Thistleton, Rutland Genealogy

England Rutland Rutland Parishes

Parish History
Thistleton St Nicholas is an Ancient parish.

THISTLETON (St. Nicholas), aparish, in the union of Oakham, hundred of Alstoe, county of Rutland,8 miles (N. N. E.) from Oakham.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Thistleton like this: THISTLETON, a parish in Oakham district, Rutland; 4¼ miles ENE of Ashwell r. station, and 7½ NNE of Oakham. Post town, Colsterworth, under Grantham. Acres, 1,420. Real property, £1,768. Pop., 142. Houses, 27. The manor belongs to the Rev. J. H. Fludyer. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £118.* Patron, the Rev. J. H. Fludyer. The church is good: and there is an endowed school with £36 a year.

Although the church is of medieval origin only the 14th century, three stage tower, complete with gargoyles, remains. The church has been rebuilt in the late 18th by the Brudenells, and the rector, the Rev Sir J Henry Fludyer, Bart to whose family the elaborate chancel is probably a memorial. The newer building is fourteenth century in style however the shape of the apse is, unusually, half an octagon externally and a semi circular shape inside. Most of the internal fittings, including the font and the organ, are relatively modern.

RAF Cottesmore
Close by, to the south of the village, lies the RAF Cottesmore airfield established a few years before WW2 and an important base ever since. On 8 September 1943 the United States Army Air Forces took the facilities over, under the designation USAAF Station 489, flying troop transport aircraft. In anticipation of the station's future use by airborne forces, 32 Horsa gliders were delivered for storage in July 1943.

The USAAF Ninth Air Force, with a mission to support the ground forces, was about to be re-deployed to the UK and IX Troop Carrier Command was established immediately at Cottesmore after this became effective on 16 October 1943. The IX Troop Carrier Command was basically a re-designation of the existing headquarters at the station until facilities at Grantham were ready. Early in February 1944, the USAAF began movement of the 52nd Troop Carrier Wing and its groups from Sicily to the Grantham area, the wing headquarters reaching Cottesmore on the 17th. This HQ soon transferred to nearby Exton Hall, a mansion surrounded by parkland.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
Deposited records are found at the Leicester and Rutland Record Office

Contact: The Record Office Telephone: 0116 2571080 Fax: 0116 2571120 E-mail: recordoffice@leics.gov.uk

Diocese of Peterborough : Thistleton Bap 1574-1995 Marr 1574 - 1838 (Banns to 1994) Bur 1574 - 1995

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Poor Law Unions
Oakham Poor Law Union, Rutland

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Rutland Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.