Little Lawford

Little Lawford is a hamlet and civil parish around 0.6 miles (0.97 km) to the north of the much larger village of Long Lawford and west of Rugby in Warwickshire, England. Consisting of 5 dwellings plus numerous other buildings used for commercial or farming business, in 2001 the parish had a population of 12 people. In the 2011 Census population details were recorded under Long Lawford.

It is located just to the north of the River Avon, which is crossed here by a ford on the lane linking it with Long Lawford. It is also linked to Long Lawford by a bridleway which crosses the Avon on a bridge.[1]

Little Lawford Hall
The current Little Lawford Hall, originally the stables of the former hall

In the hamlet is Little Lawford Hall. The original hall was built during the reign of Henry VII, possibly on the site of an earlier monastic grange which belonged to the monks of Pipewell.[2] It became the ancestral home of the Rouse-Boughton family. According to folklore, one of the Boughtons lost his arm during the reign of Elizabeth I and his ghost known as 'One-handed Boughton' continues to haunt the area.[3]

In 1780 the hall was the scene of a notorious murder case, when the heir to the family fortune Theodosius Boughton, died under mysterious circumstances while still a minor. It was soon determined that the cause of his death was poisoning, and suspicion soon fell on his brother-in-law, Captain John Donellan, husband of his sister, who would stand to gain the family inheritance if Theodosius died before the age of 21. Despite protesting his innocence, Donellan was tried and convicted of Boughton's murder, and hung at Warwick the following year.[4]

Following these tragic events the family decided to demolish the hall in around 1790, sell the estate, and move elsewhere.[4] Nothing now remains of it except foundations.[2]

The current house known as Little Lawford Hall was originally the stables to the previous hall which were converted for human habitation in around 1800. The date inset above the front porch is 1604, which may have been when it was first built.[4][5]

Little Lawford Mill
Little Lawford Mill

Also at Little Lawford is the former watermill on the Avon. A mill was recorded here in the Domesday Book, and milling was a continuous activity here until as late as the 1920s. The former mill now without a waterwheel is now a private house.[6]

References
  1. OS Explorer 222
  2. "LITTLE LAWFORD HALL". Pastscape. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  3. "Lawford Hall, Little Lawford - Mysterious Britain & Ireland". Mysterious Britain & Ireland. Archived from the original on 6 July 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  4. "LITTLE LAWFORD HALL". Our Warwickshire. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  5. "SITE OF LITTLE LAWFORD HALL". Our Warwickshire. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  6. "Little Lawford Mill". Our Warwickshire. Retrieved 4 July 2020.

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