Willoughby on the Wolds, Nottinghamshire Genealogy

England Nottinghamshire



Parish History
Willoughby-on-the-Wolds St Mary and All Saints is an Ancient Parish in Nottinghamshire on the Fosse way.

WILLOUGHBY-IN-THE-WOLDS (St. Mary and All Saints), a parish, in the union of Loughborough, S. division of the wapentake of Rushcliffe and of the county of Nottingham, 7 miles (N. E. by E.) from Loughborough; containing 569 inhabitants. According to Horsley, this was the Roman station Vernometum, but Gale and Stukeley fix Margidunum here. In the great civil war, an engagement took place commonly termed the battle of Willoughby Field. The parish is situated about two miles distant from the road between Nottingham and Melton-Mowbray, and half a mile south-east of the Roman fosse-road. It comprises by measurement 2000 acres, whereof three-fourths are pasture, and the remainder arable; the soil is chiefly a cold clay. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 18. 6½.; net income, £87; patron, T. Dodson, Esq.: the tithes were commuted for land in 1793. The church contains 400 sittings, of which 238 are free. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. In a field called Herrings, or Black Field, are traces of an old town, where many coins, pavements, and other relics of antiquity have been found; and in the centre of the village stands a cross, the shaft consisting of one stone, fifteen feet high, resting on four steps. On a tumulus called Cross Hill, an annual revel is held.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 581-584.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Willoughby on the Wolds like this:

WILLOUGHBY-ON-THE-WOLDS, a parish, with a village, in the district of Loughborough and county of Nottingham; on the Fosse way, 7 miles ENE of Loughborough r. station. Post town, Loughborough. Acres, 2,080. Real property, £3,739. Pop., 573. Houses, 134. The property is subdivided. Many Roman remains have been found; and the Roman Verometum is thought by some antiquaries to have been here. A battle, between the royalists and the parliamentarians, was fought in 1648 on Willoughby field. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lincoln. Value, £87. Patron, T. Dodson, Esq. The church is old, and has a tower and spire. There are a national school, and charities £8.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Link to the Family History Library Catalogue showing the film numbers in their collection

Census records
See Nottinghamshire Census

Poor Law Unions
Loughborough Poor Law Union, Leicestershire

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Nottinghamshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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