| Administrative History | The Abney family owned estates in Willesley and adjacent areas from the fifteenth century until 1791 when Thomas Abney died. His heiress was his daughter, Parnell, who in 1788 had married Major General Charles Hastings (d.1823). Subsequently, the estates passed to Sir Charles Abney Hastings who died unmarried in 1858. His successors were his kinswoman Lady Edith Maud Hastings and her husband Charles Frederick Clifford who took the name Abney Hastings
Willesley was transferred from Derbyshire to Leicestershire under boundary reorganisations in 1897. Willesley Hall was demolished in 1953. |
| Custodial History | Acquired by Derbyshire Record Office in 1982. |