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Ketton Aerial photographs revealed the one-time extensive 'crop marks' of prehistoric settlements that have since been ploughed away. Before the 1930s a 'fine tessellated pavement' from a Roman villa had been discovered. But, seemingly, not recorded prior to destruction. In the 1990s archaeological excavations ahead of quarrying revealed Roman burials and occupation sites. In 2020 a Roman villa with an unusually large and fairly well-preserved mosaic was discovered to the south-west of Ketton. Research published in 2025 sheds more light on the Trojan War scene on the mosaic. This is the academic paper. Archaeological excavations ahead of quarrying also revealed an Anglo-Saxon timber-built church with graves to the south and east. To the north-west were almost as many graves but encircling what had been a large tree. However it was not possible to establish which came first. What was established that by the early eleventh century all the graves (and the remains of the church) were underneath a manor-house complex. Source: John Blair The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society (OUP 2005) p381. As Ketton's parish church has a fragment of Anglo-Saxon sculpture it is reasonable to assume that this site, on a natural mound, was in use by the tenth century. The sculpture reveals that the church was of high status. Edith Weston developed as the western estate dependent on the Anglo-Saxon royal manor at Ketton. The River Chater runs through the settlement. Chater is probably from the Brythonic ('Celtic') words ceto-dubron meaning 'forest stream'. In the eleventh century Ketton is spelt as Chetene so clearly both Chater and Ketton both have the same origin, but are now spelt and pronounced differently. Ketton was in East Hundred, formerly Witchley Hundred. In the 1970s Ketton was still paying an annual rent of a few shillings to the Queen, to provide her with leggings. This is presumably a survival from around the tenth century when the part of Rutland around Ketton became the queen's dowry. Actually, not just 'part of Rutland' but overlapping into Northamptonshire. Ketton was seemingly an important 'satallite' of Collyweston. In recent centuries Collyweston has been associated with limestone roofing 'slates'. But from the thirteenth century it gained increasing importance as a royal manor. By the late fifteenth century Collyweston was one of the principal centres in England, with a magnificent medieval manor house which became the main residence of Lady Margaret Beaufort. She was the mother of Henry Tudor and her ambitions for her son made her the most powerful woman in England. After Henry VII defeated Richard III, Margaret continued to wield considerable political influence and became a major cultural benefactor, thus initiating the era of Tudor patronage. Little doubt medieval Ketton basked in some of the 'reflected glory' generated by Collyweston's importance. Ketton Quarry Ketton has long been famous for its building stone. This particular type of oolitic limestone is fine-grained and regarded as the perfect stone for delicate decorative carving. It has the advantage of being comparatively soft when quarried but hardens after exposure to air. The ability to ship the stone along the River Welland reduced the costs of transport and also explains why it is used more in Cambridgeshire than in places west of Ketton. Famous buildings built at least in part with Ketton stone include the Tower of London, York Minster, Exeter Cathedral, sculpture for Beverley Minster, several Cambridge colleges, Fleet Street law courts, Burley on the Hill house, various Norfolk and Suffolk churches, and many local churches. For example, the church at Barnack, eight miles to the east in Cambridgeshire, was built entirely from Ketton stone. Since 1928 Ketton stone has been quarried mostly for cement manufacture. For geologists, Ketton quarry is the best place to see England's Middle Jurassic rocks. Part of all six major formations are exposed and there is clear evidence of fault structures, tropical palaeoenvironments and sea-level changes. Many invertebrate fossils are present. Recent phases of the quarry workings are visible from the bridge which takes the road to Normanton over the quarry workings. Details of the extraction and marketing of Ketton freestone during the nineteenth century are in Rutland Record No.24. Ketton cement works in 2023. The older houses of the village use local stone, including Colleyweston 'slates' for the roofs. They make Ketton one of the more remarkable of the many attractive stone-built villages in Rutland. To the east of the church is a triple-arch bridge which is seventeenth century, although inevitably 'restored' over the years. To the south of the church is a house known as The Priory (although it was never a priory but rather a prebendal manor house which has been privately owned since 1723); the oldest part is dated 1618 although there have been several phases of additions in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the eastern part of its grounds is a sizable dovecote. In total there were once four dovecotes in Ketton. The 1884 OS map shows two breweries, a gas works and a railway station. The tower of a windmill survives on the lane to Edith Weston. Photograph taken in 2026. At the opposite end of the village, by the railway crossing over the Cottesmore road, are mid-nineteenth century buildings including former maltings, gasworks and a hotel. St Mary's church St Mary's church is, according to Arthur Mee, 'among the architectural glories of the county'. There is a small fragment of a tenth/eleventh century sculpture which may have been an arm of a cross. The oldest parts of the structure are the Romanesque west front and doorway. The blind arches each side of the west doorway have Gothic pointed arches but are decorated with the older chevron motifs so right on the cusp of the Romanesque transitioning into the nascent Gothic. This dates the west front to between 1140 and 1200. The west doorway of St Mary's churchwith Romano-Gothic blind niches. The tower is late twelfth century with a splendid fourteenth century spire, which probably took about fifty years to complete. The font, with foliate decoration, is also fourteenth century. The building was restored in 1860–2 by one of the leading architects of the Gothic revival, Sir Gilbert Scott (who was also responsible for St Pancras station, the Albert Memorial and numerous churches) although the chancel was restored by a different architect, T.G. Jackson, between 1863–6. Curiously Ketton's church is not built from locally-quarried stone, but uses the shellier limestone from Barnack. However Ketton stone is used for the exuberantly-decorated eighteenth century gravestones in the churchyard. Many of these were carved by members of the Hibbins family and the memorial to William Hibbins (near the lych gate) is decorated with mason's tools. The memorial to William Hibbins The elder Hibbins, William, flourished between 1765 and 1785 while Robert Hibbins was active between 1805 and 1865 (unless father and son were both called Robert). One of the many elaborately carved tombstones in Ketton churchyard. At the crossroads at the south end of the village the Hibbins built a house in 1890 that is decorated with exceedingly eclectic examples of the masons' art – including gargoyles. The war memorial in the churchyard was erected in 1921. Just to add further geological variety, this is carved in Clipsham stone, which has the best resistance to weathering of all the oolitic limestones quarried for buildings. Victoria County History page for Ketton. 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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