Family history in
museum's display
WHEN HINCKLEY and District Museum opens for a new season this weekend the feature of a new display devoted to Burbage will be a family whose links with the village could date back to the Battle of Hastings. Keen archaelogical and local historian Mr Arthur Cross of Lychgate Lane is very excited about a find about the Wightmans in a book published in 1917.
"This could be the start of pilgramages to Burbage. With the decline in hosiery and knitware, tourism is about all we have left," he believes.
The Wightman links date back 400 years at least, but could date back as
far as 1066.
The book reveals that a Thomas Wightman was around at the time of
Richard II, and the family had homes at Wykin Hall, Burbage Grange, and
Moat House as well as Hinckley Manor, which they bought jointly with
others in 1604.
The only evidence of the family in Burbage today is an alabaster stone
depicting a Richard Wightman and his two wives, originally on the floor
of St. Catherine's Church, but lifted on to a wall during a restoration.
The Wightman coat of arms features the Hastings crest, and Mr Cross has
speculated that the family might have been given land in this area as
reward for their services in the battle.
Mr Cross would like to see the Wightman coat of arms used, rather than
the proposed thistle, on the flag that is to fly over the new Millenium
Hall in Burbage, as he feels this would be more fitting.
The crest shows a horizontally divided gold and black shield, over the
motto, "A Wight Man Never Wanted a Weapon", and bearing a maunch (sleeve
of a lady's robe) which is the feature it shares with the Hastings family.
Above the shield is a knight's helmet surmounted by a running buck ,
wearing a gold collar, standing on a tree stump.
Among the first family members to see the new display are likely to be
a party from America, who visit about every two years, and are due in the
area at the end of next month.
