Burley

BURLEY is a large parish 2¼ miles north-east from Oakham station on the Midland section of the London, Midland and Scottish railway, in the hundred of Alstoe, union and county court district of Oakham, rural deanery of Rutland (first portion), archdeaconry of Oakham and diocese of Peterborough. 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. The register dates from the year 1577. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £253, with residence, and including 106 acres of glebe, in the gift of Wilfred H. M Finch esq. and held since 1925 by the Rev. Colonel Alexander David Seton B.SC.Lond., J.P. late R.A. Lady Anne Harrington's charity of £10 yearly is for fuel. Burley was once a Roman settlement; the manor was anciently held by the Segraves, de Lisles, Despensers and Harringtons, and it was here in 1381 that Henry de Despenser, the warrior Bishop of Norwich, assembled the forces with which he defeated the Norfolk insurgents, headed by John Litster, at North Walsham, in Norfolk, during the peasants' insurrection of that year. Burley-on-the-Hill, the property and residence of Wilfred H. M. Finch esq. is a spacious and noble mansion of grey stone, in the Classic style, erected in the time of William III. and Mary, on the site of the famous house occupied by George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham K.G, the favourite of James I. and then lord of this manor. Here, on several occasions, he entertained both James I. and Charles I. but during the Civil War the house was taken and garrisoned by the Parliamentary forces, who eventually set fire to it, the stables only escaping. The mansion, which has a frontage of 233 feet and two wings, was entirely destroyed by fire, save one wing, on Aug. 6, 1908, but has now been rebuilt; attached is park and grounds of about 1,300 acres. Wilfred H. M. Finch esq. J.P. is lord of the manor and sole landowner. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, hay and roots. The area is 3,031 acres of land and 20 of water; the population in 1921 was 227.

ALSTOE, now a farm, gives name to the hundred. Near it is a mound.

Deputy Parish Clerk & Verger, Henry Grimmer.
Post & Tel. Call Office. Letters through Oakham, the nearest M.O. & T. office
Finch Wilfred H. M. J.P. Burley-on-the-Hill
Seton Rev. Col. Alexander David B.SC., J.P. [vicar], Vicarage; & Mounie, Aberdeenshire

COMMERCIAL
Marked thus ° farm 150 acres or over.
Annand Alex. head gardener to W. H. M. Finch esq. J.P
Baines Wm. R. farmer, Alstoe farm
Bradley Percy, farmer. Chapel farm
Briggs Jn. blacksmith
Dorman, Long & Co. Ltd. quarry owners. T A "Dorman's, Cottesmore;" T N Cottesmore 4
°Eayrs Geoffrey V. & Wm. F. farmers
Grooby Daisy & Ivy (Misses), shopkprs Grooby John, grazier
Lane Arth. Edwd. farmer
Lane James Arthur, farmer
Manton Wm. Holmes, farmer. Hill farm
Oliver Lily (Miss), shopkpr
Skirth Jim, farmer
Webster Rd. estate clerk. T N Oakham 67