Edith Weston is a village and

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 ...

in the county of

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 ...

in the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The population of the civil parish was 1,042 at the 2001 census, including Normanton and increasing to 1,359 at the 2011 census. It is on the south-eastern shore of

Rutland Water Rutland Water is a reservoir in Rutland, England, east of Rutland's county town, Oakham. It is filled by pumping from the River Nene and River Welland, and provides water to the East Midlands. By surface area it is the largest reservoir in E ...

and is home of the main sailing club and a fishing lodge. The village is named after

Edith of Wessex Edith of Wessex (; 1025 – 18 December 1075) was Queen of England through her marriage to Edward the Confessor from 1045 until Edward's death in 1066. Unlike most English queens in the 10th and 11th centuries, she was crowned. The principal ...

(1029–1075), the queen of

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...

and sister of

Harold Godwinson Harold Godwinson ( – 14 October 1066), also called Harold II, was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. Harold reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, the decisive battle of the Norman ...

. 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 ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin and includes stained glass by

Paul Woodroffe Paul Vincent Woodroffe (25 January 1875 – 7 May 1954) was a British book illustrator and stained-glass artist. Early life Woodroffe was born in Madras (present-day Chennai), one of nine children of Francis Henry Woodroffe, a judge in the M ...

and

Hugh Arnold Hugh Arnold (1872 – 11 August 1915) was an English stained glass artist. Arnold was educated at the Slade School of Fine Art before attending the London County Council (LCC) Central School of Arts and Crafts where he studied under Christopher ...

; the organ is by Samuel Green of London and dated 1787. The village pub is the Wheatsheaf on King Edward's Way. St George's Barracks is located to the south and east of the village; this was previously

RAF North Luffenham Royal Air Force North Luffenham or more simply RAF North Luffenham is a former Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England. It is near to the villages of Edith Weston and North Luffenham. History Second World War The station was built as ...

. In August 2007

16th Regiment Royal Artillery 16 Regiment Royal Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Regiment of Artillery in the British Army. It currently serves in the Ground Based Air Defence role and is equipped with the Sky Sabre air defence missile system and Land Environment Air ...

, equipped with the Rapier FSC, moved here from

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

. Edith Weston features in the

Alan Sillitoe Alan Sillitoe FRSL (4 March 192825 April 2010) was an English writer and one of the so-called " angry young men" of the 1950s. He disliked the label, as did most of the other writers to whom it was applied. He is best known for his debut novel ...

1984 novel ''Down From the Hill,'' with the main character stopping off in the Wheatsheaf for a

shandy Shandy is beer or cider mixed with a lemon flavoured beverage, usually half lemonade and half beer or cider, resulting in a lower ABV for the finished drink. Shandies are popular in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Caribbea ...

. The village primary school, Edith Weston Academy, is situated on Weston Road, on the western edge of the village. It was built in the mid 1960s to replace a temporary school housed in former RAF North Luffenham

Nissen hut A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British e ...

s on the current site of the Rutland Water Normanton Car Park to the east of the village.

Edith Weston Hall

Edith Weston Hall was a former country house built in an Elizabethan style by the architect

Lewis Vulliamy Lewis Vulliamy (15 March 1791 – 4 January 1871) was an English architect descended from the Vulliamy family of clockmakers. Life Lewis Vulliamy was the son of the clockmaker Benjamin Vulliamy. He was born in Pall Mall, London on 15 March 17 ...

for the Rev. Richard Lucas in 1830, replacing the Old Hall which stood near the church. He died in 1846 and was succeeded by his son Richard Lucas,

High Sheriff of Rutland This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of the English county of Rutland. The high sheriff, sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown: there has been a Sheriff of Rutland since 1129. Formerly the sheriff was the principal law enf ...

for 1847, who passed it on to his brother George Vere Lucas, who took the surname of Braithwaite under the terms of a will. His son Major Ernest Lucas Braithwaite (also High Sheriff in 1902) sold the estate in 1904 to his nephew,

Stafford Vere Hotchkin Colonel Stafford Vere Hotchkin (1876 – 8 August 1953) was an English landowner, soldier, High Sheriff of Rutland and briefly a Conservative Member of Parliament. He was the only son of Thomas John Stafford Hotchkin of The Manor House, Woodha ...

. In 1913 the latter sold the estate lands by auction and then in 1922 sold the Hall and Park to F. T. Walker of

Norton Lees Norton Lees () is a residential suburb in the Graves Park ward of the City of Sheffield, England located to the east of Woodseats. History Notable buildings in Norton Lees include Bishops' House—a half-timbered house that was built c ...

, Derbyshire, although the hall had been destroyed by fire in 1920. He sold them in 1924 to T. J. Burrowes, who sold them to Lieut.-Col. Francis Henry Hardy, who restored the hall in 1924 as the residence of the Hardy family. It was demolished in 1954.

References

External links

Village website

RutNet
{{authority control Villages in Rutland English country houses destroyed in the 20th century Civil parishes in Rutland

Edith Weston Hall

See also

References

External links