Market Overton History
The settlement at Market Overton probably dates back to Roman times; many Roman artefacts have been found in the village and the earthworks to the north and east of the church are thought to be Roman in origin.
The village was important in Saxon times too; an early pagan cemetery to the south-east produced many fine grave goods, and the church tower dates to the 10th century.
There are references to a market here from the early 12th century (hence the name) and village green probably marks the location of the medieval market place. Today it is home to the village stocks and whipping post.
The following is taken from a Rutland Local History Society booklet:
This is not a complete history of the village or of the church, details of these being available in the local library.
This is a collection of memories spanning 100 years; much of the information is hearsay, and the Editor apologises for any inaccuracies.
The Society is indebted to the following for information supplied: Mr F Kettle, Mr W Hudson, Mr E Preston, Mrs V Walker and Mrs C Osborn.
Booklet compiled by A R Traylen. August 1976.
Market Overton
Derivation - Upper Settlement (Tun), or Settlement on a Ridge
Important archaeological finds were made at the two quarries in the village (details Oakham Museum). When the wall was built around the churchyard, a Roman stile was built into the north boundary.
The Village
The Wingfields of Tickencote owned the whole village in the 1900s, apart from one house and two cottages; in the 1920s the estate was split up and sold, the tenants buying their own properties. Three Wingfield unmarried sisters used to live at the Old Hall, and all the men of the village were expected to tip their hats to them. The children of the village whilst at church would have to sit around Miss Adele Wingfield in her chair near the belfry, the same chair being in its position today. Children went to church at 11 am and 6 pm, and to bible classes at 3 pm in a cottage on the Green, and thereafter these were held in the Old Hall. At these classes one boy used to blow dried peas through a pipe at the poodle of the house, whereupon Miss Wingfield would grab the bell pull for the maid. On arrival she would say 'I think the poodle seems to be in the road - take it out'.
The carved head of Sir Isaac Newton on the west side of the Manor House was presented to the owner, Mrs Sitwell, by Earl Fitzwilliam of Barnsdale Hall. It was in recognition of the visits by Sir Isaac to the original house, the home of his family, which was pulled down and rebuilt in 1866. Geometrical drawings on a ceiling by him as a young man were destroyed at the time.
The story is told of the Lady of the Manor, who was a very large woman, and that one day the iron basket in the fire burnt through. The maid then rang up Briggs the blacksmith in Oakham, requesting - 'Could you come out and look at my Lady's grate bottom?'
The School
The old school had been at the building now known as the Flats. Mr Wingfield built the village hall in Berrybushes in 1902 for the men on the ironstone pits, this then becoming the school in the 1920s. The school closed about six years (1970) ago, and the children now travel to Langham School.
The schoolmaster in 1910, Mr Pittaway, would take the children to the Teigh Road to see Lord Lonsdale arrive in his yellow Rolls Royce, ready to mount his horse for hunting; he would first feed all the hounds with biscuits from his pocket. The schoolmaster threatened to cane any boy if they went to follow the hounds, and often they did - four strokes I Boys would be afraid to tell their father, for they might get another stroke from him.
Out & About
It is recorded that in 1745 there was a violent storm, the upper part of the windmill being destroyed (Millfield is on the Oakham Road), two of the sails being broken, and the axle tree being split to pieces. The miller, and a servant of the Rev Wingfield were struck dead by lightning, and in one of their pockets, a shilling and a sixpence were melted round the edges. A boy with them had his hair singed and face scorched.
The stocks on the Green were last used in 1838, and it is known that the man who made them, John Wilbourne, was shortly after put in them for drunkenness.
The village pond stood on the Oakham road, and the bungalows beyond now stand on the site of two old thatched cottages; they were pulled down in the 1920s and the rent had then been 9d. a week.
The village pump for drinking water stood outside the smithy on the Green until 1926, and it was never known to go dry, despite being on the top of a hill. Subsequently the village supply was piped by two water pumping stations, neither now in use, as it is said that Whissendine drew from the same source and there was therefore insufficient supply. The water is now supplied by the Dove Scheme via the Burley water tower.
There was no mill in the village in 1900, and corn would be taken to Wymondham mill for grinding for pig food. Mr Goodman of Market Overton owned the windmill at South Witham and corn was also sent there, the wagons returning via the station with coal or cattle cake from Hull.
The sheep were dipped at Cottesmore washdyke, the village not having one of its own. There were no cow pastures recollected, cattle being tented on the road verges.
The ironstone pits, which had employed many from the village, were worked out in 1913. The ironstone engine shed has for some years housed a number of old railway engines, including the Flying Scotsman, and also there, was a wartime coach of Winston Churchill there.
It is remembered that corn and bacon would be taken for drying in the kilns at the Wharf until the 1920s. To the north of the church is Hangmen's Barn, so named because two men hung themselves there in about 1910.
A piece of land in the Parish was known as Ding Hades, probably deriving from Ding or Ting, a place of meeting, and Hades, a ridge of land.
Berrybushes is so called because the lane contained bushes that had a profusion of berries.
The Traders
Of the blacksmiths, Mr Dobney, ceasing in about 1910, worked from his smithy at the bottom end of Springfield Lane, and nearby was a large well from which water was drawn until the 1920s to supply the thrashing tackles working nearby. On the Green, Mr Bursnall worked at his smithy until the 1920s, the shop still being used today but for welding and engineering work.
One bakehouse, which ceased in 1910, was sited where the bungalow now stands on the Teigh road. Here if you went on Sunday to collect your joint at two minutes to one, you would be greeted by the woman baker shouting at you 'You needn't come yet, its not one o'clock.' The other bakehouse was at 6 Berrybushes, where Mr Hudson baked until 1953, and here sprang up the local saying 'It wasn't only Alfred that burnt the cakes!'
Mr Sharpe from Oakham and Mr Michison of South Witham brought bread to the village in their horse and carts; Mr Powell from South Witham came also with his cart containing groceries, his family still coming today, but now by motor.
Around 1900, there was a butchery and slaughterhouse of Mr W Brown sited at what is now Woodland Dairies, beside the Old Hall, and there had been two other butchers shops in the village.
The village carrier had been Mr Munday, taking passengers as well as goods to Oakham and Stamford, in his two-wheeled cart, in a journey which took two hours to Oakham. The old saddlery business of Mr A Gibson at 17, Main Street is still maintained today by his son.
Apart from the Black Bull and the Three Horseshoes, which survive today, no other inns are recollected in the village, nor does there appear to have been any chapels.
War
It is not recollected that any bombs fell in the Parish in the 1939 war, but a Hampden bomber crashed in Barrow Flats in 1942, the crew being killed.
The Festivities
Market Overton Feast (Sunday after June 29th). Sileby Brass Band came on the Monday of Feast Week, parading the village and then playing on the Green. Roundabouts and the Fair itself set up on the site on Teigh Road, where now stand the Council houses. The shooting gallery was set up outside the blacksmith's shop on the Green and donkey rides were available up and down the street at 1d. a ride. It is said that there would be so many people outside the Three Horseshoes on a Feast Monday, that you 'couldn't put a penny between them'. Cricket matches were held in Land Close, and the Feast itself was eaten in a big tent in the Three Horseshoes yard. The cost was 1/- per person, and with the same money one could buy, a pint of ale, 1/2 an ounce of twist, and a box of matches. The Feast celebrations stopped in 1914.
On Ploughboy Monday, the farmworkers dressed up in ragged clothes and with blackened faces would knock on various doors, being invited in to recite their rhymes, and hoping for money in return.
May Day was celebrated up until 1914, and at this a large triangular frame would be garlanded by the lady schoolteacher, and this would be carried round the village by the children singing their May Day songs. Afterwards they would receive a great tea in the old school.
Games They Played
The lads would do up a parcel with nothing in it, deliver it to a house, and say it was from Miss Wingfield. If the policeman caught them, they knew they would immediately get a clout.
A similar prank was to leave a parcel on a doorstep, ring the bell, and when the person stooped to pick it up, it would be pulled away by a long string attached to it by a boy in hiding. This was known as 'bonny snatching'.
Husty tusty, finger and thumb - A game in which the boys stood in a caterpillar each being in leapfrog position. The first of the opposing team would leap on the back of the caterpillar, working his way along. Somewhere on the boy's backs he would stop and shout 'husty tusty finger and thumb'; at this the boy underneath would then have to guess if the boy on top of him had his fingers up or down. If he guessed correctly the boy on top was out, if not he was out, and so the game proceeded.
It is said that if you walked round the church a number of times, you would see the ghost of a man in white in the churchyard.