Burley, Rutland
Historical Description
Burley or Burley-on-the-Hill, a large parish in Rutland, on the high ground to the N of the vale of Catmose, and 2 miles NE of Oakham station on the M.R. It has a post office under Oakham, which is the money order and telegraph office. Acreage, 3051; population, 252. The Duke of Buckingham in his mansion here entertained James I. with Ben Jonson's " Mask of the Gypsies" and had the dwarf Geoffrey Hudson served up at table, in the presence of Charles I. and his queen, in a great pasty. The mansion was burnt in the Civil Wars, but the stables belonging to it are still standing. Burley-on-the-Hill, a Grecian edifice built by Daniel, Earl of Nottingham, and now the residence of the Finch family, occupies the site of the Duke of Buckingham's mansion, is 196 feet long, commands a beautiful extensive view, and contains many family portraits and some masterpiece pictures. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough; gross value, £290 with residence, in the gift of the Finch family. The church, a fine edifice of stone in the Norman style, is pleasantly surrounded with trees.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Rutlandshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Burley Holy Cross | |
| Hundred | Alstoe | |
| Poor Law union | Oakham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1577.
Findmypast, in association with the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland, have the following parish records online for Burley:
| Baptisms | Banns | Marriages | Burials |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1578-1916 | 1770-1931 | 1577-1931 | 1577-1991 |
Churches
Church of England
The Holy Cross (parish church)
The church of the Holy Cross is a fine edifice of stone, partly in the Norman style, dating from c. 1180-90, and consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, separated from the nave by arcades of three arches on each side, north porch and an embattled western tower containing 1 bell: the reredos, a beautiful work of carved stone, is adorned with figures of Our Saviour and of the Apostles and Evangelists, in canopied niches: the east and west. windows are both stained and there are three others: the chancel retains sedilia and a credence table and has a stone screen; the font, also of stone, is ancient; near the tower now lie two recumbent effigies of a knight in armour and a lady, probably of the 14th century; in the church is a beautiful marble monument by Chantrey, with the kneeling figure of a female, to Lady Charlotte, daughter of Thomas, 1st Earl of Pomfret, and relict of the Right Hon. William Finch P.C., M.P. d. at St. James' Palace, 11 July, 1813: there is also a marble tablet with carved figures to Emily Eglantine, wife of the Right Hon. G. H. Finch P.C., M.P. d. 26 April, 1865, and also a brass erected to his memory by his second wife; he died 22 May, 1907: the church was restored in 1887, under the direction of J. L. Pearson esq. R.A., F.S.A.; there are 208 sittings.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Burley from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Burley (Holy Cross))
- Kelly's Directory of Leicestershire and Rutland, 1928
Land and Property
A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Rutland is online.
Maps
Online maps of Burley are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Rutland, 1618-19 and The Visitation of Rutland 1681-2 are available to browse on the Heraldry page.