Branston Village Map

 Branston

Extract from John Nichols, The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester, 1795

Antiently called Brantestone, Braundeston, Brantiston, Brandeston, Branston, and Braunston juxta Belvoir, is situated on the hills about three miles to the south of Belvoir castle ; and is bounded on the South by Croxton Park, on the East by Croxton Keriel, on the North by Knipton, and on the West by Eaton. Its distance from Melton Mowbray, the nearest market-town, is about eight miles. In ecclesiastical division of the county it is in the deanry of Framland.
In the reign of Edward the Confessor this manor was held by Levenot, being then of the annual value of twenty shillings ; but was increased to fifty shillings at the time of the general survey, when it was returned as part of the possessions of the Bishop of Lincoln, under whom Ralph was then tenant of seven ploughlands and a half. Two ploughs and four bondmen were employed in the lord's demesne ; and ten villans, with one bordar and six socmen, had four ploughs among them. There were two mills of eight shillings value ; and sixteen acres of meadow¹.

 

 

1 "Radulsus tenet de episecopo in Brantestone 7 carucatas terræ & dimid'. In dominico sunt a carcæ & 4 servi ; & 10 villani, cum 1 bordario & 6 socmannis, habent 4 carcas. Ibi 2 molini de 8 solidis, & 16 acræ prati. Valuit 20 solidos, modo 50 solidos. Leuenot tenuit." Domesday, p. 231. a. 1

Extract from White's Leicester and Rutland Directory, 1877

BRANSTON, a pleasant village, 8 miles N.N.E. of Melton Mowbray, near the small river Deven, and a large reservoir for supplying the Grantham Canal, has in its parish, which is in Framland Hundred, Melton Mowbray Union and County Court district. 319 persons, living in 57 houses, on 960 acres of land, mostly arable. The Duke of Rutland owns most of the soil, and is lord, of the manor, which, in 1086, was held by Ralph de Crophull, under the Bishop of Lincoln. From the Crophulls it passed to the Devereux family, and from them to the Hartopps, who sold it in 1665 to the Earl of Rutland. The Church (St. Cuthbert) consists of chancel, nave, aisles, and tower, containing three bells, surmounted by a spire. It was repaired and re-seated with open benches in 1840, at a cost of £253; the chancel was newly seated a few years ago by the present rector; and the church was partly restored in 1872-3, when the south aisle was re-built, and a new porch erected, at a total expenditure ot £215, of which the Duke of Rutland gave £20, the rest being subscribed for by the rector's family and friends. A small window at the west end is filled with beautiful stained glass, and the east window, is filled with similar glass, inserted at the expense of Mr. Selwyn, Q.C., father of the late rector. The churchyard has been enlarged by the addition of one rood of land, the gift of the Duke of Rutland. The benefice is a rectory, valued in K.B. at £15 10s,. 4d., in the patroage of the Duke of Rutland, and the incumbency of the Rev. George Sloane Stanley, BA., who has here a handsome residence and 76A. lR. 30P. of old glebe, besides land awarded in 1766, in lieu of tithes. Here a NATIONAL SCHOOL, built in 1843, at a cost of £427 l0s., end attended by about 60 children. A LENDING LIBRARY, containing 60 volumes, is attached to the school. The parish feast is on the Sunday before Old Michaelmas Day.

POST OFFICE at Mr. Thomas Foster's. Letters are despatched to Grantham at 3.45 p.m., but Knipton is the nearest Money Order Office, and Bottesford the nearest Railway Station.

 

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