Groby owned by the Grey family whose estate included Bradgate Park. Sir John Grey of Groby married Elizabeth Woodville. After his death, in battle, she married Edward IV of England. Bradgate Park was the childhood home of Lady Jane Grey, who became Queen of England for nine days in 1553. The Grey family held the barony until it was forfeited in 1554. Thomas Grey, Lord Grey of Groby became MP for Leicester in 1641 and fought on the side of Parliament in the English Civil War. In 1649 Grey was the only aristocrat of the 59 signatories of the death warrant
Great Linford Linford occurs in 944, when "King Edmund gave to his thegn Aelfheah, land at Linforda with liberty to leave it to whom he wished"; it appears in the Domesday Book as "Linforda". Today, the outer buildings of the seventeenth-century Linford Manor form an Arts Centre, and the house itself is a recording studio. In the early sixteenth century, the rector of this parish Dr Richard Napier was widely known as a medical practitioner, astrologer and curer of souls. He was referred to by many in the upper classes, including the Earl of Sunderland who lived under his care for some