The Lords Grey and Sacheverell of Barton-in-Fabis
Dovecote at Barton-in-Fabis, photographed in 1975
Reg Baker & www.picturethepast.org.uk
Writing in 1915, J.B. Frith in his Highways and Byways ofNottinghamshire (London: Macmillan) records the following:-
"The manor of Barton has had a curious history. It belonged for many generations to the Lords Grey of Codnor, whose castle near Heanor, on the borders of Notts and Derbyshire, was a place of considerable importance during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
"The last Lord Grey of Codnor had no legitimate heirs, but he had, as his will dated 1496 bluntly states, several bastards, including two Harrys, the " greater Harry " and " little Harry." To one of these Barton was left for a portion, and his daughter and heiress married one of the Derbyshire Sacheverells, who came and settled at Barton, and he and his male descendants held the manor for two hundred years, till the male line died out and the estate was carried by an heiress to the Cliftons.
"The name of Sacheverell frequently appears in the list of members of Parliament for the county, and the most prominent of these was the William Sacheverell who was active in resisting the attempt of James II. to introduce a new charter for the town of Nottingham .
"This provoked something like a riot, and Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys, who came down to enquire into the matter, fined Sacheverell £500 for his share in the business.
"How Jeffreys conducted the case may be judged by a brief extract from his remarks to one of the witnesses. " You should know better," said he, " than to ask such insignificant, impertinent questions as you do. It was very saucy, I tell you, and if the best man in your party had done it, it had been saucy. You shall know our minds if you put us upon it, because you are so big of it. We are come to a fine pass that every little prick-eared fellow must come to demand maces that are the badges of authority, and they must not be told, forsooth, that they are saucy."
"Robert Sacheverell, son of this William, was elected for Nottingham in 1699, 1700, 1701, 1705, 1710, and 1713.
"The beautiful alabaster tomb in the chancel of the church is that of William Sacheverell (died 1616) and his wife Tabitha".