Bittesby is a deserted village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bitteswell with Bittesby, in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. It is near the A5 Watling Street, about three miles from Lutterworth. The site of the village was adjacent to the route of the now disused Midland Railway. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 6.
| Bittesby | |
|---|---|
 Site of medieval village - photographed in November 2009 | |
  Bittesby Location within Leicestershire | |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
The name 'Bittesby' means 'farm/settlement of Byttel'.[1]
Bittesby was recorded in the Domesday Book[2] as having 25 families resident. The village was depopulated in 1494. Hollow ways and house platforms remain on the site today. To the north of the site is an area of faced stonework, indicating the site of a chapel.[3]
The deserted medieval village of Bittesby was identified in 1945 by Maurice Beresford.[4] It is a scheduled ancient monument. [5]
Bittesby was formerly a liberty in Claybrooke parish,[6] from 1866 Bittesby was a civil parish in its own right[7] until it was abolished on 1 April 2014 and merged with Bitteswell to form "Bitteswell with Bittesby".[8]
References
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Media related to Bittesby at Wikimedia Commons
- ^ "Key to English Place-names". kepn.nottingham.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
- ^ "Bittesby | Domesday Book".
- ^ "DEFRA pdf file with map" Archived 11 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Dyer, Christopher (22 December 2005). "Obituary: Maurice Beresford". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
- ^ Historic England. "Bittesby deserted medieval village (1012563)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
- ^ "History of Bittesby, in Harborough and Leicestershire". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ "Relationships and changes Bittesby ParLib/CP/Ch through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ "Leicestershire Registration District". UKBMD. Retrieved 3 January 2023.