left 2001. towards building a school, school-house, and almshouse, in this town. In the reign of King John an hospital was founded here by Roise de Verdon and Nicholas her son, for one priest and six poor men, and "to keep hospitality for poor men travelling that way." "The statutes for the regulation of this hos

pital were drawn up soon after the year 1310, under the sanction of John D'Alderby, Bishop of Lincoln, and are preserved among the records of that cathedral t." In 1322, Wm. Poyntell gave eight messuages, with one yard land and a quarter, lying in HillMorton, in the county of Warwick, to this hospital, for a chantry priest to sing mass for the souls of the said William and his wife. Some other donations were afterwards made to this hospital; for, as Mr. Nichols observes, "so desirous were the men of former ages to add their benevolent shares, even to the additional support of religious places founded by others."

In this town is only one meeting-house, which was built in 1777, and is numerously attended by dissenters. The parish church is a large handsome building, with a nave, two ailes, a tower, and a chancel, which last is separated from the nave by a beautiful screen." The chancel, Burton supposes, was built by the Lord Ferrers of Groby, as his arms are cut on the outside over the great window. By a storm, which occurred in 1703, the spire was blown down, and, falling on the roof of the church, did great damage to the building, pews, &c. In the church is a fine old carved oak pulpit, from which the great reformer, John Wickliffe, is said to have often addressed his congregation. Wickliffe was presented to the living by King Edward the Third, and died here on the 31st of December, 1387. Being the first person who opposed the authority of the Pope, and the jurisdiction of the Bishops, he was much persecuted, and, even after his bones had laid in the earth about forty-one years, they were ordered, by the Council of Sienna, to be taken from the after being burnt, the inveterate spirit of Catholicism committed

* Tanner's Notitia, p. 243.

grave, and,

the

+ Nichols's History of Leicestershire, Vol. IV.

P. 259.

the ashes to the stream. These desperate proceedings created much commotion; and many crafty tales were invented and propagated to justify the conduct of the priests. "The very names of Wickliffe, Lord Cobham, Huss," &c. says Gilpin, "will not only awaken sentiments of gratitude and veneration, in every ingenuous heart, but will likewise excite a laudable desire of being particularly acquainted with the lives and characters of those eminent worthies, who, in times of peculiar danger and difficulty, nobly dared to oppose the tyrannical usurpation and barbarous superstition of the church of Rome, and sacrificing every valuable consideration on earth to the cause of truth and liberty. Wickliffe was in religion what Bacon was afterwards in science: the great detector of those arts and glosses, which the barbarism of ages had drawn together to obscure the mind of man.”

In the church are some old monuments with inscriptions, commemorating different persons of the Fielding family, some of whom obtained the titles of Earl of Denbigh*, and Desmond. They possessed considerable property here. A portrait of Wickliffe, by S. Fielding, is preserved in the church.

Near this town formerly stood a mansion, called the Spittal, belonging to the Shuckburgh family.

At Misterton, about a mile east of Lutterworth, is MISTERTON HALL, the seat of Jacob Henry Franks, Esq. who possesses a collection of pictures.

OADBY, a large village, about four miles S. E. of Leicester, is situated on the great turnpike-road, and its buildings extend nearly a mile in length on each side. In 1801, Oadby contained 128 houses and 624 inhabitants. The church is large, and contains some specimens of ancient sculpture; also two stone seats, and a piscina in the chancel.

WIGSTON MAGNA, GREAT WIGSTON, or WIGSTON WITH TWO STEEPLES, is a large village, about four miles to the south

of

* A very copious account of this family is published in Nichols's History of Leicestershire, Vol. IV.

By the populahouses and 1658

of Leicester, and is distinguished by having two churches with steeples, &c. though one of them being disused is now falling to decay. By an act of parliament, passed in 1764, for inclosing about 3000 acres of land in this parish, it appears that George, -Duke of St. Alban's was impropriator of all the tithes of corn, grain, hay, &c. in several fields and parcels of ground therein specified; and that the vicar was entitled to the tithe of wool and lamb, and all other vicarial or small tithes. tion act of 1801, Great Wigston contained 352 inhabitants, the greater part of whom were employed in trade, manufactures, &c. Here is an hospital, founded by Mrs. Clarke, of Leicester, for three poor men and as many women, who are provided with habitations, a weekly allowance of money to each, and an annual gift of coals. Here is a meeting-house for presbyterians, who are numerous in this village. Within the lordship is a piece of moated ground, with some ruins of walls, where the family of the Davenports, who formerly possessed a large estate here, had a mansion. At a place called the Gaol Close, was a temporary prison during the civil wars, to which the prisoners were removed from the county gaol at Leicester. Some fragments of antiquity have been discovered here; among which were parts of a fibula, a ring, pieces of a glass urn, pottery, a spearhead and helmet. Several petrifactions have been found in the lime and gravel pits here.

SPARKENHOE HUNDRED is bounded on the north by the hundred of West Goscote, and parts of Staffordshire and Warwickshire bound it to the west and south, whilst the eastern side is united to the hundred of Guthlaxton. This part of the county is distinguished by some elevated tracts of land, and is watered by several small streams. A part of the Ashby de la Zouch canal passes through it from north to south; and just after entering it, at Snareston, proceeds under a hill by a tunnel. It afterwards passes Gopsal Park, Shakerston, Carlton, and Market-Bosworth, and