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How to find us
Blackfordby Village lies approximately one mile northwest of Ashby. It can be reached from Ashby via the A511, Ashby Road via Moira Road. A public footpath connects Ashby and Blackfordby and it takes 25 minutes to walk from one to the other.


Blackfordby Today
Although many of the oldest and most impressive buildings have been lost, including the seventeenth century Blackfordby Hall, demolished in 1966, and the medieval chapel, Blackfordby retains much of its original charm. There are still two thatched cottages dating from the sixteenth century; one on Main Street the other off Well Lane. Many of the social activities of the village revolve around the award-winning Village Hall and the two local public houses, The Bluebell and the Black Lion. The Recreation Ground, donated by Squire Joyce of Blackfordby Hall in 1894 for the recreation of the village in perpetuity, is a small but well-used park and the village is also to be included in the plans for the Ashby branch of the National Cycle Network.


History
The village is mentioned in the Doomsday Book and although the origin of the village's name is not known for sure, it is thought to derive from the ford which once crossed the Main Street. This apparently flowed black, as the brook water ran over a coal outcrop in the Butt Lane valley wall.

Apocryphal tales tend to abound about British villages, but given the connection between Ashby and Charles I, the following is more likely than most to be true. After the King was condemned to death for treason, four members of Cromwell's army detailed to escort him to London were forced to draw lots to decide who was to act as executioner. It is reported that Cornet George Joyce of Blackfordby was awarded this dubious honour. The story however does not end there. After the restoration of Charles II, Joyce was forced to flee the country, returning some years later not only to Blackfordby but to one of his family's farms. He did not feel himself to be safe, and so took the drastic action of disguising himself as a woman, calling himself Jane Joyce. Unfortunately, this did not secure his safety and he was stabbed to death whilst walking from Boothorpe to Blackfordby. The footpath to Boothorpe, off Driftside is still there and the parish records have an entry for the burial of "Cornet George Joyce" alias Jane Joyce in the chapel in 1674.

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