In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Castle Donington like this:
CASTLE-DONINGTON, a town, a parish, and a subdistrict in the district of Shardlow, and county of Leicester. The town stands near the river Trent, 3¼ miles W of Kegworth r. station, and 7½ NW by N of Loughborough. It was known at Domesday as Dunitone; it takes the first part of its present name from an old castle, now a fragment, said to have belonged to John of Gaunt; and it contains vestiges of a monastery, founded in the time of Henry II. ...
It has a church, four dissenting chapels, a large handsome parochial school, a post office‡ under Derby, and two chief inns. The church is very old; has a large chancel, with fine east window, and a handsome spire, 180 feet high; and contains a double canopied brass of 1458, and some old effigies. A weekly market is held on Saturday: and fairs on 18th March and 29 Sept. Several departments of manufacture are carried on. Pop., 2,291. Houses, 561. The parish comprises 4,250 acres. Real property, £12,856. Pop., 2,445. Houses, 617. The property is subdivided. The manor belonged formerly to the Plantagenets and the Huntingdons; and belongs now to the Marquis of Hastings. Donington Park, the seat of the Marquis, a mile west of the town, is a grand edifice, in a mixed style of pointed and Tudor, by Wilkins; has picturesque grounds of 350 acres; and contains an extensive library and a large collection of valuable paintings. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £223.* Patron, the Marquis of Hastings. The subdistrict contains six parishes and an extra-parochial tract. Acres, 13,355. Pop., 5,775. Houses, 1,385.
Castle Donington through time
Castle Donington is now part of North West Leicestershire district. Click here for graphs and data of how North West Leicestershire has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Castle Donington itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Castle Donington in North West Leicestershire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/10675
Date accessed: 16th April 2024
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