TRANSACTIONS OF THE LEICESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY TRANSACTIONS OF THE LEICESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY VOL. XX W. THORNLEY & SON BOWLING GREEN STREET, LEICESTER 1938-39 CONTENTS PAGE The Eighty-third Annual Report and Accounts, 1937 i xxiii The Eighty-fourth Annual Report and Accounts, 1938 ... ... ... ... ... ... xxvii xliii List of Officers, Members, etc. ... ... ... xlv Hi Rules ... ... ... ... ... ... ... liii liv VOL. XX. PART I. POST-MEDIEVAL COSSINGTON By Florence E. Skillington ... ... ... ... 1 WIGSTON MAGNA LAY SUBSIDIES, 1327 to 1599 By W. G. Hoskins, M.Sc. (Econ.), Ph.D. ... ... 55 THE ROTHLEY CROSS-SHAFT AND THE SPROXTON CROSS By T. E. Routh ... ... ... ... ... 65 MINISTERS' ACCOUNTS OF THE HONOR OF LEICESTER (1322 to 1324) (continued from Vol. XXVIX, Part 2) By Levi Fox, B.A. (Oxon.), M.A. (Manch.) ... 77 A FERRERS DOCUMENT OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY By Eleanor Swift, M.A. ... ... ... ... 159 THE DOMESDAY GEOGRAPHY OF LEICESTERSHIRE By D. Holly ... ... ... ... ... ... 167 CONTENTS-continued PAGE VOL. XX. PART II. POST-MEDIEVAL COSSINGTON By Florence E. Skillington ... ... ... ... 203 A HISTORY OF THE HUMBERSTONE FAMILY By W. G. Hoskins, M.Sc. (Econ.), Ph.D. ... ... 241 THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE HONOR OF LEICESTER IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY By Levi Fox, B.A. (Oxon.), M.A. (Manch.) ... 289 ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE POST-MEDIEVAL COSSINGTON Eighteenth-Century Carron Grate in Farm-house ... 1 Eighteenth-Century Grates in Farm-house ... ... 17 Swithland Slate Headstones ... ... ... ... 32 Genealogical Table The Babingtons of Cossington 33 THE ROTHLEY CROSS-SHAFT AND THE SPROXTON CROSS The Rothley Cross-Shaft ... ... ... ... 68,72 The Sproxton Cross ... ... ... ... ... 73,76 North and South Responds of Chancel Arch, Bibury, Glos. ... ... ... ... ... 76 THE MINISTERS' ACCOUNTS OF THE HONOR OF LEICESTER (1322 to 1324) Reproductions from Ministers' Accounts ... ... 81,96 A FERRERS DOCUMENT OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY Charter from William Earl Ferrers to Garendon Abbey 159 THE DOMESDAY GEOGRAPHY OF LEICESTERSHIRE Maps ... ... ... ... ... ... 169 201 POST-MEDIEVAL COSSINGTON The Rev. John Babington and George Reeve ... 203 The Church Plate ... ... ... ... ... 210 Map showing the first pipe-draining scheme ... ... 218 Map showing drainage scheme in detail ... ... 226 ILLUSTRATIONS—continued FACING PAGE A HISTORY OF THE HUMBERSTONE FAMILY Map showing the Leicestershire Homes of the Humberstones ... ... ... ... ... 241 Thrussington and the River Wreak ... ... 246 Thrussington Church ... ... ... ... 251 Wymeswold Church ... ... ... ... ... 258 A Street in Wymeswold ... ... ... ... 259 Asfordby Church ... ... ... ... ... 266 Asfordby Church and Rectory ... ... ... 271 Headstone of Mary Humberston (1683-1724) ... 278 Robert Humberstone (1778-1865) ... ... ... 278 Robert Humberstone ... ... ... ... 282 Mary Humberstone ... ... ... ... ... 283 Genealogical Table ... ... ... ... ... 288 THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE HONOR OF LEICESTER IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY Map shewing the extent and organization of the midland possessions of the honor of Leic­ ester in the fourteenth century ... ... ... 362, THE LEICESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY EIGHTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 1937 THE LEICESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY EIGHTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT, 1937 YOUR Committee are happy to report that the satisfactory position of the Society has been well maintained, and that there are very good reasons for believing that its prosperity and usefulness will continue and increase. The outstanding events of 1937 were the decision of the Corporation to preserve the important Roman remains that were brought to light in the previous year at Leicester, and the publication, rather late in December, of Professor Hamilton Thompson's most valuable and interesting History of the Hospital and the New College of the Annunciation of St. Mary in the Newarke, Leicester, by the Society. In October, 1935, when your Committee had practically decided to bring out this book, which is bound to enhance the Society's reputation, the late Lord Ferrers, who was then our President, wrote about it as follows : "The College in the Newarke at Leicester is clearly of first-rate importance both for local history and for the light it throws on the constitution of colleges of secular canons in the country at large. We are singularly fortunate that the history of the College has been written by so able and trustworthy an antiquary as Professor Hamilton Thompson, and now that there is a chance of having it brought together and published in book form, the opportunity must not be missed. I shall be grateful if you will put down my name as a subscriber". A review of the book, kindly written by Mr. W. G. Hoskins as a record of the enter­ prise, will be found at the end of this report. The Corporation decided to preserve the site of the Forum at Leicester, and to continue the excavations there, soon after the beginning of the year. Before the matter was finally brought before the City Council, our Society was invited to send a deputation to state the case for preserving the remains at a joint meeting of the Baths IV. LEICESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY Committee and the Parliamentary and General Purposes Com­ mittee, which was presided over by the Lord Mayor (Alderman Swain). The delegates selected were Colonel Martin, Mr. C. S. Bigg, Mr. Albert Herbert and Mr. S. H. Skillington. These representatives were very courteously received and listened to, and it is believed that what they said helped the aldermen and councillors to arrive at what is almost universally regarded as the only right and patriotic decision. Miss Kenyon has been good enough to write a short account of the work done on the site in the summer of 1937. Her article, which is of course authoritative, immediately precedes Mr. Hoskins's review of Professor Hamilton Thompson's book on the Newarke college and hospital. The following ladies and gentlemen were elected to member­ ship in the course of the year : 1936 In November: Miss F. K. Musson, Roof Tree Cottage, Hoby, Leicestershire Mr. H. M. Taylor, 64 Brockhurst Road, Ward End, Birmingham 8 1937 In January: Mr. G. E. Flack, M.A., Librarian, University College, Nottingham Mr. L. Fox, The Outwoods, Cole Orton, Leicestershire In June: Miss Lilian Dalley, 7 Spinney Rise, Birstall, Leicester In April: The Rev. H. T. Jenner, Peckleton Lane, Desford In July: Mr. J. J. Gardiner, 194 Welford Road, Leicester In November: Mr. G. A. Longden, Draycott Lodge, near Derby Mr. A. B. Plummer, 3 Granby Street, Leicester Mrs. L. Wildt, Newstead, Ratcliffe Road, Leicester Five members resigned, and the Society regrets the loss by death of the Earl Ferrers, Canon S. T. Winckley, Mrs. C. M. A. G. Farnham, Mr. J. R. Frears, Mr. Thomas Hacking, Mr. W. H. Lead, Mr. Arthur Oram, Mr. W. Taylor and Mr. H. J. Walker. REPORT V. The Earl Ferrers, F.S.A. VERY early in the year 1937 the Society lost its President and the County the head of one of its oldest families, whose ancestor fought at Hastings and was a considerable landowner in Leicester­ shire at the time of the Domesday Survey. It was about eleven years ago that Sir Walter Knight Shirley, eleventh Earl Ferrers and Viscount Tamworth, became President of the Society, in succession to the late Duke of Rutland, who, as Lord Granby, held that position until he succeeded his father as Patron. Lord Ferrers attended occasionally at the meetings of the Society and took the chair in July 1931, when an address on the care of ancient churches was given by Mr. Eeles. Mr. Eeles is a member of the Committee of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, of which Lord Ferrers was for many years one of the Honorary Secretaries, a position for which he was peculiarly well-qualified, being himself a practising architect of standing in his profession. Those who were so fortunate as to take part in the excursion to Staunton Harold in 1925 will have retained a happy memory alike of the kindness with which they were entertained by their host and hostess, and of the charm and interest of the church and the house and their surroundings. The church, which is almost unique alike in having been built during the Common­ wealth and in the perfection of its contemporary woodwork and fittings, was the object of Lord Ferrers' constant care and affection : there he attended service with unfailing regularity, reading the lessons to the congregation of his household and his tenants as they sat, the men on the right of the nave and the women on the left, according to the seventeenth-century custom which has been observed in unbroken continuity since the church was built. No one who knew him could doubt that it was from his religion that he derived the strength which enabled him to face the difficulties confronting all whose interests are bound up with the ownership of land, and the burden of the long and exhausting illness from which at last he died. The memory of his serene courage, and the influence of his character, will live long in the minds of the neighbours, in all walks of life, among whom he and Lady Ferrers spent their days. R. E. M. VI. LEICESTERSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY Canon S. T. Winckley, M.A., F.S.A. SIDNEY Thorold Winckley, one of the oldest and most respected members of the Society, of which he was a Vice-President, was born in 1858 and died on the 8th of May, 1937. He was a son of William Winckley, F.S.A., of Harrow, and Frances, daughter of the Reverend Charles Thorold, M.A., of Lincolnshire. He was educated at Harrow and at St. John's College, Cambridge. In 1888 he married Elizabeth, daughter of the Reverend W. T. Freer, M.A., R.D., of Houghton-on-the-Hill, Leicestershire, by whom he had two sons and three daughters; Mrs. Winckley died in 1925. He was ordained deacon in 1882, and priest in 1884. He held a curacy at St. Mary's, Nottingham, from 1882 until 1889, when he became vicar of St.