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Clipsham Clipsham is the most north-easterly village in Rutland, to the east of the A1. The name derives from 'Cylp's ham' or 'Cylp's settlement'. Curiously it was a detached part of Oakham Soke, indicating that the parish had been gifted to Oakham church, probably before the tenth century. A Roman villa has been excavated, revealing late Roman military metalwork and so-called Romano-Saxon pottery. When opening up a freestone quarry in 1926 a Roman steelyard was discovered, along with Castor ware and Samian pottery. The 1884 OS map shows a pinfold to the south-west of the village and a spring near the middle. Various limestone buildings, including two seventeenth century farmhouses, make this a pleasing village. Clipsham Hall Clipsham Hall was built about 1700 (incorporating a wall of 1582) and is Grade II* Listed. The mansion is set in a landscaped park surrounded by a glorious yew hedge and with an amazing topiary avenue some 500 metres long with 140 sculpted trees. The topiary was created in the 1870s by the Head Forester, Amos Alexander. The clipping was continued by Amos's son, Charles, and then by a local villager. But the avenue became overgrown during the Second World War until the Forestry Commission took over the site in 1955 and began to restore the trees by training staff in the skills of topiary to continue the tradition. However, as a guidebook politely puts it, the avenue was 'much simplified' by the Forestry Commission. Portraits of the publican and policeman of the 1880s were among the earliest losses. In the early 1990s there were still dogs, aeroplanes, a tank, a church, a windmill and an elephant. There was a fox in one tree being 'hunted' by hounds and huntsmen in other trees. Older accounts refer to these and to three bears and an anchor. One tree commemorated the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, another the first moon landing by the American astronaut Neil Armstrong. Near the gatehouse was a tree with the letters 'SIR D D-H', short for Sir David Davenport-Handley who owned the Hall until his death, age 94, in 2014. Another tree had the initials 'AA' for Amos Alexander himself. In 2010 the Forestry Commission stopped trimming the trees and they became overgrown and diseased. In 2024 a twenty-year project to restore the topiary commenced. The Clipsham yew tree avenue in 2002. The Clipsham yew tree avenue in 2010. Clipsham limestone The quarries now straddling the Rutland-Lincolnshire border are a nationally-important source of limestone for building. Clipsham stone was used for Anglo-Saxon sculpture still extant at a dozen churches in Leicestershire and Rutland: Foxton, Frisby on the Wreake, Hallaton, Harston, Nether Broughton, Redmile, Sproxton, Empingham, Greetham, Ketton, Market Overton and Stretton. (Richard Ellison pers. comm.). Presumably it was also used for the walls of early churches too. The London Stone (now at 111 Cannon Street in the City of London) is also thought to be Clipsham Stone. It predates AD 1100. The earliest recorded use of Clipsham stone was for building work at Windsor Castle between 1363 and 1368. Clipsham stone was used for King's College Chapel, Cambridge; the Examination Schools in Oxford; York Minster; repairs to the Houses of Parliament, and for many other famous buildings in the country. St Mary's Church St Mary's church, near the Hall in the park to the north of the village, is bordered by lime trees. The tower is late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, with a curiously-proportioned early fourteenth century spire. Look out for the frieze of small human heads around the tower. Inside is a Romanesque font. Both the north and south arcades are Romanesque, from about 1200. The eastern window in the chapel has some 15th-century glass with pictures of medieval birds and coats of arms. A major restoration took place in 1858 although the high-quality oak seats and other woodwork date from the 1860s. Victoria County History page for Clipsham. 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