England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Sileby St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Sileby lies in northern Leicestershire roughly 8 miles north of the county town of Leicester. Sileby sits midway between two major trunk roads, the A6 (2 miles to its west) running from London to Carlisle whilst the A46 (2 miles to the east and following the ancient Roman Fosse Way) linking Gloucester with Lincoln. Sileby is a much grown place, early maps show it as a compact mid-sized village centred around its church and High Street, it is the modern development of the railway line, granting Sileby a station, which has fueled extensive modern developments to both northeast and to the south, the latter almost meeting nearby Cossington, spurred largely by commuter settlements. At the time of this transcript Sileby would have been a typical farming community, its location on the eastern edge of the flood-plain of the River Soar giving it access to rich pastures to compliment the arable nature of higher ground. In addition to farming the ubiquitous framework-knitting employed many in the village too. The Midland railway's arrival has already been mentioned but Sileby environment has also changed with the upgrade of both A6 & A46 to fast dual-carriageway highways. The Soar drains the parish northwards becoming one of the major tributaries of the mighty Trent near Long Eaton, the Trent heads east and then north to meet the sea through the Humber Estuary. Sileby is sited at around 50 metres above the sea at its church with the northeastern suburbs some 30 metres higher in gently rolling terrain where spot heights close to 100 metres dot the countryside to the northeast away from the river's valley. At 2,300 acres Sileby parish was toward the larger end of the scale for southern farming parishes, that acreage would have supported a population of close to 1,500 parishioners, many more today. Whilst Sileby is mentioned in Domesday it is as a regional entry held by King William and not for the village itself

The Church

St Mary's church sits on the High Street at its junction with Mountsorrel Lane. The church, like so many is a hotch-potch of architectural styles and dates ranging from the late 13th through to Victorian times. The earliest fabric Pevsner identifies is that of the northern doorway, Early English Gothic in style and dating from the late 13th century. Next in sequence is Decorated styling of the first half of the 14th century and here it is shown in the aisles and in the two chapels, the style is replicated as "original" as possible in the main body of the nave albeit as Victorian copies believed to reflect the original styling of that piece. The arcades, also of this era, are rather special warranting Pevsner's close inspection, the southern being marginally later than its northern equivalent. The Perpendicular period spanned both the late 14th and also the 15th century, from the late 14th century comes the basal stages of the western tower whilst it was completed later into the 15th century. The 15th century saw the construction of the elaborate two-storied southern porch complete with its battlements and the insertion of a clerestory to improve internal lighting. The typical Victorian restoration took place between 1878 & 1880 and replaced, in a mutilated but relatively faithful manner, most of the windows keeping their Decorated styling. Most of the streets around the church have minimal parking but the free, at point of writing, car park along King Street allows a lengthy visit. Broad iron gates grant entry to the churchyard which only has clutter, trees close by, to the church's north allowing the full range of favoured aspects to the photographer.