Mercaston

MERCASTON, a township, in the parish of Mugginton, hundred of Appletree, S. division of the county of Derby, 7½ miles (N. W.) from Derby; containing 138 inhabitants. The manor of "Merchenestune" was for many generations the property and seat of a younger branch of the Knivetons, of Bradley, who were seated here as early as the reign of Edward III. William Kniveton was one of the baronets created by James I. on the institution of the order in 1611. Sir Andrew, the third baronet, was a zealous royalist, and governor of Tutbury Castle for the king; he suffered much in his property, and was obliged to sell most of his estates. This manor was purchased by an ancestor of E. S. C. Pole, Esq. The township comprises 1100 acres of fertile land, whereof about one-third is arable. There are several good farmhouses, of which the ancient Hall, the seat of the Knivetons, is now one. At the Norman survey here was a church, but no remains of it exist. The poor are entitled to one-sixth part of German Pole's charity.