SHELFORD, a parish in the southern division of
the wapentake of BINGHAM, county of NOTTINGHAM, 8
miles (E. N. E.) from Nottingham, containing, with the
township of Saxondale, and part of that of Newton, 671
inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry
of Nottingham, and diocese of York, endowed
with £200 private benefaction, and £300 parliamentary
grant, and in the patronage of the Earl of Chesterfield.
The church, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, is the
burial-place of the noble family of Stanhope, and contains
the remains of Philip, the accomplished Earl of Chesterfield,
who died in 1773. This parish forms part of
the vale of Trent, which river bounds it on the west and
north, and theFosse-road touches its south-eastern boundary.
It 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. A priory, in honour of the blessed Virgin
Mary, was founded here, in the time of Henry II., by
Ralph Hanselyn, which, at the dissolution, had a revenue
of £151. 14. 1. An hospital, called the Bede
Houses, was founded and endowed, in 1694, by Sir
William Stanhope, for the reception and support of
six of his decayed tenants, but the number has been
reduced to four. The manor-house was garrisoned by
Col. Stanhope, son of the first Earl of Chesterfield, for
Charles I., and taken by storm by Col. Hutchinson, for
the parliament, after a gallant resistance, during which
Colonel Stanhope and most of his men were' slain.