Kibworth Through Time         

Kibworth Through Time focuses on the way the Kibworth villages have changed physically in the time that photography has enabled us to record history.  

With each new photograph I took, I realised that this book has been compiled by many different local people, historians, photographers and all those who have a real interest in where we live.  So many people have diligently recorded the past.

I am not the first member of my family to write about the history of Kibworth.  My ancestor Francis Woodford recorded his own perception of the village, its people and its buildings in 1916 at a time of great social change in the national and worldwide perspective.  Almost a century later, it is my privilege to retrace his steps

The Kibworth villages of Kibworth Beauchamp, Kibworth Harcourt and Smeeton Westerby were relatively unknown outside Leicestershire until Michael Wood's groundbreaking television series for BBC4 and BBC2 was screened in the Autumn of 2010

Now they are familiar throughout England because the story of England can be told through the experiences of the people of Kibworth, from before Domesday to the present day, and some of the local people, like 'Wayne the Dane' have become celebrities beyond their own neighbourhood !

The histories of the villages of Kibworth Beauchamp, Kibworth Harcourt and Smeeton Westerby are well-documented due in no small way to their association with Merton College Oxford over many centuries 

These three villages in south Leicestershire share a long and often dramatic past. 

Their inhabitants have faced the horror of the Black Death, they have struggled through times of poverty and hardship, and they have witnessed the growth of industry following the building of the canals and the railways  

In more recent times, the ever-changing landscape of the villages has been recorded diligently by several fine local photographers, in particular Alonzo Freeland, Walter Bale and Charles Cooper; three men who made sure that a permanent record was made of the people, the buildings and the events that change communities.  

Anyone recounting and rewriting the history of this area must also acknowledge the immense contribution of local archaeologist Bert Aggas.  

In almost every aspect of Kibworth's history, Bert 'got there first' and recorded the event.

Their work is the foundation for this contemporary visual record of the Kibworth villages and a tribute to their contribution to our present knowledge of the area.