DONINGTON (CASTLE), a parish in the western
division of the hundred of GOSCOTE, county of LEICESTER,
9 miles (N.E.) from Ashby de la Zouch, containing
2560 inhabitants. The living is a discharged
vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Leicester, and diocese
of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £8. 2. 3.
endowed with £ 200 private benefaction, and £200 royal
bounty, and in the patronage of the Marquis of Hastings.
The church is dedicated to St. Edward. There
is a place of worship for..Independents. The parish
is bounded on the north-west by the river Trent.
Fairs are held, March 18th, on Whit-Thursday, and
September 29th. On an eminence are the remains of
an old castle from which the parish derives its distinguishing
prefix; and there are vestiges of an hospital,
dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, supposed to have
been founded by John Lacy, constable of Chester in the
time of Henry II., for a master and thirteen brethren
and sisters, who received a portion of the tithes of the
parish, and whose revenue at the dissolution was valued
at only £3. 13.4. per annum. Castle-Donington is
in the honour of Tutbury, duchy of Lancaster, and
within the jurisdiction of a court of pleas held at Tutbury
every third Tuesday, for the recovery of debts
under 40s.