RAVENSTONE, a parish partly in the hundred of REPTON-and-GRESLEY, county of DERBY, but chiefly in the western division of the hundred of GOSCOTE, county of LEICESTER, 4 miles (S. E. by E.) from Ashby de la Zouch, containing 444 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in -the archdeaconry of Derby, and diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, rated in the king's books at £5. 1. 0g., and in the patronage of the Crown. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is a very ancient structure. There i-s a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. An hospital for thirty-two aged widows of the parishes of Ravenstone, Swannington, -and Cole- Orton, was built and endowed by John Wilkins, Esq. and Rebecca his wife, in 1712: the endowment consists of about eight hundred acres of land, producing an annual income of £940: .each of the inmates receives four -shillings and sixpence per week, besides a liberal allowance of coal.; the master, or .chaplain, has a salary of £ 60, and a good house, built in 1784, when the present chapel was erected, the expense having been defrayed from the accumulated funds of the charity. A National school is -supported by voluntary contributions.