Great Glen was the central place of an early Anglo-Saxon multiple estate. The settlements that comprised this estate are: Great and Little Stretton, Wistow, Newton Harcourt, Fleckney and Kilby. These parishes comprise the minimal extent of the estate which broadly follow the River Sence, the earlier name of which was "Glen" or "Glennos", which was an earlier name of the river. It is possible that the estate extended further west along the river to Glen Parva where it joins the River Soar. It has not been possible to establish this securely. Glen (not "Great" Glen) enters the record for the first time in AD849 in an Anglo-Saxon royal charter.