North Luffenham

North Luffenham is a village in Rutland, in the East Midlands of England. It lies to the north of the River Chater, east of Uppingham and west of Stamford.

Located to the north of the village is St George's Barracks, formerly RAF North Luffenham.

Discovery of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery to the north of the modern village suggests that there where people living here in the village in the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. The village grew and prospered during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century the village was the scene of an English Civil War siege when in 1642 Lord Grey and his parliamentary forces were gathered at nearby Leicester. With gunpowder and ammunition taken in raids on Oakham, they marched to Brooke to arrest Viscount Campden. Henry Noel, a known royalist, heard of this and decided to take a ‘little guard’ into his house – Luffenham Hall. Disappointed at Brooke, Lord Grey and his 1300 soldiers made their way to North Luffenham, destroying the nearby hamlet of Sculthorpe and surrounded the Hall. There was little actual fighting, although the church burial register does record the death of one Parliamentary soldier on 21st February 1642. Outnumbered by seven to one, Henry Noel had little choice but to surrender. The Hall was plundered and the Parliamentary soldiers attacked the nearby church, smashing windows and defacing a statue of Henry Noel’s first wife (the damage to the fingers and nose can still be seen). Noel was taken as a prisoner to London, where he died...
Read More