The history and antiquities of Boston, and the villages of Skirbeck, Fishtoft, Freiston, Butterwick, Benington, Leverton, Leake, and Wrangle; comprising the hundred of Skirbeck, in the county of Lincoln. Including also a history of the East, West, and Wildmore fens, and copious notices of the Holland or Haut-Huntre fen ... sketches of the geology, natural history, botany, and agriculture of the district; a very extensive collection of archaisms and provincial words, local dialect, phrases, proverbs, omens, superstitions, etc. By Pishey Thompson. Illustrated with one hundred engravings.

586 LEAKE.
festival of Corpus Christi. This property rented for 8s. id., out of which 3d.
was paid for a " collier rent," and 16d. distributed annually among the poor
of the parish, leaving 6s. 5d. for the celebration of the obit. This obit, we
think, from the connexion in which it is mentioned, was celebrated by the chaplain of the Guild of St. Lawrence.
This chantry was situated about a mile and a half from the church, on the
low road leading from Benington to Wrangle. The last portion of the house,
represented in the preceding page, and then called the Moat House, was
removed in 1835.
This building had evidently been considerably larger than is represented in
this engraving. The walls of this portion were of stone, and of great strength.
On the chimney-piece of one of the chambers were four shields, one of them
quartering the arms of Hunston, Sutton, Stickney, Whiting, Gedney, and
Enderby; another bore the arms of Hunston, Sutton, Stickney, and Whiting,
impaling those of Smith of Elsham. Another room exhibited some curious
ancient carving on the oak wainscoting. Various remains of gilding and ornamental work showed that this room had been very handsomely fitted up.
In 1609, there were, according to the Hundred Rolls, 456 acres of land in
Leake belonging to the "Slesser chantrie called the Moat House." The heirs of
Thomas Brown were the owners of this place in 1690; it now is the property
of the Hon. Charles Bertie Percy.
At a very short distance from the Moat House is a large ancient building,
called DARBY HALL, which was the residence of the family of that name, who
were considerable proprietors in this and the adjoining parishes for several
centuries, and allied by marriage to the Dymocke family. Darby Hall is
partly in Leake, and partly in Leverton. It is now the property of the heirs of
Oldfield.
We do not know whether the chief branch of the DERBY or DARBY family
resided at Benington, or at the house above mentioned, as standing partly in
Leake, and partly in Leverton. Ralph Darby resided in Leake in 1517,
William Derby in 1571, and Thomas Derby in 1597; another Thomas Derby
died at Leake in 1659; Dymoke Darby died at Leake in 1701. The arms of
the Darbys were (as we have already stated), argent, a chevron between three
garbs, sable.
Among the former inhabitants of this parish was a branch of the BELL family.
Alan and John Bell are mentioned in 1372, and the name frequently occurs in
the early Hundred Rolls and Subsidy Lists of the town. A branch also of the
BUSSEY family resided here in 1576.
The HUNSTONS were originally a Norfolk family, where they were connected
with the Audleys, Walpoles, &c. A William Hunston was Sheriff of the
county of Lincoln in 1572; his residence is not stated. Edward Hunston, who
left his estate in this parish to found the noble charity now known by his name,
died at Leake, and was interred at Boston, November 21st, 1655.
The LEE3IE family is first mentioned in connexion with this parish in 1322,
when Nicholas de Leek was one of the assessors and collectors in the division of
Holland of the subsidies of a tenth and a sixth, granted by Parliament in that
year.1 He is mentioned as Nicholas Leeke, knight, in 1324, and was returned
I Subsidy Rolls.