Normanton Church, Rutland Water

Festooned on the South shore of Rutland Water, can be found this fine church. The site originally housed a mediaeval Church to St Matthew and was partly rebuilt in the 18th century, by Sir Gilbert Heathcote. The church tower was rebuilt in the 19th century to resemble St Johns in Smith Square, Westminster.

This private chapel to the Normanton estate was saved from the reservoir by raising the floor by 3 metres, waterproofing the walls and building the stone embankment in the early 1970's with funds raised largely by the Normanton Tower Trust. Nevertheless, inevitably other buildings were lost, including a number of farms and one entire village!

A path for cyclists and walkers to share runs the perimeter of the water, a total distance of 27 miles. Today was our first day of walking. We took the path along the North Shore from Barnsdale to the East across the dam and westwards along the south shore to Wing. See the route here.