ABY MANOR

Aby Manor was a manorial estate associated with the village of Aby in the historic parts of Lindsey, Lincolnshire. Aby is recorded in Domesday material in more than one context: one summary identifies Aby among lands held in 1086 by Hugh, Earl, while another Domesday place-name summary records Abi under the Bishop of Bayeux, with Wadward holding from him, and also records Earl Hugh. These entries concern holdings associated with the vill or locality of Aby and should not be treated as proof that either Domesday holding was the uninterrupted predecessor of the later specifically named Aby Manor. By the late nineteenth century Aby was described as having a manor of which the Earl of Ancaster was lord. The manor should be kept distinct from Belleau Manor, Claythorpe Manor, and the former Willoughby de Eresby residence at Belleau, all of which occur in the same local area but are separately identified estates.

The secure public evidence presently establishes the Earl of Ancaster as lord of the manor of Aby in 1896. The Earl was Gilbert Henry Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, who was created Earl of Ancaster in 1892 and died in 1910. A continuous descent from medieval or early-modern holders to the Earl of Ancaster has not been established from the sources located. Domesday records show several holdings connected with the vill of Aby, but the surviving public summaries do not identify which, if any, was the direct predecessor of the later Aby Manor. A 1901 local directory excerpt found during research identifies Lord Willoughby de Eresby as lord of Belleau Manor, not Aby Manor, and therefore has not been used to extend the Aby Manor ownership chain. References to Lord Willoughby de Eresby ownership of individual plots in Aby, and to his involvement in an 1852 school endowment deed, evidence landholding or patronage in the locality but not ownership of Aby Manor and are excluded from the conveyance chain.