The county of Leicester, England
Leics is a landlocked county in in Central England. It takes its name from the heavily populated city of Leicester which has traditionally been its administrative center, but is now a unitary authority administratively separate from Leics.
Leics is bounded on the north-west by that of Derby, on the north by that of Nottingham, on the east by those of lincoln and Rutland, on the south-east by that of Northampton, and the south-west by Warwick. Hortons have flourished in Leicester since the year 1268 when Henry de Horton moved to Knaptoft where he owned 24 acres. He was appointed bailiff by Anselm Gobion who was rector of Knaptoft St. Nicholas Parish Church. St. Nicholas was built in the 1279 and a strategically located croft (house) called, "le Prest Croft" was built on the north side of the church for the Horton Home. This home was owned by the Hortons for the next 400 years. Henry's work as bailiff was in the outlying Mowsley holdings.
In the words of "The Leicester Chronicler,"on the destruction of Knaptoft,"There is a tangible feeling of sadness in this quiet remote place. Perhaps it is the evidence of destruction, or simply the solitude and the isolation. The silence of a village that no longer exists. Of familites uprooted. Perhaps it is the deeper silence of suffering, following the violence of civil war. Knaptoft is one of Leicestershire's 'lost' villages. A settlement that was doomed to die from as early as the Black Death of the 14th Century. Today, all that is left to identify the settlement is a collection of farm buildings and the ruins of the ancient parish church."
The Victoria History of the Counties of England; Volume V, pub 1964, index A-J, pages 347-356, has these Hortons recorded:
Agnes, Alice, Andrew, Barbara, Elizabeth and Henry, all children of John Horton who flourished in 1345 - John Horton who flourished in 1345 - John Horton who flourished in 1381 - John Horton who flourished in 1663 - John Horton who died in 1701 - John Horton who died in 1742 - John Horton who died in about 1751 - Jonathan and Joseph Horton who both flourished in 1664.
The townships of Leicestershire:
Knaptoft
Knaptoft is one of Leics 'lost' villages. The St Nicholas Church was destroyed during the Battle of Naseby, 14 June 1645, in the Civil War. The village disappeared because the Lord of the Manor swapped from crop growing to sheep farming, which meant less labourers were needed. Today, all that is left to identify the settlement is a collection of farm buildings and the ruins of the ancient parish church.
St Nicholas Church was built in 1279. Henry de Horton became the free tenant of Hugh Gobion at Knaptoft. A croft (house) was built on the north side of the church which the Horton family held and lived in for the next 482 years, 1279 to 1761.
From
'The Victoria History of the Counties of England; Volume V; In
1761 a house on this site, still belonging to the Horton family, was
demolished and a new one built in 1763 at the northern end of the plot. (the picture of the house was supplied by John Lacey). 
Mowsley
Mowsley is a township and chapelry in Knaptoft Parish, Leics. The civil parish of Mowsley lies about eleven miles south-south-east of Leicester on the rising ground towards the Northamptonshire border. The village has been the principal settlement in the ancient parish of Knaptoft since the depopulation of Knaptoft in the 16th century.
The poll tax list for 1381 shows members of the Horton family received two of the highest assessments: John and Alice Horton and William and Agnes Horton. There were still Hortons in Mowsley in 1909. It was then believed that Joseph Horton between 1761 and 1768 had cut off his sons with a shilling each and left his estate to a nephew who had squandered it. Other branches of the family survived more prosperously. Richard Horton of Smyth Place, Mowsley, was born about 1450 and was probably of the eighth generation after 1268. Richard's grandson, Thomas Horton, who flourished 1560, was probably the founder of the Hortons of Saddington and Thomas's grandson, William Horton, who died 1637,of the Hortons of Gumley. Richard's three sons, William, Thomas, and Richard Horton the Younger, in 1524 were assessed for goods worth L50, L12, and L4 respectively and together paid more than three quarters of the sum subscribed by the whole village of Mowsley. Richard Horton the younger in 1551 was reported to be the tenant of crown lands in Mowsley which had formerly belonged to Leicester Abbey.
The Hortons were a substantial yeoman farming family in Mowsley, Saddington, and Gumley during the 17th and 18th centuries, and continued to buy and sell land in the district. According to the hearth tax returns of 1664 the largest houses in Mowsley were owned by .............and Joseph Horton.
Nonconformity in Mowsley
Joseph Horton's house was licensed as a meeting-place for nonconformists in 1672 and William Burdett was licensed as a teacher. Smeeton and Horton supported William Smith's application to license his house in 1804. Joseph Horton's house had been reported to be a meeting-place in 1794.
Gumley
Gumley lies eleven miles south-east of Leicester at the eastern end of a ridge of hills which runs from Husbands Bosworth through Mowsley and Laughton, north of the Welland valley.
In 1706 John Underwood's son, William, disposed of the Griffin Manor to George Farmer and Henry Morley whose heirs in 1712 conveyed it to John Horton, who died in 1742. the latter's great-grandfather, William Horton, who died in 1637, in 1610 had acquired from Edward and Thomas Griffin the messuage and 5 yardlands in Gumley which he occupied. The fact that this property was also called a manor has added to the confusion surrouding this descent and led to the Hortons being called lords of Gumley during the 17th century. In fact, John Horton, who died in 1742, was the only member of the family to own the original manor, and just before his death his children conveyed it to Joseph Cradock, who died in 1759, a Leicester hosier and draper. Horton's son-in-law, John Aldwinckle, advertised a sale of the estate in 1736.
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