Freeby is a village and civil parish in the Melton district of Leicestershire, England, about east of Melton Mowbray. As well as the village of Freeby the civil parish includes the villages of Brentingby, Saxby, Stapleford and Wyfordby. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 244. Isaac Watts lived in the village and preached at the Congregational chapel. History The village's name means 'farm/settlement of Fraethi'. The village was once a part of Melton Mowbray parish. At the time of Edward the Confessor it was known as "Fretheby" and "Fredebi". It was referred to as "Frieby" as late as 1816. All the properties, except the United Reformed Church, still belong to the Freeby estate. The estate was granted as a manor to Hugh Despencer in the 13th century and is still a manor estate. The estate later passed to Lord de Ros, presumably at the demise of the Despensers. (Hugh the elder was hanged in Bristol in 1326 for his aid to Edward II who had fled the invasion of Isabella and Mortimer: Hugh Despenser the Younger was, after trial, hung, drawn and quartered later the same year). In 1568 the lord of the manor of Freeby was Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland. 30 years later the manor passed to Thomas Hartopp of that ancient family of Leicestershire. Sir John Hartopp, 3rd Baronet (1658) became MP for Leicestershire (1678–81), employed the non-conformist Isaac Watts and left an endowment for the education of dissenting ministers. The estate was sold by Sir John William Cradock-Hartopp, 4th Baronet, to Daniel Thwaites (of the Lancashire Thwaites brewery) upon whose death in 1888 it passed to his only daughter, Elma Amy, the wife of Robert Yerburgh, M.P. The estate was part of many others owned by Mrs Yerburgh and under management of the Woodfold Estates Company Management. Mrs Yerburgh died in 1946 and from 1955 the estates and brewery were managed separately from adjacent offices at Eanam, Blackburn. Today The buildings in the village show some similarity of age and building style commensurate with estate management. This can be seen in window frames and doors, the use of ironstone and brick building materials with limestone decoration. At the T junction to the west of the village, set upon a bank, is a terrace of six houses called Sykes Row. The red brick and tiled roof construction with decorative window arches are striking. Ivy