. t 783* 1

MELBOURNE is so intimately connected with Castle Donington, The manor is now the inheritance of the earl of that a brief account of it shall here be given. Moira, as descended from the earls of . We learn from , that the manor of " In the reign of queen Elizabeth, iir Richard Har- Melbourne, which is in the deanry of Repton and pur left his son John an estate in Melborne9; "and, in county of Derby, was an antient demeine of the 1598, died William Blackwdl, esq. of Alton hall. in crown, under the title of terra Regis; and that there the pariih of Wirldworth, and left his son kalph a was at that early period a priest and a church there l. capital messuage here 10." From a Court of Survey in the archives at Donington King Henry I, in 1133* erected a bifhoprick at Park, it appears that the manor and lordship of Mel- Carlisle; and Henry ill, in 1269, granted to God and bourne butteth upon the lordlhips of Donington, the church bf the blessed Mary at Carlisle, and to Wilson, and Bredon, Eastward; upon Staunton and Walter then bishop o( Carlisle and his successors, and Caulke Southward ; upon Derby Hills and Staunton to the prior and canons of Carlisle in the said church, Westward, till it come to the river of Trent, which is and to their successors, the parsonage of Melbourne, Northward, and divides it from Swarkeston and Wei- with the rights, lands, and appurtenances. This ton ; and that the manor extends itself into Swarkeston, bishop Walter, or some of his immediate successors, Cheleston, Ofmaston, Normanton, and Cottons2. trected a palace here, near to the church, and im- This manor was granted by king Henry III. to parked a part of the adjoining lands ; and there they Edmund his younger ion, created earl of Lancajler in had their residence occasionally for some centuries du- ring the frequent inroads and devastations of the Scots |25y -, who ia 1290 had a grant from his brother king Edward Iv of free-warren at Melbourne 3. in the neighbourhood of their palace at Carlisle. In 1308, Robert de Holland obtained a grant from The parsonage and palace belonging to the bishops the King in fee, of the manors of Meleburne, New- of Carlvflt tvere held by sir Francis Needham, knt. in ten, Ofmurnkston, Swarkeflon, Chelardeston, Nor- the time of queen Elizabeth, under a lease; and, after manton, ant Wyveletton, in the county of Derby, &c., that, " came to fir John Coke, a younger son of the wkh -divers U'bennes and privileges; namely, returns Trufley family, who was iecreiary of state in king of wrks* pleas of VVytliernain, felons goods, &c. 4 James the First's time ; and, having raiied a consider- In 1328, Hairy earl ot Lancaster and Derby, son of able estate, settled his family here ". •feafl fr.olmund, by whom the castle at Melbourne, . By virtue of an act of parliament of the third year of where for some time he resided, is supposed to have queen Anne, to confirm an agreement made between been bnilt, obtained licence For a marker every week Thomas then bishop of Carlijle and Thomas Coke, efq. upon the Wednesday, at his manor of Melbourne 5 ; (great-grandson of fir John, and vice-chamberlain to but this hath long since been discontinued. queep Anne) respecting the said parsonage, the said The earldom of Lancaster being erected into a Thomas Coke being then lessee thereof, the fame is dutchy by king Edward III. in 1345, the manor of now held in fee-farm of the said biihoprick by the Melbourne continued to be a part of the great inhe- present lord viscount Melbourne. The park hath been ritance belonging thereto ; and in right thereof be- dilparked many years; but the houte and gardens came the property of the crown. have been much improved by his lordship's ancestors, John duke of Bourbon, who was taken prisoner at and make a pleasant summer residence. The old- the 1415, was confined nineteen fashioned gardens, founrain, cut hedges, and straight years in Melbourne castle in the custody of Nicholas walks, still remain; and, being upon an extensive Montgomery the younger6. He was committed by king plan, are really curious, such being now rarely to be Henry V. and released by his successor. In 1460, the met with in any part of the kingdom. The family, last year of the reign of king Henry VI, the castle was however, lptrhd but little of their tune here, as they dismantled by the order of queen Margaret 7. An en- reside principally, when in the country, at their elegant graving of this antient fortress, from an original draw- houle, Brockett hall, Herts. ing preserved in the office of the dutchy of Lancaster, At present is, by favour of trre taken in the time of queen Elizabeth, was published noble owner, the temporary residence of his young by the Society of Antiquaries8 ; and ihews the vene- friend lord viscount Tamzvorth, only son of my truly rable style of building of this antrent royal mansion. kind and right honourable patron the earl Ferrers. King James I, in 1604, by a grant under the seal l.ord Melbourne has also a large and antient house of the , alienated the castle and at King's Newton ; which was formerly the property manor of Melbourne to Charles earl of Nottingham ; of the Hardinge family ; and is ax present occupied by who soon after iold the, fame to Henry earl of Hunt- Edward Abney, esq. second son of the late William ingdon, ancestor of the late earl, for ^4700. The Abney, esq. of Measham,. co. Derby. castle was suffered to go into ruins after it came into The whole parish of Melbourne, including the small the possession of the earls of Huntingdon; but suffi- hamlet of King's Newton, contains 286 houses, and cient of the walls and foundations thereof are even 1410 inhabitants ; and a considerable number of per- yet remaining, to mark out the lite and extent, and sons in it are supported by manufactures. " Many to shew the great strength of the building. hands are employed in combing and spinning jersey ; By an order of queen Elizabeth, a survey was made but those who work upon the.stocking-frame are still in 1602, by Thomas Fanlhawe, then auditor of the •more numerous, there being no less than eighty within Dutchy •, in which he notices that " her majesty hath the pariih. The stone quarries near the town also afford employment to about thirty persons. The chief part a fair anttent castle standing; there, which her majesty 12 keepeth in her own hands; ' and that Gilbert earl of of their business is the manufacture of scythe-stones ." Shaftefbury was then constable of the fame, and bai- The money raised for the poor in 1776 was /"281. liff there by letters patent during his life, with the 19J. 4(i.; the medium of three years 1783—1785, annual fee of £\o. £266. 8s. -lid.** 1 " Ibi piefbiter & eedesin." Domesday, sol. 272. b. On the subject of this church, fee a learned and valuable essay, illustrated with three most accurately -drawn plates, by William Wilkins, efq. in the Archæologia, vol. XIII. p. 2-90. 2 Archæologia, vol. XIII. p .291. 3 Cart. 19 Etiw. I. 4 Dugdale's Baronage, vol. I. p. 73.% 5 Cart. 2 Edw III. 6 Camden'sBriunnia. 7 St-owe's Atmais, p.413. a Vetusta Monumenta, vol. I. Plate XL. 9 What the Harpurs had in Melbourne was a parcel of land only, called Ben;; et's C;loje or Wood Close, now lord Moira's. 10 Wolky's MS History of .-- I11 old ctei-ds, any thing of a family-house was described as a capital mejfuage. A very antient building behnging to lord Moiva,:near the church, and n vv a farm-troiise, in the old deeds is called a capital messuage. It still goes by the name of hcuLy ball, t'rotn a family of the BMulrs, formerly the owners of it. This may have bdoriged to the Blackwclls; though it does not appear that it did from the title-deeds. In-1539 it belonged to Jolm Beaumont, esej. ; he said it to sir Jobn Port; Port sold it in 1550 to Roger Bncknki•; Brecknock iold it lo Beahlic; and the Beaulies to the Huntb.gikn family: so there ieems no opening in tire titl. stum the deeds for the Blfcktuells. " 'i MS. u i'llkingtoh's Deibvfhrt-e, vol. II. p. 81. - " See the particulars hereafter, p. 876. 9O 2 ;•;.' Pedigree