Exton Hall is an

English country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

on the western edge of the village of

Exton, Rutland Exton is a village in Rutland, England. The population was 607 at the 2011 census. The civil parish was abolished in 2016 and merged with Horn to form Exton and Horn. The village The village's name means 'farm/settlement which has oxen'. The ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, standing in its own extensive park.

The Hall

It was the family seat of the family of Sir James Harington and later the Noel family, Earls of Gainsborough for almost four hundred years. An earlier mansion burnt down in 1810 and is now a ruin which has grand gables and beautiful chimneys like many

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personif ...

houses. The ruins are on

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for actio ...

, at priority category: C - "slow decay; no solution agreed". The present Exton Hall was built in the 19th century close to the ruins of the original house. In 1869 a Roman Catholic chapel, dedicated to St Thomas of Canterbury was added, to a design by Charles Alban Buckler. The hall was used by elements of the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. The hall is still in regular use as the private home of Henry Noel, Viscount Campden, and his family. The hall is not normally open to the public, though it is available for a limited number of exclusive private weddings. The hall is one of the many stately homes in Britain associated with the Legend of the Mistletoe Bough.

Parkland

In the park is Fort Henry, a pleasure-house built in 1788 in the elegant Gothick style which overlooks lakes formed by the North Brook. There is an extensive description of the parkland surrounding the hall in its own

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

listing. The park is extensive, and spreads across the parishes of Exton, Cottesmore, Greetham and Horn. In 1948

Anthony Noel, 5th Earl of Gainsborough Anthony Gerard Edward Noel, 5th Earl of Gainsborough KStJ (24 October 1923 – 29 December 2009) was a British peer. Biography Lord Gainsborough succeeded his father, Arthur Noel, 4th Earl of Gainsborough, in the earldom in 1927. He attended Wo ...

granted the United Steel Companies a lease to quarry

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...

in the Park.

Sundew ''Drosera'', which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genus, genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. 2 volumes. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucil ...

, the world's largest walking dragline, worked the land from 1957 until 1974 when mining ceased. Sundew then slowly walked to

Corby Corby is a town in North Northamptonshire, England, located north-east of Northampton. From 1974 to 2021, the town served as the administrative headquarters of the Borough of Corby. At the 2011 Census, the built-up area had a population of ...

. Material was moved by a

standard-gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in E ...

railway with a loop of nine miles and a link to the exchange sidings at what is now

Rutland Railway Museum Rutland Railway Museum, now trading as Rocks by Rail: The Living Ironstone Museum, is a heritage railway on part of a former Midland Railway mineral branch line. It is situated north east of Oakham, in Rutland, England. Overview The museum of ...

's site to the West of Cottesmore Village. The railway was mostly operated by

Yorkshire Engine Company The Yorkshire Engine Company (YEC) was a small independent locomotive manufacturer in Sheffield, England. The company was formed in 1865 and produced locomotives and carried out general engineering work until 1965. It mainly built shunting eng ...

steam and diesel locomotives, Yorkshire Engine Company being a United Steel Companies subsidiary.

References

* Account of the Noel family

External links

* {{coord, 52.6925, -0.6382, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Country houses in Rutland Grade II listed buildings in Rutland Grade II* listed buildings in Rutland Noel family Grade II listed houses Roman Catholic chapels in England