Owthorpe

{{short description|Hamlet and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England}} {{Use British English|date=July 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}} {{Infobox UK place | official_name = Owthorpe | country = England | region = East Midlands | shire_district = Rushcliffe | shire_county = Nottinghamshire | post_town = NOTTINGHAM | postcode_area = NG | postcode_district = NG12 | coordinates = {{coord|52.89388|N|1.00555|W|scale:25000}} | population = 102 | population_ref = (2021) | constituency_westminster = Rushcliffe | dial_code = 0115 | static_image_name = St Margaret's, Owthorpe, Nottinghamshire.JPG | static_image_caption = St Margaret's Church, Owthorpe | type = Hamlet and civil parish | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 12 | mapframe-point = none | static_image_2_caption = Parish map | area_total_sq_mi = 2.58 | os_grid_reference = SK 677330 | london_distance_mi = 100 | london_direction = SSE }} thumb|Interior of St Margaret's '''Owthorpe''' is an English hamlet and civil parish in the Wolds of the East Midlands county of Nottinghamshire. The population of about 90 was included in the civil parish of Cotgrave in the 2011 census, this increased to 102 at the 2021 census.<ref>{{NOMIS2021|id=E04007991|title=Owthorpe parish|accessdate=12 February 2024}}</ref>

==Location and governance== Owthorpe is adjacent to the parishes of Cropwell Bishop, Stanton on the Wolds, Cotgrave, Kinoulton and Colston Bassett, {{convert|2|mi|km|spell=in}} south-east of Cotgrave and {{convert|9|mi|km|spell=in}} south-east of Nottingham. It forms part of the borough of Rushcliffe. The Grantham Canal lies to its east, as does the Fosse Way, a Roman road whose line is largely followed by the A46 trunk road between Leicester and Lincoln. In 2006 the borough council recorded a population of 90 for Owthorpe,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rushcliffe.gov.uk/doc.asp?catid=8883 |title=Parish Councils: names and addresses – Rushcliffe Borough Council |access-date=29 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061025041158/http://www.rushcliffe.gov.uk/doc.asp?catid=8883 |archive-date=25 October 2006 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> (and 102 residents in 2021) so that the parish is too small to have a parish council and has a parish meeting instead.

==Amenities== There are low-frequency weekday bus services to Cotgrave and Keyworth and term-time school buses to Bingham.<ref>Travel Search. [http://www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnshowl.asp?L1=OWT0020 Retrieved 24 May 2015.]</ref> The nearest railway station is at Radcliffe on Trent ({{convert|4|mi|km}}. The nearest shops and medical and sports services are in Cotgrave. There is self-catering accommodation at Woodview Cottages, Newfields Farm.<ref>Woodview Cottages. [http://www.woodviewcottages.co.uk/ Retrieved 22 June 2015.]</ref> The Little Retreat, Colston Bassett Lane, provides spa treatments.<ref>The Little Retreat. [http://www.thelittleretreatdayspa.co.uk/contact-us/4585915659 Retrieved 22 June 2015.] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622174514/http://www.thelittleretreatdayspa.co.uk/contact-us/4585915659 |date=22 June 2015}}</ref>

==Heritage== Owthorpe appears in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Obetorp'' in the ancient hundred of Bingham.<ref>[http://opendomesday.org/place/SK6733/owthorpe/ Open Domesday Online: Owthorpe], accessed January 2018.</ref> Its origin may be "Outlying farmstead or hamlet of a man called Úfi or Ufa", i. e. an Old Scandinavian or Old English personal name plus the widespread Danelaw element "thorpe" meaning hamlet.<ref>[https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/documents/innervate/11-12/1112gregoryenglishplacenames.pdf] Rebecca Gregory: "The value of place-names as evidence for the history, landscape and language(s) of a chosen area", ''Innervate'', Vol. 4 (2011–2012). Retrieved 14 October 2019.</ref> Lord and tenant-in-chief was Geoffrey Alselin.

A large manor house, Owthorpe Hall, was located here until it burned to the ground in a fire in the late 1820s. It was the seat of the Hutchinson family, one famous member of which was John Hutchinson, the Parliamentarian army officer and regicide.<ref>ODNB entry: [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14283 Retrieved 4 April 2011.]</ref> The family vault under the nave of the church is now sealed off, but when the floor gave way in 1859 it was found to contain 17 coffins.<ref>Rev. J. Pickworth-Hutchinson, ed.: ''A Short Guide to the Parish Churches of the Bingham Rural Deanery'' (Bingham: Bingham Deanery Chapter, 1963).</ref>

The wife of John Hutchinson was Lucy Hutchinson, née Apsley (1620–1681), a biographer and poet, and the first person to translate the complete text of Lucretius's ''De rerum natura'' (On the Nature of Things) into English.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Watts |first=Ruth |title=Women in science: a social and cultural history |year=2007 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, Oxon |isbn=978-0415253079 |pages=51}}</ref> She also wrote the epic poem ''Order and Disorder'', which follows the Book of Genesis.<ref>The full text: [http://www.bartleby.com/239/ Retrieved 21 June 2015.]</ref> Her biography of her husband was reprinted in 2010.<ref>Lucy Hutchinson: ''Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson'' (Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge UP, 2010) {{ISBN|9781108019095}} [https://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511732409 Retrieved 22 June 2015.]</ref>

The lordship, then consisting of {{convert|1300|acre|ha|abbr=off}} of enclosed land, was sold in 1773 to Sir George Bromley, Bt.<ref>British History Online [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/thoroton-notts/vol1/pp157-160 Retrieved 25 May 2015.]</ref> It was occupied in 1797 as a tenant by a Mr Renshaw and described as "a square with handsome, lofty, and convenient apartments."<ref>Nottinghamshire History. [http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/articles/potterbriscoe/owthorpe.htm Retrieved 25 May 2015.]</ref> Members of the Renshaw family remained there until 1825. The date of the subsequent fatal fire is uncertain, but the demolition was carried out by Sir Robert Howe Bromley, baronet, son of Sir George.<ref name="White's" /> This was recorded in 1832 as having occurred.<ref>William White: ''History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Nottinghamshire...'' (Sheffield, 1832), p. 506.</ref> None of the buildings survive,<ref>Keyworth & District Local History Society. [http://www.keyworth-history.org.uk/about/reports/0703.htm Retrieved 25 May 2015.] This lecture includes quotations from a description by Rev. Julius Hutchinson, written after a visit he made to the Hall in 1775.</ref> but there remain a series of fishponds off Swab's Lane, dug by Col. Hutchinson. These are being developed as a wildlife resource.<ref>Friends of Owthorpe Fishponds. [http://fishpondfriends.blogspot.hu/ Retrieved 22 June 2015]</ref>

The population of Owthorpe was 107 in 1801, 138 in 1821, and 144 in 1831.<ref>William White: ''History, Gazetteer and Directory of Nottinghamshire...'' (Sheffield, 1832), p. 479. [https://archive.org/details/historygazettee03whitgoog Retrieved 3 April 2016.]</ref> The population was put at 143 in 1853,<ref name="White's">''White's Directory of Nottinghamshire'', 1853. [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/NTT/Owthorpe/ Retrieved 22 June 2015.]</ref> 131 in 1887<ref>John Bartholomew: ''Gazetteer of the British Isles'', 1887. [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/1933490 Retrieved 22 June 2015.]</ref> and 110 in 1911.)<ref>CBOC Great War Project. [http://cbocgwp.co.uk/owthorpe/ Retrieved 25 May 2015.]</ref> Historically Owthorpe parish was in the wapentake of Bingham, and from 1894 to 1974 in Bingham Rural District.

==Church== {{main|St Margaret's Church, Owthorpe}} Owthorpe has an unusual Grade I listed Anglican church, dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch, once considered a patron saint of pregnancy.<ref>David Hugh Farmer: ''The Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' 2nd ed. (Oxford: OUP, 1987), pp. 281–82.</ref> It stands away from the village in farmland, surrounded by a low wall, next to the site where the manor stood. Access is only along a public footpath – a narrow grass track, often muddy in the winter months – and through a timber gate. There are several 18th-century slate tombstones in the churchyard, three of which are examples of the "Belvoir angel" design found in many churchyards in the Vale of Belvoir.<ref name="S & N" >Southwell & Nottingham Church History Project [http://southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/owthorpe/hintro.php Retrieved 1 July 2016.]</ref><ref>Nottingham Post [http://www.nottinghampost.com/bygones-vale-belvoir-angels/story-12250572-detail/story.html Retrieved 1 July 2016.]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The first written mention of a church at Owthorpe dates from 1299.<ref name="S & N" /> However, some features of St Margaret's date from the 12th century. Thereafter the structure underwent many changes over the centuries. It was rebuilt about 1650,<ref name="White's" /> and has recently undergone further repairs. The north wall is a surviving part of the original, larger church. Inside it has an oak-panelled, three-decker pulpit-cum-lectern with a Jacobean canopy, which is still in use.<ref>A Church Near You. [http://www.achurchnearyou.com/owthorpe-st-margaret/achurchnearyou.com. Retrieved 25 May 2015.]{{Dead link |date=September 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> The octagonal castellated font<ref>Pictured here: [http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-the-font-st-margaret%60s-church-owthorpe-nottinghamshire-uk-49646706.html Retrieved 22 June 2015.]</ref> is thought to be from the 15th century. A wooden screen dividing the nave from the chancel is said to have come from Owthorpe Hall.<ref name="S & N" />

thumb|Belvoir angel gravestone in Owthorpe church graveyard - one of three

==Literary link== The children's historical novel ''Uncivil War: Twin Tales of Nottinghamshire'' by Noel Harrower features Owthorpe and the Hutchinsons.<ref>Leicester, United Kingdom: Matador, 2014. {{ISBN|9781784620400}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=VHI0BQAAQBAJ Retrieved 25 May 2015.]</ref>

==See also== *Listed buildings in Owthorpe

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External resources== {{Commons category|Owthorpe}} * [http://southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/owthorpe/hpics.php Pictures of the church and churchyard] * [https://www.panoramio.com/photo/21875304 Owthorpe countryside photographs] * [http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/articles/potterbriscoe/owthorpe.htm 19th-century line drawing and Owthorpe Hall description] * [http://www.aerialphotography.org.uk/Nottinghamshire/Villages/Owthorpe/i-pw948pV Aerial views of the village] * [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2635290 An 18th-century "Belvoir Angel" gravestone] in Swithland slate * [http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/Brown1896/owthorpe.htm An 1896 description] * [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/NTT/Owthorpe/index.html An 1853 description] * [http://www.cems-oxford.org/projects/lucy-hutchinson/the-life-of-lucy-hutchinson More information and pictures relating to Lucy Hutchinson]

{{coord|52.89388|N|1.00555|W|region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SK670334)|display=title}}

Category:Hamlets in Nottinghamshire Category:Civil parishes in Nottinghamshire Category:Borough of Rushcliffe