Sharnford is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Blaby Blaby () is a town in the Blaby District in central Leicestershire, England, some five miles south of Leicester city centre. At the time of the 2011 census, Blaby had a population of 6,194, falling slightly from 6,240 in 2001. Given Blaby's pr ...

district of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, England. The parish has a population of about 1,000, measured at the 2011 census as 985. The village is about four miles east of

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England, administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughborough, and is about halfway between L ...

, and is near to Aston Flamville, Wigston Parva and Sapcote.

History

The

Domesday Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

hamlet or farmstead of ''Scerneford'' is mentioned in the tenth-century will of Wulfric Spot, earl of

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

, and probably named after a "" or muddy ford over the

River Soar The River Soar () is a major tributary of the River Trent in the East Midlands as well as the principal river of Leicestershire, England. The source of the river is midway between Hinckley and Lutterworth. The river then flows north throug ...

. It lies immediately north of

High Cross A high cross or standing cross (, , ) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors. Th ...

, near the Roman station at ''Venonis'' (mentioned in the

Antonine Itinerary The Antonine Itinerary (, "Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is an , a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly in part from a survey carried out under Augustus, it describes t ...

) at the intersection of Roman Watling Street and the Fosse Way

Sharnford was originally a single

vill Vill is a term used in English, Welsh and Irish history to describe a basic rural land unit, roughly comparable to that of a parish, manor, village or tithing. Medieval developments The vill was the smallest territorial and administrative unit� ...

, divided into two manors. During the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

soldiers from the local garrisons visited Sharnford in search of fresh horses and "provinder". In June, 1646 the Sharnford constables claimed for provender ("provinder") taken by Captain Flower of the

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

garrison, Robert Day claiming £5 for a horse taken by Captain Merrer's me

John Nichols (printer), John Nichols the county antiquary, provides a fine illustration of the old Sharnford parsonage house that once stood alongside Sharnford church, home to Nichols Horton, the rector of Sharnford and Little Peatling who lived here from 1738 to 1793. By the turn of the century Sharnford had grown into a sizeable settlement, the national census recording a population of 373. Nichols describes the inhabitants as being mostly yeomen and tradesmen. There were no "titled great" and no acknowledged

lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

. Sharnford has a Church of England Church (St Helen's), a Methodist Church, 6 domestic buildings, a War memorial, and a Monument that are

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. The village also has a Church of England Primary school, Post Office, two public houses (The Sharnford Arms, and The Bricklayers) and a motor repair garage.

Sport and Leisure

Fosse Meadows has extensive paths through flower meadows, woodlands and arboretum, with a wildlife lake and bird hides. There is a permissive bridleway around the site marked by white topped posts. Fosse Meadows also has a permanent orienteering course, a children's play area with extensive play equipment. Sharnford Cricket Club was an English amateur

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

club, situated on Lissman Fields, off Leicester Road. The history of the club dates back to at least the early 1900s, where evidence shows that Sharnford won the Lutterworth & District Village Cricket League Cup in 1903. The club later went on to join the Leicestershire & Rutland Cricket League, and in 2015 they achieved acclaim for winning one of the fastest cricket matches ever seen in Leicestershire, after they bowled out their opponents for eight runs and then won the game in just four balls, all within 50 minutes. The following year, 6 weeks into the cricket season, Sharnford had to withdraw from the League and cease activity due to a lack of players.

Transport

Sharnford has one bus service which is operated by Arriva Fox County (X55) running approximately every 3 hours (each way) between Leicester and Hinckley.

References

External links

Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Leicestershire Blaby {{Towns and villages of Blaby