Burley, or Burley-on-the-Hill, is a village and civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. It is located two miles (3km) north-east of Oakham. The population of the civil parish was 577 at the 2001 census, including Egleton, but reducing to 325 at the 2011 census.[3]
In 1379 Sir Thomas le Despenser granted the Burley manor to trustees, two of whom were his brother Henry, Bishop of Norwich and his nephew Hugh le Despenser. Thomas died without issue in 1381, when at the outbreak of the Peasants' Revolt, Henry was at Burley and travelled to Norwich to confront the rebels.[7]
The Old Smithy on the village green was used in advertisements for Cherry Blossom shoe polish in the 1920s.
HM Prison Ashwell was located about one mile (2km) west of the centre of the village on what was previously the site of a World War II US Army base, home to part of the 82nd Airborne Division. Ashwell Prison closed in March 2011 and has been redeveloped as Oakham Enterprise Park, a business park for office and light industrial use.
The house in the manner associated with Sir Christopher Wren, was built in the 1690s[11] by Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, 7th Earl of Winchilsea, who was to a large extent his own architect and involved himself in the minutiae of construction, but employed Henry Dormer (died 1727) to supervise its building. Nottingham replaced Dormer with John Lumley in 1697.[12] Before embarking on the project, Lord Nottingham consulted Sir Christopher Wren and had measurements taken at Berkeley House and Montagu House in London.[13] The house, in an H-plan, has a pedimented central block and lightly projecting end pavilions. With its symmetrical wings and outbuildings forming a cour d'honneur, and segmental walling linking matching blocks in a larger outer grassed court, it forms one of the most ambitious aristocratic ensembles of the late seventeenth century.
In 1908 a fire broke out during a party attended by Winston Churchill, destroying the west part of the house.
The mansion was converted into six dwellings by Kit Martin in 1993–98, with a further 22 dwellings on the estate. Previously the estate had been purchased by Asil Nadir in 1991.
Foundations were laid in 1694 (H. J. Habakkuk, "Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham: His House and Estate", J. H. Plumb, ed. Studies in Social History 1955).
A suite of reception rooms designed by Joseph Bonomi for Lord Winchilsea, 1782, were never carried out. (Colvin 1995, s.v. "Bonomi, Joseph", "Johnson, John".).
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