| Bottesford | |
Bottesford Market Cross |
|
|
Bottesford
Bottesford shown within Leicestershire |
|
| Population | 3,436 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SK8038 |
| District | Melton |
| Shire county | Leicestershire |
| Region | East Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | NOTTINGHAM |
| Postcode district | NG13 |
| Dialling code | 01949 |
| Police | Leicestershire |
| Fire | Leicestershire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Rutland and Melton |
| List of places: UK • England • Leicestershire | |
This page is about the English village of Bottesford near Grantham. For the Bottesford near Scunthorpe, see Bottesford, Lincolnshire
Bottesford is a village and civil parish within the Melton district of Leicestershire, England.
Bottesford lies about 20 miles (32 km) east of Nottingham and 16 miles (26 km) north of Melton Mowbray. The village is the largest in the Vale of Belvoir and is near to Belvoir Castle, home to the Duke and Duchess of Rutland. It has a population of around 3,000. It borders parishes in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, nearby places being Sedgebrook (in Lincs), Elton (in Notts), and Redmile (in Leics). There is a post office, a railway station and a library in Bottesford.
Contents |
Bottesford is in the "Rutland and Melton" constituency which is a Conservative party seat. The current Member of Parliament is Alan Duncan. Bottesford is in the Melton borough of Leicestershire.
The civil parish includes the villages of Bottesford, Easthorpe, Muston and Normanton. The parish council has nine members and normally meets on the second Monday of each month. Each year, in March, the Annual Parish Meeting takes places where parishioners can come and question the council and make comments. As well as this, in June 2003 the new Council swiftly introduced a "Public Participation Period" before the council meetings proper. This is a 15-minute period where parishioners can address the Council and air their views on matters that come within the Council's remit.
Bottesford is served by a railway station on the Nottingham to Grantham Line. There are also the Number 24 and 26 buses which run to Melton Mowbray at least every two hours, and other services to Grantham and Bingham.
The town was bypassed by the A52 road in February 1989 at a cost of £3m.
The village was built around the river Devon (pronounced Dee-von) and was named because of the ford at the centre of the village. The village has a large medieval church, St. Mary's, which has the highest spire in Leicestershire (at 212 feet) and is the burial place of the Dukes of Rutland. One of the Rutland tombs is famous for its inscription, which attributes a death to witchcraft by the Witches of Belvoir. Most of the church is 15th century but the chancel was rebuilt in the 17th century to accommodate the Rutland monuments. The monuments completely fill the chancel and offer a fascinating view of changing aristocratic taste in the 16th and 17th centuries.[1]
There is a local website that covers many sides of Bottesford's local history,[2] including mounting evidence of occupation in Roman times and earlier.[3] Bottesford was the venue of one of the country's early friendly societies, thought to have been founded in the 1750s. It provided members with sickness and funeral benefits for over 200 years.[4] Eleven contributors from the history group produced in 2009 a book on the local history since 1850.[5]
During World War 2, from December 1941, there was an RAF Bomber Command airfield located to the north of the town, near Long Bennington called RAF Bottesford. Initially it belonged to No 3 Group, then after being used by USAAF's IX Troop Carrier Command for D-Day, was used by No. 5 Group from late 1944. It is no longer in use as an airfield, but the runways can still be seen.
Entertainers Laurel and Hardy stayed for Christmas 1952 at the Bull Inn, where the landlady was Stan Laurel's sister Olga. They were appearing at the Empire Theatre in Nottingham. There is a plaque to this effect on the building.[6]
There were two brickyards at Beckinthorpe in the 19th century, one of them also producing the unique Bottesford Blue pantiles still to be seen on some local buildings.[7] Local employment declined in the 20th century. The four pubs, six restaurants, at least 16 retailers, and 20 odd small producers and service providers today are one-person or family concerns, whereas the building firm of William Roberts Ltd, founded by Joseph William Roberts (1898-2010) in Sutton-cum-Granby and moved to Bottesford in 1937, employed over 500 people at one time.[8]
The Victory Commemoration (or VC) Hall is the local name for Bottesford Village Hall. The name came about because some of the funds used to purchase the original hall came from money raised by the village during WW2 to send parcels to those serving in the armed forces. After the war there was money left in that fund, and a decision had to be made whether it should be divided between those who had been on active service or donated to the Village Hall fund.
A new village hall was built in 2003, mainly funded by a grant from 'Awards for All' (Lottery) and contributions from the local people. For more information follow this link Bottesford VC Hall To mark the celebration of the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002, several large developments occurred in Bottesford, including the creation of a memorial green.
One of the 2010 Low Carbon Awards given by the Royal Institute of British Architects went a house in Bottesford designed by architects Allan Mulcahy.[9]
The village has several clubs, including two badminton clubs, a bowling club, a cricket and social club, four football clubs, several sections of the Scout and Guides movement as well as many other clubs and events such as a youth club catering for 11–19 year olds and a skatepark. The village has several charity groups primarily raising funds to provide for new facilities for local groups. One group raising funds in Bottesford in particular is the Vale of Belvoir Lions.
Local community information has appeared since 2002 in the Village Voice newsletter, which is delivered free to every house in the parish.[10]
Bottesford has a Playgroup as well as a Primary School (5–10), Bottesford Primary School, and a High School (11–16), Belvoir High School. In 2008 Belvoir High School had its first ever group of year 10's, having changed from a Middle School to a High School that year. This initially controversial change has been hailed as a success after Ofsted rated the school as 'Outstanding' in their 2010 inspection report.[11]
There is a public library in the Old School, Grantham Road.[12] It also has some youth clubs
Telephone numbers and times of services can be found in the online community listing service Village Guide.[13]
