Cold Overton is a village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, now in the parish of Knossington and Cold Overton, in the Melton district of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, England. It is close to the border with

Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...

, and approximately west from the

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

and

county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...

Oakham Oakham is a market town and civil parish in Rutland (of which it is the county town) in the East Midlands of England. The town is located east of Leicester, southeast of Nottingham and northwest of Peterborough. It had a population of 12,14 ...

, and south-west of the

A606 road The A606 is an A roads in Great Britain, A road in England that starts in West Bridgford, on the outskirts of Nottingham, and heads southeastwards through Leicestershire and the towns of Melton Mowbray and Oakham, terminating at Stamford, Linc ...

. In 1931 the parish had a population of 133.

History

The village's name means 'farm/settlement on a ridge'. 'Cold' was added because of the village's exposed position. Cold Overton is listed in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' as in the

Framland Framland was a hundred in north-east Leicestershire, England, roughly corresponding to today's borough of Melton. It was recorded in the ''Domesday Book'' as one of Leicestershire's four wapentakes. The name remains in use as a deanery of the Dio ...

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Leicestershire, with 12 ploughlands, 17 households, 4 freemen, 8 villagers, 4 smallholders, and a priest. The settlement contained a meadow and woodland, both of .

Lordship A lordship is a territory held by a lord. It was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas. It originated as a unit under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. In a lordship, the functions of eco ...

in 1066 was held by Ulf Fenman, transferred to Fulco in 1086, with

Drogo de la Beuvrière Drogo de la Bouerer (also recorded as ''Drogo of la Beuvrière'', ''Drogo de la Bouerer''.) was a Flemish associate of William the Conqueror, who was rewarded after the conquest with a large grant of land in northern and eastern England, primarily ...

Tenant-in-chief In medieval and early modern Europe, a tenant-in-chief (or vassal-in-chief) was a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as opposed to holding them ...

. In 1870 Cold Overton was a parish in the district of Oakham. The

Syston and Peterborough Railway The Syston and Peterborough Railway was an early railway in England opened between 1846 and 1848 to form a connection from the Midland Counties Railway near Leicester to Peterborough, giving access to East Anglia over the Eastern Counties Railway ...

ran close by. The area of the parish was in which were 19 houses and a population of 97. Wilson, John Marius. ''Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' (1870–72) In 1826 was founded an “Asylum for Female Orphans” which maintained and educated 20 girls. This orphanage had been discontinued by 1877, and in its place was established a free school for local boys and girls. Occupations in 1877 included eight graziers, four of whom were farmers, a further farmer and a market gardener. Also listed was a schoolmistress, the parish rector, and Frewen family occupants of Cold Overton Hall. On 1 April 1936 the parish was abolished and merged with Knossington.

St John the Baptist Church

The Grade I listed village church is dedicated to

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

. Originating in the 13th century, there were additions during the following two centuries and a restoration in 1889 Inside the Church the north and south arcades have notable Early English carved capitals, showing people, animals and motifs from nature. There are medieval paintings on the south and east walls; the images include

St Catherine St. Catherine or St. Katherine may refer to a number of saints named Catherine, or: Geography Canada *St. Catharines, a city in Ontario * St. Catharines (federal electoral district), federal *St. Catharines (provincial electoral district), ...

holding a wheel, the

Assumption of the Virgin The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of w ...

, the Nativity, the Funeral of the Virgin, complete with pall-bearers, and St John the Baptist.

Cold Overton Hall

At the centre of the village is the

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Cold Overton Hall, a country house of c. 1664 with early 19th-century additions.

References

External links

*
“Cold Overton”

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{{authority control Villages in Leicestershire Former civil parishes in Leicestershire Borough of Melton