Skegby Old Manor House
Skegby's name originates from a Dane named 'Skeggi', meaning "bearded one". It appears in the Domesday Book as "a berewick of the King's manor at Mansfield".
"In 1207 Godfrey Spigurnel offered King John twenty marks (£13. 6s. 8d) for the grant of five bovates of land and a mill in Skegby, for which he would also pay an annual rental of twenty shillings"
[From The story of Skegby and Stanton Hill, by W Clay-Dove.]
The village and parish is located on the two sides of a deep valley, and is 3 miles west of Mansfield.
Godfrey Spigurnal became Lord of the Manor of Skegby in 1223. His descendants held the estate until 1334 when Elizabeth Spigurnal, who married Thomas Gobion, disposed of it to Richard Pensax. His descendant passed it to Percival Lindley in 1450 which was the beginning of the three hundred year tenure of the Lindley family as Lords of the Manor.
In 1613 Matthew Clark left 10 shillings yearly to the poor. In 1741 it is said that Simon Smith bequeathed his real and personal estate to found a hospital in Skegby, but his wishes were overturned by the Mortmain Act
Skegby Hall, built circa 1720 by the Lindley family
At the Visitation in 1743, sixty-four families were recorded in the parish, with a total population of 200.
In 1817, Mrs Lindley's will founded a Charity in her name. Kelly's Directory of 1881 gave the fund at £6 13s. 6d. which was split equally between the poor of the parish and the Girl's Sunday School.
The estate passed to John Dodsley in 1820 and the Dodsley family remained in Skegby until the 1930's. The last Manorial Court was held in Skegby Hall on 25th April 1924.
