Area 6.36 sq mi (16.5 km) OS grid reference SK924111 Region East Midlands Local time Saturday 12:44 AM UK parliament constituency Rutland and Melton | Population 600 (2001 Census) Ceremonial county Rutland Country England Dialling code 01572 | |
 | ||
Weather 9°C, Wind S at 14 km/h, 94% Humidity Points of interest Rutland Water, Barnsdale Gardens, Exton War Memorial. | ||
Exton is a village in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. The population of the civil parish at the 2001 census was 600, including Whitwell and increasing slightly to 607 at the 2011 census. It forms a civil parish with Horn.
Contents
Map of Exton, UK
The Village
The village includes a tree-planted green overlooked by the Fox and Hounds pub. Close to the green is the war memorial to the dead of Exton and Whitwell and to relatives of the Earl of Gainsborough; the names include Tom Cecil Noel MC and Bar and Maurice Dease VC. The memorial was designed by Alfred Young Nutt.
In the south of the parish towards Rutland Water is Barnsdale Gardens which were created by Geoff Hamilton of the BBC television series Gardeners' World.
Further south, on the north shore of Rutland Water, stands what was the Barnsdale country house and is now the Barnsdale Hall Hotel and Country Club. Barnsdale was a large country house, built in 1890 as a hunting lodge for Earl Fitzwilliam by architect E. J. May. It is a Grade II listed building.
Exton Park
Exton Park is a large country estate which has been home to the Noel family (Earls of Gainsborough) for over four centuries. The present Exton Hall was built in the 19th century close to the ruins of the original Tudor mansion which had burnt down in 1810. The romantic Fort Henry, a pleasure-house in the elegant late eighteenth-century Gothick style overlooks lakes formed by the North Brook.
Church of St Peter and St Paul
The grand Anglican parish church of St Peter & St Paul lies within the park and contains an impressive collection of monuments including work by Joseph Nollekens. It is a large and impressive medieval parish church, built in the 13th and 14th centuries. The church is a Grade I listed building.
There is a fine marble tomb by Grinling Gibbons, dating from 1685, showing Baptist Noel, 3rd Viscount Campden with his fourth wife, Elizabeth Bertie, and carvings of his 19 children. In 1954, the tomb was the subject of a design by John Piper, later adapted as a textile design by David Whitehead Ltd.
The church spire was struck by lightning in 1843, causing a fire that melted the roof, shattered the windows, and destroyed the west end of the church. It was subsequently rebuilt by J. L. Pearson in 1852/3.