Measham is a large village in the North West Leicestershire district in Leicestershire, England, near the Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire boundaries. It lies off the A42, south of Ashby de la Zouch, in the National Forest. Historically it was in an exclave of Derbyshire absorbed into Leicestershire in 1897. The name is thought to mean "homestead on the River Mease". The village was once part of Derbyshire before being transferred to Leicestershire.
History
Early history
The name Meas-Ham suggests it was founded in the Saxon period between 350 and 1000 CE.
Just before the Norman Conquest of 1066, the village belonged to "Earl Algar". The Domesday Book of 1086 has it belonging directly to the King, as part of a royal estate centred at Repton. Its taxable value was assessed at a mere 2 geld units, containing land for three ploughs, of meadow, and a square furlong () of woodland.
Middle Ages
The manor passed from the crown to the Earls of Chester. In 1235 it was in the possession of Clementia (Clemence de Fougères), widow of Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester. Measham Museum states that the manor belonged to the De Measham family, which held it until 1308. Given the ownership by the crown and then the Earls of Chester, neither actually resident, it appears the De Measham family held the manor as feudal tenants, rather than formal owners, probably in return for military service.
By the 13th century, the rights to the church appear to have passed to Repton Priory, as in 1272 King Henry III issued a charter including Measham among several churches and chapelries it possessed. The original chapel of ease dated from 1172, but the present St Laurence's Church was built in 1340, under the auspices of Repton Priory.
On 24 March 1311, King Edward II granted charters to William de Bereford, Lord of the Manor of Measham, to hold a market and a fair. The charters allowed for a market on Tuesdays and an annual three-day fair around the festival of the Translation of St Thomas the Martyr (7 July). By 1817 both market and fair had ceased.
This medieval settlement is thought to have been mainly agricultural, but coalmining is known to have taken place as early as the 13th century. Indeed, William De Bereford died getting coal; records of his death show the village's coal resources to have been worth 13s 4d (£0.67) a year.
In 1355, Edmund de Bereford, son of William, died leaving the manor of Measham to three heirs: Joan de Ellesfield, John de Maltravers and Margaret de Audley. During the 15th century, the manor came into the hands of Walter Blount, 1st Baron Mountjoy. In 1454, the manor was in the possession of Sir William Babington at the time of his death; and in 1474 it was in the possession of John Babington (presumably his son).
16th–17th centuries
In 1596 Measham was dismissed by William Wyrley as "a village belonging to Lord Shefield, in which are many coal mines, [but] little else worthy of remembrance." It was omitted altogether from Richard Blome's gazetteer of market towns in 1673.
In 1563 the manor belonged to Walter Blount, 1st Baron Mountjoy. However, by 1616 it had passed to Sir Francis Anderson, only to return to the Sheffield family, as it was owned by Edmund Sheffield, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Normanby in 1712.
18th–19th centuries
The manor passed to William Wollaston. He sold it in 1780 to Joseph Wilkes for £50,000, on whose death it was bought by Rev. Thomas Fisher. In 1767, William Abney built an alternative manor at Measham Field, north-east of the village, which by 1817 had passed to his son Edward. This would become known as Measham Hall, a seven-bay mid-Georgian mansion. However, the advent of coalmining caused the Hall to suffer subsidence. It was demolished by the National Coal Board in 1959.
By the early 19th century, Measham church was still associated with Repton parish, as a "parochial chapelry".
Industry
Around the time of Joseph Wilkes, Measham went through a prosperous period associated with the Industrial Revolution. This lasted into the 20th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, Ashby Canal was built through the village. The Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway followed, opening towards the end of the century. The village was also on the main Birmingham–Nottingham road (later the A453). It became a hub of local industry, famous for its brickworks: Joseph Wilkes's "Jumb Bricks" were enlarged to reduce payments of brick tax. The village industry included banking, breweries, coal mines and brick-making (with clay from local clay pits), a tramway, and boot, lace, cotton, carding and bleach mills.