3 - Land and income

Summary

The distribution of gentry estates within Leicestershire was very much a reflection of topographical realities. The majority of their holdings were situated along the valleys of the Soar, the Wreake, the eastern Sence and the tributaries of these rivers and along the northern banks of the Welland in the south-east corner of Gartree hundred. High concentrations of gentry estates also lay on the higher ground between Leicester and the Rutland border in the east and in southern Guthlaxton in the south. The region between Watling Street and the 400-foot contour east of Watling Street hosted modest concentrations of estates. But two areas of Leicestershire, Charnwood Forest, which spans the hundreds of Sparkenhoe and West Goscote, and the Vale of Belvoir, supported very few gentry holdings. In Charnwood's case, topographical features were the major determinant; its rocky outcrops, thin soils and poor drainage made early settlement and later subinfeudation unattractive, though the wastes of surrounding manors did extend into it. The absence of gentry estates in the Vale of Belvoir was, however, a product of the region's domination by lord Roos's honor and lordship of Belvoir which included the manors of Barkestone, Plungar, Bottesford, Redmile and Harby and lands at Normanton and Easthorpe.

Much of the gentry's wealth was derived from these lands, either in the form of rents or by the direct use or sale of the land's produce.