Essendine is a village and

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

at the eastern end of the county of

Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...

in the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, located 5 miles (7 km) north of Stamford and 6 miles (10 km) south of Bourne. The population of the

at the 2011 census was 448. It lies on the West Glen, close by the earthworks of a small castle. The village's name means 'valley of Esa'.

Geology

Most of the village is on Blisworth Limestone or Upper Estuarine Series

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

, though the church and castle are on river

alluvium Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

. In the parish generally, the soils are shallow and well drained with limestone brash. There is some clay which is naturally rather poorly drained and occasionally waterlogged. It produces the wheat, barley, sugar beet and some potatoes usual in eastern England

Buildings

The small Church of St Mary Magdalene has a notable Norman tympanum over its south door. It is built within the remains of the castle, which appears to have been a very early Norman bailey later developing into a strongly fortified manor. The village is dominated by a large industrial site, once the factory of Allis Chalmers, later Fiat-Allis. After closure various buildings were rented to a variety of small enterprises, and there are a large number of small businesses to be found to this day. Controversially two substantial fires occurred there in a short time.

The railway

Essendine railway station was on the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...

. The railway line and station opened in 1852 and the station closed in 1966. The line is still very busy. The station also became the main line terminus of the short Stamford to Essendine line (via Belmesthorpe) which opened in 1856. The Bourn and Essendine Railway (old spelling) opened on 16 May 1860. On 3 July 1938, north of Essendine and just over the border in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

at Milepost 90¼, LNER Class A4 locomotive number 4468 ''

Mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa. It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

'' set the land speed record for a steam locomotive, reaching 126 mph, unbeaten to this day. A commemorative sign was erected by the track near the milepost in 1998.

References

* Anon. ''British Geological Survey, 1:50 000, Sheet 157, Solid and Drift edn. (1976). * Anon. ''Soils England and Wales Scale 1:250 000. Sheet 4.'' (1983). * Rhodes, J. ''Bourne to Essendine'' (1986) .

External links

A photograph of the church
The castle earthworks are among the trees.
Essendine
Open directory listing for this village. * Extensive early history of the village. {{authority control Civil parishes in Rutland Villages in Rutland