Rutland is peppered with no less than 54 picturesque villages, each with its own distinctive character and many of them boasting a fantastic village pub. It would be impossible to do all our villages justice in just one article, so keep looking out for another instalment on here or in our visitor guides. Better still, come to Rutland and explore them for yourself!
Here we take a closer look at local forest remnants, Braunston-in-Rutland, Brooke, Ridlington, Lyddington and Stoke Dry.
While the market towns of Oakham and Uppingham are very appealing, the allure of Rutland’s chocolate-box villages is impossible to resist. This is the first in a series of articles where we’ll explore the villages and hamlets that make Rutland such a wonderful place.
First, let’s take a look at the area to the south-west of Oakham, which once formed part of a large royal forest that was established soon after the Norman Conquest. During the Middle Ages, large areas of land (not always completely wooded) were set aside as royal hunting grounds. The forests were protected by strict laws and forest officials appointed to govern them. The great Forest of Rutland covered most of the southern half of the modern county, stretching from Knossington in the north through to Rockingham Forest in the south. By the end of the 15th century, it had shrunk considerably in size.
Royal Forest of Leighfield
The remnant of the much larger Forest of Rutland, the ancient Royal Forest of Leighfield covered much of the south-west of Rutland in medieval times; from Braunston to Caldecott, Launde to Lyddington. It spanned the river valleys of the Chater and the Gwash, and was finally disafforested (the forest laws repealed) in around 1630.
Now only traces remain to remind us of the Royal Forest of Leighfield; the plentiful hedgerows and small fields in the area; the small remnant of the ancient forest at Prior’s Coppice; the Leigh, Lambley and Cottage Lodges and the parish name.
Prior’s Coppice
The only substantial remains of the medieval forest, Prior’s Coppice is now a Nature Reserve run by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust. Visitors are welcome to explore the wood which the Trust describes as:
A woodland reserve teeming with wildlife and ancient atmosphere, Prior’s Coppice is a relic of the wildwood that once covered all of Leicestershire and Rutland. When you step beneath the trees, you can feel how old this remnant of woodland is. Some of the trees are several hundred years old and centuries of management have led to an ideal habitat for birds, beasts and butterflies (and botanists!).
As well as looking out for wildlife, you can read the trees here much like you can read a history book. You can see the signs of centuries of traditional management, in the form of giant coppice ‘stools’. When most native British trees are cut down, they do not die, but the stump, or ‘stool’, throws up numerous poles, which can be harvested every few years. This process, known as coppicing, prolongs the life of some trees, and there are examples in Prior’s Coppice with stools 5m across – several hundred years old! Conservation management of the woodland now involves coppicing in some areas, whilst leaving some others to grow wild.
Please note: The Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust does not control the shooting rights to this reserve, which may take place all year round. Also, some of the paths at this site are temporarily closed, please visit www.lrwt.org.uk/nature-reserves/priors-coppice to view a map with more detail.
Braunston-in-Rutland
Three miles south-west from Oakham is the idyllic village of Braunston-in-Rutland. Villages, like Belton and Braunston, once deeply situated in the forest, are square shaped. This is considered to be due to their origin as enclosures within the forest where the first houses surrounded an open space into which animals could be driven for their protection and greater security – rather like the covered wagon circle in the American West.
Rutland’s oldest inn, The Blue Ball, has offered hospitality here since 1640. The perfect place to enjoy a meal with family and friends, the menu is child-friendly, with options for veggies and vegans too.
Outside the 12th century All Saints Church, you’ll find evidence of much earlier pagan beliefs. Alongside the wall of its western tower, stands a small stone carving of a naked woman with prominent features. What its history is no-one knows, but it’s believed to be a ‘sheela-na-gig’, an ancient pagan fertility symbol, possibly indicating that the church was built on an ancient pagan site. Until 1920, this pagan idol was being used as a step with its features face down.
Brooke
The village of Brooke is just a few miles away. In the mid-1100s, a small priory of Augustinian Canons, a dependent house or cell of the abbey at Kenilworth, was founded at Brooke.
Today, no trace remains of the original Brooke Priory buildings. Earthworks and crop marks associated with fishpools or outbuildings can be found in the vicinity, some of which are thought to date from the English Civil War, or from the formal gardens of Brooke House, which was built when the Noel family bought the parish in 1549.
Some fragments of ‘Brooke House’ are thought to have been incorporated in the present 16th century house, which is also called ‘Brooke Priory’. In the gardens, there is an octagonal dovecote which was once the Porter’s Lodge. In August 1612, James I stayed at Brooke as a guest of Edward Noel.
A medieval ‘reliquary’ was found in the cellar of Priory House in 1805. This small enamelled casket – used for religious objects – dates from the 13th century and originates from workshops in Limoges, France. You can see the Brooke Reliquary on display at Rutland County Museum in Oakham.
Much loved by the late poet, Sir John Betjeman, St Peter’s Church in Brooke, is one of Rutland’s smallest churches. It was rebuilt in 1579 during the reign of Elizabeth I, giving it a special rarity, and much remains of the earlier Norman building. Used in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
The grassy paths and quietness render the churchyard one of Rutland’s loveliest, but there is much to see inside. The low plain tower dates from the 13th century, but you enter through a fine zigzag archway and the north arcade has three Norman arches.
See if you can find the interesting font lid in carved oak; Henry Rawlins and his wives buried beneath floor slabs; the medieval wooden chest; the Elizabethan oak screen; the marble tomb of Charles Noel – its original paintwork is still intact; and the graffiti carved by the 17th century choirboys in the stalls!
Ridlington
Ridlington is on a ridge over the Chater Valley. It was the home of Hugh Boyville, a landowner who served as Member of Parliament for Rutland in the 15th century and held a number of public offices, including Sheriff of Rutland in 1437 and 1449 and Justice of the Peace for Rutland from 1437 to 1459. The oldest secular office under the Crown, there’s been a Sheriff of Rutland since 1129.
The St Mary Magdelene and St Andrew’s Church at Ridlington is an impressive building for such a quiet village. Look for the old musical instruments on displayed; a case containing a bassoon, fiddle, two oboes and a flute, which were in use until 1860, was placed at the west end of the church in 1923.
Lyddington
Referred to as ‘ironstone’, the layers of stone which are very sandy and iron rich are less resistant to weathering. Ironstone produces the rich red soils that you see in the fields when you drive along the A47 and is seen in the ‘gingerbread’-coloured stone houses in Glaston, Lyddington and Caldecott.
Located in the south of Rutland, between Corby and Uppingham, the pretty ironstone villages of Lyddington and Stoke Dry are linked by much more than their location and ‘chocolate-box’ aesthetic. Today’s quiet village streets hide an eventful past – a tale of bishops, bombs and bonfires.
The first mention of a church at Lyddington was in 1163, but the oldest parts of the present church of St Andrew date from the 14th century. Each year, a series of exceptionally high-quality concerts is held here by kind permission of the Incumbent and Churchwardens. The reputation of Music in Lyddington has grown over the years and its concerts now regularly attract 300 or so music-lovers. Set beside St Andrew’s Church, Lyddington Bede House originated as the medieval wing of a palace belonging to the Bishops of Lincoln.
Nearly 1,000 years ago, the estates of Lyddington, Stoke Dry and Caldecott belonged to the great bishops of Lincoln, whose officials enjoyed visits to the Bishop’s Palace at Lyddington, as well as hunting in the deer park to the north east of Stoke Dry.
They used the Palace until 1547 when (like many great church estates like it) the Lyddington estate was dismantled by Henry VIII and given or sold to new owners. Lyddington passed to the Crown and then to the Cecils of Burghley in 1600. Sir Thomas Cecil, son of Queen Elizabeth’s chief minister, converted the remaining Palace buildings into the Jesus Hospital, later known as the ‘Bede House’.
For over 300 years until the 1930’s, Lyddington Bede House served its purpose as an almshouse for 12 poor ‘bedesmen’ over 30 years old and two women. Visitors can wander through the bedesmen’s rooms, with their tiny windows and fireplaces, and view the former bishops’ Great Chamber on the first floor, with its beautifully carved ceiling cornice.
While exploring Lyddington, see if you can find the footpath that crosses St. Andrew’s churchyard and runs through an alley, underneath Lyddington Bede House into the outer grounds. Bluecoat Lane – so-called after the costume worn by residents of the almshouse in the 1600s.
Pop into The Marquess of Exeter in Lyddington for excellent food and accommodation.
Stoke Dry
Stoke Dry became renowned as the home of the Digby family, whose infamous ‘son’, Sir Everard Digby, was executed for his role in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. More than 400 years later, the skies above it were a temporary home to a squadron of Lancaster Bombers, practising night-time bombing raids over the newly-built Eyebrook Reservoir.
Eyebrook Reservoir was built between 1937-1940 to supply Corby Steelworks. Now owned by British Steel, the reservoir has operated as a trout fishery since 1942 and is recognised as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. If you’d like to go fishing at Eyebrook Trout Fishery, more details can be found in Outdoor Pursuits on page ?? and online at www.flyfisheyebrook.co.uk.
During the Second World War it was used in May 1943 by Avro Lancasters flying from RAF Scampton as the final practice run for the Dambuster raids on the Ruhr valley on the night of the 16/17 May 1943, with Eyebrook standing in for the Möhne Reservoir.
Heritage Trails in Rutland
Rutland is the perfect place for walking and has long attracted ramblers who enjoy finding their way around the tiny villages, little known tracks and country lanes.
The collection of all seven Heritage Trails covers:
- Bishops, Bombs and Bonfires – Lyddington and Stoke Dry
- Romans, Roses & Poems – Pickworth and Great Casterton
- Mills, Quarries & Railways – Pilton, North and South Luffenham
- Forests, Monks & Pagans – Braunston
- Mysterious Mazes & Vanished Villages – Wing, Manton and Preston
- Canals & Canterbury, Water & Westminster – Market Overton, Whissendine and Langham
- Fields & Follies – Exton
