Lyddington Bede House

Visualise a picture postcard village with rows of pretty limestone cottages, and an ancient parish church at the heart of the small community. Bordering St Andrew's church graveyard appears to be yet more terraced cottages, but somehow incomplete, and with a distinct ecclesiastical look about the architecture. Take a little more time to investigate this mysteriously appealing little complex, and it will reveal a fascinating background.

Perhaps as much as 200 years before the remains of the present building existed, the manor of Lyddington had been closely associated with the Bishops of Lincoln. Initially, only farming activities were carried out in the vicinity, but soon the bishops were enjoying the seclusion and peace of this location and began to stay for short periods. As its popularity grew, so did its importance and increasingly it was recognised as the place for conducting business matters.

In due course the Bishop's Palace was developed, a grand medieval residence constructed largely in the 14th century, and accommodating many influential occupants until 1547, when the property was seized by the Crown. What remained of the palace was passed to Lord Burghley in 1600, who founded a charity to provide shelter and clothing for a few poor men and women in the community. In return for his generosity, Lord Burghley expected the chosen inhabitants to be usefully engaged in some handicraft, and regularly attend church services.

Having salvaged one wing of the original Bishop's Palace, 12 small rooms were created to house the men, with another room on the ground floor to accommodate the warden. It is believed that the two women were given rooms on the first floor, where the great palatial chamber became the common room for the bedesmen. Little trace of the sumptuous residence can be found in the existing almshouses, but some of the stained glass bearing the arms of various bishops remains in the large windows, and sections of an intricately carved wooden ceiling cornice have survived remarkably well.

These almshouses, latterly known as Lyddington Bede House, and constructed from the eastern end of the old palace, were used for about 300 years, until well into the 1900s. It somehow seems very fitting that a grandiose building offering such luxurious accommodation, afforded only to the princes of the church, was then ingeniously transformed to provide modest housing for the poorer servants of God.

The small county of Rutland, centred around the vast expanse of Rutland Water, almost gets overlooked by its more prominent neighbouring counties, but it is worth seeking out if only to find Lyddington Bede House.