Thistleton is the most northerly village in the county of Rutland, and a civil parish, in the East Midlands of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The population of the village at the 2001 census was 99. It remained less than 100 at the 2011 census and was counted together with the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of Stretton. The village's name means 'farm/settlement which is thistly'. The Thistleton area has shown evidence of

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

occupation including a large temple precinct and a possible small market settlement. To the north of the village there has been extensive mining for ironstone, a stone that has featured very prominently in the building of many churches and other buildings in the area for centuries. It was thought that the mining had obliterated evidence of the former greater extent of the village but much archaeology has survived showing that the original Romano-British settlement extended some at least. Extensive surveys, brought about by the planning of a haulage road to the quarry to pass through the site of the ancient township, revealed features including a well-preserved Roman road and the skeleton of a child buried well away from the cemetery. The archaeology is ongoing as the mining continues. The village contains several listed buildings including the Old Rectory and the Church of St Nicholas. Many of the village’s buildings are stone-walled and thatched. Although the church is of medieval origin only the 14th century, three-stage tower, complete with gargoyles, remains. The church has been rebuilt in the late 18th by the Brudenells, and the rector, the Rev.d John Henry Fludyer, 4th Baronet to whose family the elaborate chancel is a memorial. The newer building is fourteenth century in style however the shape of the apse is, unusually, half an octagon externally and a semi-circular shape inside. Most of the internal fittings, including the font and the organ, are relatively modern. Close by, to the south of the village, lies the

RAF Cottesmore Royal Air Force Station Cottesmore or more simply RAF Cottesmore is a former Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England, situated between Cottesmore and Market Overton. On 15 December 2009, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced that the ...

airfield established a few years before WWII. The airfield is now the Army's

Kendrew Barracks Kendrew Barracks is a British Army barracks located north east of Cottesmore, Rutland, England. The barracks opened in 2012 on the site of RAF Cottesmore. History Kendrew Barracks sits on the former site of RAF Cottesmore which was active be ...

Boxing match

On 28 September 1811 a massive crowd of up to 20,000 watched a prizefight at Thistleton Gap.

Tom Cribb Tom Cribb (8 July 1781 – 11 May 1848) was a world champion English bare-knuckle boxer of the 19th century. Cribb was born near Bristol but moved to London before starting professional fighting. He undertook a series of fights between 1805 an ...

fought the American

Tom Molineaux Thomas Molineaux (23 March 1784 – 4 August 1818), sometimes spelled Molyneaux or Molyneux, was an American bare-knuckle boxer and possibly a former slave. He spent much of his career in Great Britain and Ireland, where he had some notable ...

in a hotly contested re-match for the heavyweight championship of England. The match was a matter of national pride and the names of both these men were famous throughout the land. The venue was chosen as the three counties of Rutland, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire met there and if the police arrived to halt the illegal fight the boxers and crowd could escape across the county boundary. In the eleventh round Cribb knocked out Molineaux. The original match, a year before, had ended in exhaustion for both men after a gruelling 33 rounds with accusations of cheating. During the intervening period both men had lost weight; Cribb because of extensive training with the famous Captain Barclay and Molineaux due to loss of muscle whilst earning his keep at local prizefighting venues.

References

{{authority control Villages in Rutland Archaeological sites in Rutland Civil parishes in Rutland