home page   what's new?   email bobtrubs@indigogroup.co.uk to request updates (please mention Rutland Village by Village) or to offer new information   Rutland Village by Village only WWW Village by Village Ashwell Ayston Barleythorpe Barrow Barrowden Beaumont Chase Belmesthorpe Belton-in-Rutland Bisbrooke Braunston-in-Rutland Brooke Burley Caldecott Clipsham Cottesmore Edith Weston Egleton Empingham Essendine Exton Glaston Great Casterton Greetham Gunthorpe Hambleton Horn Ketton Langham Leighfield Little Casterton Lyddington Lyndon Manton Market Overton Martinsthorpe Morcott Normanton North Luffenham Oakham Pickworth Pilton Preston Ridlington Ryhall Seaton South Luffenham Stoke Dry Stretton Teigh Thistleton Thorpe by Water Tickencote Tinwell Tixover Uppingham Wardley Whissendine Whitwell Wing This site sponsored by   Heart of Albion

Anglo-Saxon brooch discovered in Market Overton and on display in the Rutland County Museum in Oakham. Anglo-Saxon Rutland preamble I am well aware that academics have long since referred to the sixth to eleventh centuries as the 'early medieval period'. However I suspect most people visiting this web site will be more familiar with the same centuries being called 'Anglo-Saxon England'. As well as people from Anglia and Lower Saxony (not to be confused with the Kingdom of Saxony which existed elsewhere from 1806 to 1918) there was migration from Jutland and Frisia. The two villages in Leicestershire called Frisby are evidence for Frisian communities, as is Freeby. Rutland was predominantly settled by Anglians, although the name of Normanton tells us that fairly early (perhaps around the seventh century) there was a Norwegian settlement as Normanton is a contraction of 'north man tun'. The name was in use long before the Norman Conquest. As Rutland's Normaton is in the Gwash valley it is a good match with another Normanton in the Devon valley to the north of Bottesford and with Normanton-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire. All three are well-situated for waterborne trade. After this page was written Paul Wiggin put together a PDF with detailed information about Anglo-Saxon Oakham. Anglo-Saxon place-names in Rutland Apart from the names of the rivers Chater and Welland, which are all from 'Celtic' words, there are no place-names in Rutland recalling pre-Anglo-Saxon settlement. Well Ketton takes its name from the River Chater which flows through it so pedantically has a 'Celtic' origin – but it's very likely that the name was coined by Anglo-Saxon settlers rather than 'Celtic'-speaking people. Unlike Leicestershire, Rutland has no Waltons, which indicate settlements of British-speaking slaves. Great Casterton retains the Latin caistor, referring to the Roman fortifications, but the name would have been coined by Anglo-Saxon settlers. Caistor evolves into the Modern English word 'castle' and is also why Roman towns and cities such as Leicester, Gloucester, Chester and so forth are so named. All the village names ending in -ham, -ton and with -ing- in them were probably coined in the fifth and six centuries. However the name would have referred not to a village but a large farmstead. The name transferred to a nucleated villages mostly likely in the tenth century, although precise dating of nucleation is not possible because of modern buildings. Hambleton was probably the home of local early Anglo-Saxon kings, such as Rota who gave his name to the county. Despite online suggestions that Rota lived in the tenth century his monothematic name suggests he was alive in the sixth or maybe seventh centuries. He may well have been a contemporary of 'Fram' who gave his name to Framland Hundred, now the Borough of Melton. Back in the sixth and seventh centuries the word 'land' had a narrower meaning of 'home region of a person or a people, territory marked by political boundaries'. In Modern English we tend to use the word 'country'. The original sense of 'land' survives in expressions such as 'landed gentry'. Framland may have started out as 'Fram's Land'. But other English personal names are possible, such as Fremi, Framela or even Franni (with the two 'nn's misread as an 'm'). This YouTube video discusses both Rutland and Framland. Anglo-Scandinavian place-names in Rutland Compared to adjoining areas, such as the Wreake valley, Rutland has a dearth of Scandinavian place-names from around the tenth century. Normanton and the Norwegian Glathr who gave his name to Glaston are chief exceptions, along with Gunthorpe, Ingthorpe near Great Casterton, Sculthorpe near North Luffenham and Tolethorpe near Little Casterton. Also Scandinavian is the name of Wing which is from Old Scandinavian vengi meaning 'a large field'. When the name started to refer to a settlement rather than a field is unknown. As Wing is adjacent to Glaston we can reasonably assume that it was Glathr, or members of his family, who coined the use of vengi. Barrie Cox in his Place-names of Rutland is of the opinion that at the time surrounding counties were being quite intensively settled by Scandinavians – so around the tenth century – the Mercian kings kept tight control of Rutland and permitted few Danish settlers. The Scandinavians who settled at Normanton probably did so several generations before the main Danish migration to the English Midlands. Thorpe names (Barleythorpe, Martinsthorpe, Thorpe by Water plus several now 'lost' thorpes) are also Scandinavian in origin, but these names were coined at a time (probably the eleventh century) when it was normal to name new 'daughter settlements' as thorpes without there being Scandinavians living there. For all the compleatists out there here's a list of all eleven thorpes in Rutland: Alsthorpe, Barleythorpe, Belmesthorpe, Gunthorpe, Ingthorpe (in Tinwell parish but closer to Great Casterton), Kilthorpe (now a farm near Ketton), Martinsthorpe, Sculthorpe (in Pilton), Thorpe by Water, Tolethorpe and Whissenthorpe (now a farm near Whissendine). Barrie Cox studied Rutland's thorpe names and concluded they were not daughter settlements established by Scandinavians. Because they were all on the borders with Rutland the language usage in adjoining, Scandinavian-settled counties meant that the Old English term stoc (referring to the stumps or 'stocks' of trees in the fields after clearing woodland) which had been used for such new settlements had stopped being used and the term 'thorpe' replaced it. Indeed the earliest reference to Martinsthorpe calls it 'Martinstoc'. look-out place-names in Rutland During the early Anglo-Saxon period – so the sixth and seventh centuries – small 'kingdoms' such as Rutland risked being attacked by their neighbours. It was essential to have look outs on hills overlooking the boundaries. And the names these were given has often survived. One Old English name is toot hyll and the other is weard. Toot seems to originate with the Roman guardian of boundaries, Toutatis. A number of Romano-British votive rings with the letters 'TOT' (pronounced 'toot') have been discovered close to tribal boundaries, almost certainly dedicated to Toutatis but using the shortened form of his name. Quite plausibly the men manning look-outs would create shrines to guardians such as Toutatis. Old English weard means 'watch, ward[en]' and is cognate with the Modern English words 'warden' and 'guardian'. Wardley in Rutland was originally weard leah, the 'watch-place in a clearing [in a wood]'. Wardley also had somewhere called 'Turtle Slade' and 'turtle' is a corruption of toot hyll. Old English slaed has two meanings. More likely the sense of 'slope, hillside' applies to the Wardley usage, as 'valley, dell, or dingle' are less likely to be look-out locations.   Looking south from the likely location of the 'toot hill' towards Turtle Bridge. Barrowden also had a toot hyll because, right in the south of the parish – which is also the southern border of Rutland, is 'Turtle Bridge' over the River Welland. Again 'turtle' is a corruption of toot hyll The name 'Turtle Bridge' is first recorded in 1298 although the present bridge is thought to be no older than the fourteenth century and was seemingly widened in 1793 then had the parapets replaced in either the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. The sides of the valley either side of Turtle Bridge are quite steep and rise up approximately 150 feet above the river, making the northern ridge a likely location for the look-out post. The word 'turtle' only referred to a 'marine tortoise' from the mid-seventeenth century. Prior to that turtles were doves. The first known use of the name 'turtledove' to refer to the species Sreptopelia turtur is about 1300, so consistent with the earliest record of Turtle Bridge. There is the possibility that the 1298 reference to Turtle Bridge is the oldest-known use of 'turtle'. Any hard-core etymologists out there who can shine some light? If so please email bobtrubs@indigogroup.co.uk Anglo-Saxon burials in Rutland The evidence for early Anglo-Saxons in Rutland mostly comes not from how they lived but from how they were prepared for the after-life. Several major cemeteries of the fifth to seventh centuries were excavated prior to modern archaeological techniques but revealed a wealth of grave goods, including high-status jewellery and weapons. As with the rest of England, most of the excavated Anglo-Saxon burials in Rutland are pre-christian and include grave goods such as personal ornaments (necklaces and brooches), weapons (swords, spearheads, shield bosses), and pottery to accompany the dead in the afterlife. As what we now call 'parish churches' were created from around the tenth century onwards burials increasingly took place in churchyards. Such burials are typically repeatedly disturbed by later inhumations. Several pre-conversion Anglo-Saxon cemeteries were excavated in the Gwash valley in the 1960s during the construction of Rutland Water. 'Empingham II' is a large inhumation cemetery with over 130 burials dating from 500 to 600 CE. Grave goods included gilded cruciform brooches, combs, beads, knives, and spearheads. 'Empingham I' was a smaller cemetery of around 14 inhumation burials, chronologically overlapping with Empingham II's earlier phase. 'Empingham III' included burials cut into a late Roman villa, but without grave goods. Two distinct cemeteries are known at Market Overton. They are thought to be of slightly different dates based on the jewellery styles found. The north cemetery is thought to be from the early to mid-sixth century while the south cemetery probably had a longer span, from the early sixth to early seventh centuries. Finds included silver discs, square-headed and cruciform gilded-bronze brooches, gold pendants (bracteates), and gilded silver wrist clasps, many of which are now held in the Rutland County Museum in Oakham. A barrow (mound) cemetery at Burley revealed high-status burials, indicated by the discovery of gold buckles and imported Coptic bowls, dating from the late sixth to seventh century. Another high-status Roman burial was discovered at North Luffenham. A more recent discovery at Glaston uncovered a cremation cemetery containing the remains of sixteen individuals. At Great Casterton a mix of thirty-five Anglo-Saxon cremations and fifteen inhumations was found during road widening. This suggests the former Roman town remained in use into the seventh century or later. At Ketton an Anglo-Saxon cemetery dating from the late ninth to mid-eleventh centuries was excavated. Those interred may have been first-generation Scandinavian immigrants. The pattern of nucleated villages and associated roads that still shape midland England was created by the Anglo-Saxons, probably in the eighth century. The names of these villages sometimes preserve the names of the people who were notable at the time. Otherwise these people are mostly 'lost' to us, as the evidence for later Anglo-Saxon life is now buried under our villages; the earliest villagers were also the earliest occupants of the churchyards. Rutland's earliest churches Rutland was part of Mercia so among the last places in England to convert to christianity. Only after the death of Penda in 655 did the Northumbrian clergy fulfill their three-or-more decades-long ambition to create churches in Rutland, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and parts of adjoining counties. Back in 1996 David Parsons summarised the evidence for early churches in Rutland (Parsons 1996). He favours Ridlington and Hambleton as the earliest such establishments, with Luffenham almost as early. Ridlington Ridlington was a royal estate centre whose berewicks were Ayston, Belton-in-Rutland, Leighfield, Preston, Uppingham, Wardley and Wing. At the time – around the seventh and eighth centuries &ndash Uppingham was still a small hamlet. Only in the thirteenth century, after the granting of a market charter, did Uppingham gain importance at the expense of Ridlington. Hambleton Peter Tomalin has analysed records from 1705 which seemingly reveal which churches in the eleventh century were 'dependencies' ('berewicks') of Hambleton. His article is in Rutland Record No.23. In summary, the berewicks of Hambleton seem to be Martinsthorpe, Normanton, Edith Weston, Manton, Lyndon and St Peter's, Stamford. This is typical of the earliest churches founded in the seventh and eighth centuries which had extensive parochia that, around the eleventh century, evolved into manorial chapels and then parish churches. The 1705 records are the best evidence for Hambleton church having originated in the seventh and eighth centuries. If you think it is odd to rely on eighteenth century records for events a thousand years before then it's not. The best evidence for Orston in Nottinghamshire having an a seventh or eighth century origin is two documents which have survived from the eighteenth century. Land in adjoining parishes owned by the 'mother' church in the eighth century was still owned in the eighteenth century. Martinsthorpe is not included in the 1705 document, presumably because the the village was cleared in 1622 so the chapel would have little or no income. However older evidence indicates this too was a berewick of Hambleton. In 1705 there is also vicarial income from Braunston, but the origin of this arrangement is unclear and may be later than the eleventh century. Hambleton lost importance to Luffenham and then, at the end of the eleventh century, Luffenham too lost out to Oakham. Luffenham According to oral history collected in 1973 and published in 1975: The is a tradition in [South Luffenham] that sea-going boats came up the Foss to a quay by the village pond, and were unloaded by monks from a monastery below the church. The stream was thought to be a canal, when the sea came up to Uffington, and was quite deep until the water was backed up and silted in the race to provide power at the watermill; the Chater was six feet deep at the Wash Dyke. The surprising importance of Luffenham was presumably because the Roman estate centre (known from the villa complex between Ketton and South Luffenham) probably remained a major estate centre for several generations into the Anglo-Saxon era. Hambleton was the fortified home of Rota and his descendants so would have be the logical place for an early church. However Uppingham was on a north-south routeway, unlike either Luffenham or Hambleton, so steadily increased in importance. Oakham was not especially important before the Norman Conquest when it became the administrative centre for Rutland (and still is). There is nothing unusual about the earliest churches relocating around the seventh or eighth centuries. There's a clear example in Wiltshire (where the very early church at Foxley was relocated to Malmesbury) and something similar appears to have happened in the Wreake valley with an early church at either Kirby Bellars or Eye Kettleby relocating to Melton Mowbray. I have written about the earliest churches in Leicestershire and Rutland (and elsewhere) in considerable detail in this free PDF. See also Anglo-Saxon sculpture in Rutland. Administrative Hundreds Hundreds and parishes. Adapted from Cox 1994. The term 'Hundred' comes from the notion of an administrative unit made up of one hundred farmsteads, each occupying one hide of land. In reality the number of households was quite variable and often much greater than a hundred by 1086. A hide was notionally about one hundred acres. But could be much bigger in area if the soils were less suited to agriculture. So it is reasonable to think that in the early Anglo-Saxon era land in Rutland was considered sufficiently good that a hide was quite small, so the 'hundred of hides' was also smaller than, say, the massive Goscote Hundred in north Leicestershire (later split into East Goscote and West Goscote). Each Hundred held regular meetings, probably monthly, to discuss local governance, military organization and judicial matters. Such meetings were known as 'moots'. We still use the phrase 'moot point' for something that needs debating. In the next section I discuss the moot sites for Rutland's Hundreds. Oakham was referred to as a 'soke' rather than a hundred because it had more independence from national government. Although Rutland as a whole is similar in size to most of the Hundreds in adjoining counties, initially it was divided into four quite small Hundreds: Alstoe The name is a contraction of 'Alfnoth's stow'. 'Stow' denotes a meeting place. Martinsley The name mean's 'Martin's woodland clearing'. The same Martin may have given his name to Martinthorpe and a couple of minor place-names. Oakham Soke Originally part of Martinsley Hundred, it had become a separate soke by 1522. Indeed a document of 1428 suggests the split was imminent by referring to the 'Hundred of Oakham cum Martinsley'. The soke comprised the townships and manors held by the castle and manor of Oakham. For this reason the soke includes the detached parish of Clipsham to the north-east. Witchley Barrie Cox states that Witchley is from the 'woodland (clearing) of the Hwicca'. As there are four place-names within thirty miles which derive from Hwicce (Whissendine; Wichly in Whissendine; Witchley in Edith Weston; Whiston, Northamptonshire) then he considers this is a folk-name. 'Lley' is from Old English leah. So the Hundred is named after the meeting place: 'the woodland clearing of the Hwicce folk/tribe'. Most likely this clearing was in Edith Weston parish – see below. Sometime before 1075 Witchley Hundred was divided into East Hundred and Wrangdike Hundred. That configuration of five Hundreds remained until county councils were introduced in the 1870s. Moot sites Alstoe The moot site for the Alstoe Hundred has survived between Burley and Cottesmore. It became a Norman motte and bailey castle, the remains of which are visible in this photograph. This is the Historic England listing. East Rutland Great Casterton was central to East Hunded so presumably moots were held there. Martinsley Little doubt that the moot met at the eponymous leah or clearing. But the location is not known. There is also a field name in Ayston parish of 'Martin's hoh'. Hoh was the Old English word for a distinctive-shaped hill. Many of these hohs were used as meeting places or eveolved into early churches. So this may have been the moot site. Maybe the hoh was in, or near, the leah. However the location of the hoh is not known. Oakham The meeting place for Oakham Soke has also survived. It's the Norman Great Hall. Witchley Whissendine (like the Hundred's name, also from 'Hwicce') is on a Roman road running from Thistleton westwards to the Fosse Way. Presumably it's not a coincidence that Witchley (in Edith Weston parish) is beside a probable Roman road running south from Empingham and on to North Luffenham, Morcott and Barrowden then crossing the Welland at Turtle ('toot hill' or 'look-out hill') Bridge. To the east of Edith Weston there is still a Witchley Warren Farm (also spelt Wytchley Warren Farm) next to a triangular arrangement of lanes. As the word 'triangular' was not used until about 1400, Anglo-Saxons referred to them as a gar. The literal meaning of gar is 'spear[-shaped]'. A number of hundredal moot sites are called 'Gartree' ('the landmark tree in a triangle of land'), including one in south Leicestershire. The combination of a location central to the hundred, proximity to a former Roman road, and the survival of a gar is characteristic of hundredal moot sites. This means that Witchley Warren Farm takes it name from a warren which developed on the former moot site. Sometime before 1075 Witchley Hundred was divided into East Hundred and Wrangdike Hundred, with Edith Weston (and Normanton) transferring to Martinsley Hundred. I doubt that the moot site continued in use after Witchley Hundred split up in the mid-eleventh century. Wrangdike The location of the eponymous 'crooked ditch' is not known. However there is a Syrepol in Seaton. This could be from Old English scir pol 'shire pool' which is a plausible moot site. Otherwise somewhere in Glaston would seem reasonable. The queens' dowries In 1002 Ethelred 'the Unready' granted Martinsley Hundred and Oakham Soke to his wife, Emma, as a dowry. There are some indications that earlier Mercian kings had also gifted part of Rutland as dowries, but the evidence is ambiguous. Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042–66) continued this 'tradition' and the same part of Rutland became the dowry of his wife, Edith. She is commemorated by Edith Weston. Although Edward lived to 1066 and Edith until 1075, in 1064 Edward transferred this land to Westminster Abbey. Pauline Stafford has written a lucid account of Queen Edith's life and kindly allowed me to include it as part of this web site as a free PDF. Just to confuse the unwary, in 1204 King John gave Rutland to Queen Isabella of Angoulême as a dowry. This presumably came to an end in 1216 when John died, although she might have retained the lands as Henry III (her then-nine year old son) became king. In 1220 Isabella remarried so, presumably, lost her share of Rutland (if she hadn't already). Early markets The Romans almost certainly had a market at Thistleton. But early in the Anglo-Saxon era it seems to have moved to the boundary of Thistleton and Market Overton. Market Overton, as the name implies, was an important market starting in later Anglo-Saxon times, although extensive finds of Roman coins suggest a possible earlier origin (maybe the Romans held a weekly market at Thistleton and a much bigger 'annual fair' at Market Overton?). However from the eleventh century Oakham quickly become more important than Market Overton. Little doubt that the Romans had a market at Great Casterton. But that too did not continue. Instead a new market was established at Stamford, just two miles away. At the time Stamford was considered to be part of Rutland, although it became independent around the tenth century. Early watermills At least three of Rutland's watermills may have been in existence before 1086. They were at Ashwell, Greetham and Tickencote. Back to top of this page     Back to home page   This website does not gather or store any visitor information. Copyright Bob Trubshaw 2026 No unauthorised copying or reproduction except if all following conditions apply a: Copy is complete (including this copyright statement). b: No changes are made. c: No charge is made. www.hoap.co.uk/rutland

Rutland's history home page what's new? glossary bibliography Rutland's geology Rutland's boundaries Rutland's rivers long, long ago prehistoric Rutland Roman Rutland long ago Anglo-Saxon Rutland Rutland's place-names waterborne transport around the sixth century Rutland's early churches Anglo-Saxon sculpture in Rutland The Matter of Rutland what the Normans did for Rutland Romanesque sculpture in Rutland Rutland's royal forests Rutland in medieval times Rutland's scratch dials Rutland's medieval carvings Rutland's sepulchral effigies Rutland's saltways Rutland in Tudor times Dissolution in Rutland not that long ago Rutland in the 17th century pinfolds and pounds in Rutland dovecotes in Rutland Rutland in the 18th century turnpiking Rutland Rutland's springs and wells changes in Rutland's agriculture since 1800 seems like yesterday Rutland's dialect Rutland's folk customs travellers in Rutland watermills and windmills in Rutland breweries in Rutland gasworks in Rutland ironstone quarrying in Rutland Zeppelins over Rutland redundant telephone exchanges in Rutland Second World War in Rutland WWII airfields and pillboxes in Rutland the making of Rutland Water Rutland Weekend Television free online history resources Victoria County History: Rutland volume one Victoria County History: Rutland volume two free PDFs of Rutland Record issues 1 to 50 old OS maps Historic England Listed buildings database Sepulchral Effigies of Leicestershire and Rutland Open Domesday English Place-Name Society database Wikipedia list of places in Rutland (with links to village entries) Wikipedia list of people from Rutland researching and writing local history getting started free advice from 2005 asking curious questions (YouTube video) local history groups in and around Rutland Belton-in-Rutland History Society Cottesmore History and Archaeology Group Langham Village History Group Lyddington Manor History Society Rutland Local History and Record Society with free PDFs of over forty issues of the Rutland Record Uppingham Local History Study Group you may also be interested in free PDFs written by Bob Trubshaw Earliest Churches in Nottinghamshire How Anglo-Saxons Found Their Way Anglo-Saxon Leicestershire Conversations in Churchyards Little-known Leicestershire and Rutland Bob Trubshaw's YouTube channel Introduction to medieval carvings Anglo-Saxon and Romanesque carvings How Anglo-Saxons found their way Anglo-Saxon shrines at fords Meetings at triangles Rota's Land and Franni's Land Reading Romanesque fonts Church and manor The significances of square headdresses Early churches and waterborne trade Charnwood slate gravestones and C18th trade routes Ironstone quarries of Leicestershire Roman roads in north-east Leicestershire Salt ways in Leicestershire Why Melton Mowbray needed to called 'middle town' Evolving Anglo-Saxon agriculture Nottinghamshire's earliest churches Ploughs not piety? Economic regeneration in the C7th Were Anglo-Saxon weaving huts women-only places? Vale of Belvoir Chronicle Barrowby Until Now website