For generations, “home” to the Leicestershire Holylands was the village of Desford. The surviving Desford parish registers start from 1559, and the first mention of any of the Holyland family was in 1564 with the burial of Thomas Holyland. However, the Holylands had their home in Desford prior to this. An 1827 copy of the “Calendar to Pleadings and Depositions” during the reigns of the Tudor monarchs is available on the internet via Google Books (1), and contains the following: Date: Reign: 1+2 Phil + Mar (ie 1553-4) Plaintiff: Thomas Hollylande, Son of Agnes Hollylande, Widow, deceased, a Tenant by the Custom of the Manor of Desford Defendants: Robert Dewsburye otherwise called Strynger, Reve of the Manor of Desford, and Nicholas Crosbie who was admitted Tenant of the Premises after an alledged Forfeiture. Premises and matters in dispute: Disputed Title to a Messuage, Cottage, Land, and Pasture claimed by the Plaintiff as devised to him by his Mother’s Will, to hold unt
