User:Jan1nad/Staffordshire Civil Parishes

Sponsor

Victoria County History

Publication

A History of the County of Leicester: volume 4

Author

R. A. McKinley (editor)

Year published

1958

Supporting documents

Documents used List of abbreviations

Pages

447-456

Citation

'Parishes added since 1892: North-west Leicester', A History of the County of Leicester: volume 4: The City of Leicester (1958), pp. 447-456. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66595&strquery=thorpe constantine Date accessed: 21 October 2009.

Braunstone Frith

Braunstone Frith is a small district on the western fringe of Leicester. The district was formerly an extra-parochial place in Sparkenhoe hundred, but under an Act of 1857 it became a separate civil parish. (fn. 46) Its area was 232 acres. (fn. 47) In 1935 the area was absorbed into the city of Leicester. The soil is nearly all Boulder Clay; in 1956 most of the district was occupied by a housing estate belonging to Leicester Corporation.

Braunstone Frith was first separated from Leicester Forest in 1526, when the large district in the forest known as the Frith was inclosed and divided into a number of separate pastures. (fn. 48) After the inclosure the Dean and Canons of the College of St. Mary in the Newarke at Leicester, a foundation closely connected with the Duchy of Lancaster which owned the forest, claimed compensation for the loss of certain common rights that they had previously enjoyed in the uninclosed Frith, and in consequence Henry VIII allotted to the college certain rights in Braunstone Frith. (fn. 49) As early as the reign of Elizabeth I it was uncertain exactly what rights Henry VIII had granted to the college. (fn. 50) After the inclosure of 1526 Braunstone Frith was leased out by the Duchy of Lancaster. (fn. 51) Towards the end of Elizabeth I's reign the corporation of Leicester, which was leasing from the Crown the grange in the South Fields formerly owned by the dissolved College of St. Mary, (fn. 52) claimed on the basis of Henry VIII's grant to have the right to lease certain closes, containing about 60 acres, as part of the grange. (fn. 53) The corporation succeeded for a time in making good its claim to lease the closes, (fn. 54) but its possession of them as part of the college grange was repeatedly challenged. In 1598 the corporation protested against the possibility of the closes being leased to Robert Worship. (fn. 55) In 1600, after some litigation, the corporation decided that it was necessary to place its claim to the closes on a secure basis, (fn. 56) but that was not achieved, and further litigation took place over the closes in 1609– 14. (fn. 57) Finally in 1613–14 the corporation, though it succeeded in buying the whole grange, gave up its claims in the closes in Braunstone Frith to John Sherman, who then acquired the disputed property. (fn. 58)

Meanwhile the Duchy of Lancaster presumably remained the owner of the rest of Braunstone Frith. It is not known when the duchy disposed of this remaining part, but by 1705 the whole of Braunstone Frith was being held in fee farm by William Inge. (fn. 59) The property remained in the hands of his descendants, the Inges of Thorpe Constantine (Staffs.), until 1795. (fn. 60) Braunstone Frith was then acquired by John Kirk, who remained the owner for only three years. (fn. 61) From 1799 to 1804 the owner was William Hook, who had previously occupied the land as Kirk's tenant. (fn. 62) The property then came into the hands of Clement Winstanley, a large landowner in the adjacent parishes of Braunstone and Kirby Muxloe. (fn. 63) Braunstone Frith remained in the hands of Winstanley's descendants until it was bought by Leicester City Corporation in 1925. (fn. 64) The corporation was still the owner in 1956.

After its inclosure in 1526 Braunstone Frith was used as pasture. (fn. 65) From the late 18th century until after the purchase of the land by Leicester corporation in 1925 the parish formed a single farm. (fn. 66) In 1930 the corporation decided to use Braunstone Frith as the site for an airfield, which was opened in 1935. (fn. 67) In 1950 it was decided to appropriate 125 acres at the Frith, including a large part of the airfield, for a municipal golf course. Most of the remainder of the parish was laid out shortly afterwards as a housing estate. (fn. 68) Since 1945 much of the eastern part of the parish has become a housing estate owned by Leicester corporation.

For ecclesiastical purposes Braunstone Frith has always been, and in 1954 still remained, extraparochial. (fn. 69)

Sponsor

Victoria County History

Publication

A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14

Author

M.W. Greenslade (editor)

Year published

1990

Supporting documents

Note on documents used Note on abbreviations Note on Staffs Record Society volumes used

Pages

67-72

Citation

'Lichfield: Manors and other estates', A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14: Lichfield (1990), pp. 67-72. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42344&strquery=thorpe constantine Date accessed: 21 October 2009.

THE FRIARY

THE FRIARY originated as a house of Franciscan friars, established c. 1237. (fn. 72) In 1309 the friars occupied 3½ burgages, (fn. 73) presumably along St. John Street and Bird Street and bounded on the north by Friars Alley. The original precinct probably extended on the west as far as the town ditch, beyond which an area of land was later added. The friary was dissolved in 1538 and its site granted in 1544 to Gregory Stonyng, master of St. Mary's guild in 1536–7 and one of the first two bailiffs of the corporation in 1548–9. (fn. 74) In 1580–1 the estate was held by his son Edward (d. 1611). Edward's son Henry sold the estate to Thomas Clayton, who was succeeded in 1613 by his infant daughter Ursula. (fn. 75) In 1636 she married John Hill of Little Pipe in Farewell, a barrister of Gray's Inn. (fn. 76) The estate covered 10½ a. in 1638. (fn. 77) Hill, town clerk by 1660, (fn. 78) was succeeded in 1667 by his son John, who sold the estate to Zachary Johnson (d. 1669), rector of Seal (Leics., later Derb.). Zachary was succeeded by his nephew Richard Johnson (d. probably in the late 1690s), who left the estate in trust as the endowment for an almshouse at Seal. (fn. 79) Tenants in the 18th century included Michael Rawlins (d. 1754), son of a former town clerk, John Rawlins; (fn. 80) Thomas Cobb, political agent for Lord Anson and Lord Gower, from 1754; (fn. 81) and William Inge of Thorpe Constantine (d. 1785), a magistrate for both Lichfield and Staffordshire. (fn. 82)

In 1891 the trustees of Richard Johnson's charity sold the estate, then 11½ a., to the tenant John Godfrey-Fausett (d. 1893). In 1894 it was sold to Harry Tichborne Hinckes of Tettenhall (d. 1895), whose nephew and heir Ralph Tichborne Davenport (later Hinckes) sold it in 1907 to Col. Henry Williams, the tenant. In 1920 Williams sold it to Sir Richard Cooper, Bt., M.P. for Walsall, who gave it to the city later the same year for the purpose of laying out a new road and developing the area. (fn. 83)

Sponsor

Institute of Historical Research

Publication

A Topographical Dictionary of England

Author

Samuel Lewis (editor)

Year published

1848

Supporting documents

Preface

Pages

343-346

Citation

'Thorpe-Abbots - Thoydon, Mount', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 343-346. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51339&strquery=thorpe constantine Date accessed: 21 October 2009.

Thorpe-Constantine (St. Constantine)

THORPE-CONSTANTINE (St. Constantine), a parish, in the union of Tamworth, N. division of the hundred of Offlow and of the county of Stafford, 5 miles (N. E.) from Tamworth; containing 42 inhabitants. It comprises 953a. 1r. 4p.; the soil in some parts is a moderately light loam, and in others a clayey mixture resting upon a bed of yellow sand. The road from Tamworth to Ashby-de-la-Zouch runs for about half a mile through the south-western extremity of the parish. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £5. 5. 5., and in the gift of Capt. William Inge: the tithes have been commuted for £230, and the glebe contains 100a. 3r. 8p. The church, of which the body was rebuilt in 1778, has a square tower surmounted by a lofty spire.