When
the Merchant Guilds were established in
Leicester, one of it's early entrants in
the year 1208 was Joh son of Aze of Sileby,
obviously of Danish stock, he was the first
Sileby man thus recorded.
In 1220 the monks of St Ebrulf Priory in
Normandy claimed the tithes of six virgates
of land in Sileby, "as of old times",
this was 1/4 of a caracate, and the land
referred to was most likely the Merry Wong
field, a tithe was a tenth of the produce.
This tithe was most probably first given
by the Earl of Leicester from his manorial
lands, to his native Normandy Priory, when
he was given these lands after the conquest.
About the year 1229 the Earl of Chester's
land in Sileby and district was acquired
by Stephen de Segrave, who also held the
Hundred of East Goscote, as well as being
the Sherriff of Leics. ,and Warws.
The
earliest form of local government consisted
of groups of 100 families, which became
known as hundreds, these were a subdivision
of a "Scire" or Shire as we now
know it. Ten years later Simon de Montfort
the younger was Earl of Leicester, he exchanged
his manorial lands in Sileby and Thurnby
which had been leased to Richard, son of
Robert de Harecut, (Robert had died in 1220,
and Richard took over his inheritance) and
thus he became the first recorded Patron
of Sileby Church.
Simon de Montfort made this exchange with
Stephen de Hegrave for his manorial lands
in Thornton and Bagworth. The Harecut family
had come over from Normandy, and a relative
of the same name, a monk at the great Abbey
of Bec, was brought over to Sileby to become
the first recorded Rector here, however
he resigned in 1228/9 to return to the Abbey
of Bec. The reason the date is uncertain
is because the year began in March in those
times.
The Earl of Leicester had many midland manors
under his jurisdiction, and for administration
purposes he formed eight "bailiwicks"
with a steward to oversee each of them.
The largest was at Hinckley, but the next
in size and area covered was here in Sileby,
the Steward being responsible for collecting
the Earl's rents in money or kind from 31
villages, some in Notts. and Rutland, as
well as Leics.
Representatives from each of these villages
were required to attend the bailiwick courts
at Easter and Michaelmas, which were mostly
held at Sileby and occasionally one of the
villages in Notts. or Rutland.
Nicholas de Belgrave was the Bailiff over
a long period, so that some records call
it the Belgrave bailiwick.
Obviously, with so many having to come long
distances, most likely on horseback, some
form of hostelry must have existed for overnight
stays. It is a theory of mine that the church
where the court was held, this being the
only building capable of accommodating it,
the hostelry would be close by on the site
of the now demolished cottages in little
Church lane, in Angel Yard.
One cottage there was an "L" shaped
building, with walls 50cm thick. of stone
similar to that found in the church walls,
further I think that the carved face of
"Mary queen of heaven" over the
chancel arch in the church, would have suggested
the title of the Angel for such an hostelry.
But what of the cottages or hovels of the
villagers? these would have consisted of
whattle and daub construction, on a plinth
of stones gathered from the fields, with
possibly a piece of Mountsorrel granite
as well, the walls and gable ends were made
with interwoven osier wickerwork, which
was daubed over with a mixture of straw
& clay, which set like concrete.
