Billesdon

Close to the village, medieval ridge and furrow cultivation has been preserved in its meadows and closes, and on its western edge the back lanes seem to be in an unusually complete state. Many houses have their front doors opening directly onto alleyways and paths, all apparently higgledy-piggledy, saying much about the layout and texture of medieval village life, always under the shadow of the church.
An extract from from"Leicestershire Photographic Memories".

The A47 Leicester-Uppingham road forms one side of the roughly triangular market place; although the photograph shows, in the main, modest cottages of 17th- and 18th-century date, more impressive houses are to be found behind the camera. Until recently the long established Geary Brothers, builders and joiners, occupied the building to the right. The Friday market was discontinued at the end of the 18th century. Not only does the ancient ‘Jurassic Trackway’ run on a north-south line to the east of the village towards Tilton-on-the Hill, but a Neolithic road from Leicester, eastwards towards Ingarsby, skirts the northern boundary of the parish. In its turn that same road line was utilised to demarcate part of the boundary to the Saxon estate belonging to Tochi, now translated as Tugby, a village three miles to the east of Billesdon. In this north-western sector of a remarkable parish it is possible to go back two thousand years at a glance, from the ancient trackway to an abandoned railway line, courtesy of Dr Beeching. Also within this very small area is Billesdon Coplow, a prominent wooded hill, and within its lee Botany Bay fox covert, which is thus clearly dated soon after 1788, when the infamous penal colony was established in Australia.
An extract from from"Leicestershire Photographic Memories".

This view, taken from the fields beyond the village, shows the broach spire of the church of St John the Baptist, rebuilt in 1861, rising above the very attractive slate and stone roofscape of a village of mainly brick and ironstone-faced houses.
An extract from from"Leicestershire Photographic Memories".

Diverse materials make up the warp and weft of this village. At the southern end of Back Street, mud walls survive opposite the 17th-century Old School building, and the turn-of-the-century Stone House displays the builder’s artful use of a cheaper brick shell adorned with a more expensive stone front.
An extract from from"Leicestershire Photographic Memories".

A pleasant, traffic-free scene with the horse and cart unattended, patiently waiting for the master’s return from Illsley the saddlers. The post office is on the left then Corney Manufacturing Jeweller. Amongst other businesses is the chemist beyond the Crown Hotel and opposite, the family firm of Matkin’s printers, who from 1881 to 1941 published an almanac listing people and occupations in town and county. Flore’s House protrudes in the distance - one of the oldest houses in Oakham dating from the 14th century.
An extract from from"Uppingham Photographic Memories".