William Wollaston of Shenton, Esq. - St John the Evangelist - Shenton, Leicestershire - Coats of Arms on Waymarking.com

Coat of arms for William Wollaston Esq. of Shenton (d.1666) in St John the Evangelist church, Shenton.

• "Builder of Shenton - WILLIAM WOLLASTON, the son and heir of Henry of London by his first wife Sarah Burges, was born in Nov. 1581, and was therefore 35 years old when his father died.  He inherited a considerable fortune, for he succeeded to all his father's estates in Staffordshire, which comprised the manors of Chebsey, Shalford, Sirescote, and Oncote, with lands and messuages in ten parishes. He preferred a country life, and after his father's death went to live on his own estates at Oncote; but Oncote Grange did not please him as a residence, and nine years afterwards he purchased from Sir Richard Molineux the manors of Shenton and Upton in Leicestershire. They were conveyed to him by deed dated 6th Feb. 1625-6,  and on the completion of the purchase he removed with his family to Shenton. But the old manor-house there was found so inconvenient and dilapidated, that he was obliged to pull it down and rebuild it from the foundations. The date of the new building is shown by the inscription over the door: ' This house was builte by me, William Wollaston Esquir, Lord of Shenton, Anno Dni. 1629.' Shenton Hall is still the principal seat of the family, and is a fine example of the architecture of the Jacobian period, for the picturesque features of the old mansion were judiciously preserved, when the exterior was restored at a vast expense at the beginning of the present century.

• has a noble monument in Shenton Church:

Near this place is buryed the body of William Wollaston, Lord' of the Manor of Shenton in
the county of Leicester, eldest son of Henry Wollaston of St. Martin Orgar's parish, London, Esq.,
who descended from tho Wollastons of Perton in the county of Stafford. Hee was bom in Nov.
1581, and departed this life 10th Dec. 1666, anno etatis 86.
And also, in the same place, is buried the body of Anne Wollaston his wife, who departed
this life 16th Feb. 1629, anno aeotat. 31. Shee was one of the daughters of Humphry Whitgreve
of Greate Bridgeford in the county of Stafford Gent. They had four sonnes, Henry, William,
Richard, and John: the two youngest died in their infancy, and lye here buryed.
Henry married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Keightley of Hertingfordbury Park in the
county of Hertford Esq., and dyed without issue lOth March1662, anno aeotatis 44. William
married Elizabeth, the only daughter of Francis Cave of Ingarsby in the county of Leicester Esq.,
by the Lady Villiers of Brookesby in the same county of Leicester, and hath issue by her three
sons and three daughters, whereof William, Henry, and Elizabeth are dead, Francis, Anne, and
Rebecca are living.
 

• William Wollaston of Shenton, co. Leicester, ESQ., 'in good and perfect health and memorie. Willl not dated).
  To be buried in The vault in Shenton church where' my wife' was buried, and a small monumentto be set up over the spot; or else to be huried at Measham or Narborow, and the monument to be set up there. My manors of Great Finborowe, with Cantellewos and Adder's Hall in Suffolk, and my manors of Kirby Muxloe, Saddington, and Narborowe in Leicestershire, to my only son William Wollaston and his heirs male, with remainder to Elizabeth, wife of my said son William; Sir
  George Villiers of Brookesby, co. Leicester, Baronet; Thomas Banaster of Upton, co. Leicester. Esq.; Samuel Roper of Lincoln's Inn Esq.; John Cholmeley of St. Dunstan's in the West of London Gent.; and William Fox of Shenton Gent., as trustees, to raise portions of £5000 each for such daughter or daughters as my said son William shall leave, and subject thereto to the use of William Wollaston Gent., 2nd son of my brother Thomas Wollaston, and his heirs male.
  
  The said manors and lands to be charged with the payment of the following life annuities:
  To Mr. Thomas Wollaston (eldest son of my said brother Thomas Wollaston), £145 per annum during the life of Mrs. Elizabeth Cary, relict of my son Henry Wollaston deceased, and also £10 per annum during the life of my said brother Thomas. To Elizabeth Wollaston, Philadelphia Wollaston, and Mrs. Lucy Manistry, sisters of the said Thomas and William Wollaston and daughters of my said brother Thomas, £10 each per annum. To Francis Hansell, 30s per annum.
  To Mrs. Dorothy Thornebury, £50 per annum. To Mrs. Elizabeth Wollaston, wife of my son William Wollaston, £150 per annum.
  
  My manors of Shenton and Upton and my capital messuage of Bloforley in Leicstershire, and my manors of Chebsey, Shawford, and Wollaston in Staffordshire, to my son William Wollaston and his heirs male, with remainder to the same trustees and for the same purposes as before mentioned concerning my other settled estates. Certain woods in Bedfordshire and lands at Enderby in Leicestershire to my son William Wollaston in fee. My said son to be my sole executor.
  Witnesses: Wm. Fox, John Brooke, A. Spence, Dorothy Thornbury, Fran. Stampton.
  Will proved in C.P.C. 20 May 1667 by the Son. [74 Carr.]
   
• From Now To Doomsday with the Wollastons:
  
  In 1559 QueenElizabeth gave licence to Henry, Earl of Arundel, John Lord Lumley and Lady Jane his wife, "to give the Manors of Ruytun. Kinerley and Melverly and the advowson of the church of Felton (all in Shropshire) to Thomas Younge Archbishop of York and George Lee to the use of His Grace the Archbishop of York and his heirs forever." In 1614 the said Sir George Younge, Knight, alienated all these lands to William Wollaston, Esq., who then became Lord of the Manor of Ruyton.
  
  The dedication to his first wife Sarah uses the spelling Willaston- of this donovan sais:
  Whether William was not responsible for the spelling of the name, or because of the fact that the family name of Willaston taken from the village near Frees in Shropshire, and which is not far distant, may have influenced him cannot be said.
  
  However William chose to spell his name at that period, it is significant that two years after William moved to Ruyton, his father adopted the Arms of the Willastons of Frees, and not those of Perton, which had been 3 pears on a chevron. The pears, thought to come from the name Perton. were the sort of device frequently used in Heraldry.
  
  William moved back to Oncote Grange and Chebsey which Henry his father had left him and where he married Ann Whitgreave. (Thomas Whitgreave sheltered Prince Charles after the Battle of Worcester). William also recovered the Wollaston Manor from the Astons to whom he may have been distantly related. In the meantime Henry, his father, had purchased Sirescote, but today nothing is left of the original manor house.
  
  William was an Alderman of Billingsgate, City of London in 1627.
  
  He moved into Leicestershire in 1625 and bought Shenton. He rebuilt Shenton Hall in 1629 a fact which he recorded on a great oak beam above an archway and bearing the words "William Wollaston Lord of the Manor 1629."
  When William bought the Manor of Wollaston in 1622 Sir Walter Aston conveyed to him a free fishery in the water of Wollaston, Church Eaton. Little Onne, Bradley and Lapley which descended with the Manor until at least 1774.
  William who was Sheriff of Staffs, when he moved to Shenton in Leicester, had to seek special permission to retain that office when he moved to another county. In 1633 he became Sheriff of Leicester."

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