Cold Overton is a village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of Knossington and Cold Overton, in the Melton district of

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 ...

, England. It is close to the border with

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

, and approximately west from the market and

county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...

Oakham Oakham is the county town of Rutland in the East Midlands of England, east of Leicester, south-east of Nottingham and west of Peterborough. It had a population of 10,922 in the 2011 census, estimated at 11,191 in 2019. Oakham is to the west o ...

, and south-west of the

A606 road The A606 is an A road in England that starts in West Bridgford, on the outskirts of Nottingham, and heads southeastwards through Leicestershire and the towns of Melton Mowbray and Oakham, terminating at Stamford, Lincolnshire on the former G ...

. In 1931 the parish had a population of 133.

History

The village's name means 'farm/settlement on a ridge'. 'Cold' was added because of the village's exposed position. Cold Overton is listed in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

'' as in the Framland

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

of Leicestershire, with 12 ploughlands, 17 households, 4 freemen, 8 villagers, 4 smallholders, and a priest. The settlement contained a meadow and woodland, both of .

Lordship A lordship is a territory held by a lord. It was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas. It originated as a unit under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. In a lordship, the functions of econ ...

in 1066 was held by Ulf Fenman, transferred to Fulco in 1086, with Drogo de la Beuvrière as

Tenant-in-chief In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as opp ...

. In 1870 Cold Overton was a parish in the district of Oakham. The

Syston and Peterborough Railway The Syston and Peterborough Railway was an early railway in England opened between 1846 and 1848 to form a connection from the Midland Counties Railway near Leicester to Peterborough, giving access to East Anglia over the Eastern Counties Railway ...

ran close by. The area of the parish was in which were 19 houses and a population of 97. Wilson, John Marius. ''Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' (1870–72) In 1826 was founded an “Asylum for Female Orphans” which maintained and educated 20 girls. This orphanage had been discontinued by 1877, and in its place was established a free school for local boys and girls. Occupations in 1877 included eight graziers, four of whom were farmers, a further farmer and a market gardener. Also listed was a schoolmistress, the parish rector, and Frewen family occupants of Cold Overton Hall. On 1 April 1936 the parish was abolished and merged with Knossington.

St John the Baptist Church

The Grade I

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

village church is dedicated to

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

. Originating in the 13th century, there were additions during the following two centuries and a restoration in 1889 Inside the Church the north and south arcades have notable Early English carved capitals, showing people, animals and motifs from nature. There are medieval paintings on the south and east walls; the images include St Catherine holding a wheel, the

Assumption of the Virgin The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...

, the Nativity, the Funeral of the Virgin, complete with pall-bearers, and St John the Baptist.

Cold Overton Hall

At the centre of the village is the

Grade I listed 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 I ...

Cold Overton Hall, a country house of c. 1664 with early 19th-century additions.

References

External links

*
“Cold Overton”

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{{authority control Villages in Leicestershire Former civil parishes in Leicestershire Borough of Melton