Smisby

---

title: "Smisby" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["villages-in-derbyshire", "civil-parishes-in-derbyshire", "south-derbyshire-district"] description: "Village in Derbyshire, England" topic_path: "general/villages-in-derbyshire" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smisby" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Village in Derbyshire, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
country	England
static_image	31974970 c2951a7d29 o.jpg
static_image_width	240px
static_image_caption	Smisby's church of St. James. The church was originally dedicated to Saint Wystan of Repton and is mentioned in a charter of 1271.
coordinates
official_name	Smisby
map_type	Derbyshire
population	270
population_ref	(2011)
civil_parish	Smisby
shire_district	South Derbyshire
shire_county	Derbyshire
region	East Midlands
constituency_westminster	South Derbyshire
post_town	ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH
postcode_district	LE65
postcode_area	LE
dial_code	01530
os_grid_reference	SK3419
::

|country= England |static_image= 31974970 c2951a7d29 o.jpg |static_image_width= 240px |static_image_caption= Smisby's church of St. James. The church was originally dedicated to Saint Wystan of Repton and is mentioned in a charter of 1271. |coordinates = |official_name= Smisby |map_type= Derbyshire |population= 270 |population_ref = (2011) |civil_parish= Smisby |shire_district= South Derbyshire |shire_county= Derbyshire |region= East Midlands |constituency_westminster= South Derbyshire |post_town= ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH |postcode_district= LE65 |postcode_area= LE |dial_code= 01530 |os_grid_reference= SK3419 Smisby is an ancient manor, civil parish and small village in South Derbyshire, England. It is 4 miles from Melbourne and near the Leicestershire border and the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The village including the outlying farms and houses has a population just over 200 that occupies some 110 properties. The population at the 2011 Census had increased to 260.

Early history

Smisby (Old Norse Smith's farm or settlement) is mentioned as Smidesbi in 1086 in the Domesday Book, which states under the title of "The lands of Nigel of Stafford":

The Smisby lock-up is a village lock-up dating from the 18th century. Considered the best exemplar of the type in the county, it is a Grade II* listed building.

Notable residents

• Hannah Bailey, an early emigrant to New Zealand, was born here on 2 February 1802. She married Charles Baker [later Rev.] of Packington on 11 May 1827 at St Mary's Church Islington, London, before leaving for the Mission fields in Bay of Islands, New Zealand, where they served as Missionaries to the Māori from 1828 until their deaths in 1875.
• Reuben Bosworth the clockmaker was born here around 1797.

''Ivanhoe''

Within 200 metres of the village is a spot where a tournament was held that was described by Sir Walter Scott in his 1819 novel Ivanhoe. In chapter seven the text reads This quotation is attributed to a visit Scott made to Coleorton Hall to visit Sir George Beaumont. They visited Smisby and climbed a now-demolished watchtower. Scott noted that a flat area towards Ashby Castle, but within Derbyshire, was reputed to be the place where ancient jousting tournaments had taken place.

Gallery

Smisby Roundhouse - geograph.org.uk - 199334.jpg|The Smisby lock-up Smisby Arms Smisby.JPG|Smisby Arms St James Smisby.JPG|St James Smisby

References

References

1. [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/Smisby/index.html Smisby at Genuki] accessed 28 December 2007
2. "Civil Parish population 2011". Office for National Statistics.
3. "Smisby". [[English Place Name Society]] at the [[University of Nottingham]].
4. Smisby is spelt ''Smidesbi'' in Domesday.
5. ''Domesday Book: A Complete Translation''. London: Penguin, 2003. {{ISBN. 0-14-143994-7 p.753
6. Nigel of Stafford held a considerable number of manors including several in Derbyshire given to him by the king, [[William the Conqueror]]. In addition to Smisby they included lands in [[Stapenhill]], [[Swadlincote]], [[Ingleby, Derbyshire. Ingleby]], [[Ticknall]] and [[Foremark]], as well as [[Ravenstone, Leicestershire. Ravenstone]], [[Donisthorpe]], [[Oakthorpe]] and Trangesby in [[Leicestershire]]).
7. TRE in [[Latin]] is ''Tempore Regis Edwardi''. This means in the time of [[Edward the Confessor]] before the [[Battle of Hastings]].
8. {{NHLE
9. [http://www.underthesun.cc/Classics/Scott/ivanhoe/ivanhoe9.html ''Ivanhoe'' by Sir Walter Scott] accessed 27 December 2007
10. [http://www.smisby.org.uk/ Smisby local site] accessed 28 December 2007
11. Ordnance survey map 1880–1890

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::