Glaston


Glaston is a village in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. The population of the civil parish remained unchanged between the 2001 and the 2011 census'.
Glaston is about south of Rutland Water and is situated on the A47, east of Uppingham. There are approximately 80 houses in total with one public house, The Old Pheasant on Main Road , and a flooring warehouse, Glaston Carpets. There is an active Parish Meeting that is held once a month and villagers are trying to get a bypass for the village. The parish church of St Andrew is a Grade II* listed building and has an unusual central spire.
A rectangular pond is a cartwash of circa 1740, used for soaking cartwheels to prevent the wood shrinking from iron tyres and also for horses' hooves to prevent hardening.

Early history

Archaeologists working in the parish in 2000 discovered a late Pleistocene faunal assemblage in association with an Upper Palaeolithic flint "leafpoint".

Wellington and Colley

Glaston has a connection with the Duke of Wellington. Although his family adopted the name Wesley or Wellesley, their original name was Colley, and they were possibly descended from the English-born judge Robert Cowley or Colley who came to Ireland about 1505-06. Robert was almost certainly born in Glaston, where the Colley family were Lords of the Manor from about 1400. Richard Colley, the grandfather of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, changed his surname to Wesley in 1728 when he inherited estates on the death of his cousin, Garret Wesley but was supposed to add the last name of Wellesley not Wesley as Garrets father was Garret Wellesley so Richard could carry on the Wellesley Coat of Arms to get the inheritance, this is why the Duke & his brother corrected the last name from Wesley to Wellesley while in India.
Colley Cibber, English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate was the eldest child of Jane née Colley, from the Glaston family.