TRANSACTIONS OF THE LEICESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY VOL. XVI. 1929—1930-31 W. THORNLEY & SON Bowling Green Street, Leicester 1930-31 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Quenby:— The Hall, looking South ... ... ... ... ... 17 Great Staircase ... ... ... ... ... ... 19 Dining Room, looking South ... ... ... ... 21 Great Parlour, looking South ... ... ... ... 23 Drawing Room ... ... ... ... ... ... 25 "Angel" Bedchamber ... ... ... ... ... 25 Great Parlour Mantelpiece ... ... ... ... 27 Entrance Gates ... ... ... ... ... 27 Architectural Plans of Hall (3) ... ... ... ... 42 Belgrave: — Church from South-east ... ... ... ... ... 45 Chancel arid South Aisle from Nave ' ... ... ... 47 Tower Arch and Font ... ... ... ... ... 49 Sedilia and Piscina, South Wall of Chancel ... ... ... 51 Norman South Doorway ... ... ... ... ... 53 Hall and Church ... ... ... ... ... 55 Architectural Plan of Church ... ... ... ... 64 Skeffington: — Hall, East-front ... ... ... ... ... ... 73 „ South-side ... ... ... ... ... 77 Chapel and Gateway to Hall ... ... ... ... 81 Courtyard ... ... ... ... ... ... 81 Chapel—Coloured Glass ... ... ... ... ... 89 Monumental Effigies ... ... ... ••• ••• 89 Church ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 97 Quorndon: — Church ... ... ... ... ... .- 213 Interior, looking South-east ... ... ••• ••• 215 Farnham Chapel, looking East ... ... ... ... 217 „ „ looking West ... ... ... 217 „ „ Tomb of John Farnham (1587) ... ... 219 Priest's Door in South Wall of Chancel ... ... ... 221 Incised Slabs (4) of Farnham Family ... ... ... 223 Architectural Plan of Church ... ... ... ... 224 „ „ of Farnham Chapel ... ... ... 224 THE LEICESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY THE 75th ANNUAL REPORT 1929 The Committee are glad to say that the Archaeological Society continues to prosper. In the course of 1929, the following new members were elected : — In January : — Mr. Harold E. Inglesant, Clovelly, Narborough, Leicester Mr. George Lawton Brown, The Cedars, Kirby Muxloe, Leicester Mr. John E. Faire, Evington Hall, Leicester Mr. Francis D. Jarrom, 28 Ashleigh Road, Leicester Mr. Charles Bennion, Thurnby Grange, Leicester In July:— "Mrs. Templeman, 318 Victoria Park Road, Leicester Miss E. Taylor, The Woodlands, Birstall, Leicester In September:— The Rev. Canon E. Berridge, 130 Regent Road, Leicester Mrs. E. J. Hubbard, Stoughton Lodge, Stoughton Lane, Leicester Mr. C. J. Le Mee-Power, Villa Poggio, Ponente, Bordighera, Italy Sir William Edge, M.P., Ribble Cottage, Lytham, Lancashire Mrs. Norman, Heathercroft, Knighton Road, Leicester Mrs. E. E. Patey, Stoneycroft Hotel, Elm- field Avenue, Leicester In October:— Mr. W. T. Hall, M.B.E., 7 Longley Road, Harrow, Middlesex Mrs. Wright, The Grange, Quorn, Loughborough Mr. J. Fernsby, Meadway, Syston, Leicester ii LEICESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY In November:— Mrs. A. E. Hawley, Markfield, near Leicester Miss A. Deeley, Central Library, Bishop St., Leicester Mrs. A. O. Hassell, Trelawney, Springfield Road, Leicester Mr. A. W. Sharman, Church Gate, Leicester To set against this addition of twenty members, there were ten resignations, chiefly of persons leaving the district, and we have to regret the loss by death of Mr. Charles Bennion, Mr. J. Deakin, Mr. E. E. Ellis, Mr. John E. Faire, Mr. J. Rowley Frisby, the Rev. A. J. W. Hiley, the Earl of Lanesborough, Mr. F. W. S. Vincent and Mrs. C. A. Spencer. The total number of members has therefore been increased by one since the end of 1928, when there were three hundred and twenty-two names on the roll. Mr. Bennion and Bradgate Mr. Bennion died suddenly a few weeks after the finely conceived act of munificence by which he will always be gratefully remem­ bered was announced to the public. We are fortunate in being able to insert at this point an account of the whole transaction, and of the circumstances that led up to it, which has been specially written by Col. Martin, who, as Chairman of the original Brad- gate Trustees, is fully conversant with all the facts: — In the autumn of 1925 an event took place which has modified pro­ foundly the whole appearance of the landscape on and adjoining the South Western corner of Charnwood Forest. The event was the sale of the Leicestershire property of the Earls of Stamford, which they held as descendants of the Greys of Groby; the area affected was 6,100 acres, and as it was put up for sale in 227 lots it may readily be understood that the consequent change of ownership has been very marked. At the express wish of Mrs. Grey, the tenant for life, certain portions of the estate were reserved from the sale, the most notable among them being the 829 acres which lie within the ring fence of Bradgate Park. In November 1927, Mrs. Grey wrote to the Mayor of Leicester expressing her willingness to dispose of Bradgate Park, on con­ dition that it should be preserved as an open space for the use of the inhabitants of the City and County of Leicester. The matter was placed in the hands of the Town Clerk, Mr. H. A. Pritchard, who consulted certain people of Leicester and the County with a view to raising a public subscription in order to purchase the Park. As a result of this, it was decided that an option should be obtained and steps should be taken to raise the money. It proved to be REPORT iii more difficult than had been anticipated to obtain this option and, while Mr. Pritchard was still in negotiation with Mrs. Grey and the Trustees, the difficulties were resolved by the action of a gentleman who, in the autumn of 1928, called upon Mr. Pritchard, and intimated to him his desire to provide the sum required to secure the freehold of the Park, with a view to its preservation as an open space. Mrs. Grey agreed very willingly and was at pains to secure the acceptance of a price which, though necessarily very considerable, did not approach what might have been obtained if the Park had been disposed of on ordinary commercial lines. The gentleman to whose generosity and public-spirit this happy settlement of the question was due was the late Mr. Charles Bennion, of Thurnby Grange, Director of the British United Shoe Machinery Company. He was by profession an engineer and had for many years been in business in Leicester as head of a large and successful Machine works. It was Mr. Bennion's desire that the Park should be retained in perpetuity so far as possible in its natural condition and should be vested in a body of Trustees, charged with its preservation for the use and enjoyment of the people of Leicester and Leicestershire. On his instructions, Mr. Pritchard prepared a Deed of Trust and Conveyance, by which the 829 acres of the Park, together with the .67 acres of agricultural land adjoining it to the South-East, were conveyed to the Leicestershire County Council and to the City Council of Leicester, to hold them in perpetuity upon the trusts declared in a Deed of Trust made at the same date. The terms of this Deed were, shortly, that the Park should be managed by a Managing Committee of nine persons, three of them appointed by the County Council, three by the City Council, and three by Mr. Charles Bennion himself. The Deed provided that, on the death or resignation of any one of the Trustees appointed by Mr. Bennion, his successor should be appointed by the National Trust for places of historic interest or national beauty. Mr. Bennion's desire, in making this provision, was to secure an element of con­ tinuity which it might otherwise have been difficult to maintain. The Councils of the City and County gratefully accepted Mr. Bennion's gift, and the Conveyance and Deed of Trust were signed on December 29th, 1928. The effect of Mr. Bennion's generous and far-sighted action has thus been to secure that the preservation and up-keep of the Park are placed in the hands of a body of Trustees who have behind them the financial support of the rates of the County and City. The Management Committee has been constituted as follows : — the three representatives of Mr. Charles Bennion are his son Mr. Claud Bennion, his son-in-law Mr. Shirley Harrison, and Mr. W. Lindsay Everard, M.P.; the representatives of the County Council are Sir Arthur Grey Hazlerigg, Bart., Lt.-Col. Robert Edmund Martin, and Mr. Victor Robert Pochin; the representatives of the City Council are Alderman Alfred Hill, Alderman John Mantle Hubbard and Councillor Herbert Simpson. The Town Clerk, Mr. H. A. Pritchard, acts as Honorary Secretary, and the Clerk of the County Council, Major W. J. Freer, as Honorary Treasurer. The Managing Committee, in addition to the ordinary works of maintenance and up-keep, are proceeding by degrees to carry out such repairs to the ruins of the sixteenth century house in the Park as may secure it from further deterioration. IV LEICESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY The City and County of Leicester have suffered a heavy loss by the death of Mr. Charles Bennion within a. few weeks of the final com­ pletion of his public-spirited design. He will have, as his memorial, the heartfelt gratitude of many future generations of Leicestershire people, as they contemplate the results of his magnificent generosity in the preservation of an area remarkable alike for its historic interest and its striking natural beauty. During the summer of 1929, Mr. Claud Bennion made a further addition to his father's gift by purchasing and presenting to the Trustees the pieces of ground, about 9 acres in extent in each case, through which the approaches to the Park run at the Newtown Linford and Hallgates ends. This most generous action on Mr. Bennion's part has insured that the access to the Park shall be free from incongruous and unsuitable conditions and has extended the control of the Trustees to the public road in each case. Transactions The second part of volume XV of the Society's Transactions was issued towards the end of November. In addition to the Com­ mittee's report and the audited statement of accounts, this con­ tains the following papers : — i.