Extract from White's Leicester and Rutland Directory 1877
WALTHAM-ON-THE-WOLDS parish, in Melton Mowbray Union and County Court
District, and Framland Hundred, comprises 2870 acres,
and in 1871 contained 628 inhabitants. Its considerable and well-built village
occupies a bold eminence on the Grantham and Melton Mowbray road, 5 miles N.E.
of the latter, and eleven miles S.W., of the former town. It has many neat
houses, and is noted for its great annual fair, for horses and cattle, on the
18th and 19th of September, and also formerly for the shows of its Agricultural
Society. The first is the great show day for horses, and the fair is attended
by many from a great distance. There was formerly a market here. The soil is
partly clay and partly a red marl, with an
under-stratum of limestone, which is got and burnt here. The Duke of Rutland
owns nearly all the soil except the glebe, and is lord of the manor, which was
held at the Conquest by Hugh de Grentemaisnell, and
then comprised 16 carucates with 11 ploughs, 2 in the
demesne; 24 socmen, 1 villan,
and 1 bordar, with 6 ploughs; 1 knight, with 7 bordars, 8 bondmen, 1 bondwoman, and l1/2 ploughs; and 100 acres of meadow. Afterwards a great part of it belonged
to Croxton Abbey, and was granted at the Dissolution
to the Earl of Rutland. The CHURCH
(St. Mary Magdalene) stands on a bold acclivity above the road, and is
approached by a flight of steps. It is a fine ancient structure in the Early
English style, consisting of a nave and aisles, a chancel, transepts, and a
tower rising from the centre containing five bells, and surmounted by a lofty
spire, 127 feet high. It was enlarged and renovated in the time of the late
rector, the Rev. G. E. Gillett, M.A., at the cost of more than £2000, and in
1873 the south aisle was re-seated and several windows restored, at a cost of
p146, chiefly defrayed by the present rector. On panels round the vestry are
painted the names and crests of many of the rectors since 1200. The chandelier
in the middle aisle formerly belonged to
POST, MONEY ORDER, and TELEGRAPH OFFICE at Mr. Thomas
Preston's. Letters are delivered at
Allen Richd. farmer and grazier |
Hornbuckle Mrs Sarah, blacksmith, grocer, and earthenware
dealer |
Robinson John, corn miller, maltster, and grazier CARRIERS-To Melton Mowbray, Jno. Hubbard (of Eaton), Hy. Brewster (of Stonesby), Thomas Mount (of Saltby), and Henry Ryder (of Branston), Tuesday |
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