Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BREEDON-ON-THE-HILL

BREEDON-ON-THE-HILL, a village and a township in the district of Shardlow, and county of Leicester, and a parish in the districts of Shardlow and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and counties of Leicester and Derby. The village stands at the base of a high limestone rock, near the verge of the county, 4 miles N of Swannington r. station, and 5 NE by N of Ashby-de-la-Zouch; and has a post office, of the name of Breedon, under Ashby-de-la-Zouch. A small monastery of black canons, subject to the priory of St. Oswald in Yorkshire, was founded here in 1144 by Ferrers, Earl of Nottingham; and given, at the dissolution, to the Shirleys. -The township includes also the hamlets of Wilson and Tonge. Acres, 3,010. Real property, £3,499. Pop., 893. Houses, 222.—The parish contains also the townships of Staunton-Harrold and Worthington, and the liberty of Newbold. Acres, 6,410. Real property, £11,797. Pop., 2,417. Houses, 542. The property is divided among a few. The manor belongs to the Earl of Stamford. Limestone is worked. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £205. Patron, the Earl of Stamford. The church surmounts the limestone rock at the village; contains tombs of the Shirleys; and is good. The p. curacy of Worthington is a separate benefice. There are two Wesleyan chapels, an endowed school with £41 a year, and a vicarage augmentation charity £244.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a township"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Derbyshire AncC       Leicestershire AncC
Place: Breedon on the Hill

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