Earl Shilton
| Earl Shilton | |
| Leicestershire | |
|---|---|
 St Simon and St Jude, Earl Shilton | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP472980 |
| Location: | 52°34’40"N, 1°18’18"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Leicester |
| Postcode: | LE9 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Hinckley and Bosworth |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Bosworth |
Earl Shilton is a small town in Leicestershire, 5 miles from Hinckley and about 10 miles from Leicester, with a population of around 9,000 (as of 2005).
The historic heart of the town is known informally as Old Shilton, which is mainly strung along Wood Street but behind it wind several little back lanes and paths known as "The Backs"; a veritable maze of alleys is to be found; token of an earlier age.
History
Middle Ages
Robert Beaumont, Earl of Leicester, was present at the death of King Henry in 1135 and became a close adviser to the new king Stephen; it is likely that Robert fortified of Shilton Hill as the Anarchy broke out between Stephen and Matilda, to protect the vale of Kirkby and the roads to the south and west.
The castle was built around the site of an existing twelfth century chapel called St Peter's between Church Street and Almey's Lane (known locally as 'Hall Yard'), but as a fortress it lasted just 30 to 40 years before being destroyed. It was later converted to a hunting lodge. When the church was rebuilt in 1854, the stone was used from the castle for its construction.
In 1173 the Earl of Leicester joined a rebellion by Prince Henry against his father, and was defeated and captured the same year. The king destroyed the Earl of Leicester's castles, including Earl Shilton.
Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, probably created Shilton Park after he became Earl. De Montfort's association with the village was such that he added the prefix 'Earl' to its name.
Early Modern period
Henry VIII gave a parcel of the lands in Earl Shilton to Trinity Hospital, Cambridge.
During the Civil War the village stood between the core territories of Parliament and the King, and the local gentry generally favoured the King. After Parliament's victory, as it began to sequestrate the estates of their opponents, Richard Churchman and Thomas Crofts of Earl Shilton are listed as compounding for their estates with the Parliamentary Sequestration Committee.
The local curate William Holdsworth was accused of being a royalist or "malignant"; he was hauled before the County Committee in 1646 for "reviling" Parliament by ignoring the Directory (which replaced the Book of Common Prayer), refusing sacraments to those not kneeling, allowing Sunday games and reading a royalist Protestation in the middle of a sermon. He was also accused of being "several times drunk" and using "old notes as new sermons" for the past twenty years.
Industry
Between the 19th and late 20th centuries, Earl Shilton was a busy industrial village with numerous shoe, hosiery and knitwear factories. The boot and shoe factories included Orton's, Eatough's and Pinchess's and other, smaller, operations. At one point Earl Shilton produced boots for the Russian army. Many of these businesses have now closed due to competition from the Far East, but a very few still continue into the 21st century.
In 1640, William Iliffe introduced the first knitting frame to Hinckley in 1640, and stocking frames soon spread to Earl Shilton; each stocking maker hired his frame and worked from his cottage, while wives and daughters sat at their spinning wheels, and the economy of the village was transformed. In 1694, Sir Verney Noel, of Kirkby Mallory, left £100 for the poor children of Earl Shilton to be sent to London, to be taught the art of Framework Kitting.
During the American Civil War in the nineteenth centuries a depression came upon the industry as the supply of cotton from the southern states of America was cut off; it was known as the Lancashire Cotton Famine but affected Earl Shilton too, where frame knitting was still the major industry.
Thomas Boothby of Tooley
In 1696, and at only 15 years of age, Thomas Boothby inherited the estate of Tooley Park. Married three times, he acquired through his wives various estates in Staffordshire. From his mother, he inherited land at Foston in Derbyshire and Peatling, Countesthorpe and Earl Shilton in Leicestershire. With his consequent wealth the young 'Tom O' Tooley' devoted himself almost exclusively to the pursuit of hunting. He established the first true pack of foxhounds in the country and the Quorn Hunt with a number of hounds inherited with the Tooley estate. Boothby embarked on an astonishing career of 55 seasons as Master of the Quorn Hunt.
Boothby kept a mistress, Catherine Holmes, at Groby Pool House. But a local clergyman informed Boothby's wife about her husband's mistress. After an angry wife had confronted him, Boothby got hold of the minister in question and almost drowned him in Groby pool.[1]
The Earl Shilton Turnpike
The Turnpike trust had two tollgates at Earl Shilton; one at the bottom of Shilton Hill and the other where the Belle Vue road meets the Hinckley road. Travellers were said to have gone around by Elmesthorpe to avoid the gate and its tolls.
Stagecoaches passed frequently through Earl Shilton, it being on the route to Hinckley and Birmingham from Leicester. Coaches stopped at a place near to the White House in Wood Street, beside the Lord Nelson Inn.
The Old Volunteers
Many Shilton men joined the old 'Volunteers', belonging to the Hinckley Company; these were later incorporated in the 'Militia'. Clad in their red jackets, blue trousers and pipe clayed trimmings with pointed helmets, it is said that on Saturday's night Earl Shilton resembled a garrison town when everyone wore their uniform.
The 'Stute'
The Social Institute was founded at the turn of the 20th century to provide a social and sporting outlet for the young men of Earl Shilton. Its first home was accommodated in two upper rooms in Wood Street. In 1909 the building was erected in Station road, paid for by public subscription, and a mortgage guaranteed by local industrialists, who were the founders and formed the Management Committee. The premises on station road organised football, cricket, a rifle range, chess club, skittles and billiards.
War
Over a hundred men from the village were lost in the First World War; a cenotaph stands in their memory.
During Second World War there were 192 air raid alerts in Earl Shilton, the first occurring on 26 June 1940 and the last on 20 March 1945. Three parachute mines were dropped on the night of 20 November 1940. One landed in Barwell while the other two came down in the northwest corner of Earl Shilton. One of these mines failed to explode, and there were no casualties. More incendiaries fell in Elmesthorpe on 4 December 1940. The German aeroplane was brought down near and the Earl Shilton Home Guard took prisoners.
At 7am on 27 July 1942, a lone German bomber dived out of the clouds near the church and let go of three stick bombs. They landed at the back of Mr T Carter's farm in Church Street, destroying a barn and badly damaging a house. Mr Carter had a very lucky escape himself, as he was out in his yard at the time only 20 yards from the blast. A bull was so badly injured that it had to be put down. The plane went on to machine gun those unfortunate enough to be going to work.
I was at Earl Shilton R.C. School, in Mill Lane, when on this particular morning a lost German plane flew low over Keats Lane and as a boy I remember as Gary Cassell was on his way to the same school as this plane flew over, low and sprayed machine gun bullets along Keats Lane. He ran into an entry and dropped his scarf. When he eventually recovered it, he noticed it contained a bullet hole. He told the story to Michael Mortimore, the son of the village bobby who also attended the school. On hearing this, Mike Mortimore said 'It was a good job he had not got it wrapped round his neck, at the time.'[2]
During the night of 30 July 1942 a 2,000 lb bomb killed a pig and a chicken.
Historic points about the town
The Pinfold was a stone building which stood near to the Baptist Chapel. This was a place for penning stray cattle prior to the enclosure of the common fields - 1758. It was latterly used as a place for weighing stone from the old Parish Quarry.
The Old Smock Mill stood near to the Parish Quarry was built around 1800, at a cost of £800, and stood for over a century before being demolished. It was a noted landmark and a favourite place for rambles and picnics. There were two other mills in Earl Shilton, one stood on the Wood Street Recreational ground near the 'Mount', while the other was near the top of Birds Hill.
Wood Street, locally known as Wood End, is the way leading to the wood referred to in the Domesday Survey, via the "Heath Lane," which was noted in the 17th century for steeple chasing. The Raven family possessed a monster mangle. This was considered to be an outsize of its kind, and washing came from all over Shilton to The Hollow to he mangled by it.
The Workhouse Gardens and Spring Gardens are near the church; evidence of their former use, now discontinued. These were old Tudor buildings. On the opposite side of the road is an ancient barn with massive oak beams; this gives the name to this part of the locality of the Barn-end.
A few old Georgian three-storied houses stand around "Hill Top," and a very old thatched house opposite the "Roebuck Inn," the date on its front giving the year 1714. It is one of the very few thatched ones surviving in Shilton. Keats Lane was formerly known as "Cake Lane," and once it contained many old-fashioned houses. It overlooks the Vale of Kirkby and also overlooks some splendid scenery. A bake-house was situated many years ago near to Whitemore's factory, and a bell was rung when the oven was hot. This was when the bread was made at home and sent to the bakers. This is probably, too, the origination of "Cake Lane." There was also a bake house in Candle Maker Alley, a small lane running between Almys Lane and the top of The Meadows, where between the wars, local folk would take their roasts along to be cooked in the oven.
Near to the present West Street stood the old Yew Tree Farm, prior to the erection of the present Jubilee Terrace. An old malt-house once stood on this spot, and when it was demolished a large wall was built with the bricks, facing the present "Fender Row." This wall has now disappeared with the advent of the Council houses.
The "Dog and Gun Inn" was removed in the 1930s to another site a Keat's Lane, a little distance from where the old licensed house had sold beer for over 150 years. This old building still stands and exists today as a private house.
There was also in Keat's Lane, up until the 1940s, an old glove business that used hand frames, and was run by Mr Linney Spindle Hall, close by, was the last dwelling house in memory to contain the old glove frames. "Wightmans Row" and the old "Glove-Yard" have, like many more old houses, vanished from this region.
Outside links
- Earl Shilton Town Council web site
- Old photos of Earl Shilton can be found at http://www.oldearlshilton.webs.com
- Showing details of Scouting in the town
- Further information and pictures of Earl Shilton and neighbouring town Barwell at http://www.earlshiltonandbarwell.co.uk
References
- Nichols, John History and Antiquities of Leicestershire, Vol. IV, pp. 774–780
- Gentleman's Magazine, xlvi (1776)
- Mathews, A. G. (1948) Walker Revised. London: Oxford University Press; p. 237.
- Lawrence, John N. (2006) 'Associations with Earl Shilton, a Leicestershire Village'
- Crouch, David (2002) The Normans
- The Crusades
- Foster, G. H. (1940) History of Earl Shilton Tooley Park and Potters Marston. Baxter
- Foster, G. H. (1947) History of Earl Shilton and Tooley Park. Baxter
- Morris, Mark (2003) Earl Shilton Castle. Pan Books
- Wood, Michael. The Domesday Book
- Wace. The Companions of William the Conqueror
- Schama, Simon. A History of Britain
- Leicestershire Archeological Society; Vol 28 1952
- Biggs, J. T. Leicester: Sanitation versus Vaccination