
Weston Robert Hawley, farmer and grazier; h Skillington
Weston Thomas, saddler


Monumental Inscriptions
Extracted from John Nichols, History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester

On the floor of the middle chancel:
1. A small brass plate, on a blue slab, inscribed
"S.D.
Thy worth may claime this lot,
Never to be forgot.
To Dorothie Dixon, 1696."

2. "Here lies the body of Leonard Bury, sen.
Who departed this life April 7, 1720,
in his 85th year of his age."

3. "Here lieth the body of Ruth,
wife of Leonard Bury, sen. Of Sewstern,
who departed this life April 23, 1702,
in the 57th year of her age."

4. "Here lies the precious body of Anne Bury,
the daughter of Thomas Bury and Anne his wife,
who departed this life Feb. 2, 1705, aged 23."

5. " Here lies the most precious body of Dorothy,
daughter of Thomas Bury and Anne his wife,
who departed this life Nov. 7, 1719, aged 18."

6. "Here lies the body of Ruth Beridge,
wife of John Beridge, of Buckminster,
in the county of Leicester, clerk,
2nd daughter of Leonard Bury, of Sewstern, gent.
who died June 22, 1739, ętatis fuę 26.
She left three sons, Basil, Leonard, and Charles :
and under this stone lies Charles Beridge."


7. "Here lies the body of John Wilkinson, of
Shelton, in the county of Nottingham, gent.
who departed this life Oct. 3, 1733,
in the 24th year of his age."

8. "Here lies the body of Catharine Williams,
daughter of the Rev. Richard Williams and Frances
his wife, who died June 3, 1774.
Also Mary Williams, who died March 30, 1776 ;
also John, who died May 3, 1777."

9. "In memory of Thomas Bullivanr,
who died Nov. 27, 1743, aged 39 years ;
also Anne his wife, who died Nov. 20, 1741,
aged 39 years."

Stay gentle reader ere you pass,
And listen to our mournful case,
We left behind four children dear,
Which did our care engross.
They were but small, our darlings all,
To young to know their loss;
We willing were, if God did please,
A longer course to run :
But as in life, so at our death,
His will, not ours, be done."

 In a chapel at the upper end of the South aile, or
rather within the South chancel, against the South
wall, is suspended a wooden tablet, inscribed :

" A memorila upon the
life and deathe of mrs. Dorthie Chance,
wife to Arthur Chance, of Sewsterne,
gent. who died the 3 daye of October, 1603.
Who lives may here behold, what once himself shall be;
That Bewtie turned to moulde, example here me see.
For Deathe will have no eares, though spouse, though
friends do mourne;
Though hartes dissolve in teares, though soules to vapours
tourne.
For lo! She lieth here, whole birth, whose life, whose end,
Was goode, was blest, was nere, to her, to God, to friend.

Whose life was but a breće, whose death is but a sleepe,
Whose sickness was no paie, whose soule the Lorde bothe
keepe.
Three times three years she spent a medded life to probe ;

And twice 1 and thrice 2 she sent forth pledges of her love,
In whõe she both survive ; in whom her spouse man see
his comfort still alive in heaven and earth to be.
His love to wife was such, as all the world did know it ;

His grief for her is srich, as none but he can shom it.
W. CAVE, 1603.
Thy sweete consent to husnad's will,
Thy buteons debt to partents bear,
Thy kind benteanor lasteth still ;
Thy virtues live, through corps lie here.
They live, They last ; time tells her morth for ane,
Whose senceless truncke lies here entomb'd in claye.
Arth. 1603. Chance.

In the church-yard :
In the South-east corner are five large stones, lying
flat and near together, much of the same shape,
ridged down the middle, with crosses on the breast
(see plate XXVIII, fig. 7.); but for whom they were
laid down, there are no inscriptions to inform us.

On an old coffin fashioned stone :
"In memory of John Thorpe, who died
May 24, 1792, in the 94th year of his age."

On flat stones :
1. "Here lyeth the body of William Penford,
who departed this life Sept. the 21st, 1766,
aged 46 years."
2. "In memory of Mrs. Anne Hurst,
the wife of the Rev. Mr. Hurst,
of Ecton, in the county of Rutland,
who deceased July 28,
1778, aged 64 years."

On upright stones :
1. "In memory of John Penford, who departed
this life April the 1st, 1772, aged 81 years."

2. Here lies the body of Thomas
son of John Penford and Bridget Penford ;
he died Sept. 15, 1751, aged 25"

3. "To the memory of Mr. William Penford,
of Grantham, gentleman, who departed this life
Jan. 13, 1780, in the 92d year of his age.
G.G.

 Upon the same tablet two escutcheons :
On the left : Quaterly, 1. and 4. Arg. a sess
Gules between three boars heads couped, Sable,
langued, proper, tusked, Or. Evance. 2. and 3. Or. two
eaglets displayed, a sess Sable. On the right hand
also, Quarterly, 1. and 4. Az. Sretty of 10 Arg. Cave.
2. and 3. On a pale Sable, three whales heads seem
erased, Arg. 3. Arg. a chevron between three
marlets Sable. See Plate XXVIII. fig. 4.
Here are also several large flat stones for vicars ;
on one of which part of a cross is visible ; on others
fragments of inscriptions in black letter, particularly
one at the entrance of the chancel.
In the South chancel the Hartopps have a vault ;
where sir Edward Hartopp, baronet, was buried Jan.
10, 1654.
Against the East wall of the North aile is painted
on a wreath out of a ducal coronet Or, a demi-
pelican rising Argent, vulned Gules, being the crest
of Hartopp. See Plate XXVIII. fig. 5.

In the North aile lies a stone ; whereon is,
"Hic jacet Edwardus Storer, M. B.
dum vixit ęgrotis commune solatium,
bonorum obiit commune desiderium.
Sleep then (blest shade) while we thy relict mourn,
And pay silial tribute to thy urn.
The world will joyn with us our loss to grieve ;
They want that health which thou knew'st well to give.
Thou generous, didst to all thy art reveal,
'Twas others care to gain, 'twas thine to heal.
Obiit Octobr. 22 3 , A. D. 1712, an. ętatis 71.
Prope etiam depositę sunt reliquię
Elizabethę & Marię reliquię
filiarum Edvardi Storer,
quarum ad laudes dicere sussiciat,
quod tali patre dignę filię,
tali patri quarn dilectę 4."

 Henry Evardine died April 6, 1773, aged 75.
Mary his wife died June 6, 1778, aged 75.
Richard Linney died March 8, 1778, aged 75.
Robert Ward died August 19, 1779, aged 79.
John Austin died April 22, 1760, aged 73.
Samuel Warren died June 10, 1742, aged 81.
Mary his wife died June 27, 1749 aged 79.
Richard Robinson died Nov. 22, 1786, aged 79.
John Marshall died June 30, 1782, aged 78.
Thomas Boyfield died Sept. 29, 1768, aged 77.
John Taylor died July 10, 1782, aged 86.
John Thorpe5 died 1792, aged 98.

On the wall of the South aile is written :
"Thomas Bury, of Sewstern, deceased Jan. the
16th, 1673 ; by his last will and testament gave a
rent charge of six pounds per annum to this town ;
viz. To the minister for preaching a sermon 15s.; to
the parish clerk 5s.; to five poor widows of Sewstern
5l. to be paid yearly, on Dec. the 21st, out of certain
lands in Sewstern, purchased by Mr. Ayscough."
"William Chester, late of Knipton, in the county
of Leicester, deceased May 13, 1703, gave the yearly
revenue of 3l. to the poor of this town, to be paid
on the 10th day of December ; only two Bibles of
7s. price [to be] given out of the said sum, out of
certain lands in Barkston."
"Mary Elston, widow, Jan. 21, 1725, gave the interest
of 5l. for the poor in bread, on the day of
the Purification of the Virgin Mary."
For the return made to parliment in 1786, fee p.3.

 1 Two boys. 2 Three girls. 3. He was buried Oct. 24. 1712 F. P.
4. This epitaph was composed by the Rev. Francis Storer, M. A. rector of Saxby, son of the abovesaid Edward. F. P.
5. Sir William Manners informs me, that a son of this man, William Thorpe, now living at Buckminster (1793) has obtained
nearly the age of 50, without ever having had occasion for a razor ; his face being perfectly smooth.

Copyright Guy Etchells © 2000-04 All rights reserved.

Permission is granted for all free personal and non-commercial uses. It is my intention to make all data contained herein freely available for all private, non-profit and non-commercial uses. Commercial use of any portion contained herein is expressly prohibited.