Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BELVOIR

BELVOIR, an extra-parochial tract in the district of Grantham and county of Leicester; on the verge of the county, near the Grantham canal, 7 miles W by S of Grantham. Acres, 170. Real property, £1,780. Pop., 171. Houses, 18. Belvoir Castle here is the seat of the Duke of Rutland, and one of the most magnificent structures in the kingdom. The original building was a fortress erected soon after the Conquest by Robert de Todeni, standard-bearer to William; and was several times burned down or otherwise destroyed. The present pile is a modern, castellated, hollow quadrangle, restored by Wyatt; measuring 252 feet along the east front, and containing a noble apartment called the Regent's gallery, 127 feet long, filled with the choicest productions of art. It stands on an isolated and perhaps artificial hill; and commands a view of 30 miles, over a picturesque extensive vale, called the vale of Belvoir. The Prince Regent, afterwards George IV., visited it in 1814; and Crabbe, the poet, lived in it as chaplain. A great fire destroyed part of it in 1816, including a famous picture gallery, with damage estimated at £120,000. A priory of black monks stood near it, founded about 1076, by Robert de Todeni; and was given, at the dissolution, to Thomas, Earl of Rutland, and Robert Turwhit.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "an extra-parochial tract"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Leicestershire AncC
Place: Belvoir

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