Bilstone is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Shackerstone, in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. It is approximately 12 miles (19 km) west from the county town and city of Leicester, and 2 miles (3.2 km) east from Twycross and the A444 road. In 1931 the parish had a population of 68.[1]
| Bilstone | |
|---|---|
 Twycross Road, Bilstone | |
  Bilstone Location within Leicestershire | |
| OS grid reference | SK362053 |
| • London | 95 mi (153 km) SE |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | NUNEATON |
| Postcode district | CV13 |
| Police | Leicestershire |
| Fire | Leicestershire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
The village's name means 'farm/settlement of Bildr' or 'farm/settlement on a corner or angle'.[2]
A half mile to the south, on Gibbet Lane, is a gibbet post, dating from 1800. The post was close to a contemporary murder.[3] At the west of the village is a Grade II listed early 19th-century farmhouse.[4] At the north of the village on Mill Lane is a disused 18th-century watermill, with adjoined 19th-century buildings. The mill was operational in the 1950s; today its machinery doesn't exist.[5]
Bilstone is listed in the Domesday Book as in the Guthlaxton Hundred of Leicestershire, with two ploughlands, three households and three freemen. In 1066 Countess Godiva was Lord, she remaining as such in 1086, also becoming Tenant-in-chief to William I.[6]
In 1870-1872 Bilston was a township in the parish of Norton Juxta Twycross with a population of 116 and 25 houses.[7]
In 1866 Bilstone became a parish in its own right, on 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Shackerstone.[8]
John Grundy, Sr., land surveyor and civil engineer, was born in Bilstone c. 1696.[9]
References
edit- ^ "Population statistics Bilstone Ch/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
- ^ "Key to English Place-names". kepn.nottingham.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
- ^ Gibbet Post, Shackerstone Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2 December 2014
- ^ Historic England. "Bilestone Hill Farmhouse (Grade II*) (1188242)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
- ^ Historic England. "Bilstone Mill (921425)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 2 December 2014.
- ^ "Bilstone", Open Domesday. Retrieved 2 December 2014
- ^ Wilson, John Marius; Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870–72)
- ^ "Relationships and changes Bilstone Ch/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
- ^ Skempton, Sir Alec et al. (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: Vol 1: 1500 to 1830, Thomas Telford, p. 276. ISBN 072772939X
External links
edit
Media related to Bilstone at Wikimedia Commons- “Bilstone”, Genuki
