Ryhall 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 ...

of England. It is situated close to the eastern boundary of the county, about 2 miles (3 km) north of Stamford. The parish includes the hamlet of Belmesthorpe.

History

The village's name means '

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

nook'. The 'nook' in question has been identified as a bend in the

River Gwash The River Gwash, occasionally Guash, a tributary of the River Welland, flows through the Historic counties of England, English counties of Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire. It rises just outside the village of Knossington in Leicestersh ...

. The 13th-century

Church of St John the Evangelist, Ryhall The Church of St John the Evangelist is a church in Ryhall, Rutland. It is a Grade I listed building. History The church dates from the early 13th century. Several carved figures are positioned around the outside of the church. The south por ...

, has a number of carved figures around the exterior. The southern entrance has a porch with a room over it, originally for the priest, now called the

Parvis A parvis or parvise is the open space in front of and around a cathedral or Church (building) , church, especially when surrounded by either colonnades or porticoes, as at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It is thus a church-specific type of forec ...

Room. Saint Tibba, patron saint of falconers, is believed to have lived in Ryhall in the 7th century. She was buried here, but in the 11th century her relics were translated to

Peterborough Abbey Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew, and formerly known as Peterborough Abbey or St Peter's Abbey, is a cathedral in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, in the United Kingdom. The seat of the Anglic ...

, now

Peterborough Cathedral Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew, and formerly known as Peterborough Abbey or St Peter's Abbey, is a cathedral in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, in the United Kingdom. The seat of the Church ...

, by Abbot Ælfsige (1006–1042). According to legend, St Tibba was a niece of

King Penda of Mercia Penda (died 15 November 655)Manuscript A of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' gives the year as 655. Bede also gives the year as 655 and specifies a date, 15 November. R. L. Poole (''Studies in Chronology and History'', 1934) put forward the theor ...

. The remains of a small hermitage associated with the saint can be seen on the west side of the north aisle of church. A 19th-century book refers to a

holy well A holy well or sacred spring is a well, Spring (hydrosphere), spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christianity, Christian or Paganism, pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualitie ...

dedicated to Saint Tibba, though the location cannot now be identified, and there is similar doubt about the location of a well said to have been dedicated to Tibba's alleged relative, St Ebba. The route of the Stamford and

Essendine Essendine is a village and civil parish at the eastern end of the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England, located 5 miles (7 km) north of Stamford and 6 miles (10 km) south of Bourne. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 c ...

railway passed through the parish, on embankments still clearly visible today. It included a station called " Ryhall & Belmisthorpe", located in Belmesthorpe. The line opened in 1856 but closed a century later in 1959.

Community

In 2021 Ryhall had a population of 2,936, making it one of the largest villages in Rutland. It is bounded to its west by the A6121 main road from Stamford to Bourne and on the other three sides by the

, although some development has spilled over the river to the north and out along the

road. Ryhall has a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Academy School with an attendance, in March 2022, of 192 pupils aged 4 to 11. The village also has a post office/village shop, Methodist Chapel, library and two

public houses A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

, The Millstone and The Green Dragon. The former Fordham's supermarket of the 1960s-70s was a kitchen showroom, which closed in 2016.

Sport

The local football club, Ryhall United F.C. left Ryhall in 2015, moving to nearby Stamford under the new name of Stamford Lions.

Parish structure

Also in the parish is the hamlet of Belmesthorpe situated just South of Ryhall about three miles (5 km) north of Stamford in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. Apart from the Blue Bell Inn, there are two old farmhouses here as well as a few old cottages in the main street as well as two former dovecotes both now converted into private dwellings. Castle Rise is a cul-de-sac added in the 1960s but there is no evidence for any castle having been located there. The ecclesiastical parish is Ryhall with

and

Carlby Carlby is a small village and civil parish in the district of South Kesteven in Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 542. It is located four miles south of Bourne on the A6121 road near the Lincoln ...

, part of the Rutland

Deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

of the Diocese of Peterborough.Deanery list

References

External links