Mountsorrel

A castle was built in 1080 by Hugh Lupus, but there is evidence of an earlier Norman settlement in the area in the form of pottery fragments. A Roman villa is supposed to have existed on Broad Hill during the 4th century AD, the site of today's quarry, as quarrying during the late 1800s revealed many artefacts including a preserved wooden bucket. However, the first recording of the village was in 1377, when it had a population of 156. In 1151, Robert le Bossu, the Earl of Leicester and deputy to Henry II of England, who was the Justicar, or Chief Justice of the Peace for the area, acquired the tenancy of Mountsorrel castle. According to the historian Jim Bradbury, the acquisition of the…

]] The Butter Market was built in 1793 by the Lord of the Manor, Sir John Danvers, to replace the fifteenth century Mountsorrel Cross, a market cross which he removed for use as an ornamental garden feature on his estate in Swithland, where it still remains.