Tolthorpe Hall seems to have had a very interesting past as well as having a highly popular theatrical future.
“R. Harrison, Esq., of Tolthorpe Hall, near Stamford, has been recently employing some of the labourers in his parish (Little Casterton) to level a portion of the grounds on the west of his residence. In the course of their operations, the men turned up the massive keystone of a handsomely carved arched window – a discovery which it is supposed gives a clue to the site of a hospital and chapel founded on the manor in 1301. Tolthorpe was anciently a manor of some importance: in the reign of the Conqueror, it was in possession of Ausculf, one of the greatest barons of the age : subsequently it became the property of John de Oketon, or John de Tolthorpe, who built and endowed a hospital for seven poor men, and a chantry for the befit of his soul. In after-times, Tolthorpe belonged for some generation to the Brown family, one of whose ancestors was a draper at Stamford and a wealthy merchant of the staple. The advowson of the chantry or college of Tolthorpe is frequently mentioned in official documents during the reigns of the early Plantegenets. Wright, the historian of Rutland, mentions that the chapelry was transferred in the 50th Edw. III.; but Blore disputes the statement, though he believes it was dissolved before the reign of Edward VI., as it is not mentioned in an inquisition taken during that reign of one of the Cecils. Blore farther speaks of unsuccessful efforts to discover the site of the chapelry. If the keystone recently discovered formed a portion of the hospital, it is probable its situation was on the edge of the slope extending from the river Gwash to the plateau in the centre of which stands the existing mansion. The stone is too heavy to have been conveyed from any considerable distance for any other than a useful purpose. Portions of stone which were found neat the same spot, seem to have undergone the action of fire : hence it is not improbable the hospital and chapelry were destroyed by a conflagration.”
The Stamford Mercury, 19th April, 1850.