Wilsford Village Website

Our History

Wilsford seems to contains the Old English personal name Wifel + ford (Old English), so 'Wifel's ford'. It appears in the Domesday survey of 1086 as Wivelesforde.
The earliest archaeological evidence of Wilsford consists of Bronze Age and Iron Age artefacts. There are some Romano-British building remains and possibly a cemetery with seven stone coffins to the north of the village. A Roman carved stone relief of a male figure was found at Slate House Farm, west of the village. In 1969, fragments of Romano-British grey ware pottery were found on the Wilsford housing estate site, just opposite the north-east corner of the Roman town of Ancaster.
In the Middle Ages it included a Benedictine priory, founded in the early 13th century but poorly funded. It was secured to the Abbey of Bourne in 1401.
In the late 17th to early 18th centuries, Wilsford (also referred to as Willesworth) had 60 families, which fell to about 50. The enclosure act covering the village was passed in 1774. By 1801, the population was only 251, rising to 689 in 1881, but falling to 656 in 1901.
The medieval village of Hanbeck lay in the area of present-day Wilford. It lost population in the early modern period, and by 1856 it was described in White's gazetteer as "only a farm of 400 acres" (162 ha).
The parish belonged to the historical wapentake of Winnibriggs and Threo.
The disused Ancaster stone (limestone) quarry on scenic Wilsford Heath is now screened by a coppice. The output of the quarry is reflected in the present appearance of the village, with its "attractive limestone buildings with a distinctive church