Bottesford

The Bottesford Library at the Old Primary School, Grantham Road, is a branch of the Leicester County Council Library System. It is open a full 7 days each week (verify by phone if you are visiting). The Library has a dedicated Family History section.

The Library at Grantham is also a useful source in your research.

• HOLYOAK, V (1995), "On the Wings of the Morning: RAF Bottesford 1941-1945", Vincent Holyoak, Leicester.
   
• HONEYBONE, M (1989), "The Book of Bottesford", Barracuda Books, Buckingham, England, ISBN-13: 978-0860234111.
   

Roger TEMPLEMAN has a photograph of St Mary's Churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2019.

John SUTTON has a photograph of Bottesford churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2011.

• The parish was in the Denton sub-district of the Grantham Registration District.
   
• The 1851 Census for Leicestershire has been indexed by the Leicestershire & Rutland Family History Society. The whole index is available on microfiche. The society has also published it in print. Volume 7 includes Bottesford.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
   

Census Year	Piece No.
1841	H.O. 107 / 587
1871	R.G. 10 / 3356

• The Anglican parish church was dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin.
   
• The church dates back to 1170.
   
• The church was evidently rebuilt in the 14th or 15th century and porches were added. Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the Porch and South Transept from that time on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2014.
   
• The church has one of the tallest spires in Leicestershire. Rebuilt in 1876, the tower and spire are a total of 207 feet tall.
   
• Several monuments in the church, including some removed from Belvoir Priory are dedicated to the Earls and Dukes of Rutland prior to 1828.
   
• Michael GARLICK has a photograph of St. Mary's Church on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2017.
   
• J. HANNAN-BRIGGS has a photograph of St. Mary's Chancel on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2016 by Julian P. GUFFOGG.
   

Registers held at The Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland include:-(DE829/DE4411/DE5016/DE5119)

• Baptisms 1563 - 1941
• Banns 1871 - 1977
• Marriages 1563 - 1912
• Burials 1563 - 1995
   

• The Society of Genealogists holds details of marriages at St. Mary The Virgin Parish Church for the period from 1563 - 1812 which can be studied at their library in London.
   
• The Primitive Methodists had a chapel here in 1820.
   
• Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the Primitive Methodist chapel on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2014.
   

• The parish was in the Denton sub-district of the Grantham Registration District.
   
• See the Civil Registration section of the county page.
   

Bottesford is both a parish and a village about 100 miles north of London and they lie in the Vale of Belvoir. The county boundary of Lincolnshire lies to the east. The town of Grantham is 5 and a half miles to the east, Melton Mobray is 17 miles to the south and Newark is 11 miles to the north. The River Devon runs through the west side of the parish. The parish covers about 1,500 acres.

If you are planning a visit:

• By automobile, take the A52 westward out of Granthm toward Nottingham. The village is just north of the road after passing Sedgebrook.
   
• Automobile drivers are encouraged to be careful at Duck Crossings.
   
• Roll up your cuffs if you are visiting in winter. You may have to wade!  Julian P. GUFFOGG provides a picture of recent flooding on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2013.
   

• Geograph
• Flickr

• In the 1830s Bottesford families were encouraged to emigrate to save their being chargeable to the parish and were offered £1 plus their fare to emigrate. Village labourers had pay cuts and many local farmers agreed only to employ local men.
   

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Bottesford to another place.

• For a little local colour, check out the Bottesford Friendly Society.
   

• See our Maps page for additional resources.
   

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK806389 (Lat/Lon: 52.94145, -0.802074), Bottesford which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

• The World War One war memorial was dedicated on 2nd June 1921. The war Memorial for World War Two was dedicated on 31 October 1950.
   
• You will want to see detail of these memorials at the Leicestershire War Memorials site.
   
• Another good resource is the Bottesford History World War Centenary Project site.
   
• The RAF opened an airfield here in September, 1940.
   
• The USAAF arrived in November, 1943.
   
• The field was closed for military use in 1945.
   
• The "Roseland Group" now owns the site and has converted the former control tower into office space.
   
• There is a picture of the old Control Tower on the Internet.
   
• Michael GARLICK has a photograph of a portion of the Wall memorial inside Bottesford, St. Mary's Church, on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2017.
   
• Mat FASCIONE has a photograph of churchyard gravestones on Geo-graph, taken in October, 2008. The eight stones in the foreground are Commonwealth War Graves of aircrew from nearby RAF Bottesford who died in a crash.
   
• The Imperial War Museum tells us that the old control tower bears a memorial to the RAF squadrons stationed at the airfield. No names of individuals appear on the monument.

• Leicestershire Records Office holds a list of parishioners who served in the armed forces in WW1 (DE4867).
   

These are the Commonwealth War Graves in St. Mary's churchyard:

1. Cadet G. ALLCROFT, RAF
2. Ptr. ISSAC HENRY BONSHOR, Labour Corps
3. srgt. HAROLD CURSON, 207 Sqdn RAF
4. flt. srgt., WILLIAM DUNDAS FORDWYCH, 207 Sqdn RAF
5. flt. lt., RAYMUND JOSEPH HANNAN, 207 Sqdn RAF
6. srgt. BRYANT LEONARD McKENZIE JENKIN, 207 Sqdn RAF
7. Flt. srgt., JOHN KENNERLEIGH BARNETT LEE, 207 Sqdn RAFVR
8. lcprl. IAN LENNARD MOULD, 2nd Dlouc. Regt.
9. srgt. JOHN CHARLES MURPHY, RAAF
10. flt. lt. ROBERT KING PORTER, 207 Sqdn RAF
11. srgt. ALBERT ROBERTS, 207 Sqdn RAFVR
12. pte. JAMES HERBERT GEORGE SKINNER, 6th Leics Regt.
13. pte. T. W. SKINNER, 2nd Leics Regt.
14. pte. F. STAINES, Leics Regt.
15. srgt. PETER JOHN THOMPSON, 207 Sqdn RAF

• The parish was in the ancient Framland Hundred (Wapentake).
   
• The civil parish was merged with Muston in 1936. The villages share a parish council.
   
• You may contact the Bottesford Parish Council regarding civic or political issues, but they are NOT funded to help you with family history searches.
   
• District governance is provided by the Melton Borough Council.
   

• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Belvoir petty session hearings which were held every other Monday.
   
• Alan MURRAY-RUST provides a photograph of the Earl of Rutland Hospital on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2014. The building dates from around 1590.
   
• Alan MURRAY-RUST provides a photograph of the remains of Fleming's Hospital on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2014. The original building(s) were built in 1620 to provide housing for the parish poor.
   
• The Common Lands were enclosed here in 1771.
   
• After the Poor Law Amendment Act reforms of 1834, the parish became part of the Grantham Poor Law Union.
   

Year	Inhabitants
1801	804
1821	1,070
1831	1,320
1841	1,375
1871	1,315
1901	1,221
1921	1,204
1931	1,093
2001	3,436

There is an active Bottesford Living History Group which you should explore and consider assisting.