Shearsby is a rural village in the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

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 ...

. Shearsby is in the

Harborough district Harborough () is a local government district in Leicestershire, England. It is named after its main town, Market Harborough, which is where the council is based. The district also includes the town of Lutterworth and numerous villages and surroundi ...

around nine miles due south of

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

and north east of

Lutterworth Lutterworth is an historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Harborough District, Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwicks ...

. The population of the

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 ...

at the 2011 census was 240.

History

In the early 17th century the Vicar of St Mary Magdelene, and Rector of Knaptoft was John Moore, a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

who wrote ''A Mappe of Man's Mortalite'' in 1617 and often struggled to maintain his principles against the authorities within the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. In November 1604 he was brought before the ecclesiastical court for nonconformity, refusing to wear the surplice, and summoned a further four more times in 1605. He was finally discharged by the court in 'hope of conformity'. St Mary Magdelene Shearsby - geograph

Not long after the Inclosure Act 1773, it was recorded that 1,100 acres of land in and around Shearsby belonged to the lord of the manor, George Turvile, esq. It was during this time that a local printer and author, John Nichols, noted whilst visiting the church of St Mary Magdalene that four church bells were stood in the church chancel. He was to learn that one of these bells originated from the nearby ruined church of Knaptoft, and that this bell (whilst in transit to the church in Aylestone, Leicester) was appropriated from its cart by the local villagers while the Aylestone tenants (charged with transporting the bell) stopped to take a drink in the village. On realising the situation, the Aylestone tenants had to leave the village empty handed.

Shearsby Spa

The Bath Hotel outside the village of Shearsby between the main Leicester-

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

road (now the A5199) and Bruntingthorpe is the site of a

holy well A holy well or sacred spring is a well, Spring (hydrosphere), spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christianity, Christian or Paganism, pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualitie ...

that was converted into a spa during the first half of the 19th century. The waters were held to be helpful in treating various ailments. Analysis of the mineral content revealed the major constituents to be sodium sulphate and

sodium chloride Sodium chloride , commonly known as Salt#Edible salt, edible salt, is an ionic compound with the chemical formula NaCl, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions. It is transparent or translucent, brittle, hygroscopic, and occurs a ...

. Treatment at the spa continued well into the late 1920s as Leicestershire's last spa. Today the 'Bath Hotel and Shearsby Spa' () is what remains of the site.

Buildings

One of the characteristics of the village is the locally hand-made bricks used to build some of the old cottages, which can be identified by their variation in size and shape. There is one

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 ...

and 8

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 ...

structures in Shearsby. These include: Cobblestones, Back Lane; Woodbine Cottage, Main Street; Rose Cottage, Mill Lane; and a Milepost, 500 yards north of Shearsby Road (). On Church Lane there is Bean Hill Farmhouse and garden wall, Limetree Cottage, Yeomans Cottage, Wheathill Farmhouse and Little Wheathill. The Church of St Mary Magdalene is a Grade II* Listed building.

Sport and leisure

Shearsby Valley Lakes is an established coarse fishery centre which includes four lakes, a tackle shop and licensed cafe on site off Saddington Road. Shearsby cricket: It is not known when Shearsby first took to the field, but a match report in the Leicester Chronicle show's Shearsby winning against Broughton Astley on a match dated 29 August 1870. Today, Shearsby fields an occasional Sunday friendly XI side against neighbouring village teams in and around the area.

References

Links

Shearsby Parish Council - History of Shearsby

History of Shearsby
{{authority control Villages in Leicestershire Spa towns in England Civil parishes in Harborough District