MELBOURN, a parish in the hundred of REPTON-and-GRESLEY,
county of DERBY, 7 miles (N. N. E.) from
Ashby de la Zouch, containing 2027 inhabitants. The
living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Derby, and
diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, rated in the king's
books at £9. 13. 4., and in the patronage of the Bishop
of Carlisle. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is a
fine specimen of Norman architecture, with round massive
piers, circular arches, fine mouldings, and zigzag
ornaments. There are places of worship for General
Baptists, Independents, and Wesleyan Methodists; the
Society of Friends had a meeting-house here, which is
now occupied as a school for the children of Swedenborgians.
In 1738, Lady Eliz. Hastings bequeathed
land, now producing £20 per annum, for the education
of twelve poor children, who are taught by the master
of the National school, which was erected in 1822, at
an expense of more than £500, defrayed by the Rev.
James Bagge and the National Society. Here was anciently
a baronial castle, in which John, Duke of Bourbon,
who had been taken prisoner at the battle of
Agincourt, was confined for several years; it is said to
have been dismantled, in 1460, by order of Queen Margaret,
but it was afterwards repaired; scarcely any
vestiges remain. Melbourn hall was formerly a palace
belonging to the Bishops of Carlisle. The river Trent
bounds the parish on the north. This parish is in the
honour of Tutbury, duchy of Lancaster, and within the
jurisdiction of a court of pleas held at Tutbnry every
third Tuesday, for the recovery of debts under 40s. Melbourn
gives the title of viscount to the family of Lamb.