Ancient and Medieval Earl Shilton - Iron Age and Roman Era Earl Shilton

Iron Age and Roman Era Earl Shilton

Shilton Hill, the site where the village of Earl Shilton would evolve, was a well-known landmark to the Celtic Iron Age tribes of South Leicestershire. Below the hill ran an ancient trackway known as the Salt Road, which began at Croft, Leicestershire and ran into the northwest over Ambion Hill and onto the Mease Valley, connecting east and west Leicestershire.

A tribe known as the Corieltauvi constructed this ancient road, running along the southern edge of the Great Leicester Forest, a vast tract of impenetrable woodland which entirely covered west Leicestershire and stretched up into Nottingham and Derbyshire. The Salt Road would prove to be a major artery of trade and passage for many centuries to come. Indeed Richard III used this route to move his army to Bosworth Field in 1485. (Foss) The Corieltauvi tribe had moved to Britain from continental Europe some time after 100 BC.

The Corieltauvi were a confederation of Belgic warriors who came over from the continent and carved out a kingdom, which stretched from the Humber to south of Leicestershire. These ancient Britons were not really a unified tribe, but a collection of like-minded peoples sharing the same outlook and way of life. The tribe generally did not rely on hill forts for their protection. It appears that the Corieltauvi were better farmers than warriors, for they lived in lowland settlements, usually beside streams, frequently surrounded, or even hidden, by areas of thick forest.