Home of the de Appleby Family

The Moat House is one of Appleby's most significant historic buildings, located in the heart of the village.

The original stone Moat House is believed to have been erected in 1166 by William de Appleby, and occupied by the de Appleby family until 1560.  All that remains  of the original moat house is the gatehouse, through which one rode into a cobbled courtyard.  The main stone house would be behind this, facing the gate house.  But the  moat itself still exists 

After the de Appleby's left, the main house was demolished.  A 'new' black and white extension was added to the gate house.  The house was purchased by Sir Wolstan Dixie in 1604 and given to the trustees of the free grammar school which his family founded in Market Bosworth.  

In 1935, by all accounts, some Americans attempted to buy the house and transport it to the United States!  Local historians thwarted this scheme.

The house's condition was allowed to deteriorate and by 1960 the old Ashby Rural District Council had served a closing order on the property, and it looked fated to be demolished.  Thankfully, it was rescued by Mr H S Hall, who purchased and restored the building.  While the walls of the ground floor were being stripped, decorators found a number of carved initials and drawings, the graffiti of young children who lived there centuries before.  Over the mantelpiece of a room once used as a back kitchen are slabs of stone which were evidently part of a still more ancient building.  They bear a mysterious, possibly early English, inscription and drawings of ornamental leaves, flowers, a Star of David, and a man and woman.

After her husband's death, Mrs Hall continued to live in the house until 1998 when it was sold to the present occupiers.

The house, with its stone built west range and timber framed eastern part, is considered to be the best example of its kind in Leicestershire.

The Tragic Story  of Joyce de Appleby

by Joan Noble

Joyce had been 'delicately brought up in the pleasures of the world'.  There were four children.

Left a widow, she accepted the hand in marriage of Thomas Lewis of Mancetter near Atherstone.  He was a Roman Catholic.  At that time, people were expected as a matter of course to adhere to the Roman Catholic religion, that being the religion of the reigning queen, Queen Mary 1st (1553 to 1558).

Joyce's husband tried to persuade her to keep to the customs of his church, but this she refused to do.  She became friendly with the Glover family in Mancetter, substantial people like themselves, who were also protestant.

Thomas Lewis warned Joyce continually and eventually refused to have anything to do with her.  She was arrested by order of the Bishop of Coventry, imprisoned in dreadful conditions and then transferred to Lichfield where she was burned at the stake in the market place.

The other protestant family, the Glovers, were ordered to be arrested also but managed to escape, except for one.  He was caught and put to death in the same way outside Coventry Cathedral.

Mr Lewis' mansion in Mancetter, where Joyce lived, still stands.  It is now a hotel and restaurant, and is furnished still in the Tudor style.  In Mancetter church hangs a painting of Joyce de Appleby. 

Reference: Nichols' History of Leicestershire, 1811.