Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for MELTON-MOWBRAY

MELTON-MOWBRAY, a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Leicestershire. The town stands in a fine vale, on the river Eye, and on the Syston and Peterborough railway, 15 miles NE of Leicester. It was known at Domesday, as Medeltune; it takes its present name from corruption of that word, and from the Mowbray family who once held the manor; it sent members to parliament in the time of Edward III.; it was the scene of an action, in 1645, when the parliamentarians under Col. Rossiter were beaten by the royalists under Sir M. Langdale; and it n umbers, among eminent natives, Bishop de Kirkby, Archbishop de Melton, and the orator Henley. It is well built, and has, of late years, been much improved and enlarged. It is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and a polling-place; and it has a head postoffice,‡ a railway station with telegraph, four bankingoffices, several good inns, a police station, a corn-exchange, three bridges, a church, three dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, a literary institution and museum, three public schools, a workhouse, a townestate yielding about £800 a year, and charities £362. The corn-exchange includes accommodation for the petty sessions and county courts; and was estimated in 1866 to be then worth £3,500. The church was once a cell to Lowe's abbey; is a cruciform edifice, 164 feet by 1 17, varionsly early, decorated, and later English, with z handsome central early English tower; has a very peculiar W porch, with an elegant doorway, surmounted by a magnificent five-light window; has also several fine memorial windows, passed into a state of much decay; underwent considerable restoration between 1850 and 1864; and was further restored, under the direction of G. G. Scott, in 1867. The dissenting chapels are Independent, Wesleyan, and Primitive Methodist. The Roman Catholic chapel is a handsome edifice in the pointed style, after designs by Pugin. Two of the public.schools are Church and British, maintained out of the town estate, and free to all children of the parish. The third public school is an infant one, built in 1853, capable of receiving 200 children, and supported by subscription. The workhouse has capacity for 250 persons; and, a t the census of 1861, had 132 inmates. The charities include an hospital for twelve persons, and an almshouse for six. A weekly market is held on Tuesday; airs are held on the Monday and Tuesday after 17.January, the second Tuesday of April, Whit-Tuesday, 21 Aug., 29 Sept., and 24 Oct.; and a trade in Stilton cheese and pork pies is carried on. Stilton cheese, though taking name from Stilton in Hunts, was first made in Melton. Pork pies are made to the amount of about two tons a week; and the greater portion of them is sent to London, Manchester, and Leeds. A famous subscription hunt takes name from Melton; commences early in November, and closes with the Croxton-Park races, about the end of March or beginning of April; is frequented by the leading sportsmen from all quarters of the kingdom; and is accommodated with extensive stables, capable of holding 500 horses. Pop., of the town, in 1861,4,047. Houses, 890.

The township extends beyond the town; and, with Welby chapelry, comprises 5,680 acres. Real property, exclusive of Welby, £20,503; of which £146 are in the canal, and £240 in gas-works. Pop. in 1851,4,434; in 1861,4,446. Houses, 942. The parish contains also the chapelries of Welby, Sysonby, Freeby, and BurtonLazars. Acres, 10,266. Real property, £30,433. Pop. in 1851,4,956; in 1861,4,936. Houses, 1,039. The manor of Melton was given, by William the Conqueror, to Goisfrid de Wirce; passed early to the Albinis, the Mowbrays, and others; and went afterwards to the Hudson's and the Lambs. The manor of Welby belongs to Sir W. E. Welby, Bart.; and that of Freeby, to Sir John Hartopp, Bart. Edgerton Lodge is a hunting-box of the Earl of Wilton; and Newport Lodge, of the Earl of Bradford. A priory anciently stood here; and was given, at the dissolution, to the Earl of Warwick. The living is a vicarage, united with the four Melton chapelries, in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £600.* Patron, T. Frewen, Esq. There are chapels of ease in Burton, Sysonby, Welby, and Freeby, and a chapel for Independents in Freeby.

The sub-district excludes the chapelries of Freeby and Burton-Lazars, but includes the parishes of Asfordby, Hoby, Ragdale, Dalby-on-the-Wolds, Grimston, and Saxilby, the chapelry of Wartnaby, and the extraparochial tract of Shoby. Acres, 17,900. Pop., 6,375. Houses, 1,353.—The district comprehends also the subdistrict of Somerby, containing the parishes of Somerby, Pickwell, Little Dalby, Burrough, Twyford, Great Dalby, Kirby-Bellars, Frisby-on-the-Wreak, Rotherby, Brooksby, Gaddesby, and Ashby-Folville, and the chapelry of Burton-Lazars; the sub-district of Waltham, containing the parishes of Waltham-on-the-Wolds, Thorpe-Arnold, Wyfordby, Stonesby, Saltby., Sproxton, Buckminster, Coston, Garthorpe, Saxby, Edmondthorpe, Wynmondham, and Stapleford, the chapelry of Freeby, and the extra-parochial tract of Bescaby; and the sub-district of Clawson, containing the parishes of Clawson, Hose, Harby, Stathern, Eaton, Branston, Eastwell, GoadbyMarwood, Scalford, Abkettleby, Nether-Bronghton, and Broughton-Sulney-the last electorally in Notts-and the chapelry of Wycombe and Chadwell. Acres, 98,077. Poor rates in 1863, £8,387. Pop. in 1851,20,533; in 1861,20,171. Houses, 4,289. Marriages in 1863,110; births, 607,-of which 58 were illegitimate; deaths, 376,-of which 131 were at ages under 5 years, and 3 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,429; births, 6,366; deaths, 3,809. The places of worship, in 1851, were 55 of the Church of England, with 12,327 sittings; 3 of Independents, with 795 s.; 4 of Baptists, with 375 s.; 29 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 4,447 s.; 8 of Primitive Methodists, with 670 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 40 s.; 1 undefined, with 100 s.; and 2 of Roman Catholics, with 260 s. The schools were 34 public day-schools, with 2,422 scholars; 49 private day-schools, with 833 s.; 69 Sunday schools, with 3,174 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 20 s.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Melton Mowbray AP/CP       Melton Mowbray SubD       Melton Mowbray RegD/PLU       Leicestershire AncC
Place names: MEDELTUNE     |     MELTON MOWBRAY
Place: Melton Mowbray

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