Ashby de la Launde

Ashby de la Launde is a small village, part of the civil parish of Ashby de la Launde and Bloxholm, in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England.

The villages is located just west of Digby, and east of the A15 and B1191 roads. The suffix to the name comes from the family that once held the Lordship of the Manor here, the De la Laundes.

In the Domesday Book the village is called Asherbie with William becoming a Knights Templar who gifted lands to create the Temple Bruer preceptory, in time to become the second most wealthy in Britain, funding the Crusades from sheep rearing and wool exports to Europe. The marriage between the Asherbie (Ashby) family and Laundes from Laceby created the Anglicised Ashby de la Launde title for the settlement.

There is a church dedicated to Saint Hybald and a hall. Ashby Hall was built in 1595 by Edward King, it remained in the King family until the late 19th century although between 1814 and 1835 it was let to a Mrs Gardner as a girls' school. In 1841 the Hall and estate passed to John William King who was also the parson of Ashby. Now squire and parson he took over the stables and stud and set about breeding racehorses. In 1874 his filly 'Apology' won the Triple Crown of the Thousand Guineas, the Oaks and the St Leger. His activities came to the notice of Bishop Wordsworth of Lincoln who demanded his resignation from the church. King resigned a year later and died shortly afterwards.

The Hall was sold in 1925 by Colonel William Vere Reeve King-Fane of Fulbeck to Baron Garvagh who had sold his estates in Garvagh near Londonderry and moved his family to Ashby Hall. Baron Garvagh (George Canning) rebuilt and modernised parts of the Hall, and during the Great Depression to keep his staff employed he built a large wooden indoor Badmington court which in later years became the present Village Hall, relocated today in the centre of the village. Baron Garvagh moved to Keswick at the beginning of WW2 and by 1942 various fighter squadrons at RAF Digby had taken over Ashby Hall as their officer's mess. One of the most notable was 609 Squadron (White Rose). By the end of the war the house became derelict and stood empty until the entire estates were broken up in the late 1950s. The park was cleared of its magnificent oak trees, the walled garden and surrounding farms sold separately leaving the Hall itself to become the Lake Rendezvous Club, featuring many famous acts in its cabaret including Diana Dors, Bob Monkhouse and Ken Dodd. The Hall and Club was purchased by the Ward family in the late 1960s under the new name Ashby Country Club, eventually closing in 1992. The Hall was then purchased by Eran Bauer and became the international headquarters of the defence and security manufacturing company Civil Defence Supply who continue ownership to this day.

External links

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