One
section of the disbanded Danish army came
to Leicester, which they took over, as well
as all the surrounding Saxon settlements,
such as Thurmaston Syston, Thurcaston, Birstall,
Anstey, Belgrave, Braunstone, Aylestone,
Whetstone, Wigston, Knighton, Evington,
Stoughton, etc.
Other
ex-army men established new settlements
further a field, along the Soar & Wreake
valleys in the main, which included, along
with Sileby, such places as Rearsby, Bark
by, Rotherby, Hoby, Beeby, Asfordby, Ab
Kettleby, Brentingby, Sax by, Somerby, Lowesby,
Thurnby, Oadby, Arnesby, Shearsby, Blaby,
Cosby, Enderby,among others. All these end
in BY, which is still the name for a town
in the Scandinavian languages.
The site which is now Sileby would have
been approached from the river Soar with
a clearing made in the wasteland between
Barrow and Cossington, the settlement being
made in the High St area, on a gravel patch,
which would allow wells to be sunk to augment
the water supply from the brook.
The
land which was then cultivated was to the
north & east, and the three large open
fields were given Danish names, to the east
was Howgate Field, How meaning Hill, and
Gate meaning Road, this word Gate or Gata
is still the Scandinavian word for Road,
it was bounded by what is now Ratcliffe
Rd, Cossington parish boundary, Seagrave
parish boundary, and the brook coming down
from Seagrave.
High gate Field, bounded on the north side
of the brook, and the Seagrave and Barrow
parish boundaries, and what is now Barrow
Rd. This field was sub-divided into Over
Canby field, little Canby field, Over Merry
Wong, and nether Merry Wong, all Danish
names.
Merry is no doubt a corruption of Marie,
or Mary, suggesting an ecclesiastical connection,
and a Wong was a block of cultivated furlong
strips, possibly from which the produce
was used as a tithe to be sent to the Lord
of the Manor's Normandy Abbey after the
conquest, { it would have been some considerable
time after the settlement of the village
before the field's names were recorded,
and they would then be called as they were
known orally.
The third field was known as the south field,
bounded by Ratcliffe Rd, Cossington brook,
Cossington Rd and Sileby brook, and finally
there was meadowland between Cossington-Barrow
road and the river Soar.
The fields were farmed by the strip system,
each cottager was allowed one or more strips
in each open field, so that he received
a fair mixture of each type of land, each
strip usually a furlong long, 220 yards,
or {201.25 m) and about lO feet { 30.5 cm)
wide. The cottages were built on a stone
plinth, the stones being gathered off the
fields, and if ever any alteration was made,
the original plinth had to be retained to
preserve the tenant's rights in the open
fields.
In the year 1086 the so called Doomsday
survey was made, so that King William could
tax all the land-owners, as far as Sileby
was concerned there were three people involved,
Hugh Lupus, {Wolf) Earl of Chester, who
was Lord of the Manor of Barrow-on-Soar,
who had about 96 acres in Sileby parish
belonging to his Manor.
The Royal Manor of Rothley had about 216
acres of manorial land in Sileby. The bulk
of manorial lands in Sileby belonged to
Hugh de Grantmesnil, the Earl of Leicester,
about 816 acres, and he had this let to
Ernald du Bois.
