Donington le Heath Manor House Museum

The museum is based in a medieval manor house, believed to date back to around 1290. From the style of the architecture of the parts of the building and from tree-ring dating of some of the timbers still present, the present house at Donington was probably built between 1288 and 1295. A house on this site and the present building were owned by the Charley Priory, then Ulverscroft Priory until the 1530s and several tenants are known to have lived there during this time, including Robert and Isabella de Herle, who probably built the present house. Some of the features of the house, along with tree-ring dating of the timbers in the roof, show that the Manor House was heavily modernised around…

Donington le Heath Manor House was tenanted by members of the Digby family from the early 15th century and they owned the site and its lands from the 1530s until 1627. The Digby's main seat was at Tilton on the Hill in east Leicestershire, but they held land in many other parishes. Sir John Digby fought at the Bosworth Battlefield in 1485 for Henry Tudor. When Henry defeated King Richard III and became King Henry VII he would have rewarded his supporters and it may be the case that he gave back the lands that the Digbys had lost in 1462 for their opposition to the Yorkist King Edward IV. In the early 1600s the property was owned by John Digby of Seaton. John was a known recusant Catholic…