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Billesdon
Billesdon maps
Historic maps of Billesdon and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Billesdon maps
Billesdon area books
Displaying 1 of 9 books about Billesdon and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Billesdon
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memories of Billesdon.
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Living at The White Hall, Billesdon (c. 1972 - 1979)
We moved to the White Hall when I was 2, almost 3, and my sister was 5 weeks old! It was a wonderful house to grow up in - lots and lots of space, inside and out, and were were fortunate enough to have ponies and dogs etc. .. an idyllic childhood! I remember the huge walled vegetable garden - and the apple tree at the end where my sister and I used to climb up and hide while we ate peas fresh from their pods!
While we were living there our brother, Mark, was born and died 6 months later - I still feel a very strong tie to the beautiful church in the village, and visited there a few weeks before my wedding. With the kind permission of the then vicar I took some evergreen foliage which went into my wedding bouquet - so I felt that my late brother was with us on our big day. Our second brother was also born while we were living... Read more
My Grandparents Kitty & Reg Nichols by Elaine Waterfield Nee Merrikin
My Mum Valerie Merrikin, nee Nichols, was born next to the old pub (recently knocked down) in Skeffington. Grandad Nichols worked at the hall and got the sack because he picked up some wood in the ground for a fire. This meant they lost their home and had to go and live somewhere else, 3 Sunrise Cottage, Brook Lane. When they moved they found an old suitcase full of baby's bones which caused a big hoo ha, and apparently a Miss Bents used to live there previously and she worked in the poor house.
Knowing this when I went to stay with my grandparents just after my Dad, Bernard Merrikin, died in 1973, I was rather frightened and made all the worse when Grandad Nichols used to snore all night long and the doors rattled.
One morning I woke up to a raucous sound coming from the garden and it was Grandad chasing some ducks from Simmingtons White Hall out of the garden and it was so funny that Nana... Read more
Leicestershire memories
The Limes
My mother Ethel Mary Austin was born at "The Limes", which is next door to the church on 20 August 1919. Her parents were Charles & Lillian Austin. They moved to Australia. My mother died in 1979. I have been back to The Limes a couple of times. Ray Mason owned the property when I visited. He gave me some old photos that he found in the ceiling when he was doing renovations. I have some old photos of my grandparents outside the house, if anyone is interested in seeing them get in touch with me through this site.
Evacuation to Keyham
I was evacuated with my school, Burleigh Road, Tuffnell Park, to Keyham on Sep 3rd 1939. I was 6. I sat with a girl called Ruth in the Village Hall and we were picked up by someone in some cottages at the end of the street and slept on the floor, using an outdoor loo in 'the backs'. The sons of the house would lock us in there sometimes! I was taken away by Mrs & Miss Tunnicliffe to the Dog & Gun up the road where I stayed for a while, till my Mum took me back to London, just as the bombing really began! I remember the hunt met there and there were bats in the evening. I was then called Terry, or Teresa, Coan.
The Post Office
I remember the post office, butter, rank! Try complaining to Mrs Talbot, what a force. My brother in law bought some Oxo cubes there, there was a competion on the box, it was ten years too late. Wish they were all there now though.
My Street
I was born 1953 and lived in No 94 Main Street until 1966, which is one of the small cottages on the right of the photo. The big house at the bottom of the road was known as "General Jack's", he being a veteran of the Boar and First World Wars. This road was great in the winter of 62-63 when, because of lack of traffic, we could sledge all the way down. As you can see there were not many cars, only a total of 5 car owners in the whole of Main Street.
Just A Kibbuth Lad
For those who have never been to our village called Kibworth, it is worth noting locals call it "Kibbuth". You live in either "Top Kibbuth"- Kibworth Harcourt or "Bottom Kibbuth"- Kibworth Beauchamp. I myself personally, have lived in both and almost on the boundary of both parishes. For almost the past 40 years (man & boy), I have spent many a happy hour living, playing and working here. Some of my earliest reminiscences are of taking a pair of shoes to be repaired at Old Joe Nourish's cobblers shop on the Leicester Road (just at the end of the Rose & Crown (now Raitha's) car park.
On arrival at his shop, you would press the thumb catch on his wooden door and enter. Inside you would be welcomed by a mixture of heat and the aroma of leather. He had a small coke stove in one corner and Mr Nourish would be sitting at his bench near the window. He had a slight hearing impairment and he'd be... Read more
