Earl Shilton
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Earl Shilton is a large village or small town in Leicestershire, England, some 5 miles from Hinckley and about 10 miles (16 km) from Leicester, with a population of around 9,000 (as of 2005).
One of the parcels of land gifted to Hugh de Grandsmesnil by King William the Conqueror was the village of Scheltone, now known as Earl Shilton. The village measured some 500 acres (2 km²), standing on the top of a long, narrow ridge in the southwest of the county. Schulton or Scheltone is an ancient word, which means shelf. Shilton is therefore Scheltone or shelf-town. 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 descendents 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 30 to 100 acres (100,000 to 400,000 m²), while Bordars were of a lower standing and usually had a smallholding.
Attached to the village of Sheltone were 12 acres (50,000 m²) of meadow and a mill of 16 pence (£0.07) value, with woodland 8 furlongs (1609 m) in length and 3 broad valued at 70 shillings (£3.50). Following the Norman invasion 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 ruins of a hunting lodge belonging to Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, remain to this day beside the church of St Simon and St Jude at the 'top end' of Earl Shilton. The victorian church, designed by Richard Cromwell Carpenter dates back to 1854; the previous mediaeval building was largely destroyed by fire and was rebuilt from a public subscription raised by the then incumbent, Rev. Ferdinand Tower. The church, which features a window by the renowned stained glass designer Charles Eamer Kempe (1837-1907), is attached to an older tower and steeple, which date back to the 13th/14th century.
Between the 19th and late 20th centuries, Earl Shilton was a busy industrial village consisting of numerous Shoe, Hosiery and Knitwear factories. At one point Earl Shilton produced boots for none other than Russia's Red Army, no less. Many of these businesses have now closed due to competition from the far east, but a very few still continue into the 21st century.
A famous visitor to the village, still talked about by its oldest residents, was Reverend Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy, otherwise known as Woodbine Willy a First World War army padre.
Increasingly heavy traffic flow through the village has led to the planning of an Earl Shilton bypass, though as yet no work has transpired.