Sibson, Leicestershire
Sibson is a hamlet in Leicestershire. It forms, with Upton, an ancient parish on the border with north Warwickshire, near Sheepy and Hinckley, and is now part of the former's parish.
The manor of Sibson, also called Sibetesdone or Sibbesdon, was part of John le Poter's inheritance in the time of Henry I. It changed hands several times over the centuries, passing to Thomas Corbett of Legh in 1420, and Keytes of Gloucestershire, in the early 17th century.
During the English Civil War Sibson made a number of claims for losses and "free quarter" from the local parliamentary garrisons. In June 1646, William Mousley and William King claimed for lost horses taken by soldiers from the Tamworth garrison. Colonel Purefoy from the Coventry garrison extorted money and provinder.[1] As many as 44 soldiers under the command of Colonel Cheshire from the Warwick garrison were quartered here for nearly two weeks on one occasion.
Sibson is also notable as the birthplace of Peter Temple, a regicide, born here 1599 and apprenticed to a linen draper.[2]
The national census of 1801 records that the village had a population of 45 families, comprising 220 people, mostly employed in agriculture. In 1803 about 740 acres in the parish was enclosed by Pendock Neale, the lord of the manor, leaving a proportion to the rector, Thomas Neale "equal to the value of his uninclosed glebe and right of common". In 1810 the manor of Sibson with 880 acres of freehold enclosed land and the advowson of the rectory, a newly erected rectory-house, coach-house, stables, and yards, altogether worth about a thousand pounds was offered for sale.
An engraved illustration of the church from 1793 printed by John Nichols, shows the rectory and perhaps one of Pendock Neale's tenants carting hay.
References
- John Nichols, History and Antiquities of Leicestershire, Vol. IV, p. 954
- A. Roberts, "The depredations of the Civil War in Southwest Leicestershire", Leicestershire Historian, Vol. 3 no. 4 (1985–86) pp. 3–13.