Ratcliffe Road

Ratcliffe Road is an ancient routeway connecting the end of King Street to the parish boundary with Cossington, the Fosse Way and beyond to the village of Ratcliffe on the Wreake. The pre-enclosure map (c1758) shows the road starting at what is now the junction of King Street and Swan Street and heading down Swan Street over the Banks Common and then onto what modern eyes would recognise as Ratcliffe Road. From this point the road forms the boundary to two of Sileby's open fields; Howgate (or Shrubb) Field and South Field.

Changes occurred after the Enclosure Act with some farms such as Highgate and Peashill built outside the village centre in the newly formed fields in the midst of their owners land re-allocation. However, it wasn't until the 19th century that developments started to change the rural aspect of this part of the village. A brickyard was established near the Cossington parish boundary and in the 1870s housing started to appear, most notably at Orchard Terrace, now in a tucked away location.

A new cemetery was laid out in 1879 due to the Parish churchyard being full and Cemetery Road appeared shortly afterwards. More industry appeared and by the first decades of the 20th century there were two boot and shoe factories (Moirs and Brays) and the Wright's Phoenix brick and tile works was a large concern situated on the hill next to the cemetery.

After the First World War Ratcliffe Road became a focus of council (from 1927-8) and private house building. The result of these developments still dominate the road today. New roads were formed to give access to land for other housing schemes. Hence, Highgate Road was upgraded from its 'Mucky Lane' farm track about 1927-8, and Wellbrook Avenue had tenants in its houses from 1930-1. Although Finsbury Avenue makes its first appearance as a separate entity in the electoral records around 1945, the houses here are earlier in date, and were occupied by many of the Yates family in particular. Peashill Close is a later addition, coming on the scene from 1960-1. New Farm is a smallholding dating from the early part of the century and was occupied by the Seal and Widdowson family for many years.