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
Bradgate Park altitudes. The youngest of the Precambrian rocks are the South Charnwood Diorites. These are known locally as granite, (geologically they were formerly described as markfieldite) and are quarried commercially at Groby and Markfield. These are igneous intrusions of magma which formed within the existing Beacon Hill and Bradgate Formations. They cooled slowly and at great depth to create their large crystalline structure, and were subsequently exposed by erosion of the uplifted rocks above. The Diorites are the cliffs and blocks seen along the Lin valley, through the so-called Little Matlock Gorge and near Bradgate House. They are massive blocky outcrops