Let us take up TPB's statement that Stordon had a monastic origin. A monastic grange was essentially a farm for the collection of produce from lands owned by the monastery. There were two religious foundations nearby -- the Priory of Augustinian Canons at Breedon-on-the-Hill, three miles away in a straight line, and the Priory of Augustinian Canonesses at Grace Dieu, the remains of which are less than two miles from Stordon in a south-easterly direction. Both of these must have farmed in their near vicinities, however it is with Grace Dieu that Stordon must be connected. On January 24, 1493 Stoughton Grange was leased by John Zouch (of the Zouch family associated with the castles of Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Codnor) to Lady Margaret Zouch, Prioress of Grace Dieu. We believe that Stoughton was pronounced as though it was spelt Storton and that at some later time the second 't' changed to 'd'. (There is a village, Stoughton, south-east of Leicester, but this is too far away, we think, to have had a grange associated with Grace Dieu.)
    Having, as we believe, with the help of Dennis Heathcote, son of Emily Ann Heathcote, of another branch of the family, now been able to establish the mediaeval and monastic origin of Stordon, and we may recall TPB's remark about the ancient chimney, we come to the Beaumont connection. A Sir Thomas Beaumont had, by marriage, acquired Coleorton and founded the original Leicestershire branch of that family. In 1534 his grandson, John Beaumont, was one of the Royal Commissioners appointed to inspect Grace Dieu at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was dissolved in 1538, John Beaumont acquired it, no doubt on very favourable terms and took up residence there. His son, Sir Francis, was the father of Francis Beaumont, the dramatist.
    In 1696, the Beaumonts sold Grace Dieu, and removed to Coleorton. We do not know the date at which the 99-year lease of Stordon was taken up by Thomas Boultbee. It would seem likely that the lease commenced while Stordon was still owned by the Beaumonts, and possibly before the sale of Grace Dieu. His grandson Thomas died in 1785, and it would appear that the lease still had some years to run with his son Robert as tenant. Stordon must always have been a farm, as it still is, the house most likely over the years being altered and enlarged. (The Beaumont family seat in Leicestershire was Coleorton Hall, two miles south-west.)
    TPB describes Stordon, its immediate surroundings of garden, moat, orchard, etc, and its interior as he found it in 1863. It actually stood in a flat-bottomed dip with a low hill behind, on the lower slopes of which still stand various farm buildings. The modern house, built in 1962, is between the dip and the road.
    It is disappointing to have to record that there is now no trace at all that there had ever been a large house, with a moat, on the site. (Generally speaking, a moat in association with an old house was not always a serious defensive work, it was sometimes in the nature of a kind of status symbol.) We do not know when the moat, fed by springs from the hill, was formed but it was possibly mediaeval and might originally have been stocked with fish.
    However, we are fortunate in that we do know what Stordon looked like in 1863 and 1891. A large rambling place showing all the signs of additions in a rather haphazard way -- parts with roof ridges of different heights, external chimney stacks in odd positions and single-storey parts tacked on, no doubt as necessity dictated. It is possible that in the time of Thomas and Jane Boultbee some of the latter excrescences did not exist, but with their large family it was even then a substantial property with two principal wings.

    The general appearance of the old house is known from two old water-colour paintings of the same view from the south, one of which was made by TPB himself in 1863, and from three photographs taken by his nephew Walter Ernest Boultbee. In all of these the old cedar, the elm trees on the west side, and the moat figure. Two of the photographs show the south front from slightly different viewpoints. The third is of the brick bridge over the moat which replaced the original drawbridge. In the background is the courtyard angle of the house with the front door in the corner. The right-hand projecting wing is probably the one being used as a storehouse in 1891, the gable end is completely covered by ivy (see above and below).

STORDON GRANGE - 1891

    Walter Ernest Boultbee (1853 - 1897), second son of JB by his first wife, visited Stordon in February 1891, with his wife Ellen and possibly one of his numerous sisters. The two ladies are seen standing on the bridge. He wrote of what he found as follows:-

    There is a gravestone marker in the Osgathorpe churchyard noted by the Editors in 1976 with the following inscription:-

    We assume that John William Knight was the son of Knight, the present occupant in 1891.

    Walter Richard Pownall Boultbee (1886 - 1975) elder son of Walter Ernest visited Stordon in 1935. He recorded that by 1920 the panelling had all gone and the whole was most depressing. At that time it is believed it was in multiple occupation. Stordon was finally pulled down in 1965, and the débris from the demolition was used to fill up the moat.
    The old house was occupied by four consecutive generations of the Boultbee family covering a period of approximately a hundred years. Robert, fifth son of the third Thomas, probably continued to live there as tenant for some years after the lease had expired though this is not certain.
    The plan of the property (see top of page) is redrawn from the 1882 1:2500 Ordnance Survey Sheet, the earliest plan so far discovered. It is unlikely to differ very much from what TPB saw in 1863, or basically from its heyday in the 18th century in the time of Thomas and Jane Boultbee. The painting of the south front below has been copied from TPB's watercolour, and was executed by Ann Boultbee of Dawlish in 1992.

STORDON GRANGE - SOUTH FRONT, WATERCOLOUR BY ANN BOULTBEE, 1992