Lyddington, Rutland
Historical Description
Liddington or Lyddington, a village and a parish in Rutland. The village stands 2 miles S by E of Uppingham, 2 W by N from Gretton station on the M.R., and 3 NW from Rockingham Castle station on the G.N. and L. & N.W. Joint railway. It has a post and money order office under Uppingham; telegraph office, Uppingham. Acreage of the civil parish, 2127; population, 461; of the ecclesiastical, with Caldecott, 747. It is a very ancient place, and formerly was of much larger size than now, and it had a weekly market, which was transferred to Uppingham. The manor belongs to the Marquis of Exeter. The custom of Borough English prevails. A palace of the Bishops of Lincoln stood here, was converted in 1602 into an hospital for a warden, twelve men and two women, with endowment now yielding £116 a year, and the hall of it still stands, shows features of ancient splendour, and retains its old cornice and painted glass windows. The living is a vicarage united with the vicarage of Caldecott, in the diocese of Peterborough; net value, £216 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Peterborough. The church is an ancient building of stone in the Early English style, consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with tower and short spire, and contains an ancient screen and some well-preserved brasses. There is a Wesleyan chapel.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Rutlandshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Liddington St. Andrew | |
| Hundred | Wrandike | |
| Poor Law union | Uppingham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1678.
Findmypast, in association with the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland, have the following parish records online for Lyddington:
| Baptisms | Banns | Marriages | Burials |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1562-1916 | 1754-1930 | 1626-1930 | 1561-1991 |
Churches
Church of England
St. Andrew (parish church)
The church of St. Andrew is a building of stone in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles, and an embattled western tower with short spire, restored in 1902, and containing 5 bells: the oldest portions of the present church, viz., the tower and spire and the chancel, are of the 14th century: the latter has good Decorated windows, a piscina, triple sedilia and a low-side window: and in the upper part of the walls large earthen vessels have been built in at intervals, mouths outwards, possibly for acoustic reasons: the nave and aisles are Perpendicular and have lofty arcades of five arches: some fragments of old glass linger in the windows and there are traces of wall-painting; the rood screen, though incomplete, remains, and also the stairs thereto: the rails enclosing the communion table on three sides date from 1635: the font is probably Jacobean: the east stained window was erected by J. Crisp Clarke, to the memory of his parents, and there is also a mural brass to J. C. Clarke himself on the north wall of the chancel: there are also brasses to Edward Watson, ob. 1530, with figures of himself his wife and ten children, and to Heylen Hardy, ob. 1486, and at the west end are traces of a fine Norman doorway in addition to the modern door: the church was restored and a new roof provided in 1890, at a total cost of £2,000: there are 350 sittings. The churchyard was enlarged and the additional ground consecrated in 1897: the coping of the wall is largely composed of coffin shaped slabs, one of which exhibits a demi-effigy within a trefoil sunk panel.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Lyddington from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Liddington (St. Andrew))
- Kelly's Directory of Leicestershire and Rutland, 1928
Land and Property
A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Rutland is online.
Maps
Online maps of Lyddington are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Rutland, 1618-19 and The Visitation of Rutland 1681-2 are available to browse on the Heraldry page.