Nottinghamshire

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Nearby Places

Willoughby on the Wolds

"Standing 11 miles south by east of Nottingham, and near the Leicestershire border, Willoughby-on-the-Wolds is a long, rural village and parish, sheltered by the embowering foliage of a double row of trees, and seated upon a declivity near the ancient Fosseway. Though so retired in its situation, it did not escape the baneful effects of the civil wars in the reign of Charles I, when a bloody contest was fought in Willoughby Field, in which Colonel Stanhope was numbered amongst the slain. The lofty cross in the village was doomed for destruction by the pious soldiers of Cromwell, but their religious enthusiasm was so much damped by some strong beer given them by the vicar, after he had made a long speech in defence of the innocents, that it was permitted to remain unmolested, but was taken down thirty years ago.
Willoughby is considered by Horseley as the Vernomentum so often mistaken for Margidunum. Stukely tells us that the old Roman town (of which the ditch and mound still exist) was in a field called "Henings" where, tradition says, there was an old city called Long Billington, but the site is now designated the "Black Field", from the colour and richness of the soil. Near the source of Willoughby Brook is Croxhill, an ancient tumulus, on which an unusual revel was held in allusion to some traditionary festival of the Roman mythology. Many colns, pavements, and other antiquities have been found near the village.
The church, dedicated to St Mary, has many ancient and splendid monuments (now in a ruinous state, from the dilapidated state of the roof) of the Willoughbys, ancestors of Lord Middleton, whose predecessors sold this lordship many years ago to various proprietors."
[White's "Directory of Nottinghamshire," 1853]

Census

• The parish was in the Leake sub-district of the Loughborough Registration District.
  
  
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
  
  

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Church History

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary and All Saints.
  
  
• The church appears to be of Norman origin, but no date of construction is given.
  
  
• The church seats about 230.
  
  

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Church Records

• The Anglican parish church register dates from 1678 for all entries.
  
  
• The church was in the rural No. 2 deanery of Bingham.
  
  
• Monuments in the church are badly damaged, presumably mostly from Parliamentary troops during the Civl War. Although for many years there were holes in the roof, letting weather damage the monuments. There is a brass plate honoring Col. Michael STANHOPE, slain while fighting on the King's side in WIlloughby field in July, 1648.
  
  
• The Baptists built a new chapel here in 1878.
  
  

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Civil Registration

• The parish was in the Leake sub-district of the Loughborough Registration District.
  
  
• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
  
  

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Description and Travel

Willoughby on the Wolds is a village, a township and a parish. This place is 11.5 miles south-east of Nottingham city and 7 miles north-east of Loughborough in Leicester. The parish covers 2,103 acres and includes the hamlet of West Thorpe which sits a quarter mile south-west of WIllougby village.

If you are planning a visit:

• Take the A46 motorway north out of Leicester city or the A606 south-east out of Nottingham. The A46 is the old Roman Fosse Road. Just over a mile south of the intersection of these two roads, on the A46, is a turn-off for Willoughby on the Wolds, which sits just west of the motorway.
  
  

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Directories

• We have an extract from White's 1853 Directory relating to this parish.
  
  

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History

• This place is thought to be, by some, the Roman station Vernomentum", but positive proof remains elusive.
  
  
• A Civil War battle was fought here in WIlloughby Field in 1648.
  
  
• Cross Hill is an old barrow on which games were heald each year.
  
  
• The strip-farming system continued in this village until 1799.
  
  

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Maps

• The national grid reference is SK 6325.
  
  
• You'll want an Ordinance Survey Explorer map, which has 2.5 inches to the mile scale.
  
  
• See our Maps page for additional resources.
  
  

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Names, Geographical

• In the 1086 Domesday Book, the village is given as Wilgebi or Willebi.
  [A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991].
  
  

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Politics and Government

• This place was an ancient parish in county Nottingham and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
  
  
• The parish was in southern division of the ancient Rushcliffe Wapentake (Hundred) in the southern division of the county.
  
  
• On 1 April, 1965, this Civil Parish gave up 37 acres to enlarge Burton on the Wolds Civil Parish (in Leicestershire) and another 270 acres to enlarge Wymeswold Civil Parish.
  
  

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• The Common Land was enclosed here in 1749.
  
  
• As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, this parish joined the Loughborough Poor Law Union in Leicestershire.
  
  
• John WELSH's charity distributed 20 shillings annually to the parish poor in 1881.
  
  

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Population

Year	Population
1801	355
1851	600
1861	573
1871	472
1881	480
1891	414
1901	398
1911	433
1921	371
1931	368

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Schools

• A National School was built here in 1863 by public subscription.
  
  
• A local School Board was formed in 1873.
  
  
• The school still stands.
  
  

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