Throughout the Victorian era, Shepshed was a still a village, although by those standards a large one. Until 1888 it was known as Sheepshed, from Sheepshead – a name derived from the village being heavily involved in the wool industry. Shepshed became a town with the formation of the Town Council before the 2nd World War. It had grown from a population of just over 5,000 in 1900 to over 10,000 before the war and claimed to be the largest village in England.
The earliest form is Scepeshefde Regis as mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, which means King’s hill where sheep graze, but since then there have been many changes until the present form, Shepshed. The addition of the suffix ‘Regis’ signifies that there was once a royal lodge in the area.
The town originally grew as a centre for the wool trade. However, since the opening of the M1 in the 1950s which runs adjacent, with access a short distance from the town centre at Junction 23, it has become a dormitory town for Loughborough, Leicester, Derby and Nottingham.
Before the war Shepshed also claimed to have the highest number of pubs per head of population in the country. As of 2022, however, it is home to only eleven public houses and one micropub, the Hall Croft Tap.
The full article available to download below, also containing a list of place to eat and drink in Shepshed, is sponsored by Right at Home, Loughborough.
