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

Whissendine Whissendine is in the north-west of Rutland close to the Oakham to Melton Mowbray road (A606). Early forms of the place-name are 'Wichingedene' which indicates this was the 'Valley of the Hwicce'. The Hwicca were a folk-group or tribe associated with four place-names within thirty miles, all deriving Hwicce: Whissendine itself; Wichly (a hamlet in Whissendine parish; Witchley in Edith Weston;and Whiston, Northamptonshire. Hwicce also becomes the name of Witchley Hundred. That said, Whissendine was in Alstoe Hundred. Minor toponyms, such as field names, can sometimes be derogatory. Whissendine has a fine pair of examples: Upper and Lower Hell Holes. Sadly the locations are no longer known. In the early 2000s evidence was revealed of Iron Age and later settlement on Stapleford Road. Whissendine is on a Roman road running from Thistleton westwards to the Fosse Way. The oldest-known settlement site survives as a well-preserved moat on Moor Lane. This is believed to be the site of the manor of Moorhall, mentioned in 1306. There is another moat nearby. One of the oldest surviving buildings is the seventeenth century Manor House to the east of St Andrew's church. Whissendine's windmill Whissendine has a restored and operational tower mill. 'One of England's few remaining fully operational nineteenth-century windmills, Whissendine Windmill has towered over the village of Whissendine for more than 200 years. Today, fully restored, it produces plain, strong white and wholemeal flour. The Mill was built in 1809 by the Earls of Harborough of Stapleford Park to replace an earlier windmill. The tenant Millers were Arnold and Hayes.' Read all about it here: www.whissendine.net/whissendine-windmill There's also a short BBC video about the owner, restorer and miller, Nigel Moon. A bag of flour bought at Whissendine windmill in 2026. Based on the research of Roderick Cave there seem to have been several members of John Burton's family active in the Somerby area as stone masons from about 1784. It is possible that one or maybe more relatives, presumably sons, moved to Whissendine. William Stafford was certainly living and working in Whissendine between 1758 and 1780. He was recorded as a mason, aged 50, in the 1841 census and listed in the 1850 edition of Slater’s Directory of Rutland. A son or grandson took over the business producing the later tombstones. Possibly Thomas, aged 14 in the 1841 census returns. Memorials signed by Staffords are at Great Dalby (1841) and Wymondham (1880, 1891) but the majority at at Whissendine (1852/1888, 1858, 1866, 1869/1874, 1879, 1880). However most of the other signed grave markers in Whissendine churchyard were produced by a variety of masons living elsewhere. St Andrew's church Whissendine has one of the largest and most impressive parish churches in Rutland. The arcades are thirteenth or fourteenth century. The tower is fourteenth century. The aisle windows and clerestory date from the fifteenth century. The attractive interior is mostly thirteenth century. There are excellent stone corbels and faces decorating the arches. Indeed, there is a wonderful collection of wooden and stone figurative carving. Look out for the heads among the stylised leaf decoration in the north aisle arcade. The font is fourteenth century. The roof is fifteenth century but was extensively restored in 1728. There are decorated bosses, including one 'face puller', and elaborate corbels comprising double figures (the lower figures probably fifteenth century and supporting larger figures of 1728). The tie-beams, struts, ridge and purlins are moulded and the wall-pieces are carved with a series of full-length figures, some playing musical instruments, supported on corbels in the form of crouching figures. There are also carved foliated bosses   A fabulous mouth-pulling roof boss. Originally this would have been brightly painted, maybe even partially gilded.   One of the double figures supporting the roof.   A fifteenth century gargoyle on the exterior with part of the corbel table. The square headdress on the right was fashionable for women between about 1380 and 1410. But were stonemasons sufficiently fashion-conscious to stop carving them around 1410? The sixteenth century south aisle screen was originally in St John's College, Cambridge. The interior was subject to extensive restorations 1864–70. Victoria County History page for Whissendine. 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 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 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 Sepulchral Effigies of Leicestershire and Rutland