Earl Shilton ( or locally [ɪw ʃɪwʔn̩] 'ill Shilton') is a market town in Leicestershire, England, about from Hinckley and about from Leicester. The 2011 Census recorded its population as 10,047.
Toponymy The town's name derives from the Old English for 'farm/settlement on a shelved terrain'. In the Domesday Book (1086) it is recorded as Scheltone. Schulton or Scheltone is an ancient word, which means shelf; Shilton is therefore Scheltone or shelf-town, a derivation supported by the village's standing on the top of a long, narrow ridge in the southwest of the county. .
History Pre-Norman period
Pre-history The village of Earl Shilton would evolve on Shilton Hill in what would be south Leicestershire. Below the hill ran an ancient trackway known as the Salt Road, connecting east and west Leicestershire. A tribe known as the Corieltauvi constructed this road, running along the southern edge of the Great Leicester Forest, a vast tract of woodland which entirely covered west Leicestershire and stretched up into Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The Salt Road was a major artery of trade and passage for many centuries to come.
The Corieltauvi tribe had moved to Britain from continental Europe some time after 100 BC. They were a confederation of Belgic warriors who carved out a kingdom which stretched from the Humber to south Leicestershire. These ancient Britons were not really a unified tribe, but a collection of peoples sharing the same way of life. The tribe generally did not rely on hill forts for their protection. It appears that the Corieltauvi were better farmers than warriors, for they lived in lowland settlements, usually beside streams, frequently surrounded, or even hidden, by areas of thick forest.
Roman period The Roman army arrived in Britain in 43 AD, and quickly set about its conquest. Roman Legions spread north and west and by AD 47 were advancing into Leicestershire. At this time, Corieltauvi tribal chiefs were being severely harassed by their neighbours, the Brigantes, and so welcomed the Romans as a source of protection and stability. Ostorius Scapula, the Roman Governor in Britain, established the frontier zone delineated by the Fosse Way through the middle of friendly Corieltauvi territory.
Earl Shilton’s first industry arrived during this period, as a pottery was established on Shilton Heath, (behind the modern day Heathfield High School). There was an excellent vein of clay found in the vicinity of Earl Shilton’s Roman kiln. Early in the second century it started producing low grade, grey ware pots, used for everyday cookery and storage (John Lawrence). Locally there was another pottery at Desford, and Stoney Stanton lived up to its name by the opening of a Roman quarry.
Saxon and Danish periods Earl Shilton lay in the kingdom of the Middle Angles. Middle Anglia and Mercia were built around the River Trent and the rivers that flow into it, such as the Soar.
The first recorded attacks on Saxon England by Viking raiders came at the end of the eighth century. Being well inland, early Viking raids did not affect the villagers of Earl Shilton but in 874—875 a great heathen army of Danes moved up the River Trent and into the heart of Mercia. They attacked and overran Nottingham before moving their ships along the River Trent into north Leicestershire.
Domesday records show that Shultone had 5 ploughlands worth 5 shillings at the time of Edward the Confessor. Shultone’s neighbour, the village of Barwell, stood on the lands of Leofric, Earl of Mercia (John Lawrence).
Early Medieval Earl Shilton Grandmesnil Following the Norman Conquest William the Conqueror besieged and captured the city of Leicester in 1068, about two years after the Battle of Hastings. William handed the government of Leicester over to Hugh de Grandmesnil, one of the Norman adventurers. He also gave de Grandmesnil 100 manors for his services, 65 of them in Leicestershire, including Earl Shilton. He was appointed sheriff of the county of Leicester. He married Adeliza, daughter of Ivo, Count of Beaumont-sur-l'Oise. Hugh de Grandmesnil and his wife, who died in 1087, had five sons and as many daughters together.
Domesday Survey, 1086 Earl Shilton, like many English villages, first appears in recorded history in the Domesday Book of 1086, the first complete tax record for the whole of England. One of the parcels of land granted to Hugh de Grandmesnil by William the Conqueror was the village of Scheltone, now known as Earl Shilton. The village measured some . The village boasted 3 ploughs, with 1 serf and 4 sokemen. Sokemen were the highest class of free peasants, a lower aristocracy, and were thought to be the descendants of the Danes who settled in the East Midlands. The village also had a priest, 10 villeins and 5 bordars. Villeins and bordars were below sokemen and tied to the land. Villeins often held between , while bordars were of a lower standing and usually had a smallholding. Attached to the village of Sheltone were of meadow and a mill of 16 pence (£0.07) value, with woodland in length and 3 broad valued at 70 shillings (£3.50). Following the Norman Conquest there must have been some inflation as during the time of Edward the Confessor Sheltone's woodland was valued at 5 shillings (£0.25). The population of the village would have been 75 to 80 people.
The fields of Earl Shilton manor were open spaces divided into long narrow strips. Only the fields being grazed by cattle were fenced. The others were open and were identifiable as separate fields only by the crops which they bore. The unusual detail was that the single crop in each field was separately farmed - in individual strips - by peasant families of the local village.
Some of the strips which belonged to the local lord, were farmed for him by the peasants under their feudal obligations. Strip-farming was central to the life of a medieval rural community. It involved an intrinsic element of fairness, for each peasant's strips were widely spread over the entire manor; every family would have the benefit of good land in some areas, while accepting a poor yield elsewhere. The strips also enforced an element of practical village democracy. The system only worked if everyone sowed the same crop on their strip of each open field. What to sow and when to harvest it were communal decisions. The field could not be fenced, or the cattle let into it, until each peasant had reaped his own harvest. When the harvest was in the peasant would compulsorily pay their lord to grind the corn in his mill.
Ploughing too was a communal affair. The heavy wheeled plough needed for northern soils was expensive, as were horses or oxen to pull it, so a team of horses and a plough worked successive strips of an open field for different peasants. The long narrow shape of the strips reflected the difficulty of turning the team at each end. In addition to the open fields, each village or manor had common land where peasants had the right to graze cattle, collect wood, cut turf and at times catch fish.
Robert de Beaumont
Ivo de Grandmesnil died on a crusade to Jerusalem, and when he did not return Robert Beaumont broke his oaths and took control of the whole of Leicester. He dispossessed Ivo’s children and added all the Grandmesnil estates to his own. By sleight of hand, Earl Shilton manor was now held by Robert Beaumont, who was created the first Earl of Leicester by the king.
Beaumont died in 1118, and his son, another Robert, known as Bossu, became the 2nd Earl of Leicester. Although Robert Bossu held lands throughout the country, in the 1120s he began to rationalise his estates in Leicestershire. The estates of the See of Lincoln and the Earl of Chester were seized by force. This gave Bossu a compact block of estates which were bounded by Nuneaton, Loughborough, Melton Mowbray and Market Harborough.
Later Medieval Earl Shilton
Earl Shilton Castle Robert Bossu was a close adviser to King Stephen of England. As such Bossu fortified his lands to protect his interests against the partisans of the Empress Matilda. During the civil war of 1135-53, it is likely that Robert Bossu began the fortification of Shilton Hill. The Earl of Leicester’s new motte and bailey castle would protect the vale of Kirkby, along with Beaumont’s lines of communication to the South and West. Earl Shilton's castle was built around the site of an existing twelfth-century chapel called Saint Peter's that lies between Church Street and Almey’s Lane. This area is known locally as 'Hall Yard'. Nearby are the springs, from which the castle drew its water, now known as Spring Gardens.
The castle, as a fortress, lasted for 30 to 40 years before its destruction, and subsequent conversion to a hunting lodge. There are no records of a siege or fighting in the area of Earl Shilton, even during the civil war, which probably shows that the castle was doing its job (John Lawrence). When the parish church was rebuilt in 1854, the stone from the castle was used for its construction.
In 1173 Prince Henry started a rebellion against his father King Henry II. Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester was in France when the rebellion began and joined the Prince’s faction, fighting several battles. While still on the road, on 17 October at Fornham, outside Bury St Edmunds, the king’s supporters attacked. The Earls of Norfolk and Leicester were surprised and defeated. Beaumont was captured and imprisoned at Falaise in Normandy. The king set about destroying all but two of the rebel Earl's castles, including Earl Shilton. However, Earl Shilton manor would remain, being a good source of revenue.
Shilton Park Shilton Park was probably created by Simon de Montfort, after he became Earl of Leicester. De Montfort’s association with the village was such that the prefix 'Earl' was added to its name.
The original purpose of Shilton Park was to provide a hunting ground, stocked with game, for the lord of the manors' sport and food. The park was surrounded by a deep ditch, to keep the animals in, and beyond that, a high fence to keep the general population out. The Earl of Leicester’s park of Tooley sat below Shilton Hill, stretching into the northwest towards Desford, enclosing .
The upkeep of the park lay in the hands of the Earl's bailiff, or 'Keeper of the park', a responsible occupation, as the park generated substantial revenue to help offset its huge running costs. It supplied a rich source of timber, horses were raised, and the park provided a continual supply of fresh meat, while fees were levied on anyone wishing to graze their animals on parklands. The bailiff could graze his own animals in the park freely, at the Earl’s discretion.
Edmund Crouchback and after King Henry III briefly held Shilton manor and park following the death of Simon de Montfort, before giving it to his son Edmund 'Crouchback'. Created Earl of Leicester and Lancaster, Edmund 'Crouchback' took possession of Earl Shilton in 1272, for a security of 3,000 gold marks, and the parish was held of Lancaster from this time (John Lawrence).
The Earl appointed Richard de Schulton, the elder, to manage the running of the estate in Earl Shilton. He also collected the Earl's dues for the Earls of Lancaster for roughly the next thirty years.
The Manor of Sheltone 1297 The main house with gardens and all its issues are worth three shillings. There are worth yearly £7 at 6d per acre. There are in villainage 34 bovates of land for which the villains render 10/- 5d. There are of land in villeinage which render 49s 8d. The natives hold 27 acres 1 rood which render 27s 41/2d. Free tenants render 27s 7½ d. The cottars render 80 hens worth 6s 8d. There is a windmill and a watermill worth 53s 4d, a pasture worth 40shillings. The grazing is worth 10s. The Park of Tolowe (Tooley) is not extended because the bailiff has all his animals there.