Rutland: Oakham, Hambleton and Normanton

A Small, Proud and Beautiful County

Introducing Rutland

Rutland

When I was at school (1950s and 60s), Rutland, only 18 mile long and 17 miles wide, was the smallest of England’s 40 counties. It isn’t any more.

Rutland ceased to be a county in 1974 when, much to Rutlanders disgust, a local government reorganisation made it part of Leicestershire. But for a last-minute change of heart there would have been even greater humiliation; with fewer than 40,000 inhabitants tiny Rutland would not just have been absorbed by Leicestershire, but by the Melton District of Leicestershire.

Rutland in England's East Midlands

Time rolled on, Rutlanders remained restless and the 1994 local government review suggested Rutland should, despite its small population, become a unitary authority. As such Rutland was able to regain county status in 1997.

But there had been other changes since 1974, 40 counties have become 48 'Ceremonial Counties' and two of them are smaller than Rutland. The City and County of Bristol is one third Rutland’s size, though with ten times the population, and the highly anomalous City of London (the square mile around St Paul’s Cathedral) is smaller in area and population with only 10,000 residents - though Monday to Friday half a million commuters cram themselves into its office blocks.

Rutland now calls itself England’s smallest ‘traditional county’ - a conveniently undefined entity.

26-Jul-2021

Oakham

With a little over 10,000 inhabitants, Oakham has been Rutland’s county town and main population centre as long as records have been kept.

Rutland

Oakham is pleasant and compact, with few intrusive modern developments in the town centre. More recent buildings are usually of brick…

Largely brick buildings, Oakham

…but there are many older stone structures. Rutland lies on the band of oolitic limestone stretching from the Humber, through the Cotswolds and down to the south coast at Portland. Honey-coloured in the Cotswolds and Bath, it is locally cream to pale yellow or sometimes pink.

Stone Buildings, Oakham

The Market and Buttercross

A market is held every Wednesday and Saturday, though recently Covid-curtailed.

Oakham Market Square

At the end of the market place is a handsome buttercross. Buttercrosses were features of markets throughout England - fresh produce, butter, milk and eggs would have been displayed on the circular stepped base - and over 60 survive in situ. Most have medieval origins but over several centuries use the structures would have been adapted to changing needs, making them difficult to date. Visit Oakham claims theirs is mid to late 17th century, though it looks older.

Buttercross, Oakham Market Square

Rural life was harsh in bygone centuries, and punishment for miscreants harsher still. The town stocks still stand at the back of the buttercross.

Stocks, Oakham Buttercross

Oakham Castle

Oakham Castle was technically only a fortified manor house, but as it had a curtain wall, of which little remains, and a moat and drawbridge the difference is hard to spot. There are lumps and bumps of earthworks and bits of wall in the surrounding parks, but nothing that the imagination can easily reassemble.

The gateway from the market square, on the site of the original drawbridge, is a Grade I listed structure in its own right. It is presumed to be early 17th century, as Burley House at Burley-on-the-Hill (see map) has two very similar gates constructed for George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who owned the house from 1620 until his death in 1628.

Entrance to Oakham Castle from the Market Place

Inside, and often referred to as 'Oakham Castle', is the great hall of the original fortified manor house. Built between 1180 and 1190 by Walkelin de Ferrers, lord of the manor of Oakham it is the finest surviving example of domestic Norman architecture in England. It has undergone some changes since the 12th century, the dormer windows were added later and the door may have been moved but the rounded Norman arches are original.

Lynne at Oakham Castle

A Court and Many Horseshoes

Inside are two remarkable features – apart from the roof-beams and the Norman arches.

Beams and arches, Oakham Castle

The first is the modern(ish) court furniture; a crown court has been held in the castle every two years since 1229…

The Court, Oakham Castle

…and the second feature, obvious from the photos above and below is the horseshoes. The horseshoe is a symbol of the de Ferrers family who built the castle and were Lords of the Manor for several centuries, and today appears on the county flag (see above). By tradition any peer of the realm must forfeit a horseshoe to the Lord of the Manor on their first visit to Oakham.

Horseshoes, Oakham Castle

Many early horseshoes were simply that and have been lost, the oldest surviving example being presented by Edward IV in 1470. They became elaborate over time and 230 horseshoes currently decorate the castle walls. Today the tradition is maintained only be the Royal Family. The Queen’s horseshoe, small but elegant, hangs above the judge’s head in the court and contributions from Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall are easily found.

The horseshoes are orientated in accordance with county custom, the opposite way up from the rest of the country. The wise people of Rutland spotted that a horseshoe orientated as is usual for good luck, provides a convenient seat for the devil and Rutlanders prefer to tip him out.

The Grainstore and Ruddles – Tales of Mixed Fortunes

Next door to Oakham’s handsome Grade II listed Victorian railway station, …

Oakham Station

… is a restored storehouse inhabited by the Grainstore Brewery and Tap. We called in for lunch, sharing a sandwich and having a half each of their excellent Cooking Bitter. The Grainstore produces 11 ales all year round and a host of seasonal brews. ‘Cooking’, at 3.6% is their basic, ‘session beer’ and provided full flavour at the perfect strength for our day.

The Grainstore Brewery and Tap, Oakham

The Grainstore was founded in 1995 by Tony Davis, formerly head brewer of the once proud Ruddles Brewery, and businessman Mike Davies.

In the dark days when big brewers were determined to pour bland, fizzy keg beers down undiscerning customer’s throats, Ruddles, in nearby Langham, was a beacon of brewing integrity with a reputation extending far beyond Rutland.

Ruddles as it was

Ruddles as it is

Big brewers, more interested in their bottom line than their products, routinely bought up smaller, quality brewers, often just to close them down. Ruddles was bought by Watneys (the inventors of keg beer) in 1986 and one of the big 6 brewers who by then controlled most of the industry. In 1992 Watney’s sold Ruddles to Grolsch who in 1997 passed them on to Morlands, a medium sized brewer with expansionist ambitions. Morlands closed the Langham brewery and switched production of Ruddles beers away from Rutland to Abingdon. In 2000 they were taken over by Greene King, who now brew beers under the Ruddles name in Cambridge, but use neither the original recipes, nor the Langham well water. They are no longer Rutland beers and as a final insult the horseshoe on the label has been inverted.

The Grainstore continues to produce fine Rutland ales.

The Grainstore - brewing fine ales in Rutland

Rutland County Museum

The Rutland County Museum in Catmos Street is a short walk away - nothing is very far in Oakham. Since 1969 it has occupied the former riding school of the Rutland Regiment of Fencible Cavalry, built in 1795.

Fencible was a new word to me. Fencibles were regiments raised for defence against the threat of invasion in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. During a series of conflicts from the Seven Years War to the Napoleonic Wars, they were locally raised with regular army officers and formed a sort of Home Guard, though sometimes privately funded

Invasion was taken seriously. The Exton Gun was probably built in 1804-6 for Sir Gerard Noel M.P. who had earlier built the riding school. Intended for the defence of his Exton estate the unusual (idiosyncratic?) design has two gunners’ seats over ammunition racks for paper cartridges while a single front wheel on a turntable provides a traversing mechanism. Whether it would have been any use in the event of invasion can only be conjecture.

Exton Gun, Rutland Musuem

Rutland is a rural county and much of the museum is devoted to farming. From farm vehicles, like the Tumbril Muck Carts …

Tumbril muck carts, Rutland Museum

… through the early stages of mechanisation, like the horse drawn sail reaper. Wheat or barley is swept against the cutters by the rotating sails and laid out in rows or sheaf sized bundles depending on setting.

Sail reaper, Rutland Museum

And some early tractors including a 1912 Saunderson (no photos due blogger's incompetence, but to see an almost identical Saunderson at work in New Zealand click here).

Despite having no particular reputation for cheese, dairying was an important part of Rutland farming.

Dairy mock-up, Rutland Museum

I particularly liked this single churn hand-cart. For generations milk was sold on the doorstep direct from the churn and larger multi-churn horse-drawn carts were common in every town and city.

Single churn hand cart, Rutland Museum

My late father’s inclination was always to look to the future and embrace new technology. He used to tell the story of walking through the streets of his hometown (Newport in South Wales) as a child (in the late 1920s/early 30s, I would think) with his father and seeing milk being sold in this way. ‘Look, boy,’ his father gravely intoned, ‘horses will always be needed for that job, motor vehicles could never be used because the fumes would spoil the milk.’ It took me years to understand the point of that story, and it is not just that my grandfather was out of touch. Fortunately, that never happens with grandparent these days (I wish).

The museum also contains the town gallows, used in the market square for crimes where the stocks and other punishments were deemed insufficient. It was one of the first ‘long drop’ gallows, which were considered more humane, though that was not necessarily the case if, as was reported about these gallows, the drop was not sufficiently long.

Gallows, Rutland Museum

Hambleton

Ironically England’s smallest (traditional) county is home to England’s largest artificial lake. Rutland Water, an 11km² reservoir, was constructed in the early 70s and flooded in 1976. We had learned about the local opposition in the museum, but honest and heartfelt as it was, forty-five years on the lake has become accepted and valued as a local amenity, a tourist attraction and an important wildlife habitat – and, of course, it supplies water to Peterborough and surrounding area as it was designed to do.

As the Rutland map (above) shows, the Hambleton Peninsula is a major feature of Rutland Water. Once there were three villages, Nether, Middle and Upper Hambleton, now there is only one, known simply as Hambleton and that was where we went next.

The dwellings in Hambleton are of various ages and styles, …

Hambleton

….but all show the comfortable prosperity which appears to be the Rutland norm.

Hambleton

We stayed in the very pleasant Finch’s Arms with its 19th century exterior and much modernised interior, but for dinner we took the short walk to Hambleton Hall which has a Michelin starred restaurant. Today was our 46th wedding anniversary, and we planned to celebrate in style. The dinner has a post to itself.

Finch's Arms, Hambleton

27-Jul-2021

Normanton

In the morning, after a good Finch’s Arms breakfast, we headed for the small village of Normanton on the south side of Rutland Water. It does not appear on the map above, but is part of the parish of Edith Weston (a village, not a person!) which does.

It stands on the estate once owned by the Heathcote family, later Earls of Ancaster. With a true 18th century disregard for the lower orders, they cleared the village, sending the inhabitants off to live in Empingham, so they could have a park.

Normanton suffered again in 1976 when Rutland Water was built, a large part of the park, though no houses, disappearing beneath the reservoir. St Matthew’s Church, once the private chapel of the Normanton Estate was deconsecrated and scheduled for demolition, but following a public outcry, the structure was saved and for a time it housed a museum of the history of Rutland Water. It is now used for civil weddings and concerts (at least it was before Covid).

Normanton Church

Although Grade II listed, it is an odd building, the tower and the western portico being built in the 1820s while the nave and apse date from 1911.

Controversial as its construction was, Rutland Water is more than just a reservoir. The lake and shore are a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and a Special Protection Area for the Conservation of Wild Birds. 1,333 ha of the shore is recognised by UNESCO as an internationally important wetland site.

‘Did you see the ospreys?’ a birder friend asked on learning we had visited the lake. Ospreys were re-introduced to the region in 1996 and are thriving, but we were no more successful here than we had been at the mouth of the Spey a couple of weeks earlier. I doubt that our technique of occasionally glancing across the water is likely to yield a result. We did see some ducks, though.

Ducks, Rutland Water

So, having enjoyed a walk by the lake on a fine summer morning, we set off home.