Area 2.87 sq mi (7.4 km) OS grid reference SK865137 Ceremonial county Rutland Local time Sunday 4:16 PM Dialling code 01572 UK parliament constituency Rutland and Melton | Population 290 2001 Census Unitary authority Region East Midlands Shire county Rutland Post town Oakham | |
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Weather 9°C, Wind SW at 34 km/h, 80% Humidity | ||
Ashwell is a village and civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. The population of the civil parish was 290 at the 2001 census falling to 269 at the 2011 census. It is located about 3 miles (5 km) north of Oakham.
Map of Ashwell, UK
St Mary’s church is mainly of 14th-century origin, but in 1851 it underwent a major restoration by William Butterfield. The Reverend J.W. Adams, who won a Victoria Cross in Afghanistan in 1879, is buried in the churchyard.
Aviator Beryl Markham (née Clutterbuck) was born in Westfield House and lived here until her family moved to Kenya when she was four years old.
Ashwell Prison, a former Category C prison, is located about 2 miles (3 km) south of the centre of the village but is actually in the parish of Burley. Previously the site was a Second World War US army base, home to part of the 82nd Airborne Division. The prison was closed in March 2011 and has been redeveloped as Oakham Enterprise Park, a business park for office and light industrial use.
The previous kennels of the Cottesmore Hunt situated opposite the prison have now been converted to residential use and the hunt kennels are now based at a farm in the parish.
The Reverend Richard Levett (or Levet) was named vicar of Ashwell on 13 May 1646. He was brought in to minister to the parish when the Royalist rector, Thomas Mason, was ejected. The incumbent was reinstated when King Charles II was restored to the throne. The minister was the father of Sir Richard Levett, Lord Mayor of London in 1699 and owner of Kew Palace. Levett Blackborne, grandson of Sir Richard, who sold the Levett properties at Kew to the Royal family, was a well-known Lincoln's Inn barrister and longtime adviser to Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland.
The Palmes family of Lindley, West Yorkshire was also seated at Ashwell. The family, a branch of the Palmes family of Naburn Hall, Naburn, Yorkshire, included Sir Guy Palmes, High Sheriff of Yorkshire.