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Ashby De la Zouch in Leicester County England History and GeographyASHBY DE LA ZOUCH, a market town and parish in the western division of the hundred of GOSCOTE, county of LEICESTER, 18 miles (N.W. by W.) from Leicester, and 115 (N.W. by N.) from London, containing, with the chapelry of Bradfordby, and the extra-parochial liberty of Alton-Grange, 4227 inhabitants. The name appears to be derived from the Saxon Asc, an ash, and bye, a habitation: it received the adjunct, by which it is distinguished from other towns of the same name, from the family of La Zouch, in whose possession it continued from the latter part of the 12th to the close of the 14th century. Sir William Hastings, created Baron Hastings by Edward IV., who was beheaded by Richard III., built a strong castle here in the reign of the former monarch, in which Mary, Queen of Scots, while in the custody of the Earl of Huntingdon, was for some time kept in confinement: in this castle Anne, consort of James I., and her son, Prince Henry, were magnificently entertained by the Earl of Huntingdon, on their journey from York to London in 1603. At the commencement of the parliamentary war, the Earl of Huntingdon was one of the first that appeared for the king in Leicestershire. Ashby Castle was garrisoned for his Majesty, by the earl's second son, Colonel Henry Hastings, who was made general of the king's forces in the midland counties, and, for his services to the royal cause, was, in 1643, created Baron Loughborough. The king was here on his march to and from Leicester, in May and June 1645. After sustaining a siege of several months, from the army under Sir Henry Fairfax, Lord Loughborough surrendered the castle to Colonel Needham, in February 1646, on honourable terms, the garrison being allowed to march out with all the honours of war. This castle was one of the fortresses demolished by order of a committee of the House of Commons, about the end of the year 1642; portions of the walls of the hall, the chapel, and the kitchen, are still remaining, and form an extensive and interesting mass of ruins. The town, a great part of which was destroyed by fire in 1753, is pleasantly situated on the banks of the small river Gilwisthaw, at the north-western extremity of the county, and consists principally of one very spacious street, with two smaller streets extending in a parallel direction, containing several substantial and well built houses: there are many excellent springs in the neighbourhood, but the town is very indifferently supplied with water. The Ivanhoe Baths, a splendid building erected within the last six years, in the Doric order of architecture, are supplied from the neighbouring collieries with water, strongly impregnated with muriate of soda, containing, by ten or twelve degrees, a greater proportion of salt than sea-water, and efficacious in mitigating the pain of rheumatism: the baths are conveniently and elegantly fitted up for the use of invalids. There are lodging houses, a handsome hotel, a neat theatre, and other sources of attraction requisite in a place of fashionable resort. A small mineral spring, called Griffydam, the water of which possesses highly medicinal properties, rises at a short distance from the town. The manufacture of the coarser kinds of hosiery is carried on here: bricks are made to a considerable extent; and in the neighbouring wolds, which abound with iron stone, a furnace for smelting the ore has been recently erected. A canal passes within three miles southwestward from the town, with which it is connected by a rail-road, and, after continuing a course of more than thirty miles, unimpeded by a single lock, forms a junction with the Coventry canal. The market is on Saturday: the fairs are held on Shrove Monday, Easter Tuesday, Whit Tuesday, the last Monday in September, and the 10th of November, for horses and cattle. This is stated to be the best market for strong horses in England. The town is within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, and in the honour of Tutbury, where a court is held every third Tuesday for the recovery of debts under 40s.: a constable and two headboroughs are appointed for its internal regulation at the court leet of the lord of the manor. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Leicester, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £14. 10. 4. The Marquis of Hastings was patron in 1828. The church, dedicated to St. Helen, is a spacious structure in the decorated style of English architecture, and contains, among many others, a hand some monument to the memory of Francis, Earl of Huntingdon, and his Countess. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents and Methodists, and a chapel belonging to the Trustees of the late Countess of Huntingdon. The free grammar school, which also imparts general instruction, was founded in 1567, by Henry, Earl of Huntingdon and others, and endowed with 120 houses and 75 acres of land: it has, jointly with the school at Derby, ten exhibitions of £10 each per annum, to Emanuel College, Cambridge, founded by Francis Ash, merchant and citizen of London, a native of this town; but this is only after a preference has been given to the founder's relations. The blue coat school, for twenty-six boys, was founded in 1669, and endowed with £25 per annum, by Isaac Dawson; and a green coat school was founded and endowed by Alderman Newton, of Leicester. The Rev. Simeon Ash, a native of this town, gave £50 per annum, directing that £10 thereof should be appropriated to the apprenticing of two boys yearly in some corporate town, and that the remainder should be distributed among the poor. A great number of Roman coins has been found here within the last seven years. Bishop Hall, an eminent divine and satirist, and Dr. John Bainbridge, a celebrated astronomer and mathematician, were born at this town, the former in 1574, the latter in 1582. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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