B E L V O I R C a S T L
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BELVOIR CASTLE; With the SUCCESSION and INTERMARRIAGES of the FAMILY since the Conquest* * THE castle of BELLEVOIRE standith yn the utter Eagle in the county of Lincoln ; and Granby anl part that way of Leircesterfhir', on the very knape of Sutton, in the county of Nottingham. The duke has a highe hille, stepe up eche way, partely by nature, also in this neighbourhood the patronage of almost: partely by working of mennes handes, as it may as many churches, and a landed property of more evidently be perceyvid V Carhden describes it as in than 2o,oco/. a year. Lincolnshire; where he fays, " In the West part of This castle has been called by the different names Kelteven, on the edge of this county and Leicester- of Belvar, Beauvoir 6, Behidere % Bever, Bellovero, shire, stands Belvoir castle, so called (whatever was Belloviso, he.; and the etymology is easy, for few its antfent name) from the fine prospect on a steep places have so extensive a command of the country7* hill, which seems the work of arti."—" It stands up- It is situated upon the confines of Lincolnshire, at the on the top of a very lofty hill, containing from the termination of a, branch of the Leicestershire wolds^ foot to the top about 200 steps 5 yielding every way extending into the Vale of Belvoir to the North; a most delicious and pleasing prospect, being accounted and not only takes iti the Vale, but reaches over a one of the best prospects in the land : 1 have often rich and amazingly extensive country; which, front viewed this castle from the place where I dwell at Falde the elevation of the castle, appears in the several 8 near Tutbury, in the county of Stafford, with the help Views a dead flat . It was founded by ROBERT DE of a perspective glass, the distance of 32 miles *."-^> TODENI, called afterwards Robert deBelvedeir, a noble It is visible almolt in the clouds, on the top of a Vast Norman, and standard-bearer to William the Con- hill, for many miles around. From the rooms may be queror; aild was at first, probably, a part of the seen Lincoln minster at 30 miles distance perfectly adjoining township of Wolsthorpe, which is parti- s clear . Newark appears in the centre of the valley '3 cularly noticed in Domesday as containing Two ma- Nottingham is easily discerned ; and Southwell min- nors, and having in one of them " a church and a ster is also visible from this castle. But the grand presbyter 9;" till, becoming by the residence of its prospect of all, is that which the duke of Rutland owner the head of the lordship, the whole was dis- fees from hence, viz. two and twenty manors of his tinguished by the title of " manerium de Belvoir, own paternal inheritance; Viz. Belvoir, Croxton, cum membris de Wollesthorpe lc." Bescaby, Sakby, Sproxton, Waltham, Eaton, Braun- The express purpose of the foundation W3S to bridle ston, Knipton, Harby, Howes, Plungar, Barkston, the Saxons; but whether it was a place of any note Redmild, Bottesford, Normanton, Easthorpe, and prior to the Conquest is Uncertain ". The silence of Muston, in the county of Leicester; Wotsthorp and Domesday" makes it probable it was not. 1 Letand, Itin. vol. I. p. 114. In vol. VI. p. 29. he fays, " Bever castle of surety standith in j^jfe, to the Vale of Belver." In his Collectanea, vol. I. p. 95, he calls it " Casirum Belver, alias dictum Pulchrum visu, in comit. Lincoln." 1 The hill on which the castle stands, or a great part of it, is supposed to be artificial; and, from the soil, situation, etymology^ aud other circumstances, it has been sometimes supposed to be the MargUunum of the Romans; but on this head fee what is said under Nether Broughton. Roman coins having been formerly found at Belvoir,.. Dr..Stukeley. conceived it to have been originally a camp. Others, of Adrian, Vespasian, Sec were found in 1786 in a field near Belvoir. See Gent. Mag. LVII. 83. 3 "In Occidentali parte Kestevenæ, in hujus et Leicestrefisi collimitio castrum Bdvoir leu Beawvcir, fie dictum a bello prospectit (quodcunque olira fuerit nomen) colli satis acclivi, & hominum opere, ut videtur, aggestæ, imponitur." Camden, ed. 1607, p. 403. * Burton, p. 43. s See Young's Northern Tour, vol. I. p. 93. * These two are corrupt pronunciations of the original name. 7 For the entertainment of the curious, a list sliall be given at the end of the description of Belvoir, drawn up by Mr. Peck, in 1727, of the numerous places, in Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire, which may be seen from this castle. * Plate Yl. which forms the head-piece to this page, was taken by Mr. Schnebbclie in July, 1789. Plates VII. VIII. are North-west and South west views by Badefladc and Toms, taken in 1731, and now, with some little alterations, worked-oft" from the original plates. Two views from the East and the South were published by S. and N. Buck in 1730; and another from the East is given by Mr. Throsby, in his third number of " Select Viewi." Mr. Schnebbelie's, being taken a very little to the North of the East, represents the country in a still different aspect ; and shews the situation of the offices belong, ing to the castle, and also of Belvoir inn, which is built on, or very near, the site of the priory. 1 9 Domesday, Lincolnshire, p. 353, a. lo Inq. 26 Edw. III. J 1 11 Wither ther were any castclle ther afore the Conquest or no, I am not sure ; but surely I think rather no than ye. Tote - neius was the first enhabiter there after the Conquest. Then it came to Albeneius. And from Albeney toRos. Of this descent, and of the foundation of the priory in the village at the castelle foot, I have written a quere separately." Leland, vol. I. P- 114— The substance of this " quere" will be here incorporated. •1 Drogo dc Bevrere occurs among the land-owners in Leicestershire, as holding property in Ovreton and Howes. The.