About Us: Location
Smisby is a village with a long and colourful history. The first written evidence comes from Domesday compiled in 1086.
The first part of the name of 'smeth' or, in it's Anglo Saxon form, 'smed' means smiths. Smidesbie as it was known in 1086 means “the smith's farm”. The second part comes from the Scandinavian 'by' which is a common final element of Britain's town names and is found all over the former Danelaw. It means farmstead or village. The village was referred to as Smidesbi in the Domesday Book.
Smisby must have been a tiny settlement in a little woodland glade with small deposits of iron ore surfacing on the site. With iron on the site and nearby woods for charcoal it would be a perfect site for a smith.
The small village shows many signs of its mediaeval past. Of particular interest are St. James' Church (13th century), the Old Manor (16th century) and the village lock-up (early 18th century).
Sir Walter Scott in his book Ivanhoe described a scene in Smisby. 'On the verge of a wood, which approached within a mile of the town of Ashby, was an extensive meadow, of the finest and most beautiful green turf ... the ground ... sloped gradually down on all sides to a level bottom.'
The tournament field, which is marked on Ordnance Survey maps, is supposed to lend weight to the story by indicating its position on their maps in the italic script used for non- Roman sites of antiquity. However it has since been revealed that this is a small piece of urban myth. During a land survey in the 19th Century an enterprising farmer, when asked if that particular field had a name, decided to call it “Tournament Field” in order to improve his potential sources of revenue from visitors! There is no official record of a Tournament field attached to Ashby Castle.
Also of interest is the early 18th century roundhouse or village lockup. Also known as a jug, or roundhouse, lock-ups are relics of the past. The early 18th century village lock up was used to lock up drunks and minor lawbreakers until they had cooled off, or while waiting escort to Derby Court. It was also used to house paupers and vagrants on a temporary basis. There are around 200 surviving roundhouses in the country. Most date from the 17th and 18th century.
In more recent times the leading family in the area was Harpur Crewe, who lived at Calke Abbey. They built many of the houses in Smisby for their tenants who worked on the estate, and they exerted a strong feudal influence on the village. In the last few decades the Harpur Crewe estate has been hit by death duties resulting in Calke Abbey transferring to the care of The National Trust as well as many houses and much land being sold by the estate to individual private owners.
Seventy years ago the village consisted of 6 farms and 20 cottages. Each farm had tied cottages for its labourers and the other cottages were mainly occupied by miners and clay workers. The small farms have gone and the farm buildings turned into residential units.
Today the village, including the outlying farms and houses, has a population just over 200. Although originally a farming settlement few inhabitants now work the land. Today the village has a few small businesses and most other occupants are commuters.
The village once had three pubs of which the Smisby Arms and the Annwell Inn remain. However, in leaner times The Three Tuns just down the Main Street had insufficient trade and became a private dwelling. Perhaps with a population once around 300 and three pubs, this was sufficient to fill the lock-up frequently!
With all this history, and the serenity of a quiet rural village, it is the perfect setting for a children's nursery in the hustle and bustle of today's world.
