Sileby is a former industrial 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 Soar Valley in the Charnwood borough 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. It is located between

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

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

. The village is close to

Barrow upon Soar Barrow upon Soar is a large village in northern Leicestershire, in the Soar Valley between Leicester and Loughborough, with a population at the 2011 census of 5,856. In the March 2021 census, it registered a population of 6,825. Geograp ...

Mountsorrel Mountsorrel is a village in Leicestershire on the River Soar, just south of Loughborough with a population in 2001 of 6,662 inhabitants, increasing to 8,223 at the 2011 census. Geography The village is in the borough of Charnwood, surrounding ...

, Ratcliffe-on-the-Wreake, Seagrave and Cossington. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 7,835, rising to 8,959 at the 2021 census. The origins of the village date back to around 840 AD when the area was settled by the

Danes Danes (, ), or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. History Early history Denmark ...

forming part of the

Danelaw The Danelaw (, ; ; ) was the part of History of Anglo-Saxon England, England between the late ninth century and the Norman Conquest under Anglo-Saxon rule in which Danes (tribe), Danish laws applied. The Danelaw originated in the conquest and oc ...

along with other counties in the vicinity. The name Sileby may in fact come from the Danish name "Sighulf". The village lies at the bottom of an ancient valley created by the nearby River Soar, meaning that surrounding farmland is particularly prone to flooding during persistent or heavy rain.

History

Traditionally, Sileby was split into two

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

s, separated by the brook that flows through the middle of the village. These are St Mary's to the north and St Gregory's to the south. However, due to Boundary Commission changes, a third ward of "Barrow West" was added, albeit as an arbitrary boundary essentially for electoral purposes. One of Sileby's most notable landmarks is the

Anglican church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

St. Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

founded around 1152 and a Grade II* listed building, The Gothic tower now houses a ring of ten bells. Sileby Primitive Methodist Church was built in 1866 to the designs of James Kerridge. Sileby Wesleyan Methodist Church on High Street was built in 1884. Sileby industrialised heavily over the Victorian period, with several hosiery and shoe factories present in the village until as recently as the 1980s, as well as a wallpaper manufacturer and several engineering companies. Nearly all of these have now disappeared and most of the factory premises have long since been demolished and replaced by new housing estates - it is now a commuter town for people who work throughout the East Midlands and beyond.

Transport

The village has a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

on the Ivanhoe Line, and trains run hourly to , , and . Centrebus service 27 and Kinchbus service 2 both link Sileby to

which also gives further connections to the Skylink Leicester-Derby buses which run to

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in Castle Donington, England. The airport is situated between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is to the south and Lincoln, England, Lincoln northeast. It serves the maj ...

which is around 15 miles away. The Kinchbus service to Leicester was withdrawn on 4 September 2022, leaving the village with no bus service to the city, no evening service to Loughborough and no public transport whatsoever on Sundays. Local road transport links via the nearby A6 and A46 link directly to the M1, which lies to the west. The A46 to the village's east follows the route of the

Fosse Way The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia ( Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis ( Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bat ...

to Lincoln in the north and provides a link to the east coast of England. The local area is prone to flooding from the River Soar and its tributaries, meaning that access and egress can be limited in persistently wet weather with some local roads becoming impassable for days or even weeks at a time during autumn/winter/spring. The proximity to 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 ...

also means that Sileby has an active marina.

Facilities

Current facilities/amenities in the village include: *Two doctors surgeries *Two pharmacies *One Opticians (accepts

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

and private patients) *Two primary schools *Several places of worship for the various Christian denominations *Several pre-school/nursery establishments *Two smaller-size supermarkets (Tesco and Costcutter) *One dentist (accepts

and private patients) *Numerous takeaway food establishments *Various shops, "beauty salons" and cafes (mostly concentrated in the High Street and King Street area) *Two vehicle maintenance garages offering

MOT test Mot or MOT may refer to: * Montserrat, UNDP country code Media * Ministry of Truth, the propaganda ministry in George Orwell 1949 novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' * ''mot'' (magazine), former German car magazine * Mot (Star Trek), a minor charac ...

s/servicing etc. *Two private members-only gyms *

Kickboxing Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid Martial arts, martial art and Boxing (disambiguation), boxing type based on punch (combat), punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, norma ...

club throug
KickboxUK
( Professional Kickboxing Association – Sileby) *Several sports pitches/facilities and community park areas *High Street Accountants There are no Police/Fire/Ambulance stations or hospitals in or around Sileby. The nearest Police station is at

. The nearest Fire station is at Birstall. Ambulances and paramedic vehicles regularly patrol the local area but the nearest Accident & Emergency facilities are at

Leicester Royal Infirmary The Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) is a National Health Service (England), National Health Service teaching hospital in Leicester, England. It is located to the south-west of the Leicester City Centre, city centre. It has an Emergency departm ...

. For less serious/urgent incidents treatment can be obtained a
Loughborough Urgent Care Centre
Other absent facilities include a petrol station (the nearest one is approx. 3 miles away), swimming pool (nearest one is at

's Soar Valley Leisure Centre) or refuse/recycling facility (again, the nearest one is at Mountsorrel).

Sport

Sileby has a great number of sporting clubs, many of which have enjoyed success in recent years. There are well established clubs and facilities for

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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

lawn bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

and shooting amongst others.
KickboxUK
a Professional Kickboxing Association club has two

classes broken down into age groups that take place in Sileby Community Centre every week on Monday, there are 2 different classes which run, a Juniors Class and an Adults Class. Sileby Town Rugby Football Club (also known as the Sileby Vikings) was established in 2006 and now plays in Midlands Division 4 East (South), as well as the local Leicestershire Leagues, using the facilities at Platts Lane Recreation Ground in the nearby village of Cossington. They currently run a First XV, Second XV and since August 2015 a Ladies XV has also been added. They also raise thousands of pounds for local and national charities in August each year by pulling a 10-tonne truck for 10 miles through the local villages using nothing but people power. This is a very popular event that draws crowds of villagers along the route and also to welcome them back and join in the celebrations. Sileby Town Cricket Club competes in the Leicestershire & Rutland Cricket League, and the club's first team play in the league's Premier Division. In 2025, the first team will be captained by Josh Winterton.

Community

Sileby has a community magazine, ''Talk@Sileby''. The magazine is published by volunteers three times a year.. Sileby Community Centre is located on the High Street in what was formerly Sileby Wesleyan Methodist Church. Sileby Library was handed over by L.C.C. to a group of trustees/volunteers in December 2015 and is now known as Sileby Community Library. There is an active Scout group which meets at its HQ on Brook Street and includes Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts classes on weekday evenings. Sileby has shifted from its industrial past producing clothing to being a commuter town, with few industrial buildings remaining. Notable survivors are the factories on Seagrave Road, currently occupied by the village's last remaining hosier.

Development

The village has expanded greatly, with several hundred new houses having been built and the former "Maltings" buildings (part of an old

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

that used to be based in the village in the 1800s) redeveloped as houses and flats. Sileby has seen increased housing developments due to the selling of local agricultural areas and farmlands, such as the estate off Ratcliffe Road, near to Ratcliffe on the Wreake, two more developments have also been completed near the village of Seagrave. There are plans for a new housing estate to be built between Sileby and Cossington.

Notable residents

* David Howe, speedway riderSpeedway: Leicester Lions fans get ready to roar at Rye House
, ''

Leicester Mercury The ''Leicester Mercury'' is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the ''Leicester Daily Mercury'' and later changed to its pre ...

'', 19 March 2010, retrieved 2011-06-01

References

External links

Sileby-village.co.uk

Sileby Parish Council

Sileby Town RFC "The Vikings"

{{authority control Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Leicestershire