Market Overton is a village on the northern edge of 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 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 ...

(including

Teigh Teigh is a village and civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. The population of the village was 48 in the 2001 census. At the 2011 census the population remained less than 100 and was included with the civil parish o ...

) was 494 at the 2001 census, increasing to 584 at the 2011 census.

History

The village's name means 'Higher farm/settlement' or 'farm/settlement on/by a ridge'. 'Market' is recorded from 1200 and was added to show the village's early function as a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

. The parish church is dedicated to

St Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church. He appears repe ...

and

St Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

. A

Grade I listed building 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 ...

, it contains a Saxon arch and some carved stone from the Anglo-Saxon era, but most of the existing fabric is in the Perpendicular style, dating from the late 13th and early 14th century. The church, in the Diocese of Peterborough, is part of the

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 ...

team ministry. Hannah Ayscough, mother of

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...

, was born in the village in 1623. The regicide Thomas Waite has been claimed to be the son of a village pub landlord. William Kitchen Parker, the zoologist, worked as a druggist's assistant to the village's doctor. The Market Store is a community shop, opened in May 2010. There is a

stocks Stocks are feet and hand restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law de ...

with

whipping post The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, used during the medieval and renaissance periods for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. ...

on the village green which was probably the location of the medieval market place.

Ironstone

There is a small industrial estate to the north of the village, where ironstone was mined from 1906-72 by James Pain Ltd, later becoming

Stewarts & Lloyds Stewarts & Lloyds was a steel tube manufacturer with its headquarters in Glasgow at 41 Oswald Street. The company was created in 1903 by the amalgamation of two of the largest iron and steel makers in Britain: A. & J. Stewart & Menzies, Coatbridg ...

then BSC Tubes Division. The brick terraced houses on the road to Thistleton were built for the workers. Access to the mine was by railway, which joined the Melton-Bourne railway at Pain's Sidings. More information is found at the

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 ...

Markon Engineering

The Markon Engineering company (derived from Stamford Engineering), was started in the village in 1959 by Messrs Fawkes and Knight, and moved to Oakham in 1960 then Dalcross near

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

in 1969. They made electrical generators and were taken over by Newage Ltd in 1987. Generators of the Markon name are now made by

Cummins Cummins Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, electric vehicle components, and power generation products. Cummins also services engines and related equipmen ...

Generator Technologies, based in Stamford. They now make two-pole

single-phase In electrical engineering, single-phase electric power (abbreviated 1φ) is the distribution of alternating current electric power using a system in which all the voltages of the supply vary in unison. Single-phase distribution is used when loads ...

capacitor-type

alternator An alternator (or synchronous generator) is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field wit ...

s under the Markon name.

Geography

The village is on the eastern side of an escarpment overlooking the

Vale of Catmose The Vale of Catmose is an area of relatively low-lying land, much of which is flooded by Rutland Water, in western Rutland, England. Oakham, the county town, lies within its bounds. It is drained by the River Gwash The River Gwash, occasion ...

. The area's subsoil is

Upper Lias The Lias Group or Lias is a lithostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) found in a large area of western Europe, including the British Isles, the North Sea, the Low Countries and the north of Germany. It consists of marine limestones, sh ...

and

Inferior Oolite The Inferior Oolite is a sequence of Jurassic age sedimentary rocks in Europe. It was deposited during the Middle Jurassic.Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic, Europe)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Pet ...

. Most of the civil parish lies to the north and the east, including part of

RAF Cottesmore Royal Air Force Cottesmore or more simply RAF Cottesmore is a former Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England, situated between Cottesmore and Market Overton. On 15 December 2009, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced that the stati ...

(now

Kendrew Barracks Kendrew Barracks is a British Army barracks located north east of Cottesmore, Rutland, England. The barracks opened in 2012, at the site of former RAF Cottesmore. History RAF Cottesmore RAF Cottesmore opened in 1938 and operated until 20 ...

), but not the main runway. The boundary crosses ''Teigh Road'' at Netherfields where it borders Teigh. South of Hall Farm, it borders

Wymondham Wymondham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England. It lies on the River Tiffey, south-west of Norwich and just off the A11 road (England), A11 road to London. The pari ...

and

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 ...

. The

Oakham Canal The Oakham Canal ran from Oakham, Rutland to Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It opened in 1802, but it was never a financial success, and it suffered from the lack of an adequate water supply. It closed after 45 y ...

passes through the west of the parish. The county boundary (and the Rutland Round) passes on the southern edge of Woodwell Head. It passes to the south of Pasture Farm and the southern edge of Cribb's Lodge (in Wymondham), where the parish boundary meets Thistleton. The former quarry extended into Thistleton at this point. The Rutland Round detours from the county boundary here through Leicestershire to meet the main road. Virtually all of the road to Thistleton is in the parish. It passes near to Thistleton just west of Top Farm (and Sewstern Lane). The former quarry extended to just north of the airfield. It briefly borders Greetham inside RAF Cottesmore, then borders Barrow. The village does not border Cottesmore and is around above sea level.

References

External links

marketoverton.info Village website

RutNet

Market Overton Free Church

St Peter and St Paul's Church

Former iron quarry

Market Overton Cricket Club
{{authority control Villages in Rutland Civil parishes in Rutland