Bittesby is a deserted village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

, now in the parish of

Bitteswell with Bittesby Bitteswell is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bitteswell with Bittesby, in the Harborough district of Leicestershire in England. It is situated just north of the town of Lutterworth, and in the 2001 census had a ...

, in the

Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, in the far southeast of the county, forming part of the border with Northamptonshire. Market Harborough's population was 25,143 in 2020. It is the ad ...

district of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, England. It is near the A5 Watling Street, about three miles from

Lutterworth Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. It is located north of Rugby, ...

. The site of the village was adjacent to the route of the now disused

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 6. The name 'Bittesby' means 'farm/settlement of Byttel'. Bittesby was recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

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. The

deserted medieval village In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convent ...

of Bittesby was identified in 1945 by Maurice Beresford. It is a scheduled ancient monument. Bittesby was formerly a liberty in Claybrooke parish, from 1866 Bittesby was a civil parish in its own right until it was abolished on 1 April 2014 and merged with

Bitteswell Bitteswell is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bitteswell with Bittesby, in the Harborough district of Leicestershire in England. It is situated just north of the town of Lutterworth, and in the 2001 census had ...

to form "Bitteswell with Bittesby".

References

{{reflist Deserted medieval villages in Leicestershire Former civil parishes in Leicestershire Harborough District Scheduled monuments in Leicestershire