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

The Second World War in Rutland The source for most of the following information is a series of twenty booklets compiled by A.R. Traylen in the mid-1970s and published by the Rutland Local History Society. See also Second World War airfields and pillboxes in Rutland . A German plane shot down by a Spitfire crashed near the old Bees Factory, Barleythorpe. Two crew parachuted to safety. One gave himself up in Oakham and the other landed in a fishpond and broke his leg. He was 'stretchered out' on a gate. In 1942 a Dornier 217 dropped four large bombs straddling Chapel Street, Belton, damaging a few houses and the Black Horse in particular, 'burying a pig into the bargain', but fortunately no person was injured. 'The bomber shot down a pursuing Spitfire and returned to cannon the streets.' In 2005 the BBC compiled Mary's account of A Childhood in Wartime Bisbrooke. In 1943 an unexploded bomb landed in Mill Field, Brooke. The hole quickly filled with clear water and was thereafter piped to Braunston. When incendiaries fell on Clipsham Park in 1939 air raid wardens doused them with ashes. After the bombing raids on the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst in Brest Harbour in 1941 and 1942 the wardens at Clipsham watched as a German fighter followed the British bombers back to RAF Woolfox. At least two were shot down while making their final descent and crashed near Clipsham parish. The wardens went to assist but there were no survivors. At Cottesmore there were several bombing raids on the new airfield, including 'a stick across the married quarters' but little damage was recorded. During the Second World War a number of aircraft, including Wellingtons, Hampdens and Mosquitoes, crashed in the fields around Cottesmore, but none on the village itself. One goggy night n 1941 the crew of a Hampden landed and set fire to their aircraft, thinking they were in Nazi-occupied Holland. More about RAF Cottesmore. Incendiary bombs were dropped in Exton Road Gap Field, Empingham, in 1941 but caused no damage. In almost the same location a Whitley bomber used for glider towing training and based at RAF Woolfox crash landed in 1943. The Russian trainee pilot and his crew survived. More about RAF Woolfox . During the Second World War a number of bombs were dropped around Exton. They landed near the double lodge cottages, Bells Farm, Top House 'and across fields as far as the brook'. Exton's Home Guard post was the fish and chip shop and the east side of 5 Stamford Road. By the mid-1970s it had been demolished. In 1941 a stick of incendiary bombs landed between Greetham House 'across Great Lane and to the other end of the village, no damage being sustained.' In 1941 high explosive bombs fell on Ketton Park near the railway line but there was no damage. In 1943 incendiary bombs were dropped on the iron railway bridge between Ketton and Geeston and the railway station was peppered with machine gun fire. A Blenheim fighter shot down a German airplane over Ketton, the aircraft crashing beyond Wytchley; the crew survived. In 1944 two Dakotas from Spanhoe airfield, Laxton, collided over Long Meadon, Ketton, near Pile Bridge. One man was thrown out and landed in the river mud. He survived but all thirty-eight other American crew and Polish paratroopers died. An incendiary bomb fell in Manor Yard, Langham. It did no damage as it fell in a water tank! All about RAF North Luffenham. A Women's Land Army camp was created up Scales Lane, Lyddington. It later became a prisoner of war camp. In 1940 incendiaries were dropped near Lyddington's water pumping station and in the fields, causing no damage. It was thought that the intended target was Corby steel works. A Tiger Moth crashed in Islip's field, Lyddington, in 1942. The pilot was uninjured. During the Second World War bombs were dropped near the railway line at Manton but failed to explode. In 1942 a German plane 'staggering home' dropped a bomb at the rear entrance to Manton Hall, but there was no reported damage. Early in the Second World War a bomb fell on the railway line near Morcott. The engine of an oncoming goods train toppled into the crater. The wagons nearest the locomotive were carrying bullocks and 'a number' had to be destroyed. The goods vans at the rear of the train, thought to contain high explosives, did not derail. Near the Elms at Morcott an incendiary bomb landed between six newly-threshed ricks. But failed to ignite. In 1940 at least one Hampden bomber crashed 'behind the council houses on the A47 and on the Pilton road' at Morcott. After the bombing raids on the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst in Brest Harbour in 1941 and 1942 the people of Morcott recall seeing bombers returning to RAF North Luffenham with pieces falling off into the fields. South Luffenham became home to twenty-eight child evacuees in 1940. One of them was called Terry Parsons. He was later to become a famous singer, using the stage name Matt Munro. Sometime during the Second World War a German aircraft machine gunned Stretton, clipping many roofs, and then dropped bombs near the A1, without causing any casualties. In 1944 a 'doodlebug' (V1 rocket) took the roof off Stretton Lodge. In the early 1940s two Hampden bombers crashed near Thistleton killing their Canadian and South African crews. About 1940 a bomb fell near Tinwell Lodge Farm, making a hole fourteen feet deep. Although there were sheep in the field, none were killed. Incendiary bombs also fell near Tinwell. A special constable went around 'bashing' them out with a spade. Also in Tinwell there was an anti-aircraft detachment along Stedfold Lane. In 1941 Uppingham was encircled by incendiary bombs. Later in the war a 'Doodlebug' (V1 rocket) passed over Uppingham, crashing near Tilton. There was a battle over Uppingham between a Hurricane and a German bomber, 'the British plane landing at Luffenham, the pilot being wounded in the eye; the German plane was downed before it reached the coast.' A Spitfire crashed at Leigh Lodge, Uppingham. The pilot baled out and the aircraft went into a steep dive. The force of the impact was such that the engine is said to be still buried there. A Hampden also crashed at Leigh Lodge. A Wellington crashed into a haystack at Burley View Field, near Uppingham. The stack saved the aircraft and its crew. Two land mines were dropped near Frog Hall in Uppingham parish. They had flares attached and were seen from Tilton. 'It is said that poachers were using lights at this time and this may have attracted the enemy aircraft.' A land mine was dropped near Langham Road, Whissendine, and a bomb landed near Mountpleasant. In 1940 eighty evacuee children and ten teachers left Walthamstow and arrived in Whissendine. The village hall became their school. zAlthough many of them returned in 1942 some were still living in Whissendine in the early 1970s. A Beaufighter crashed between Uppingham and Withcote. None of the crew survived. Villagers at Whitwell recall watching a Junkers being chased by a Hurricane. The German bomber jetisonned its load, a stick of six 'screamer' bombs, which fell either side of the Empingham road down in the valley. (This road is now under Rutland Water.) A stick of bombs with delayed fuses landed in Bridlefield, Wing, and did not detonate until the following evening. In 1940 a Hampden bomber from RAF North Luffenham crashed near Skew Bridge, Wing. All the crew were killed. In 1944 a Halifax crashed on Morcott road near Wing. Only the rear gunner survived. 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