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

Flint tools on display in Rutland County Museum in Oakham. Prehistoric Rutland There is evidence for many Bronze Age barrows, which gave their name to Barrowden. They are mostly on or close to the county's boundaries, suggesting that the land formed a Bronze Age territorial unit. Several hoards of bronze items confirm that Rutland was extensively occupied at this time, although settlement sites have so far been elusive. In contrast, evidence of Iron Age houses has been revealed, notably in the Gwash valley during the construction of Rutland Water. Most parish boundaries ignore Roman roads. This suggests they predate the roads and are based on Iron Age land units. Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Periods The earliest evidence of human activity in Rutland dates back to the Middle Palaeolithic period (c. 60,000 to 40,000 BCE), a time when the climate and landscape were vastly different. The key find from this era is a flint handaxe discovered in Uppingham, a bifacial tool indicative of early hominin presence. More substantial Palaeolithic evidence comes from the Early Upper Palaeolithic site at Glaston, where in 2001 archaeologists discovered a scatter of worked flint tools, including a leaf-point spearhead, alongside the semi-fossilised bones of extinct fauna such as woolly rhinoceros, wolverines, and wild horse. This site has been interpreted as an open-air hunting camp and a contemporary hyaena den, providing rare insights into the lives of early mobile hunter-gatherer groups in the region around 42,000 to 40,000 BCE|. Previously a hand axe from Essendine was the only evidence from this era. Around 20,000 years later a site at Launde was used as a temporary home. Three thousand pieces of flint tools and debris around a central hearth suggest it was a place for stone tool manufacturing and maintenance. Evidence for the succeeding Mesolithic period is also primarily lithic. The construction of the Wing to Whatborough pipeline in the early 2000s recorded widespread, though often unstratified, Mesolithic material. A notable pit containing fifty flints, including a microlith, was found in a stratified context at Ridlington, offering a glimpse into the continued hunter-gatherer lifestyles of this period, possibly with temporary camps established in various topographies across the county. Neolithic and Bronze Age The Neolithic and Bronze Age mark a significant shift towards settled agricultural life and the introduction of metalworking. Fieldwork near Oakham has revealed evidence of permanent prehistoric settlement, land use patterns, and ceremonial monuments, including an unusual sequence of Neolithic/Early Bronze Age pit circles and a burial area. The Bronze Age saw the gradual adoption of metal tools, though flint continued to be used concurrently. Stray finds of copper-alloy axe heads are the main evidence for this period, including flanged axes and two mid-lobe palstave types dating to the Middle Bronze Age (1500 to 1300 BCE). There is a lack of identified settlement sites from the Middle Bronze Age, though some possible areas have been identified from Late Neolithic-Early Bronze Age flint scatters. Ceremonial activity is evident, with barrows and ring-ditches known to exist, and evidence for the re-use of earlier ceremonial sites. Iron Age The Late Iron Age saw an expansion of settlement into previously unsettled areas, including the boulder clay plateaux, suggesting a growing population operating within a tribal system. Over 220 Later Iron Age sites are known, typically situated at an average height of 103 metres O.D., favouring south-facing aspects and proximity to water sources. By 2000 sufficient aerial photography, fieldwalking and excavation had been accomplished in the Gwash valley for Nicholas Cooper to state 'By the Late Iron Age the impression is of a densely settled valley, with enclosed farmsteads spaced evenly along its sides, probably not dissimilar to other valleys in the Corieltauvian territory.' Which, keeping things local, means other valleys in Rutland had similar occupation, although less archaeological investigation has been done to confirm that assumption. What Rutland lacks is any Iron Age hillforts. At least part of the reason is because of close proximity to the massive one at Burrough on the Hill. Based on the locations of 'nearby' hillforts they were the 'central places' for up to twenty miles around. And Oakham is only eight miles to the east, with the eastern border of Rutland about twenty-one miles from Burrough Hill. So the absence of Iron Age hillforts in Rutland is not an anomaly, just consistent with the distribution of tribal 'central places'. Which infers that Rutland was somewhat liminal to those tribal regions. Late Iron Age and early Roman era Archaeological investigations often uncover features indicative of domestic settlement and agricultural activities, such as ditches, postholes, and the remnants of possible walls. Finds typically include pottery sherds, animal bone, iron working slag, and stone, providing evidence of local production and trade. The continuity of occupation into the Roman period is evident at many sites, where Iron Age ditched enclosures were often re-used or built over, such as the substantial Roman villa complex near Luffenham, where the perimeter ditches might be of Iron Age origin. Back to top of this page     Back to home page   This website does not gather or store any visitor information. 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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