Pilton
Pilton is in the south of Rutland, between Rutland Water and the A47.
The name is from Old English pyll tun meaning the 'settlement by the creek or pool'. Which makes sense because the northern boundary of the parish follows the upper reaches of the River Chater.
Pilton was not listed in Domesday Survey as it was part of Barrowden. In recent times it has been part of Lyndon.
Pilton was in Wrangdike Hundred.
Sculthorpe, a hamlet now in North Luffenham parish, was referred to in the Domesday Book of 1086 and later documents as part of Pilton. The settlement has almost completely disappeared.
The name means 'Skuli's daughter-settlement' with Skuli being an unusual – at least in Rutland – example of a male Scandinavian personal name.
The name survives as Sculthorpe Spinney to the south of the railway line near Settings Farm.
The hamlet is said to have been destroyed by the Parliamentary army in 1642 during the siege of Mr Noel's house at North Luffenham, as it constituted a threat to the western flank of Lord Grey's army.
Earthworks of some of the settlement survive near the railway line. But a branch line to ironstone workings and claypits with an associated spoil tip and brickworks have all destroyed about half of the probable extent of Sculthorpe.
Although stone quarries opened here in 1912, followed later by Pilton Brick & Tile Works, these have all closed.
The ruins of a stone-built dovecote survive behind Bay House Farm to the south-west of the church.
St Nicholas church
St Nicholas church is rather small. The building originated in the
thirteenth century but seventeenth and nineteenth century
restorations were substantial and included rebuilding the chancel in
1852 and a general restoration in 1877.
The characteristic Rutland double bellcote was probably rebuilt in 1877. Photograph taken in 2005.
Victoria County History page for Pilton.
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