Welcome to the Earl Shilton Webpage.

So here it is, a brand new page for Earl Shilton. On this page you will find all the latest news of our town, including what's on and where, together with news from the local clubs and societies, plus any news that you the readers would like to add to this site.

There is a section where you can put your views and news about anything to do with the town. Just email me at this address. Remember, this is your site where you can air your concerns, complaints and compliments about our town.

The masthead photograph is by Jim Lord.

About Earl Shilton

Earl Shilton is a small town in Leicestershire, England, some 5 miles (8 km) from Hinckley and about 10 miles (16 km) from Leicester, with a population of around 10,000 (as of 2007). It was recently upgraded from village status.

It is in close proximity to Hinckley and was first mentioned in the Doomesday Book of 1088. It was then known as "Sheltone", but some historians believe that the name originated from the "Earls' Hill Town" where the word 'ton' meant 'town'. Earl Shilton was then a hunting lodge on the hill, with a church and surrounded by the homes of people who worked on the estates of Simon de Montfort, a Norman Earl.

History

Between the 19th and late 20th centuries, Earl Shilton was a busy industrial village consisting of numerous Shoe, Hosiery and Knitwear factories. Boot & Shoe factoires included Orton's, Eatough's and Pinchess's as well as other smaller operations. At one point Earl Shilton produced boots for none other than Russia's Red Army. Many of these businesses have now closed due to competition from the far east, but a very few still continue into the 21st century. Nevertheless Earl Shilton boot and shoe heritage provided the opportunity for other businesses to thrive alongside them, namely local carriers such as Woodwards (now the bakery distribution business) and Crowfoots Carriers (still operating as a parcel carrier). Both these businesses are now located in nearby village of Barwell. Increasingly heavy traffic flow through the village has led to the planning of a bypass. Work is due to start in Autumn 2007 with the road opening by early 2009.

The Parish Church

For centuries the chapel of St Peters had stood in Hall Field, Kirkby Mallory being the mother church. The Noel family of Kirkby bestowed many charities on the parish. In 1854 Earl Shilton was constituted a new parish apart from Kirkby. The following year the parish totally rebuilt the church and dedicated it to St Simon and St Jude, at a cost of £3,500. When Earl Shilton was made a separate parish, instead of a chapelry of Kirby Kirby Mallory, the Rev F E Tower, the curate of Earl Shilton, was also made rector of Elmesthorpe.

The minister of the parish, Rev. F. Tower, who saw Shilton in an impoverished state, was parish priest for 27 years. His farewell address to the working people of Earl Shilton was given in 1882, on January 1st.

“….We are apt to speak of poverty now, but poverty is nothing in comparison of what poverty was then. Ten, twelve, and in a few cases fifteen hours work for stocking makers a day, or wages about 7/- or 8/- a week. It cannot be denied that visible marks of true prosperity were but faintly seen even here and there among the working population of that day. ….The world was hard upon the poor stockingers, poverty, misery, sin met us again and again in workpeople’s houses. … Some working men thought too much of themselves and became leaders of discontents, and others too little of them-selves and losing self-respect appeared as if bowed down to the very dust. Some in the parish lived unmarried yet with children, and these last were turned aside by their parents as ragged children fit only for the ragged school kept only that honourable old man, William Swinney, the parish clerk. Some lived as if there were neither a heaven by doing well, or a hell by doing ill. The surface of religion stood out lightly in relief from the level of ordinary life. At last came the Cotton Famine, and 1,200 people of the village were thrown out of work, a most pitiable time we had of it.”

There were five bells hung in the new ‘crockette’ spired church, where previously there had been three in the old chapel of St Peters. Three more bells were hung in 1921, in honour of those who had fallen in the great war, making a total of eight. The wooden beams were taken out at this time and replaced by steel girders, to support the new peal.

Parish Vicars 1854 –1947 Rev F Tower, Rev Willis, Rev Maughan, Rev H V Williams, Rev E Pillifant and the Rev E E C Jones

The "Stute"

The Social Institute was founded at the turn of the 20th century to provide a social and sporting outlet for the young men of Earl Shilton. Its first home was accommodated in two rooms above the H.U.D.C. gas showrooms in Wood St. A Grand Bazaar was held in Earl Shilton on 28th and 29th of December 1908, at the High street school, to raise funds for a new building for the Social Institute.

In 1909 the building was erected in Station road, paid for by public subscription, and a mortgage guaranteed by local industrialists, who were the founders and formed the Management Committee. The premises on station road organised football, cricket, a rifle range, chess club, skittles and billiards.

Old photos of Earl Shilton can be found at http://earlshilton.multiply.com