Bottesford, Leicestershire
Historical Description
Bottesford or Botsworth, a village, a township, and a parish in Leicestershire. The village stands in the vale of Belvoir, about a mile N of the Nottingham and Grantham canal, on which there is a wharf, and 7 miles WNW of Grantham. It has a station on the G.N.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Nottingham. The parish includes also the hamlets of Easthorpe and Norman-ton. Acreage, 4978; population, 1'286. The manor was given at the Conquest to R. de Todeni, and belongs now to the Dake of Rutland. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough; gross value, £800 with residence. Patron, the Duke of Rutland. The church is large, cruciform, and very good, with a tower at the west end, and contains monuments to Lords Roos and to many of the Earls of Rutland. There are also Particular Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels, an endowed school, some almshouses, and several useful charities.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Leicestershire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Bottesford St. Mary | |
Hundred | Framland | |
Poor Law union | Grantham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register of baptisms and burials dates from 1563; that of marriages from 1600.
Findmypast, in association with the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland, have the following parish records online for Bottesford:
Baptisms | Banns | Marriages | Burials |
---|---|---|---|
1563-1916 | 1654-1940 | 1563-1931 | 1563-1991 |
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary, founded in the 14th century by one of the lords de Roos and built partly on the site of an older church, consists of chancel with clerestory, clerestoried nave of five bays, aisles, transepts, south porch and an embattled western tower, with lofty spire 210 feet in height, containing 8 bells, the earliest of which is dated 1615: two new bells were added in 1903 and one was recast; the tenor weighs 1 ton 3 cwt.: portions of the nave of the early fabric, including the arcades, now form part of the present chancel: in the spandril on the north side of the western doorway is an ancient shield, carved with the implements of the Crucifixion: and in that on the south side is a shield of the arms of de Roos: the exterior of the later portion of the building is adorned with pinnacles and figures, and on the south transept are two of these: one the figure of a man holding two bells, the other with a quart pot in one hand and a toll dish in the other, supposed to refer to the market rights which this place once possessed: attached to the north side of the chancel is the vault of the Dukes of Rutland, built in 1720; this church has been the burial place of the Manners family from the time of the Dissolution of the monasteries: several of the tombs of the de Roos family were removed from the Priory at Belvoir down to 1829, when the mausoleum was completed at Belvoir Castle: the family of Manners became connected with that of de Roos or Ros, premier barons of England, in the reign of Edward IV. by the marriage of Sir Robert Manners kt. of Etal, Northumberland with Eleanor, eldest daughter and eventually sole heiress of Edmund, Baron Ros, of Hamlake, and the barony of de Ros remained in the Manners family till alienated by marriage in the 17th ceutury: the church contains many noble monuments to the Barons de Ros and the Earls of Rutland; the earliest of these, placed on the south side of the sacrarium, was brought from Belvoir Priory, and is an altar tomb of white alabaster, with the recumbent effigy of a knight in armour, wearing a collar of SS and supposed to represent William, 7th Baron de Ros, who died at Belvoir, 1 September, 1414; on the north side is another altar tomb of alabaster, also brought from Belvoir, to John de Roos, eldest son of William and 8th baron, who was slain at the battle of Beaugé, 22 March, 1421; the figure on the top is in armour, with a collar of SS and the garter on the left knee: the head reclines on a peacock; on the sides of the tomb are figures of angels holding shields; placed against the wall is a small statue in Purbeck marble of a knight in chain armour, with a sword hanging on the left side and a plain shield on the left shoulder; it was brought from Belvoir Priory, and is considered to represent William de Albini, 3rd Earl of Arundel, ob. 1221: on the chancel floor is an altar tomb, with effigies in alabaster, to Thomas, 13th Baron Ros and 1st Earl of Rutland K.G. ob. 20 September, 1543, and Eleanor (Paston) his and wife, ob. 1551; the effigy of the earl is in Garter robes, and on the sides of the tomb are figures of their six sons and nine daughters; on the floor is also an elegant tomb to Henry, 14th Baron Ros and and Earl of Rutland K.G. ob. 17 September, 1563, and Margaret (Nevill) his countess, with effigies of both under a canopy supported by four pillars; the figure of the earl is in armour, with the collar of the Garter; one hand holds a book and the other rests on his sword; on the tomb and surrounding the effigies are figures of their three children kneeling at desks; the canopy is surmounted by a quartered shield of arms; against the south wall is a monument to Edward, 15th Baron Ros and 3rd Earl of Rutland K.G. ob. 14 April (Good Friday), 1587, and Isabel (Holcroft) his countess, ob, April, 1591; the effigy of the earl is clad in the robes of the Garter: on the north side of the chancel is the tomb, with effigies, of John, 4th Earl of Rutland, ob. 24 Feb. 1587, and Elizabeth (Charlton) his countess; above the tomb is a canopy, similar to that over the tomb of the 3rd earl, both these tombs having been erected by the Countess Elizabeth just mentioned; the effigy of the earl is in armour and wears a coronet; on the north side of the Chancel, by the steps of the sacrarium, is the monument to Roger, 5th earl, ob. at Cambridge, 26 June, 1612, and Elizabeth his countess, daughter and heiress of the celebrated Sir Philip Sidney; effigies of both in alabaster rest under an arch in the wall, surmounted by a pediment, carried on marble pillars; above the whole are shields of arms and various emblems; on the south side, against the wall, is the monument of Francis, 6th earl, 17th Baron Ros of Holderness, and 1st Baron Ros of Hamlake, ob. at Bishop Stortford, Hertfordshire, 17 Dec. 1632, and his two wives, Frances (Knyvett), widow of Sir William Bevill kt. and Cecilia (Tufton), widow of Sir Edward Hungerford kt.; this monument is in three stages, four columns of black marble supporting the first and two columns and brackets on either side the second; there are effigies of the earl and both wives, of one of his daughters at the head and of two sons at the foot; the monument, which is the loftiest of the series, was erected by the earl during his lifetime, and is surmounted by an achievement of arms and the peacock crest of de Ros; against the same wall is the monument to George, 7th earl, who died in the Savoy, London, 29 March, 1641; it includes a fine white marble statue on a plain pedestal, representing the earl in a Roman costume; Frances; his countess, widow of Ralph Baesh esq. was daughter of Sir Edward Cary kt. and sister of Henry, 1st Viscount Falkland and Baron Cary; on the north side is the monument of John, 8th earl, ob. 29 Sept. 1679, at Haddon Hall, with an effigy, also in Roman costume, and one of his countess Frances (Montagu), ob. 19 May, 1671; the tomb, of various coloured marbles, is surmounted by an achievement of arms, with two angels supporting a coronet: in 1919 the Duke of Rutland K.G., T.D. presented to the church some 17th century (Charles II.) wrought iron gates and railings, which have been placed at the entrance of the chancel: on the north side of the chancel is a slab of freestone, brought from Croxton Abbey, with shields of arms of Ros impaling Albini and Ros quartering Badlesmere, and an inscription in Latin to the Lord Robert de Roos, ob. 16 Kal. June (17 May), 1285, whose body was buried at Kirkham Priory, Yorkshire, under a marble tomb, on the south side of the church, his heart at Croxton, and his bowels before the high altar at Belvoir; this stone, as appears from the inscription, covered the burial place of his heart, and it also records the interment of his wife Isabella (Albini) at Newstead Abbey in 1301: in the church is a brass with headless effigy in cope to John Freeman, rector, ob. 1420, the orphreys of the cope being richly worked and bearing the letters "J. ff."; there is also a fine brass on a slab 8 by 4 feet to Henry de Codington, rector of Bottesford and prebendary of Oxton and Cropwell in Southwell collegiate church (now a cathedral), ob. 9 Sept. 1404; the effigy is in a cope, the orphreys of which are elaborately ornamented with figures of saints; above the figure rises a triple crocketed canopy and on each side is a shield of arms, and around the whole runs a marginal inscription with the emblems of the Evangelists at the angles: the pulpit, dated 1631, and reading desk are both finely carved: the ancient font has an octagonal basin carved with various designs of fruit and flowers and supported on four shafts: there are memorial windows to Richard Norman, d. 29 Nov. 1874, and the Rev. Frederick John Norman, canon of Peterborough and 42 years rector of Bottesford, d. 1889. and his wife, Lady Adeliza Norman, to Cecil Charles John. 6th Duke of Rutland K.G. d. 3 March, 1888, the Rev. Robert M. Norman, rector 1889-1895. Mrs. Eleanor Hough, d. 1855, William Hickson, d. 1883, and to Jannetta (Hughan), and wife of the 7th Duke of Rutland K.G. d. 1899. The apex of the steeple was restored in 1895. In the Easthorpe transept is a monument of Hopton Wood stone, erected to the memory of John James Robert Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland, d. August 4th, 1906: on the south wall of the church is a tablet bearing the names of the men connected with this parish who gave their lives in the Great War, 1914-18.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Bottesford from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bottesford (St. Mary))
Land and Property
A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Leicestershire is online.
Maps
Online maps of Bottesford 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)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Leicestershire newspapers online: