home page   what's new?   email bobtrubs@indigogroup.co.uk to request updates (please mention the Vale of Belvoir Chronicle) or to offer new information   Vale of Belvoir Chronicle only WWW   This site sponsored by   Heart of Albion

Why are Muston and Long Clawson so spread out? Take away twentieth century housing and most Midlands villages seem quite compact. But in the Vale there are two villages which seem to take longer than expected to drive through, and not just because of lots of sharp bends: Muston and Long Clawson. There are other spread-out villages too but they straddle both sides of a straight road. Thoroton and Hickling are among several such 'ribbon developments' in the Vale. Muston in the 1880s. Hospital Farm was so named because it was owned by the Earl of Rutland's Hospital at Bottesford. Long Clawson in the 1880s. The following part of this page was substantially written August 2026 The reason is that both Muston and Long Clawson were at one time two adjacent settlements. Around Hospital Farm at Muston there are surviving earthworks of a long-since demolished settlement. One of the earthworks suggests a medieval moated site and another could have been a fishpond. John Nichols, writing in the 1790s, suggests it was a grange farm for Owston Abbey. Just possibly the people who lived around what is now Hospital Farm simply 'upped sticks' and moved a few hundred yards south, meaning there was never two villages at the same time. But the more plausible scenario is that there were indeed two adjacent settlements (as with, say, Sutton Bonnington in south Nottinghamshire) with the grange being converted to sheep rearing and the abbot ordering the depopulation of the settlement. With Long Clawson there is a more definite 'smoking gun'. A pre-Enclosure Award map of Long Clawson has survived and is now in the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. It shows six 'great fields'. Almost every other East Midlands village had three such fields. So Clawson is 'long' because at one time it was two adjacent settlements. Think of them as 'Church Clawson' and either 'East Clawson' or maybe 'East Thorpe'. These thoughts about Muston and Long Clawson are based on R.F. Hartley's The Medieval Earthworks of North-East Leicestershire (Leicestershire Museums 1987). Hydrology may also be a factor. If there was abundant ground water wells could be dug anywhere. Whereas some more compact villages 'cluster' around one reliable natural spring – Wymeswold is a good example. And another factor, which seems not to apply to Muston or Long Clawson, is when Nonconformists were greatly disliked by CofE residents. For example East Leake, Nottinghamshire, has 'church' and (to the east) 'chapel' clusters of houses. Back to top of this page   This website does not gather or store any visitor information. Copyright Bob Trubshaw 2025 No unauthorised copying or reproduction except if all following conditions apply: a: Copy is complete (including this copyright statement). b: No changes are made. c: No charge is made. www.hoap.co.uk/chronicle

Chronicle entries home page what's new? the geology of the Vale the boundaries and rivers of the Vale long, long ago prehistory in the Vale prehistoric boundaries in the Vale north-south prehistoric routeways Romans roads in the Vale Roman settlements in and near the Vale long ago introduction to Anglo-Saxons place-names of the Vale waterborne transport around the sixth century Orston's early church Anglo-Saxon sculpture in the Vale why Orston lost out to Bingham and Bottesford what the Normans did for the Vale Granby's importance in 1086 Granby's lost castle the Vale's watermills in 1086 Romanesque sculpture in the Vale St Remigius why Bottesford is in Leicestershire the Vale in medieval times medieval gargoyles of the Vale Eastwell's chancel screen St Ethelburga's church other early saints Elston's old chapel Muston and Long Clawson saltways of the Vale the Vale's medieval tile collection the Vale in Tudor times Dissolution in the Vale not that long ago the Vale in the C17th the 'great and the good' of the Vale Bottesford's effigies 'wicked practice and sorcerye' the whales on the Whalley memorial Car Colston's bigoted GP cum JP the Vale's very own regicide Wiverton Hall five rare C17th fonts in the Vale pinfolds and pounds in the Vale dovecotes in the Vale the Vale in the C18th turnpiking the Vale gravestones and C18th trade routes goodbye 'Belvoir Angels' C18th gravestone carvers in the Vale Daffy's Elixir the Marquess of Granby Stilton from the Vale springs and spas of the Vale outstanding organs in the Vale Grantham canal changes in the Vale's agriculture since 1800 Eastwell's recusant priest house and chapel Colston Bassett's ruined church seems like yesterday windmills in the Vale stained glass in the Vale village life in the southern Vale 1850 to 1880 folklore of the Vale Flintham museum lacemaking in the Vale gypsum pits in the Vale brick and tile works in the Vale ironstone quarrying in the Vale ironstone railways ironstone quarries of Leicestershire (YouTube video) The Vale's railway stations Orston's famous architect Mothers Union banners of the Vale redundant telephone exchanges in the Vale WWII airfields and pillboxes in the Vale the Vale in 1944 location shooting at Belvoir Castle Screveton's giants researching and writing local history the Vale as a verb getting started free advice from 2005 asking curious questions (YouTube video) local history groups in and around the Vale Aslockton (Cranmer LHG) Bingham Heritage Trails Association Bottesford Eastwell Harby Harlaxton Hickling Redmile archive Belvoir Villages History and Memories Group Belvoir Angel Society Grantham Canal Society you may also be interested in free PDFs written by Bob Trubshaw Earliest Churches in Nottinghamshire How Anglo-Saxons Found Their Way Anglo-Saxon Leicestershire Conversations in Churchyards Little-known Leicestershire and Rutland Bob Trubshaw's YouTube channel Introduction to medieval carvings Anglo-Saxon and Romanesque carvings How Anglo-Saxons found their way Anglo-Saxon shrines at fords Meetings at triangles Rota's Land and Franni's Land Reading Romanesque fonts Church and manor The significances of square headdresses Early churches and waterborne trade Charnwood slate gravestones and C18th trade routes Ironstone quarries of Leicestershire Roman roads in north-east Leicestershire Salt ways in Leicestershire Why Melton Mowbray needed to called 'middle town' Evolving Anglo-Saxon agriculture Nottinghamshire's earliest churches Ploughs not piety? Economic regeneration in the C7th Were Anglo-Saxon weaving huts women-only places? Barrowby Until Now website Rutland Village by Village website Sepulchral Effigies of Leicestershire and Rutland