St Mary the Virgin's Church is in the village of Bottesford,

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, England. It is an active

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the deanery of Framland, the archdeaconry of Leicester and the

diocese of Leicester The Diocese of Leicester is a Church of England diocese based in Leicester and including the current county of Leicestershire. The cathedral is Leicester Cathedral, where the Bishop of Leicester has his episcopal chair. The diocese is divided int ...

. Its

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

is united with those of eight local parishes. The church is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

as a designated Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Monument to the fourth Earl of Rutland, d

History

Sometimes known as the "Lady of the

Vale A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipali ...

", it is a large church which has the 2nd highest spire in Leicestershire (at 212 feet). The oldest part of the church dates from the 12th century, with additions and alterations made during the following three centuries, including the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and spire in the 15th century. There are two

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry walls ...

s on the south

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

was rebuilt in the 17th century to accommodate the monuments of the Manners family, earls (later dukes) of Rutland, which completely fill it. The monuments include work by

Caius Gabriel Cibber Caius Gabriel Cibber (1630–1700) was a Danish sculptor, who enjoyed great success in England, and was the father of the actor, author and poet laureate Colley Cibber. He was appointed "carver to the king's closet" by William III. Biograph ...

and

Gerard Johnson the elder Gerard Johnson the elder (died 1611) is the Anglicised form of Gheerart Janssen, an English sculptor who operated a monument workshop in Elizabethan and Jacobean England and the father of Gerard Johnson the younger, who is thought to have creat ...

. One of the Rutland tombs is famous for its inscription, which attributes two family deaths to

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

by the

Witches of Belvoir The Witches of Belvoir were a mother and her two daughters accused of witchcraft in England and the deaths of two young brothers, Henry (died 1613) and Francis Manners (died 1620), the heirs to Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland, whose seat was ...

. A number of restorations were carried out during the 19th century. The restoration in 1847–48 was carried out by the Lancaster partnership of

Sharpe and Paley Sharpe, Paley and Austin are the surnames of architects who practised in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, between 1835 and 1946, working either alone or in partnership. The full names of the principals in their practice, which went under vario ...

. This involved restoring the nave,

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

s, and

s, replacing the seating and the roofs of the aisles, removing the gallery, inserting the tower screen, adding new

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...

s, reflooring the church and replacing windows. This cost £2,235 (equivalent to £ in ), towards which the

Duke of Rutland Duke of Rutland is a title in the Peerage of England, named after Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. Earldoms named after Rutland have been created three times; the ninth earl of the third creation was made duke in 1703, in who ...

gave £600, the Revd F. J. Norman gave £550, and a grant of £110 was received from the Incorporated Church Building Society. A headstone to Thomas Parker and a

table tomb A church monument is an architectural or sculptural memorial to a deceased person or persons, located within a Christian church. It can take various forms ranging from a simple commemorative plaque or mural tablet affixed to a wall, to a large and ...

in the churchyard are both Grade II listed, as are the gate piers and gates to the churchyard to the north. The churchyard contains

war graves War is an intense armed conflict between State (polity), states, governments, Society, societies, or paramilitary groups such as Mercenary, mercenaries, Insurgency, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violenc ...

of fifteen Commonwealth service (mainly

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

) personnel, five from the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and ten from the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Rectors of Bottesford

*Raph de Albiniaco 1223 *Nicholas de Belvoir 1234 - 1273 *Peter de Ros 1273 - 1289 *William de Filungele 1289 - 1325 *Gilbert de Wyggeton until 1332 *Sir Adam de Staynegrave from 1332 *Henry de Codyngton 1374 - 1404 *John Freeman 1420 *Robert Jackson *William Constable *John Whittinge 1558 *Robert Cressey 1560 *Samuel Fleming 1581 - 1620 *Francis Allen 1621 *Richus Langham 1624 *Anthony Marshall 1662 - 1679 * Thomas White 1679 - 1685 *Caradocus Creed 1685 *Abel Ligonier 1698 - 1710 *Lewis Griffin 1711 - 1735 *Bernard Wilson 1735 (presented but never took possession) * John Ewer 1735 - 1753 *Richard Stevens 1753 - 1771 *George Turner 1771 - 1782 *Sir John Thoroton 1782 - 1820 *Charles Roos Thornton 1821 - 1846 *Canon Frederick John Norman 1846 – 1889 *Canon Robert Manners Norman 1889 – 1895 *William Vincent-Jackson 1895 - 1917 *Frank Walford 1918 – 1943 *Canon Alfred Thomas Gardner Blackmore 1943 – 1958 *Canon William Nelson Metcalfe 1959 – 1982 *Kenneth Aubrey Dyke 1982 – 1992 *Geoffrey Spencer 1993 – 1998 *Charles Bradshaw 1999 – 2004 *Stuart J. Foster 2005 – 2009

Organ

A pipe organ was built by

Forster and Andrews Forster and Andrews was a British organ building company between 1843 and 1924. The company was formed by James Alderson Forster (1818–1886) and Joseph King Andrews (1820–1896), who had been employees of the London organ builder J. C. Bisho ...

and opened on 11 October 1859 by

Henry Farmer Henry Farmer (13 May 1819 – 25 June 1891) was a British organist and composer based in Nottingham. Life He was born in Nottingham, the third son of Mr. John Farmer. He was self-taught as a musician, but undertook some study in harmony with S ...

. It was modified by Wadsworth in 1892. In 1995 Norman Hall and Sons installed a second-hand organ by T.C. Lewis from St Hugh’s Church, Southwark. It comprises 2 manuals and pedals and has 15 speaking stops.

Organists

*James Moore 1859 - 1908 (blind) *Professor Samuel Corbett 1910 - 1912 (blind) *Fred W. Carter 1926 - 1971 *Paul Willcock *Chris Coe

Burials

Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland, 12th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, KG (c. 1497{{snd20 September 1543), of Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire (adjacent to the small county of Rutland), was created Earl of Rutland by King Henry VIII in 1525. Ori ...

Eleanor Paston, Countess of Rutland Eleanor Manners, Countess of Rutland (née Paston; c. 1495 – 1551), was lady-in-waiting to five wives of King Henry VIII of England: Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. Marriage The daughter of ...

Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland, 13th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, KG (23 September 152617 September 1563) was an English nobleman. Origins He was the son and heir of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland and his wife Eleanor Paston. Career Li ...

and his wife Margaret Neville (d. 13 October 1559) *

Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland, 14th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, KG (12 July 1549 – 14 April 1587) was the son of Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland, whose titles he inherited in 1563. Life He was the eldest son of Henry Manners, 2nd Earl o ...

and his wife Isabel Holcroft *

John Manners, 4th Earl of Rutland John Manners, 4th Earl of Rutland (c. 1559 – 24 February 1588) was the son of Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland, and Lady Margaret Neville, daughter of Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland. Marriage and children He married Elizabeth Cha ...

and his wife Elizabeth Charlton, daughter of Francis Charlton of

Apley Castle Apley Castle was a medieval fortified manor in the village of Hadley, Shropshire, England. History Apley Castle was a moated, fortified manor house in Hadley near Wellington. By the early 14th century the manor was owned by the Charlton family, ...

Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland (6 October 1576 – 26 June 1612) was the eldest surviving son of John Manners, 4th Earl of Rutland and his wife, Elizabeth ''nee'' Charleton (d. 1595). He travelled across Europe, took part in military ca ...

and his wife Elizabeth Sidney, daughter of

Sir Philip Sidney ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland, KG (1578–1632) was an English nobleman. Despite a brief imprisonment for his involvement in the Essex Rebellion of 1601, he became prominent at the court of James I. He lived at Belvoir Castle in Leices ...

George Manners, 7th Earl of Rutland George Manners, 7th Earl of Rutland (1580 – 29 March 1641) of Fulbeck Hall, Lincolnshire was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1604 and 1626. He inherited a peerage as Earl of Rutland in 1632. Manner ...

John Manners, 8th Earl of Rutland John Manners, 8th Earl of Rutland (10 June 160429 September 1679), was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641 when he inherited the title Earl of Rutland on the death of his second cousin George Manners, 7t ...

and his wife Lady Frances Montagu Manners * Elizabeth Manners, Duchess of Rutland in the family vault

References