A new information board - marking the location of Willesley - has been unveiled.

In 2021, the Willesley Environment Protection Association (WEPA) applied for funding to provide three road signs and an information board. 

The information board, designed by Ian Retson, the Woodland Trust volunteer warden for Willesley Wood, and supplied by Door 6 Ltd of Leicester has been funded by the UK SPF Community Grant Scheme, administered by North West Leicestershire District Council, and has been erected on Willesley Woodside opposite the lane leading to the scout camp. 

The road signs, funded by the National Forest Company and Ashby de la Zouch Town Council, are to be installed this year.

But do you know exactly where Willesley is? There are road signs pointing to it from Ashby, but nothing to indicate that you have arrived. 

In 2021, Mr Retson posed this question to Frank Bedford, Chairman of WEPA, and together they planned to correct the anomaly.

The ancient parish of Willesley, sitting between Ashby and Donisthorpe, consists of a collection of farms centred around the site of Willesley Hall, which was demolished in the 1950s, and the 14th century church which still stands on the site and is now the Leicestershire and Rutland Scout Camp. 

Willesley existed in Saxon times, was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and has had a steady population of around 60 for 1,000 years. In 1936, it was absorbed into Ashby de la Zouch parish.

advertisement

As well as a long, interesting history, Willesley also has the distinction of being one of only five 'Thankful Villages' in Leicestershire.

These are villages where all the men who went to serve on the frontline in the First World War came home alive. Stretton-en-le-Field is another tiny settlement with this distinction.

Today, Willesley sits in the heart of the National Forest and, as well as the scout camp, there is Hicks Lodge cycle centre run by Forestry England; Willesley Wood (Woodland Trust), the first new woodland planted in the National Forest; Oakthorpe Colliery (Thortit) picnic site, run by Leicestershire County Council; Willesley Park golf course (private) and Willesley lake, a private fishing lake.

Ashby Town and District Councillor for Willesley, David Bigby, said: "I would like to congratulate Ian, Frank and WEPA for their hard work in making this noticeboard a reality. 

"That includes having the original idea, designing it, and raising the money. 

"It literally puts the ancient parish of Willesley on the map, signposting the current attractions, and its long history going back to Saxon Times, including its role as a "Thankful Village" after the First World War. 

"I'm privileged to represent this beautiful area on the Town and District Council and am so pleased that the Town Council has been able to contribute to the Thankful Village road signs which are to be installed later this year."