The modern day site of Stoughton Grange and the surrounding countryside hides a wealth of history.

Going back as far as William the Conqueror and the Domesday Book first drafted in 1086, the land around ‘Stoctone’ is recorded as being granted to Hugh de Grentemaisnell. By descent, the land is then passed to Robert Bossu, Earl of Leicester, who founded Leicester Abbey in 1143. In 1157 he presented the land and its revenues to the abbey where it remained for almost 400 years.

Following the dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry VIII between 1536 and 1541, the land was transferred to the Crown. In 1543, as part of dissolution, a property called the ‘Grange of Stoughton’ was leased by the Crown to John More, a member of the royal household. From then the property was conveyed through various families until it came into the possession of the Beaumont family.

For 200 years the estate remained in the ownership of the Beaumont family until 1737 when Sir George Beaumont died a bachelor and the estate was inherited by his surviving sister and nephew, William Bushby. Bushby's daughter, Anne married Anthony Keck and the property remained in the family for a further period.

In 1919, the Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd bought some of the estate for £24,000 including Stoughton Grange. For reasons unknown, the main house at Stoughton Grange was demolished in 1926. The walled garden which originally contained the vegetable gardens, orchard and conservatory was sold in 1952.

The Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd. owned most of the land in and around Stoughton and by 1954 farmed over 4,600 acres with over 555,000 gallons of milk produced annually from their 900 cows. The main dairy and farm buildings situated at Grange Farm have since been converted into The Cow & Plough pub and restaurant.