page_title: Willesley
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Willesley / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Willesley Hall in Leicestershire. from A descriptive and historical guide to Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The seat of Sir Charles Abney-Hastings
context_page_description: Willesley is a place near Ashby-de-la-Zouch. It was in Derbyshire but is now part of Leicestershire. In the 19th century it had a population of about 60 and Willesley Hall was the home of the Abney and later the Abney-Hastings family. Willesley is so small that it would be a hamlet except that it has a church.
context_section_description: Willesley is mentioned as a significant manor in the Domesday book. Willesley is listed among the large number of manors that are owned directly by Henry de Ferrers and its value was assessed as twenty shillings TRE and sixteen shillings in 1086.
  There was once a stately home here called Willesley Hall built of red brick. The hall stood in a park of 155 acres (0.63 km²).
  The village has always been small. The population remained around the figure of 60 from 1805 to 1881.
  Little of the manor, but the church, remains today, but Willesley Lake remains.
  Willesley Lake
  Willesley Lake is within the 155-acre park of the Former Willesley Hall.  It is a serpentine design and was constructed as a fishing and boating lake and to allow the water level to be controlled for power generation for the Hall.  It is designated as a ‘Site of Ecological Interest’, feeding into the River Mease (a special area of conservation and SSSI).  The 24-acre fishing lake set in 16 acres of woodland provides an excellent fishery today, having a significant stock of fish species.  It is surrounded by beds of snowdrops in February and bluebells in the spring.  The lake attracts a significant number and species of waterfowl and other birds.
caption: Willesley Hall in the 1830s when it was the home of Sir Charles Abney Hastings and just before that his father.
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