Earl of Ancaster - Village Sign - Empingham, Rutland - Coats of Arms on Waymarking.com

"The appearance of the village today is largely the legacy of the Heathcotes, who were the main landowners from 1729 to 1924. When Gilbert Henry the 6th Baronet inherited the Normanton estate in 1867 Empingham was far from being a ‘model village’. In the Post Office Directory of 1876 it is described as “being in a dilapidated state, many of the houses are in ruins”. However, it was not to stay that way and by the end of the nineteenth century Gilbert Henry was justifiably called ‘The Building Earl’.
In 1860 the Poor Law Commission had investigated rural housing and like other landowners Gilbert Henry took note of their reports. The family owned 13,600 acres in Rutland in 15 different parishes and he set about modernising properties all over the estate.

All the Estate houses built in and around Empingham after about 1870 carry the family coat of arms. These are surmounted by two styles of crown. A Baron’s crown was used until Gilbert Henry Heathcote-DrummondWilloughby (6th Baronet) became the 1st Earl of Ancaster in 1892, and from then on it became an Earl’s crown. Both can be seen in the village."

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"Gilbert Henry Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 1st Earl of Ancaster PC (1 October 1830 – 24 December 1910), known as 2nd Baron Aveland from 1867 to 1888 and as 24th Baron Willoughby de Eresby from 1888 to 1892, was a British Liberal politician and court official.

Born Gilbert Henry Heathcote, he was the son of Gilbert Heathcote, 1st Baron Aveland and Clementina Elizabeth Drummond-Willoughby, 24th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge.

In 1852, Ancaster was elected to the House of Commons for Boston, a seat he held until 1856, and then represented Rutland until he succeeded his father as second Baron Aveland in 1867. In 1872, he assumed by Royal licence the additional surnames of Willoughby and Drummond. He held the office of Deputy Lord Great Chamberlain from 1871 to 1901 and was admitted to the Privy Council in 1880. In 1888, he succeeded his mother as twenty-fifth Baron Willoughby de Eresby and four years later he was created Earl of Ancaster, in the County of Lincoln. This was a revival of the title held by his maternal ancestors the Dukes of Ancaster and Kesteven."

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Bearer of Coat of Arms: Noble (aristocratic) family Full name of the bearer: Earl of Ancaster Where is Coat of Arms installed (short description) ?: Village sign, junction of Church Street & A606 Material / Design: Wood Blazon (heraldic description): Or fretty azure, for Willoughby, quartering or three bars wavy gules, for Drummond, and ermine three roundels vert each charged with a cross or, for Heathcote. Address: Village sign, Church Street/A606, Empingham Web page about the bearer of Coat of Arms (if exists): [Web Link] Web page about the structure where is Coat of Arms installed (if exists): Not listed

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