Morcott, Rutland
Historical Description
Morcott, a pleasant village and a parish in Rutland. The village stands on an affluent of the river Chater and on the M.R. and L. & N.W.R., 2 miles SW of Luffenham station, and 4 E by N of Uppingham, and has a post and money order office under Uppingham; telegraph office, South Luffenham. The railway passes under part of it through a tunnel half a mile in length. The parish comprises 1363 acres; population, 450. The manor, with Morcott Hall, belongs to the Fydell-Rowley family. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough; net value, £330 with residence. The church is a building of stone of the Norman and Perpendicular periods, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, and an embattled western tower, with short lead-covered spire, and contains an old monument of W. de Overton with an inscription in Norman-French. There are a Baptist chapel and an endowed hospital for six poor unmarried persons, each of whom receives £26 a year.
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 | Morcott St. Mary | |
| 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 1539.
Findmypast, in association with the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland, have the following parish records online for Morcott:
| Baptisms | Banns | Marriages | Burials |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1546-1916 | 1754-1812 | 1539-1837 | 1539-1905 |
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is a building of stone, chiefly of the Norman period, but with additions in the Early English and later styles, and consisting of chancel with north chapel, clerestoried nave, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles and short spire covered with lead, and containing a clock and 4 bells, two of which are dated respectively 1637 and 1726, the others being undated: the nave is the most perfect example of Norman work in the county and in fine preservation, and one of the columns on the north side has a remarkable cruciform capital, richly carved: the south arcade is Early English: the chancel arch is also of this date: the chancel retains a piscina and a double aumbry, and there is also a piscina in the south aisle: the windows of the chancel are Perpendicular and the pulpit Jacobean: in the church is a very remarkable monument to the founder, William de Overtoun, with an inscription in Norman French: the organ was presented by Samuel Richard Fydell esq. in 1867: a dock in the tower, a tablet in the church, and a cross in the churchyard were erected in 1921, in memory of the men connected with the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18: the church was thoroughly restored in 1874-5 at a cost of £1,350, and affords 200 sittings.
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 Morcott from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Morcott (St. Mary))
- 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 Morcott 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.