Rutland Water and Normanton Church.
Normanton Church stands on the south shore of Rutland Water. The Church once stood in the quiet valley of fertile farmland, but in 1970 the construction of a large reservior was determined by Royal Assent, because of the expansion of the population in the local villages, towns and the City of Peterborough.
So the secluded valley where Normanton Church stands, was cleared of trees, ancient woodland, hedgerows, farms and cottages and was turned into one of Britian's largest man made lakes almost the size of Windermere in the lake district.
Normanton Church was doomed to disaster, however, due to a massive voluntary effort was saved, and stands as a memorial to times past.
The history of Normanton...
The manor of Normanton can be traced back as far as the Norman Conquest when it became the property of the Umfravilles. At a later date it passed onto the Normanville family and this is where it may have derived it's name.
The manor of Normanton had a long succession of different heirs until it was acquired by the Earl of Ancaster in nineteenth century.
The Earl of Ancaster's main seat was Grimsthorpe Castle, near Bourne in Lincolnshire and when he sold the Estate Normanton Hall was demolished in the early 1920s.
Today Normanton Church and part of the Normanton Estate is owned by the Anglian Water Authority.
There is very little knowledge about the history of early churches at Normanton. Relics found in the early twentieth century suggest a fourtheenth century building.
In the mid 1760s the church was rebuilt by adding chancel and nave to the existing tower but it was a very basic building. In 1826 there was a Gothic turret peeping out of the undergrowth and the fourth baronet at Normanton commissioned a new tower and portico by Thomas Cundy that was formally known as St. Matthews Church.
Thus, St Matthews became known laterly as Normanton Church and sat in the rural Rutland Valley until the construction of Empingham Reservior in the early 1970s..