THE MANORS OF KIRK LANGLEY AND MEYNELL LANGLEY. 47 



Robert Moston, of Peckleton, co. Leicester ; he died 1456, and 

 William, his son and heir, married Joan, the daughter and co- 

 heiress of Richard Byron ; William was his son and heir, whose 

 father died 1498, and he, the son, married Elizabeth, the daughter 

 of Thomas Meverel, of Throvvley, and died in 1506. William, his 

 son, married Isabel, daughter of Robert Cokayne, and died in 

 1553. William Bassett was his son and heir, and the last pos- 

 sessor male of this estate ; he married (1) Elizabeth, the daughter 

 of Anthony Fitzherbert, and (2) the daughter of Thomas Austen, 

 afterwards Lady Corbett; he died 44 Elizabeth, 1602, and left 

 Elizabeth Bassett, his daughter by his second wife, his heiress. 



Elizabeth Bassett was married to William, Duke of Newcastle, 

 whose fortune was spent in the service of King Charles I., for he 

 raised a regiment of horse at his own expense and maintained 

 them ; * she died young, but left a son. This estate was then 

 seized by the Protector Cromwell, and great dilapidation of the 

 woods ensued ; and I apprehend the many charcoal hearths now 

 visible in Meynell Langley were in consequence of the great falls 

 of timber at that period. When Charles II. returned, this estate 

 was restored to the family, but the finances of the Duke were so 

 far exhausted that it was found necessary to sell this and other 

 estates,t and he and his son conveyed Kirk and Meynell Langley 

 (but not the advowson) to Richard Meynell ; the purchase-money 

 for the two manors was ^12,524 11s. 6d., a sum that now would 

 scarcely purchase a farm ; I think Isaac Meynell, another brother, 

 also joined in the purchase. This Richard Meynell % was the 



* It is stated by the Duchess of Newcastle that the loss sustained by the 

 Duke from the Civil Wars rather surpassed than fell short of ^733,579. 

 Vide his life, and Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors, vol. ii., p. 17. 



+ I have in my possession an old rent-roll of all the estates of the Duke 

 that were intended tor sale ; the date 1670. — G. M. 



X Vide an old MS. in my possession, written by Thomas Meynell, rector of 

 Langley, of which the following is a copy : — 



" In answer to any malicious person that shall suggest that Meynell of 

 Willington is not of the family of the Meynells formerly of Meynell Langley, I 

 say that we have the same coat of arms allowed us in all Visitations that Sir 

 Hugh Meynell had, and in particular my late father, Godfrey Meynell, Esq., 

 at one of these Visitations, I think 31 Charles I. (according to the account Sir 

 Simon Degg gives of it), had the same coat of arms allowed him, and so had 

 his father, 1618, and I have heard my father say that he was placed at dinner 



