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Historic Towns & Picturesque Villages

Pictures of Lyddington

in the county of Rutland

About Lyddington

The charming village of Lyddington is set along what was doubtless once an ancient track that carried horse-drawn traffic. In the middle of the 18th-century, a new turnpike road was opened, blessedly leaving the track in peace so that today we see a long main street of lovely mellow ironstone properties from the 17th and 18th-centuries.

Set in the lush greenery of the Welland Valley, this quiet backwater has one of the few remaining Wildlife Sites on the River Welland. The site, owned by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, is small but extremely valuable. It shows a rich variety of wild meadow plants, these include; great burnet, meadow buttercup, meadow foxtail, quaking grass, and many others.

In the Middle Ages this must have been an important place, it remains the only place in what was once the tiny county of Rutland were a great palace was built. The palace was used as a home for the Bishops of Lincoln, the site chosen was next to the church of St.Andrew, both still play an important role in village life. Lyddington Bede House has a chequered history, it was confiscated during the Reformation, been pillaged for its stone, turned into almshouses by Lord Burghley, and now it has been fully restored by English Heritage. The house is exceptional, in that for the period it has windows along the one side of the great hall (20ft wide x 47ft long) it also has intricate cornices, below which the stone walls would have been hung with lavish drapes. Interestingly, it was Queen Elizabeth I who gifted the palace to the Cecil family who where responsible for turning it into Bede House.

The church of St. Andrew is one of great beauty, it has a broach spire on top of its 14th-century tower and a graceful interior where you can view many treasures from its historic past. In the churchyard there are graves covering several centuries.

In the village, The Marquis of Exeter, once an ancient coaching inn ruined by the ravages of fire, has now been completely restored to become a comfortable hotel.

This is a lovely village with a sedate atmosphere. It would make an idyllic place for a romantic weekend or an excellent base for touring the beautiful counties of Rutland and Leicestershire.

Recommended towns & villages near Lyddington

Medieval buttercross

Hallaton (18 Pictures) in the county of Leicestershire

(5.1 miles, 8.2 km, direction W of Lyddington)

Easter Monday sees the villages of Hallaton and Medbourne engaged in a riotous 'bottle kicking' contest which is said to have pagan origins...

Oakham

Oakham (86 Pictures) in the county of Rutland

(7.1 miles, 11.5 km, direction N of Lyddington)

For centuries the countryside around Oakham has echoed to the sound of hunting horns, for the vales and rolling farmland surrounding this sedate market town, have been the stamping ground for the counties hunting fraternity...

Stamford

Stamford (246 Pictures) a Historic Market Town in the county of Lincolnshire

(11.4 miles, 18.3 km, direction NE of Lyddington)

Of the 17 churches, only 6 now remain in Stamford, which is without doubt, one of the finest medieval towns in the British Isles, if not in Europe...

Fotheringhay

Fotheringhay (27 Pictures) in the county of Northamptonshire

(11.9 miles, 19.2 km, direction E of Lyddington)

The lantern tower of the Church of St. Mary and All Saints at Fotheringhay shines through the deepening shadows of the great trees that frame it, shadows matched in darkness by those less visible that haunt the village where the final tragedy of Mary, Queen of Scots was enacted...

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Melton Mowbray (25 Pictures) a Historic Market Town in the county of Leicestershire

(15.6 miles, 25.1 km, direction NW of Lyddington)

An historic market town famous for its Pork packed pies and Stilton cheeses, both are savoured all over Britain and in many other countries...

All towns & villages in Rutland
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