A BRIEF HISTORY

Lilbourne is a village with special archaeological interest, and is regarded as such by Northamptonshire Heritage. It is one village in a group which has survived from a pattern of settlements originating at least in the Iron Age, if not the preceding Bronze Age. Its name derives from the Celtic language of the Iron Age people, shown by one of the two entries in the Domesday Book as ‘Lineburne’, where ‘Lin, Lyn or Ilyn’ means water or a pool, and ‘Bum’, deriving from ‘Avon’, means a river or stream. Thus, the name could mean ‘water river, or watery stream. The river is actually the river Avon. The change of ‘n’ to ‘I’ by association with the initial LI gave the present form of ‘Lilbourne’

The location of the original village was down by the river, revealed by the hollows and mounds left by streets and houses. No signs of the Roman period remain, but the present old Vicarage is built where the Hall of the Saxon thegns, as lords of the manor, once stood within its moated enclosure. (A length of the moat was still visible in the 18th. century). The conversion of the Saxon kingdom of Mercia about 850 AD. resulted in the building of churches by the newly converted thegna, who for their own benefit chose a site close to the Hall. Hence we find Lilbourne church next door to the original Hall. Although many must have been built of timber initially to keep down costs, and for speed, they were replaced by more durable stone structures. The present chancel was almost certainly the nave of the small Saxon church, for the later additions were built up to it, but are not bonded to it, leaving it still a separate entity.

The church of All Saints is the oldest in the district. It is not large, seating about 150 people, and consists of chancel, clerestoried nave with north and south aisles, and a I2th.century west tower. The interior is light and spacious, presenting a homely atmosphere with no pretentions to grandeur and is furnished with simple early l8th century pews (reduced in height) and a good Queen Anne pulpit. Its complex architectural history is reflected in a blend of styles ranging from the Ilth.century Saxo-Norman chancel door to a fine mid-I5th century nave roof, slightly later chancel windows and an l8th.century porch. It escaped the enthusiasms of the Victorian restorers apart from a re-roofed chancel. Over the 13th century chancel arch is a Doom painting from about 1400-1450, at present unfortunately under several coats of whitewash and modern paint, and there are traces of an ochre riband pattern of about 1300 painted on the arcades.

The church underwent a very sound and thorough restoration in 1906 which ensured its stability for a long time to come, but the fabric is in continual need of repair. English Heritage consider the church significant and worthy of their full support, and contribute substantial grants towards the costs of the work.

Lilbourne stood in an important and strategic position at a cross-roads with a crossing, probably originally a ford, across the river Avon. One ancient road ran from London through Oxford then by way of Crick and Lilbourne to Leicester, and up to Newcastle and beyond - the ‘Oxford Way’. Another was from an Iron Age fort at Ban’s Hill near Coventry through Rugby, Lilbourne and West Haddon to Hunsbury.   Lilbourne, along with Rugby and West Haddon, was from a very early stage a market town or village, and that road was known as the ‘Portway’, because it connected market towns or villages. (Port = market).

Opposite the church are the remains of a typical motte-and-bailey castle, but with two baileys. In the  years immediately following the Norman conquest, hundreds of these castles were thrown up at great speed by the Normans, in the face of uprisings throughout the country, which in this region took place between 1068 and 1070. They were built in accordance with carefully organised plans, carried out under the control of the Norman barony. At Lilbourne it was put in a strategic position to control the Oxford Way where it crossed the Avon, as well as to command the east-west road to Hunsbury. (The Watling Street was little used by then.) It formed part of a defensive network set up by Robert Mellent, Earl of Leicester, centred on his castle at Mountsorrel. The illustration overleaf shows the appearance of the castle as it might have been a century or so later in more settled times. The ‘keep’ on the top of the motte, and the defences of the court or ‘baileys’ were made of timber, and when in 1218 Henry Ill ordered the castle to be ‘prostrated’ by having the defences thrown down, it was almost certainly done by setting the timbers on fire.

Essential to the life of even the earliest settlements was the provision of centres for trading, buying and selling goods and cattle, and because of its position at an important cross-roads. Lilbourne from a very early stage was a market settlement, as were Rugby, West Haddon and Burgh Hill near Daventry, amongst others. The road leading eastwards through Rugby, Lilbourne, and West Haddon to Hunsbury was known as the ‘Portway’, because it connected these market towns or villages. (Port market).

The market-places were nearly always placed between the arms of a V-junction where two main roads converged, and this was the situation here at Lilbourne. The street map overleaf shows how it lay in the triangle between Station Road (part of the Portway). the foot-path (once part of the Oxford Way) now leading past the Butts field down to the church, and the lane named after the Horsepool which used to be there for horses being driven to market, and is now filled-in and built over. The franchise of markets was  in the hands of the Crown originally, but that for Lilbourne was granted by Henry Il In the 12th. century to the then lord of the manor, probably Richard de Camville. It was to be held weekly on Sunday, but this was changed to Mondays in 1219. Much of the business was concerned with cattle and sheep but it was noted in particular for its trade in wool. In the face of competition from the markets at Rugby, Daventry and Lutterworth, however, it did not survive beyond the I6th century.

The early village had extended from the river up the hill and flanking the market. The castle seems to have been built over a part of the lower village, so displacing a number of households which had to move further up the hill. There was a disastrous period of torrential rains and consequent famine all over the country.  In the years from 1314 to 1317, resulting in the inundation of many low-lying houses and villages. This was almost certainly the cause of the river-side part of Lilbourne being abandoned, with only the church and vicarage remaining. The surviving families were obliged to be rehoused at the crest of the hill. Further desertion of homesteads around the market place followed the gradual collapse of the market.

The three medieval common Open Fields known as Brooke field, Crick-path field and Castle field were enclosed in 1663/4 by private agreement between the church, the manorial landholders and the tenants. The result was that in a short time the poorer people with little land had to sell out to the larger landholders, and take on work as day-labourers. Much of the former arable land was grassed down for grazing which required less labour, so that many families turned for a living to cottage industries. The commonest of these was tammy-weaving, the production of a fine Worsted cloth, organised from Leicester,

The Industrial Revolution hardly affected rural villages like Lilbourne until the coming of the railways after 1830. The opening of the line from Rugby to Market Harborough and beyond in 1850, with the station built at Lilbourne, began to affect the village directly. Apart from the benefits of rail travel it provided welcome employment in the area, some people moving to Rugby to work, whilst others came to live in Lilbourne and other villages along the line. The line was closed by Beecham in 1966.

The village school was set up in 1873 as a Church of England school, incorporating a Poor Law cottage standing on land once part of the Waste of the Lord of the Manor, which originally formed a section of the ‘green belt’ or ‘green’ surrounding the village. The school was closed in 1984, but in its heyday there were 30 or more pupils with a headmistress and one or two assistants. It was converted into a dwelling house in 1968.

 Lilbourne has since lost its post-office, shops and the last inn, The Bell and has to look to Rugby or the out-of-town supermarkets for services.

E.W.Timmins 1998

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