Gaulby (or Galby) is a village in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, England, 7 miles east of the city of

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 131, (including Frisby). The 2011 census for Gaulby returned 52 houses and 141 residents.

History

The village's name means 'farm/settlement which is gall', probably meaning it had poor, wet ground. In the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 the village was recorded as Galbi, one of 230 manors in

held by

Hugh de Grandmesnil Hugh de Grandmesnil (1032 – 22 February 1098), (known in French as ''Hugues'' and Latinised as ''Hugo de Grentmesnil'', aliter ''Grentemesnil'', etc.), is one of the proven companions of William the Conqueror known to have fought at the Battle ...

. Through the 12th and 13th centuries the manor was held by the Earls of Leicester, the last Earl being

John of Gaunt John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was an English royal prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the fourth son (third to survive infancy as William of Hatfield died shortly after birth) of King Edward ...

, Duke of Lancaster (died 1399). Subsequently, the title of

Lord of the Manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

passed to the Marmion family and thence by marriage to the Haselwood family. In 1610 William Whalley, Lord of the Manor of

King's Norton, Leicestershire King's Norton is a village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. It is situated to the east of Leicester, and about south-west from Billesdon. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 69. ...

, purchased the lands from the Haselwoods for £600. He received 663 acres (300 each of arable and pasture), 8

messuage In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contracts ...

s (substantial dwellings with outbuildings and attached land), 4 cottages, a windmill and a dovecote. Excluded from this purchase were the Rectory and the lands of the Dands and Goodmans. From 1614 Whalley, John Dand and George Goodman, by private agreement, carried out piecemeal land enclosure of the open field system. This process was completed in 1649. His descendant, Bernard Whalley, died in 1752, and the two manors were inherited by William Fortrey through Fortrey's mother, who was a Whalley. Fortrey financed the rebuilding of the nave and tower of the parish church of St. Peter in 1741. The church had previously been rebuilt in 1520, and from this 16th-century building the chancel and communion rail survive as the then vicar, Thomas Shaw, refused to let Fortrey touch it. The architect was John Wing the Elder (1698-1753). On Fortrey's death his nephew Henry Green inherited the manors. In 1791 they were sold to Peers Anthony Keck of Stoughton Grange, and they remained in the hands of the Keck family until 1913 when the majority of the land was sold to the Co-Operative Society and the Wyggeston Hospital Charitable Trust.Goldsmith, S.P.M. ''Gaulby''. Manor House, Gaulby 1988

References

Bibliography

External links

{{authority control Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Harborough District