Exton, Rutland

Exton

Thatched cottages in Exton
Exton
Exton shown within Rutland
Area 6.36 sq mi (16.5 km2) [1]
Population 600 (2001 Census)[2]
• Density 94/sq mi (36/km2)
OS grid reference SK924111
• London 85 miles (137 km) SSE
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town OAKHAM
Postcode district LE15
Dialling code 01572
Police Leicestershire
Fire Leicestershire
Ambulance East Midlands
EU Parliament East Midlands
UK Parliament

Exton is a village in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. The population of the civil parish at the 2001 census was 600, including Whitwell and increasing slightly to 607 at the 2011 census.[3] It forms a civil parish with Horn.[4]

The village

The village includes a tree-planted green overlooked by the Fox and Hounds pub. Close to the green is the war memorial to the dead of Exton and Whitwell and to relatives of the Earl of Gainsborough; the names include Tom Cecil Noel MC and Bar and Maurice Dease VC. The memorial was designed by Alfred Young Nutt.[5][6]

In the south of the parish towards Rutland Water is Barnsdale Gardens which were created by Geoff Hamilton of the BBC television series Gardeners' World.

Further south, on the north shore of Rutland Water, stands what was the Barnsdale country house and is now the Barnsdale Hall Hotel and Country Club. Barnsdale was a large country house, built in 1890 as a hunting lodge for Earl Fitzwilliam by architect E. J. May. It is a Grade II listed building.[7]

Exton Park

Fort Henry, Exton Park

Exton Park is a large country estate which has been home to the Noel family (Earls of Gainsborough) for over four centuries. The present Exton Hall was built in the 19th century close to the ruins of the original Tudor mansion which had burnt down in 1810. The romantic Fort Henry, a pleasure-house in the elegant late eighteenth-century Gothick style overlooks lakes formed by the North Brook.

Church of St Peter and St Paul

The grand Anglican parish church of St Peter & St Paul lies within the park and contains an impressive collection of monuments including work by Joseph Nollekens. It is a large and impressive medieval parish church, built in the 13th and 14th centuries. The church is a Grade I listed building.[8]

There is a fine marble tomb by Grinling Gibbons, dating from 1685, showing Baptist Noel, 3rd Viscount Campden with his fourth wife, Elizabeth Bertie, and carvings of his 19 children.[9] In 1954, the tomb was the subject of a design by John Piper, later adapted as a textile design by David Whitehead Ltd.[10]

The church spire was struck by lightning in 1843, causing a fire that melted the roof, shattered the windows, and destroyed the west end of the church. It was subsequently rebuilt by J. L. Pearson in 1852/3.

References

  1. ↑ "A vision of Britain through time". University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
  2. ↑ "Rutland Civil Parish Populations" (PDF). Rutland County Council. 2001. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
  3. ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  4. ↑ Rutland County Council report, 9 March 2015; Community Governance Review of Parish of Horn
  5. ↑ "Exton and Whitwell War Memorial, Exton". Rutland Remembers. 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  6. ↑ "Exton and Whitwell War Memorial" Grantham Journal Saturday 7 October 1922, page 11
  7. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1361547)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  8. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1177714)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "TOMB OF VISCOUNT CAMPDEN AT EXTON CHURCH". World Monuments Fund.
  10. ↑ "John Piper: the fabric of modernism". Pallant House Gallery.
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