North Luffenham
Encyclopedia
Rutland
Rutland is a landlocked county in central England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire and southeast by Peterborough and Northamptonshire....
, in the East Midlands
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of the regions of England, consisting of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It encompasses the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire...
of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It lies to the north of the River Chater
River Chater
The River Chater is a river in the East Midlands of England. It is a tributary of the River Welland, and is about long.It rises near Whatborough Hill in Leicestershire, and then flows east, past the sites of Sauvey Castle, and Launde Abbey, before crossing the county boundary with Rutland...
, 5 miles (8 km) east of Uppingham
Uppingham
Disambiguation: "Uppingham" is the colloquial name for Uppingham SchoolUppingham is a market town in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England, located on the A47 between Leicester and Peterborough, about 6 miles south of the county town, Oakham.- History :A little over a mile to the...
and 7 miles (11.3 km) west of Stamford
Stamford, Lincolnshire
Stamford is a town and civil parish within the South Kesteven district of the county of Lincolnshire, England. It is approximately to the north of London, on the east side of the A1 road to York and Edinburgh and on the River Welland...
.
Located to the north of the village is St George's Barracks, formerly RAF North Luffenham
RAF North Luffenham
RAF North Luffenham was a Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England, 1940 - 1998. It is near to the villages of Edith Weston and North Luffenham....
.
Discovery of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery to the north of the modern village suggests that there were people living here in the village in the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. The village grew and prospered during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century the village was the scene of an English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
siege when in 1642 Lord Grey and his parliamentary forces were gathered at nearby Leicester. With gunpowder and ammunition taken in raids on Oakham, they marched to Brooke to arrest Viscount Campden. Henry Noel, a known royalist, heard of this and decided to take a ‘little guard’ into his house – Luffenham Hall. Disappointed at Brooke, Lord Grey and his 1300 soldiers made their way to North Luffenham, destroying the nearby hamlet of Sculthorpe and surrounded the Hall. There was little actual fighting, although the church burial register does record the death of one Parliamentary soldier on 21 February 1642. Outnumbered by seven to one, Henry Noel had little choice but to surrender. The Hall was plundered and the Parliamentary soldiers attacked the nearby church, smashing windows and defacing a statue of Henry Noel’s first wife (the damage to the fingers and nose can still be seen). Noel was taken as a prisoner to London, where he died shortly afterwards.
The original Luffenham Hall (the village school is now on the site) was built in around 1635 and belonged to the Noel family. Although besieged during the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
it was occupied by the Noels until the 18th century. It was demolished in 1806. All that remains is the garden ha-ha (a sunken boundary wall) and outbuildings along Church Street. To the east of the parish church is the present day North Luffenham Hall. Built in the mid 1500’s, this was originally Digby Manor House and only later became known as Luffenham Hall.
The Church of St John the Baptist is a fine antique fabric, with a tower surmounted by a spire. The churchyard contains 31 graves maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves, and places of commemoration, of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars...
. These include 11 Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
servicemen who died while North Luffenham was a RCAF base in the 1950s;
Archdeacon Robert Johnson (1540–1625) was Rector of North Luffenham for 51 years, from 1574 until his death; he founded Oakham
Oakham School
Oakham School is a British co-educational independent school in the historic market town of Oakham in Rutland, accepting around 1,000 pupils, aged from 10 to 18, both male and female, as boarders and day pupils . The Good Schools Guide called the school "a privileged but unpretentious and...
and Uppingham School
Uppingham School
Uppingham School is a co-educational independent school of the English public school tradition, situated in the small town of Uppingham in Rutland, England...
s in 1584, as well as other charitable institutions including almshouses.
St Mary & St John's Primary School is a Voluntary Aided Church of England school. It is built on the site of North Luffenham Hall and the southern boundary is a ha-ha.
There are two pubs in the village; The Fox & Hounds and The Horse & Panniers (popularly known as The Nag & Bag).
Arts & Crafts architect C.F.A. Voysey
Charles Voysey (architect)
Charles Francis Annesley Voysey was an English architect and furniture and textile designer. Voysey's early work was as a designer of wallpapers, fabrics and furnishings in a simple Arts and Crafts style, but he is renowned as the architect of a number of notable country houses...
designed The Pastures in 1903 and he also worked on another house in the village.