RIDLINGTON
Redlinctune (xi cent.); Redlinton, Ridelinton
(xii-xiii cent.); Redlington (xiii-xviii cent.); Rodlinge, Reddillinton (xiii cent.); Rillyngton (xv cent.);
Rodlyngton, Ruddelyngton (xvi cent.).
The area of this parish is 2,081 acres, and in 1921
its population was 158. The parish covers a portion of
the high land running east and west (rising to 588 ft.)
between the valley of the river Chater on the north
and that of the Eye Brook on the south, where it falls
to about 300 ft. Its subsoil is Inferior Oolite and
Upper Lias. The land is now chiefly pasture.
It is evident the parish was at one time part of the
forest which later went by the name of Leighfield
Forest. The woodland in 1086 measured 2 leagues by
8 furlongs, (fn. 1) and in a perambulation of 1227 the jury
stated that Henry I afforested all the lands he held
in the county belonging to the demesne woods of the
manors of Oakham and Ridlington, which he had taken
into his own hands ex voluntate sua. (fn. 2) King John's
demesne wood is mentioned, (fn. 3) and in 1338 it was called
the 'forest of Ridlington.' (fn. 4) The royal park here is
mentioned from 1238 until 1623, (fn. 5) when it descended
with Leighfield Forest. In 1253 Peter de Montfort,
lord of the manor, claimed this park, (fn. 6) for which he received land in exchange in 1264. (fn. 7) Parkers and keepers (fn. 8)
were appointed, and in 1415 William Parker of Ridlington was granted for life the office of ranger of Rutland
Forest. (fn. 9) In the 13th century there was a prison for
forest offenders. (fn. 10) The King's Lodge in the park is
mentioned in 1609, (fn. 11) and the still surviving names
of Pateman's Lodge, Jubilee Lodge, Park Lodge,
Rowell's Lodge and Bancroft Lodge indicate the
forest area.
The village stands on high land overlooking the
valleys of Catmose, Gwash and Chater. It stretches
along a street running parallel to and on the north
side of the by-road from Preston to Leighfield. The
cottages are mostly of stone with thatched roofs.
In the middle of the village is the church, and near it
to the north-east is the Manor House, formerly a place
of importance and the residence of Sir Edward
Harington, sheriff in 1637, who directed from it the
levying of ship-money. (fn. 12) Edward, Viscount Campden,
took the title of Lord Noel of Ridlington in 1617. (fn. 13)
The 'placea de Halh' in 1249 belonged to the freemen of Ridlington. (fn. 14) The 'hundred of Rillyngton'
is mentioned in February 1445. (fn. 15) Some 17th-century
field-names are: Little and Great Tutshill; le Great,
Middle and Little Hearne; Lescotts. (fn. 16)
The nearest railway station is Manton, 3½ miles to
the north-east of the village.
Manors
The manor of RIDLINGTON was
dower of the West Saxon queens from
the 10th century, and in 1066 Edith, the
Confessor's widow, held 4 carucates of land here.
Like Hambleton (q.v.), it was granted to Westminster
Abbey and resumed by the Crown. In 1086 it was
one of the three manors round which the wapentake
of Martinsley was grouped, and it and its 7 berewicks
were still called 'church sokeland.' William I held
4 ploughs in demesne, and there were 170 villeins,
26 bordars, 2 priests, 3 churches, 2 sites of mills;
while Albert of Lorraine, a personal favourite of the
Conqueror, (fn. 17) had part of Hambleton (q.v.) and a
bovate and a mill at Ridlington. (fn. 18) The berewicks
attached to it may have been Ayston, Belton, Leighfield, Preston, Uppingham, Wardley and Wing.
It seems that the manor was granted by William I
to Henry de Newburgh, Earl of Warwick, and that he
subinfeoffed the Montforts; for the 5 or 6 knights'
fees of the Montforts in this county all belonged to
the Honour of Warwick. Reference to this overlordship in Ridlington is found in 1264, 1315 and 1401. (fn. 19)
Holand. Azure powdered with fleurs de lis and a leopard rampant argent.
Lovel. Barry wavy or and gules.
By 1167 Thurstan de Montfort was lord of Ridlington, (fn. 20) and the manor descended with the Montfort
manor of Uppingham (q.v.) (fn. 21) until the end of the
13th century. In 1305 Jacomin de St. Martin was
returned as tenant of half a fee, (fn. 22) but he was probably
a trustee or mortgagee, as Peter, third Baron Montfort,
was holding in 1315. (fn. 23) By 1316 Robert, Lord Holand,
and John de Wyvill had acquired the manor. (fn. 24) Robert,
Lord Holand of Upholland, Lancashire, was a
partisan of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, to whom the
manor or its mesne lordship must have come. (fn. 25) The
Earl was executed in 1322, and in 1326 the custody of
the manor was granted to his brother and heir Henry
during pleasure. (fn. 26) In 1328 Lord Holand and Maud
his wife, having made peace with Edward III,
petitioned for the restoration of this manor. (fn. 27) Robert
was murdered in the same year by the Lancastrian
faction for his desertion. (fn. 28) He left a son Robert,
aged 16, but the manor was held by his widow Maud, (fn. 29)
who died in 1349. (fn. 30) Robert, second Lord Holand,
made a settlement in 1333, (fn. 31) and died in March 1373.
He was succeeded by his granddaughter Maud, aged 17,
Baroness Holand in her own right, who married John,
Lord Lovel of Titchmarsh. She died a widow in 1423,
when her grandson William, Lord Lovel, became also
Lord Holand. He died in 1455, (fn. 32) and the 'John
Holand, kt.,' returned in 1428 (fn. 33) as tenant of the
Ridlington half-fee held in 1305 by Jacomin de
St. Martin must have been his grandfather returned
by the commissioners in error. William's son and heir
John was followed in Jan. 1465 by his son and heir
Francis, who fought for Richard III at Bosworth,
was attainted and forfeited his honours and estates in
1485. (fn. 34) The manor of Ridlington was granted to
Sir Richard Edgecombe, who assisted Henry VII and
also fought at Bosworth. (fn. 35) Before his death in 1489
the manor reverted to the Crown and was granted for
life to Margaret, Countess of Richmond in 1487. (fn. 36)
On her death in 1509 it was again in the king's hands
and leased in 1516 to Robert Symmys, (fn. 37) son of John
Symmys of Ridlington. (fn. 38) It was granted in 1525 to
Henry, Duke of Richmond, and he apparently conveyed it to the Harington family, as Sir John Harington
died seised in 1553. (fn. 39) From this time it descended
with the manor of Exton (q.v.) (fn. 40) to Edward, Earl of
Bedford, husband of Lucy, sister and co-heir of the
last Lord Harington of Exton, (fn. 41) who conveyed the
manor in 1614 to Sir Edward
Noel, (fn. 42) afterwards Viscount
Campden. From him it again
descended with Exton, (fn. 43) and
is now held by the trustees
of the Earl of Gainsborough.
Noel. Or fretty gules with a quarter ermine.
A second manor, now extinct, descended from the
Wyvills to a younger branch
of the Harington family. The
John de Wyvill returned as
joint lord in 1316 was apparently descended from the rebel
John de Wyvill (Wayvil) of
1265 whose land in Ridlington was worth 100s. (fn. 44) A
John de Wyvill appears in 1327 as farmer of the manor
under the Earls of Lancaster. (fn. 45) In 1331 it was stated
to have escheated to the king through the rebellion
of Simon de Bereford, who held it at farm of Maud,
widow of Lord Holand. (fn. 46) Next year it was leased by
the king for 9 years; (fn. 47) and the next reference is in
1461, when it was in the king's hands by the forfeiture of James Butler, late Earl of Wilts. (fn. 48) At the
request of his sister Anne, Edward IV then granted
it (fn. 49) to her and her heirs by Henry Holand, late
Duke of Exeter. (fn. 50)
Further settlements were made in 1467 and 1469,
by which on the death of Anne's daughter Anne the
manor was to revert to the king's wife Elizabeth. (fn. 51)
Anne died seised in 1476, leaving an infant daughter
Anne, by her second husband Thomas St. Leger; (fn. 52)
but the manor seems to have been forfeited, like much
other Yorkist land, in 1485. Soon after his accession
Henry VII granted the manor to his mother Margaret,
Countess of Richmond, for life. (fn. 53) On her death in
1509 it reverted to the Crown, (fn. 54) and was granted
in 1525 to Henry VIII's son Henry, Duke of
Richmond, (fn. 55) who remained in possession until his
death in 1536. (fn. 56) In 1555 Christopher Smith obtained
licence to alienate the manor, late parcel of the
possessions of the Duke of Richmond, to Sir John
Harington, kt., (fn. 57) who seems to have been already in
possession of the other manor. From this time it
passed with the chief manor of Ridlington until in
1596 Sir John (afterwards Lord) Harington of Exton
conveyed it to his younger brother Sir James Harington, bart. (1611), who died seised in Feb. 1614 leaving
a son and heir Edward. (fn. 58) Sir
Edward, who was sheriff of
Rutland, died in 1653. His
son and heir James, one of
the Commissioners for trying
Charles I, lost his estates and
honours at the Restoration. (fn. 59)
His Ridlington estate was
granted to the Duke of York, (fn. 60)
but on his death in 1680 his
son Edmund Harington succeeded to the baronetcy, (fn. 61)
and his successors as far as the
8th baronet were called 'of
Ridlington.' (fn. 62) The family estates have long been
alienated, (fn. 63) though the baronetage is still extant.
Harington of Ridlington. Sable fretty argent.
There was a windmill attached to this estate in
1613. (fn. 64) The house in which the second baronet
lived would be the capital messuage in the tenure of
Edward Wingfield in 1662. (fn. 65)
Pipewell Abbey, Northants, had tenements here
in the 13th century. (fn. 66)
Church
The church of ST. MARY MAGDALENE AND ST. ANDREW (fn. 67) consists
of chancel 27 ft. by 13 ft. 9 in., clearstoried nave of three bays 37 ft. 9 in. by 13 ft. 9 in.,
north aisle 6 ft. 6 in. wide, south aisle 9 ft. wide, south
porch, and engaged west tower 5 ft. 6 in. square, all
these measurements being internal. The width
across nave and aisles is 33 ft. 6 in.
An extensive restoration in 1860 left little ancient
work remaining save the chancel arch, nave arcades,
clearstory and tower, and the history of the building
is thus difficult to follow. The chancel arch and the
south arcade belong to the first half of the 13th
century, and the north arcade is later in the same
period. The church may therefore be said to be in
the main a 13th-century building, the chancel of
which was enlarged or entirely rebuilt in the 14th
century, the tower and clearstory being added a
century later. During the restoration there was
found in the south wall of the chancel a tympanum (fn. 68)
from a doorway of the earlier 12th-century building,
and this is now inside the church over the doorway
of the vestry at the west end of the south aisle. The
tympanum has a border of guilloche ornament and
is rudely sculptured with a lion and griffin in combat,
and below them a small eight-spoked wheel within a
circle. Above the lion are the letters 'IO." (fn. 69)
The restoration of 1860 included the rebuilding
of the chancel and aisles, and the erection of new
roofs throughout. (fn. 70) In 1887 a new porch (fn. 71) was
erected, and in 1903 the upper part of the tower was
rebuilt.
The building is faced with local ironstone, which
in the chancel and south aisle is interspersed with
freestone bands, and all the windows are modern.
The roofs are eaved and covered with stone slates.
Internally the walls are plastered.
The chancel is of two bays and has a pointed east
window of five lights, which reproduces in some
measure the former 14th-century window, but not
with entire accuracy, (fn. 72) the outer lights, which are
much lower than the others, having originally been
without tracery. The window has a transom at the
height of the springing of the arch, and the three
middle lights are trefoiled. The lateral windows, one
on the north and two on the south side, have no
relation to the windows of the old chancel; like those
elsewhere in the church, they are in the style of the
14th century, those in the eastern bay being single
lights. (fn. 73) No ancient ritual arrangements have been
preserved. The 13th-century chancel arch is of two
orders, the outer order square, the inner chamfered,
springing from large half-round responds with
moulded octagonal capitals, and circular bases on
octagonal plinths. The rood-loft doorway and the
upper part of the stair remain on the north side in a
short length of wall at the east end of the arcade.
The south arcade is contemporary with the
chancel arch and similar in character, consisting of
three pointed arches of two orders on cylindrical
pillars and half-round responds. In the north arcade
the arches are of two chamfered orders on octagonal
pillars and responds, with moulded capitals and plain
bell-shaped bases. (fn. 74) At the east end of the north
aisle, on the north side of the respond wall, is a small
trefoil-headed recess, with flat modern sill, which was
apparently the piscina of the aisle altar. (fn. 75) The south
doorway (fn. 76) is modern, and the square-headed two-light
clearstory windows are very much restored, or
inexact copies of the old ones. (fn. 77)
The tower stands almost completely within the
nave, its west wall alone being in front of the west
end of the aisles. It is of three stages, with chamfered
plinth and a large four-stage buttress to about half
height in the middle of the west wall. The middle
stage is very short and the upper stage is slightly
recessed, its angles forming broad pilasters, with a
band of quatrefoil and other ornament below the
plain parapet. The pointed bell-chamber windows
are of two trefoiled lights with elongated quatrefoil
in the head. A tablet on the west side records the
rebuilding of the upper stage in 1903. There is no
vice. A bell-ringers' doorway pierced through the
west wall is now blocked. Internally the tower
opens into the nave by a pointed arch of two chamfered orders dying into the wall, and above the arch
the east wall of the tower appears to embody a large
portion of the old west wall of the church and contains
openings which were originally parts of windows,
whose masonry seems to have been adapted to the
tower with some freedom. (fn. 78)
The font is modern, replacing one which was
described in 1860 as 'so much mutilated as to be
useless.' (fn. 79) The new font has a bowl of triangular
shape, with curved sides, supported on marble shafts
with moulded capitals and bases.
There was formerly a painting of St. Christopher
on the nave wall. (fn. 80)
The pulpit and all the fittings are modern.
On the north wall of the chancel is a small alabaster
monument with entablature and kneeling figures of
Sir James Harington, bt. (d. Feb. 1613–14), and
Frances his first wife (d. 1599), daughter and co-heiress
of Robert Sapcote of Elton, Hunts. (fn. 81) There are
also memorials to Edward Chesilden (d. 1688) and
other members of the Chesilden family (1725–1815),
and to eight men of the parish who fell in the War
of 1914–19.
A case containing a bassoon, fiddle, two oboes
and a flute, which were in use till 1860, was placed
at the west end of the church in 1923. The royal
arms of Queen Victoria are in the vestry.
There are four bells, a treble by Taylor of Loughborough having been added in 1911 to a former ring
of three, which had been recast by the same founders
in 1903. (fn. 82)
The plate consists of a cup and cover paten of
1571; (fn. 83) a paten and flagon of 1709–10 given by Richard
Watts; and a fluted paten or small almsdish of
1637–8, originally having two handles, but one is now
missing. (fn. 84)
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms 1581–1713, marriages 1561–1713, burials 1560–
1713; (ii) baptisms and burials 1714–1812, marriages
1714–54; (iii) marriages 1756–1812.
Advowson
The first mention found of the
church after the Domesday Survey
is in the opening of the 13th century,
when William de Cantelupe presented, as guardian of
the heir of Thurstan de Montfort. (fn. 85) The advowson
then descended with the manor to about 1316, when
the manor was acquired by Lord Holand, and the
advowson passed to the Earls of Warwick until the
attainder of George, Duke of Clarence and Earl of
Warwick, in 1477. The Crown were patrons apparently until the manor and advowson were granted to
Sir James Harington. The advowson then followed
the descent of the manor, and the Earl of Gainsborough is now patron. (fn. 86)
The portion of Ridlington was appurtenant to
the church of Uppingham in 1296, (fn. 87) and the church
is referred to as a chapelry of Uppingham in 1366. (fn. 88)
The living is now a discharged rectory.
John Symmys (fn. 89) of Ridlington, in his will in 1517,
desired to be buried before the altar of St. Nicholas
in Ridlington church. (fn. 90)
The parish and church, like others in the county,
were not in a satisfactory state in the 17th century.
Thomas Gibson, the rector, was deprived in 1604
for nonconformity; he refused to conduct the services
in accordance with the Prayer Book and seldom wore
a surplice. In 1605 the windows in the chancel
were daubed up with mortar and stone. In 1618
the clock and chimes were out of repair and would
not go. In 1619 a yew and ivy growing at the east
end of the chancel 'doth annoy the same very much.'
In 1634 Margaret Vines received the Communion
with her glove on. In 1640 the stairs that go up
into the loft 'are very undecent' and the paten 'is
thin and of an undecente fashion.' In 1681 the
churchwardens were ordered to repair the service
and other books, amend the dial in the churchyard
and provide 'a new carpet' for the communion
table. (fn. 91)
Charities
Richard Watts, by his will proved
at London on 18 March 1707, as
appears from an entry in the parish
register book, gave a sum of £50 for plate and utensils
for administration of the sacrament in the parish
church. From a further entry in the same book it
appears that the legacy was invested in the purchase
of £53 10s. 3 per cent. reduced annuities and the
dividends distributed among the industrious poor
of the parish in small sums. The endowment, owing
to accumulations, now consists of a sum of £92 18s. 5d.
2½ per cent. Consols, producing in dividends £2 6s. 4d.
per annum. The income is distributed by the rector
and churchwardens among twelve poor people.
Edward Chesilden's Charity.—A rent-charge of
£2 12s. per annum, in respect of 11 acres of land at
South Croxton, is stated in a memorandum in the
parish book of accounts dated February 1802 to have
been left by Edward Chesilden. The endowment
now consists of a sum of £87 2½ per cent. Consols, producing in dividends £2 3s. 4d. per annum. The income is distributed by the rector and churchwardens
among four poor women in accordance with ancient
custom.
Needham Chesilden, by his will dated 9 April
1818, gave a sum of £130 to the minister and churchwardens to be invested, the dividends to be expended
in purchasing twelve twopenny loaves to be disposed
of every week to twelve poor children. The endowment now consists of a sum of £130 2½ per cent.
Consols, producing in dividends £3 5s. per annum,
which is distributed by the trustees in accordance
with the trusts, but only for a period of 33 to 34 weeks
in the year.
The several sums of stock are with the Official
Trustees.