It is a serpentine design and was constructed as a fishing and boating lake to allow the water level to be controlled for power generation for the Hall.

It is designated as a ‘Site of Ecological Interest’, feeding into the River Mease (a special area of conservation and SSSI).

[9] One of the Thomas Abney's became a mayor of London whilst another rose to be a judge of common pleas.

The man who might have inherited the hall, after Sir Charles Abney Hastings died without children, was his younger brother, Frank, a veteran of the Battle of Trafalgar.

Monuments in the church include one dated 1505 to John and Maria Abney, another to George and Ellen Abney dated 1571 and a Lt. General Sir Charles Hastings' black and white marble tomb who died in 1823.

The hall fell derelict and was bought by Leicestershire Scout district in 1952 along with a small area of land.

[9] Further land was later bought by the Scouts, with other areas becoming a fishing lake or adding to the golf facilities.

[14] It occupies 14 acres (57,000 m2) of the old Willesley Hall estate (part of the original gatehouse is still visible).

Ashby Canal ran along the southern side of the old estate and was used for moving coal and other minerals (limestone) from the area.

A large basin was created at the south edge of the estate alongside the Oakthorpe Colliery from where tramways ran up through Ashby to Ticknall and along the route now of the A42.

The mining rights to Oakthorpe Colliery see http://www.willesleywood.co.uk will have belonged to the Willesley estate probably until nationalisation in 1946 (confirmation needed).