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Zeppelins over Rutland The source for most of the following information is a series of twenty booklets compiled by A.R. Traylen in the mid-1970s and published by the Rutland Local History Society. Mostly because of the strategic railways running through Rutland a surprising number of Zeppelin bombing raids were remembered. Bear in mind that these happened about 1916 but were still clearly remembered in the early 1970s by older people who had been children during the First World War. But little doubt that seeing a hostile airship slowly making its way aross the sky would have been memorable. In 1916 a British biplane came down at the back of Picks Farm, Belton the pilot having lost his way. 'The villagers halped get the plane in position for take off, which it did, but promptly crashed near America Lodge,' The villagers of Bisbrooke tell of one night in 1916 when a Zeppelin passed overhead at night and 'three flashes were seen on the end of the viaduct, and although a search was made no one was found.' At Clipsham a farmer bought a fine horse for £30 but, 'after much deliberation', was pursuaded to sell it to the squire 'who had taken a particular liking to it' for £60. 'No sooner had this happened than the army commandeered it for Great War service.' At Cottesmore in 1916 a Zeppelin came low over the village and dropped bombs on the way to Greetham. Also in 1916 a British biplane landed near Glebe House, Cottesmore. After 'effecting repairs' the pilot took off again. It is thought that a couple of bombs landed around Exton during the First World War. A Zeppelin passed over Lyddington, dropping bombs at Gretton 'the guns at Gretton, it is said, having no ammunition to retaliate'. The target was the railway. At Greetham a daylight Zeppelin raid resulted in bombs landing in Holylane fields. (This may be the same airship seen over Cottesmore.) During the night of Sunday 5th March 1916 a low-flying Zeppelin passed over Langham, subsequently dropping bombs at Thistleton, the detonations being heard at Langham. Roy Palmer, in his book on Leicestershire and Rutland folklore, states that during the First World War a band of deserters from the army lived rough in what was left of Leighfield Forest and fed themselves by poaching. In Hoar Field Stretton a searchlight detachment was deployed 'but their services were never needed.' One evening in 1916 the people of Stretton heard a Zeppelin dropping bombs near Thistleton. Two sticks of five bombs each. 'It was thought that the pilot must have mistaken heaps of stacked turnips for rows of tents.' In 1915 a Tinwell boy was on bird-scaring duties at Cave Close. From time to time he fired a blunderbuss 'to scare the birds (and also himself)'. 'On one occasion he pulled trigger, there was a great rushing of air, and into the trees nearby fell a large biplane. "I was never so frit in my life" said the boy.' The pilot suffered a broken leg but recovered. The plane was dismantled and taken away by lorry. The next year, 1916, a Zeppelin flew over Tinwell. It dropped its bombs in the river and then flew over Stamford. 'It was only after the war that Herr Nowers returned to his parents who lived in Tinwell and the village learnt that he had been the pilot and deliberately jettisoned his bombs in the river to avoid hitting the village.' In 1916 a prisoner of war escaped from Uppingham. One boy was out walking the fields with his gaffer and shouted 'He's under the hedge, get the police!'. But the whole affair proved to be a joke. At sometime during the First World War a British biplane in trouble landed at Highmoor Field, Whitwell. A second biplane landed to offer assistance. After necessary repairs both took off. A different British biplane was less lucky as it crashed near Whitwell in a field 'half a mile up the Oakham Road.' 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