Goadby’s History of Loughborough, Chapter 9, Part 1

We’re again picking up the story of Loughborough as presented by journalist Edwin Goady, in his serialization in the ‘Loughborough Monitor’, a newspaper of which he was editor, which ran from 1864 to 1866.

We’re now onto Chapter 9, in which Goadby tells the story of Lord Hastings.

Goadby’s paragraphs are rather long, so in order to make reading the chapter a little easier, I have added a few spaces and created new paragraphs. This particular chapter seems fairly straightforward, so I’ve not added any notes this time. Other than that, I’ve changed nothing, so do bear in mind that this text is now about 160 years old, and may no longer be accurate, as there are many more discoveries that have been made that illuminate the history of Loughborough, and some terminology will have changed, so some of the information in this article will be wrong. I have not tried to amend these in any way, so reader, beware!

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THE HISTORY OF LOUGHBOROUGH

In: ‘Loughborough Monitor’ 8 June 1865, pg.3

CHAPTER IX.

THE GREAT LORD HASTINGS.

Part I.—Origin of the Family—Historical Importance of the Lord Hastings—Services and Rewards—A Military Indenture. His local influence—Saint Leonard's, at Leicester—A Letter of his—Gloucester's Character of him.

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We must now retrace our steps a little for the purpose of continuing the manorial history of the town. We have already stated that the manor was granted to Lord Hastings in 1461, and confirmed in 1467. It was not restored, along with other possessions, to Henry, the fifth Lord Beaumont, until 1483, so that Lord Hastings held the manor during the greater portion of his life.

The family of the Hastings were descended from Robert de Hastings, the Portreeve, or principal magistrate of the town of that name, who was also steward to William the Conqueror. William, Lord Hastings, was the eldest son of Sir Leonard Hastings, Knight, of Kirby Muxloe, in this county. Both father and son were retainers of Richard, Duke of York, the father of Edward IV., and a most intimate attachment was early formed between the young prince and the future baron. History and the drama record alike the excellencies and defects of this handsome, courtly, chivalrous, and somewhat unscrupulous nobleman.

It is quite beyond our province to sketch his career, or give anything like an original analysis of his character. A few details of local interest are all that we can give, and the only digression we shall make will but serve the more fully to bring out the social and national usages of the time.

In 1470, Edward IV. returned from exile, landed at Ravenspur, in Yorkshire, and marched thence to York, Wakefield, Sowdal, Doncaster, and Nottingham. In passing from Nottingham to Leicester, through Loughborough, Edward IV. was joined by a large number of adherents collected by Lord Hastings from his tenantry at Kirby Muxloe, Ashby, Loughborough, and other places, "so that he had then," says Leland, "a 4 M men or mo."

For these and other services Lord Hastings obtained, four years later, permission to enclose and impark 3,000 acres of land and wood at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, 2,000 acres at Bagworth and Thornton, and 2,000 acres at Kirby Muxloe. In all three places he was also allowed to build a military stronghold. The one at Ashby was both a palace and a fort, with roomy halls, chambers, and a lofty keep, the ruins of which are now so familiar to every one who knows anything of county relics and county history.

His retinue consisted of two Lords, nine Knights, fifty-eight Esquires, and twenty gentlemen, and some of their names are now familiar enough to most of us, as Montfort, Harcourt, Chaworth, Danvers, Green, Sacheverell, Curzon, Neville, Vernon, Shirley, Babington, Bassell, Turville, &c. In 1475, he executed an Indenture with one "John Gryffyne, gentillman," which is of great interest in revealing the military system of those days. The great Barons used to contract with the King to supply him with a certain number of men for a given number of days' service, and upon a certain scale of remuneration; as one mark per day for a Duke, 6s. 8d. for an Earl, 4s. for a Baron, 2s. for a Knight, and 6d. for an archer, these sums being equivalent to ten times the amount in modern money. The Barons then made sub-contracts with smaller men, and usually managed to make money by the transaction. The indenture in question set forth that

"the said John is reteyned and withholden with the said Lord Hastynges to do him service of werre with the Kyng our soverain lord, now on his viage over the see for one hole year at his spere wele and sufficiently horsed, armed, and arrayed as it apperteneth to a man of armes, and iiii archers wele and sufficiently horsed, hernessed, habilled, and arrayed as it apperteneth to an archer, taking for hym selfe xviii d. a day, and for every archer vi d. by the day, of the wiche wages the said John hath receyved the first quarter of the said hole yere the day of sealyng these presentis, at which day the said lord hath yeven (given) knowledge to the said John that he shall make monstres (musters) of hym self and his said retenue, at Portes-downe in Hampshire, the xxiiiith day of May next comencyng, or the same day at any other place upon resonnabil warning."

Some of the other stipulations are rather curious. After "the said monstresse and payment" of the second quarter the men are "with goddis grace (sic) to go to shipp at such tyme as the Kyng and the said lord shall commande them, and for the other halfe of the said yere the said John shall be paid by the said lord, for him selfe and his said retenue on the yonder side of the See, monethly in English money, or in money there rynnyng (running) to the value of English money."

Another clause in this long and curious document shows us other sources of enrichment for the Baron. "Also the said lorde shall have the iiide parte of the wynnynges of werre as well of the said John as the iiide of iiides whereof yche (each) of his retenue shall be answeryng unto him of their wynnynges of werre duryng the tyme above said, be it prisoners, prayes (preys), or other goodes or cattall what so ever thei be, and the said John, or he, or thei that shall so take such prisoners or prayes shall show unto the said lorde within six days after the so takyng as well the names of the said prisoners as their astate, degre, or condicionn, and the quantite and value of the said gettyngis by estimacionn upon payn of forfiture the said prisoners and wynnyngis above said."

The indenture is signed by Hastings himself, and it is easy to comprehend the stir and excitement such enrollments would make in the neighbourhood, and the wasteful expenditure that any considerable army thus raised necessarily entailed upon the crown. We have only to conceive of a modern army of even 40,000 men so raised and paid, to understand the difficulty, expense, jobbing, and unscrupulous dealings that war entailed then, as now, in spite of our notions that people were honester formerly than they are now and avoided many of our supposed red-tapeisms and vicious practices.

The influence Lord Hastings exerted throughout the whole neighbourhood of his properties was very great, and very beneficent. At Leicester, he was a notable person, having obtained from the king a grant of the hospital of St. Leonards, and given the same to the Abbey of Leicester. The dean and chapter, to show their sense of this favour, covenanted by an instrument under their common seal, that

"Whensoever he should fortune to depart this life, they would keep a special obit for him in their church, on the day of his funeral; as also every year to celebrate his anniversary for the health of his soul and of the lady Katherine his wife."

And further to commemorate this gift, the Provost was to pay yearly on that day, at the end of the mass, the sum of 3s. 4d. to the Dean of the Chapter, 2s. to every canon then present, 12d. to every vicar of the choir, 6d. to every clerk, 4d. to every chorister, 4d. to the verger, and 1d. each to every poor man and woman then living in the almshouse belonging to the abbey.

By his will Lord Hastings commanded his executors to give him even greater honours. A thousand priests were to be selected by them to say a thousand Placebos and Dirigls, and a thousand masses for the safety of his soul, and every priest was to receive the sum of sixpence for his trouble. The following letter is characteristic, and exhibits his kindliness and gentleness.

To Richard Butler, Esq., on behalf of his servant Thomas Myles

Trusty and rygth well beloved friend;

I commend me to you, and praye you, insomuch as I am informed ye bend youre labors to vexe a servante of myne, Thomas Myles, of Everden, whom I love wel, withoute caws, reasonable; that ye vouchsaf, because of this my prayer, to have hym the rather in your favor as he be'nt so vexede hereafter, but that he may sit in rest; for I am loth that any of my servantes shulde have cause to complene upon you, or I, to have anything againste you.

Written at London, the 17th day of March (no date)

Your friend, HASTYNGS.

The melancholy end of this brilliant man, is a matter of common history, and even the wicked Gloucester when he has had him executed is made by Shakespeare to say of him, no doubt cunningly and perhaps truly:

"So dear I lov'd the man, that I must weep.

I took him for the plainest harmless creature

That breath'd upon the earth a Christian;

Made him my book, wherein my soul recorded

The history of all her secret thoughts:

So smooth he daub'd his vice with show of virtue,

That, his apparent open guilt omitted,

I mean, his conversation with Shore's wife,

He liv'd from all attainder of suspects."

The end of Chapter 9, Part 1!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Thank you for reading this blog.

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The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2026). Goadby’s History of Loughborough, Chapter 9, Part 1.

Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2026/07/goadbys-history-of-loughborough-chapter.html  [Accessed 5 July 2026]

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Ashby Pillings and trains

This has been a most interesting bank holiday weekend which has seen me out and about (again!) around the county, having some interesting conversations with some helpful people all with Loughborough at the back of my mind!

A trip to Ashby food festival provided not just food and drink, but also some reassurance over an item of some concern that raised its head recently on Facebook. Lots of food stalls, plenty of drinks stalls, a funfair, performances by Loughborough Border Morris Group, Way of the Wyrd, and societies like the Scouts and wildlife groups.

I was lucky enough to attract the attention of the Wildlife Trust stall. I say lucky enough, because, while I am as keen on preserving our nature as the next person, I only have a very limited disposable income, which means I can't commit to the suggested subscription for all the organisations I'd like to support, nevertheless, I was treated to a very in-depth discussion about the work of the Wildlife Trust, for example, their on-going work that started 25 years ago to encourage ospreys to breed at Rutland Water. 

While I was being shown the geographical extent of the work in Leicestershire and what the current major projects are, I realised it was the Wildlife Trust who own most of the Big Meadow (aka the Nether Meadow, or the Coronation Meadow), about which the Old Rectory held an exhibition about 5 years ago. Now, I wish I'd paid more attention to the exhibition, but the chap at the Trust reminded me (I have briefly mentioned this in an earlier blog post) that Lammas Meadows (which is what the Big Meadow is) have special conditions attached (commoners can graze their animals on the land after the harvest from 12 August to April), so it's most unlikely from that point of view that the land can be built on. The fact that it's on a flood plain is not prohibitive, as there are plenty of new houses already built on such land, and there are strategies for doing this, but the commoners' rights should protect the land.

Here's some photos of the event:

Some of the entertainment

Loving the name of this vegan food stall

The Wildlife Trust

Ridiculously Rich's Alana went to primary school in Loughborough 

 A pretty display

Burleighs Gin based on Charley Road, Nanpantan

After visiting the food festival, I made my way to St Helen's church, which I've visited before when researching the Middletons. This time I went to see the display of painted silhouetted soldiers that had begun their life at Coalville Market, an event at which a friend was an integral part. To see them in the church was most poignant: many of them had been painted by schoolchildren, others by local groups. 

Here's a few of my favourites:

Tomb of Lord Hastings

As I was leaving the church and heading towards the town centre, I happened upon the Lyric Rooms, the plaque below telling me that the Freemasons had been meeting in Ashby since 1836: I assume the Lyric Rooms to be one of those meeting places. I also spotted one of those signs that these days seems to rare in Loughborough (there is one next to George Hills and one on the dentist on The Coneries, but the one next to the Orange Tree has disappeared).

Sunday was such a beautiful day I decided to walk to Pillings Lock. The route I chose took me through the cemetery, down the path just past the Bull-in-the-Hollow farm, through a copse, and through a field normally full of cows, but today full of cars. There was a bank holiday event on the place was busy! There were some interesting stalls selling craft and other items, and I had a great chat with a bushcraft stuff maker, who had recently been to the Charnwood Grove of Druids event at Beacon Hill.

And, if all that weren't enough, I managed to cross the train bridge when a steam train was passing under it!

Here's some of my favourite photos:

See you next week!

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2018). Ashby, Pillings and trains. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/05/ashby-pillings-and-trains.html  [Accessed 27 May 2018]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne

      

Fete on the Green

Another busy week in Loughborough and beyond! I hope you're enjoying my daily #100wordsaboutloughborough: I'm certainly enjoying writing them, although brevity has never been my strong point, so they are rather challenging!!

This week I was lucky enough to visit Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon, and part of my birthday treat was to see Titus Andronicus at the Stratford theatre. I've only been to Warwick twice before, once being so long ago I can remember nothing from that visit, and once a couple of years ago. Last time we did some of the museums, but the town museum was closed when we went, so we were pleased to pop in this year. We also managed to get to Lord Leycester Hospital, a fantastic set of Tudor buildings that used to house the Medieval Guilds: a little bit more impressive than our own former Guildhall, which is now Lowe's the furnishers on Church Gate. 

Whilst we were looking around, we spotted a chart showing various crests, and saw some of the actual crests dotted around the complex. Several of these had connections to our area - Hastings, De Lisle, Ferrers, 

The gardens were beautiful too, with flowers, hedges, herbs, and statues.

Once we'd finished in Warwick we went over to Stratford for something to eat before the start of the performance, and we had time for a quick stroll around. This weekend they have had a boat festival on the river that passes next to the theatre. They were just setting up when we were there, but it looked like it would be a great event, similar to our canal festival.

In the town, we passed a lovely art deco cinema, and a pub called the Oddfellows Arms. The branch of Oddfellows in Loughborough used to hold their meetings in the former Georgian Theatre on Sparrow Hill, but we have never had a pub named after them.

On Saturday I popped along to the Fete on the Green, next to Fearon Hall in the grounds of the Church of All Saints with Holy Trinity. What a pleasure it was to see the re-sited WW1 memorial, and the wonderful book of remembrance that is now beneath it.

Exciting too, to be able to go up into the bell tower, and see where the bellringers ring their changes. And even more exciting was to be able to go right up to the bellchamber and see the eight Taylors bells, and hear the tenor bell ring out (albeit with our fingers in our ears, as instructed).

Picnic in the Park

So sorry for not posting last week: I'm in the midst of completing a final assignment for my course, and it's taking a lot longer than I anticipated! Still, when it's all finished I'll be able to blog more authoritatively about trade in Loughborough during the 19th century!

In the meantime, this week I've been out and about in Queen's Park. I say this week, but of course I don't mean all week, only Saturday! The event taking place was Picnic in the Park, an annual event that's been going for 36 years, making this the 37th event. The focus is on music, dance, street theatre, art, and stalls featuring arts and crafts and local groups. 

As part of the festivities, last year the Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteers set up an information camp - the Ludd Hub - in commemoration of the Luddite attacks on John Heathcoat and John Boden's lace making factory on Market Street in 1816. Alongside the stall, they also had a reading - in full costume - of Lord Byron's maiden speech to the House of Lords. Visitors were invited from Tiverton Museum - Tiverton being the place that Heathcoat moved to after the attacks - and the long, nearly 200 mile journey from Loughborough to Tiverton that Heathcoat's Loughborough workers made in 1816, was re-enacted by the "Tivertonioians", accompanied by one of the LLLSVs. I believe it took them two weeks to reach their destination!

So, this year the LLLSVs information camp focused on Lord Hastings and the Civil War - hte Hastings Hub - in and around Loughborough. Looking back at my blog posts this time last year, I see there is a Civil War connection between Loughborough and Tiverton: 

"Both towns were affected by the Civil War of 1642-1651. Royalist Tiverton Castle was under siege from Parliamentarians in 1645, and in December of that year Oliver Cromwell paid it a brief visit. On 17 March 1644 there was a minor battle at Cotes Bridge, just outside Loughborough, when Parliamentarians occupied the bridge. "

Anyway, this year's LLLSV stall told the story of the Civil War in and around Loughborough, and a brief history of the Hastings family, the Lords of the Manor. 

They also had a visiting 17th century family, complete with dining table, woollen fleeces awaiting spinning, and two strapping sons, one with a pike, the other with a musket. They had some very interesting information to impart to me on the subject of dyers, and pinfolds!

During the early part of the afternoon, I was lucky enough to be able to attend a debate between parliamentarians and royalists, and with the levellers, diggers and ranters (for a better explanation of what these groups were about pop over to the Oxford Scholarship Online webpage) presenting a completely different view. The case for the beheading of Charles I was ably put by local MP, Nicky Morgan, whilst that for the case against the beheading was engagingly presented by Dr Robert Knight of Loughborough University. The case for the levellers was put by Professor Martin Bennett of Nottingham Trent University. Following the debate, questions from the floor and the rebuttals, a vote was taken, and sadly, it was agreed that Charles I would lose his head.

This was a truly exciting day, made even better as the rain held off, and the sun tried to shine a little! Of course, as well as the buzz of the picnic and stalls, it was business as usual for Loughborough Queen's Park Bowlers:

Here are some pics of the day:

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2017). Picnic in the Park. Available from: http://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/06/picnic-in-park.html [Accessed 28 May 2017]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne