I5Q THE HISTORY OF NEWMARKET. [Book IX. 



honourable in England, intermarried with the royal Plantage- 

 nets. Some of the branches were ennobled ; and three of the 

 Astleys have been created baronets : the Astleys of Patshull, 

 in Staffordshire ; Sir Isaac Astley, Knight, of Hill-Norton, 

 in Warwickshire, and Melton Constable, in Norfolk, created 

 a baronet January 21, 1641, who died December 7, 1659, 

 without issue by either of his wives ; and Sir Jacob Astley, 

 his nephew and heir, knighted by Charles II., and subse- 

 quently created a baronet June 25, 1660. Sir Jacob was 

 heir to all the entailed estates of Jacob Astley, Lord Astley, 

 through his mother, Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob, first Lord 

 Astley. This Sir Jacob represented the county of Norfolk 

 in Parliament forty years ; and had been sheriff of that 

 county in 1664. He married Blanch, eldest daughter of Sir 

 Philip Woodhouse, Bart, by whom he had four sons and 

 one daughter. Sir Jacob Astley died August 17, 1729, 

 aged eighty-eight years. A Sir Jacob Astley owned race- 

 horses in the reign of Charles I., when there were no less 

 than three members of the family with the same Chris- 

 tian name frequently mentioned in the history of those 

 stirring times. They all are referred to simply as " Sir Jacob 

 Astley," without distinction ; sometimes in the north, south, 

 and midlands in various capacities ; but it would be an under- 

 taking too laborious for us to attempt to put the saddle on 

 the right horse. As every one knows, the family is now 

 worthily represented in the person of George Manners Astley, 

 1 2th Baron Hastings, one of the Stewards of the Jockey Club, 

 owner and breeder of the winner of the Derby of 1885. 



Lord Clarendon acquaints us, that in the year 1648, a 



meeting of royalists was held on Bansted downs — by which 



1648. name the Epsom downs is occasionally referred 



c. Charles I. to in old documents — " under the pretence of a 



Epsom. j^Qj.gg race."* 



It is remarkable to observe the persistency with 

 which English noblemen and gentlemen adhered to 



* Brayley's Surrey, by Mantel. 



