New road signs have been erected for Willesley – ‘A Thankful Village’
Three new road signs have recently been erected on each approach to Willesley, part of the Parish of Ashby de la Zouch.
These have been arranged by the Willesley Environment Protection Association (WEPA) and funded with grants from the Ashby de la Zouch Town Council and the National Forest Company.
In 2021, Ian Retson, the Woodland Trust Volunteer Warden for Willesley Wood and Committee member of WEPA, had researched the history of Willesley, which had existed in Saxon times and was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.
It had its own Parish up until 1936, when it was absorbed into Ashby de la Zouch Parish. There had been road signs pointing to Willesley from Ashby, Donisthorpe and Moira, but nothing to indicate that you had arrived.
Today, Willesley sits in the 'Heart of the National Forest', which over the past thirty years or so has undergone a transformation from an industrial landscape to a flourishing, newly forested area. Popular visitor attractions include Forestry England's Hicks Lodge cycle centre and the Woodland Trust's Willesley Wood. Willesley Scout Campsite serves Leicestershire scouting and Willesley Park Golf Club includes part of the historic parkland of Willesley Hall.
Willesley has the distinction of being one of only five 'Thankful' villages in Leicestershire; these being villages where all the men who went to serve on the frontline in the First World War came home alive.
WEPA had also been successful in obtaining a grant from the UK SPF Community Grant Scheme administered by North West Leicestershire District Council to provide an Information Board providing details of the history and facilities of the area, and this was erected in January 2024 on Willesley Woodside, at the entrance to Willesley Wood opposite the entrance road to the Scout Campsite.
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