Regular Services

2^nd Sunday of the month – Family Service at 3pm (in the Village Hall during winter months)

4^th Sunday of the month – Holy Communion at 9am

Nave

The north arcade is of three bays with arches of two hollow-chamfered orders. The chancel arch is of two continuous hollow-chamfered orders, the jambs perhaps of medieval origin but with a 19th century arch. There are three windows in the south wall, each of three stepped cinquefoil-headed (five lobed) lights with cusped and pierced spandrels. On the sill of the easternmost is the bust of a female effigy. The west window is a large oculus filled by five trefoils (three lobed). The roof is 19th century.

The Font: this is dated 1669, but the cover is 19th century.

The Pulpit: this is Jacobean and has some fine panels; behind is a standard but no canopy. Additional panels of this period are to be found near the font.

Silver Plate: The Church is fortunate to possess a small quantity of Silver Plate; there is an Elizabethan Chalice dated 1570. Lady Catherine Sondes gave a Silver Paten and Chalice and a wine cruet in 1731; these were remodelled in 1852.

West Porch

The shallow gabled west porch has an outer archway of a moulded arch on shafts with foliate capitals and dates from around 1868.

Chancel

In the north wall is an arcade of two bays with two moulded arches on clustered shafts with round moulded capitals. The east window is of three lights with Geometric tracery of the 19th century. An archway of two continuous orders pierces the south wall, the outer wave moulded, the inner with a sunken roll. The roof is 19th century, repaired around 1902.

The Reredos: situated behind the Altar, this is modern and shows Our Lord with St Leonard to the left and Archbishop Anselm to the right.

Communion Rail: this is of wrought iron – 18th century.

On the north wall of the sanctuary is the memorial of Anne, Lady Rockingham, she was the wife of the second Lord Rockingham and died in 1695. She was the favourite daughter and heiress of the ill-fated 1st Earl of Strafford who was beheaded during the reign of Charles I. The memorial is by John Nost and is of a heavy standing figure with Roman doric columns left and right, a big Baroque pedimented top and black draperies behind the whole monument.

The marble memorial on the south side of the Altar is a very fine example of the work of P Scheemakers. It is the tomb of her son Lewis, the 1st Earl of Rockingham, who died in 1724. His wife is with him, and they stand on either side of a marble sarcophagus. He is wearing Roman dress and she wears an ermine mantle. There is a dancing putto on the sarcophagus carrying a wreath and a toy trumpet.

South (Watson) Chapel

The Chapel has many memorials of the Watson family. The figure of the Castle’s restorer lies on a tomb in the middle of the Chapel, beside the figure of a lady. Sir Lewis Watson erected this monument after the Civil War. He constructed it probably from the remains of two or more family monuments, following the vandalism of the Parliamentarians, as it is generally believed that the figures came from different monuments.

The lady is believed to be Dorothy Montagu, his grandmother, wife of Edward Watson, and the Knight with spurs – Sir Edward Watson, his father. The panel in front, with figures of children, does not correspond with what is known of the family of either of them. The lady is in Elizabethan dress; the man is carved in alabaster and is wearing armour with chains over his chest.

On the south wall of the Chapel is a large monument on which stands Margaret Watson, who died in 1713, a memorial by William Palmer; this memorial is one of the few Baroque monuments by an English sculptor. It has a standing figure, slender, in a serpentine posture, with a big drapery canopy or baldacchino and fluted Corinthian pilasters to the left and right.

Amongst the single memorials on the walls is one of Grace, wife of 1st Lord Sondes, who died in 1777, and was said to be:

“The best of wives
The best of mothers
The best of women”

A rich colour is added to the Chapel by the window depicting the Ascension of Our Lord; it is in memory of Richard Watson, who died in 1853. The window is of three lights with intersecting cusped tracery and the stained glass is by Hedgeland. High in the south wall are two square-headed windows of two lights. The west window is of similar design but of three lights.

North Chapel and Vestry

The north window is straight headed. It is of four lights with four-centred heads to the lights and sunk spandrels. The east window is of two cinquefoil-headed lights with tracery of a dagger and was originally inserted in the chancel in 1846 before being transferred to its present position in 1868. The roof is of around 1868.

Organ: A recent addition to the Church is the organ, which came from the redundant Church in the Parish of Benwick, Cambridgeshire. It was restored and installed in this Church in memory of Elizabeth Saunders (mother of Commander Michael Saunders Watson – the present owner of Rockingham Castle) by her family in March 1984.

Registers: The Church also has a number of old Registers, which give an interesting insight into the history of the parish. The earliest date in the Registers is 1562. These are lodged at the County Records Office.

North Tower

The lower stage of the tower is square, the upper stage octagonal. It was built in 1845.

North Aisle

There are three windows with depressed heads in the north wall, each with three ogee (double curved) trefoil-headed lights and half-tracery enclosing trefoils. The archway in the east wall is similar to the Chancel arch but smaller. The west window of the aisle is of two ogee trefoil-headed lights with tracery of the quatrefoil. The stained glass is by Kempe and dates from around 1904. The roof is 19th century.

Regular Services

2^nd Sunday of the month – Family Service at 3pm (in the Village Hall from January to March)

4^th Sunday of the month – Holy Communion at 9am

Please follow this link to our sister church website ( St Columba’s, Corby) to see regular letters from the Rural Dean, Prayers, a Thought for the Day and Sermons. www.stcolumbascorby.org.uk

Contacts:

Rural Dean:
Revd. Canon Ian Pullinger
Phone: 01536 400225 or Email: [email protected]

Church Wardens:
Trevor Burbidge
Phone: 01536 770050 or Email: [email protected]

Donna Winch
Phone: 01536 771023 or Email: [email protected]

Deputy:

Bradley Winch
Phone: 01536 771023 or Email: [email protected]

If you have a query about a Baptism, Wedding, Wedding Blessing or Funeral please contact the Rural Dean as detailed above.

St Leonard’s Church at Rockingham was until 2019 part of the wider benefice of Gretton with Rockingham and Cottingham cum Middleton with East Carlton.  A reorganisation is currently under consideration to join the parish with that of St Columba & the Northern Saints in Corby. As part of the Corby Deanery in the Archdeaconry of Oakham it is one of the many parishes in the Peterborough Diocese of the Church of England. www.peterborough-diocese.org.uk

The Village Hall was originally the old school and was erected by the Hon Richard Watson in 1844, who pioneered rural education in the neighbourhood. The School opened with 90 pupils from neighbouring villages.

As the years passed Rockingham School began to suffer the effects of the very education it had pioneered, and as other schools opened in neighbouring villages the roll began to dwindle, until in 1946 it was left with only 9 children. The authorities regretfully decided to close it in January of that year, the remaining scholars being absorbed by neighbouring Cottingham School.
Since January 1947 the building has been used as our Village Hall.

The Village Hall is a registered charity and is run by a committee of trustees and other volunteers.

The present system of Parish Councils and Parish Meetings was established by the Local Government Act 1894, although the parishes and their functions are much older.

Originally the Lord of the Manor would hold Courts to manage the land, rotate agriculture and regulate agricultural jobs.

As the manor courts declined, the influence, wealth and responsibility of the Church increased. Inhabitants began to meet together under the parson’s direction for the social and administrative purposes of their religious life. Such meetings were often held in the Vestry after which they came to be named.

In 1601, the legislators conferred upon vestries the power of levying a poor rate. The nineteenth century saw a major overhaul of the local government system, which in the 1820’s was notorious for inefficiency and corruption and half a century later was notorious for inefficiency and complication. Twenty years of legislation and experiment were required to straighten it out.

The copingstone of the new edifice was the Local Government Act 1894, which took a year to pass and excited much controversy both in Parliament and outside. Gladstone’s government had to deal with over eight hundred amendments.

The Act of 1894 created institutions having a civil origin, status and affiliation – the Parish Meeting and the Parish Council. It transferred the civil functions of the older parish authorities to the new institutions. As a result, the church was excluded from formal participation in local government.

All rural parishes have a Parish Meeting consisting of the local government electors for the parish. Parishes with a population of 200 or more local government electors had a separate Parish Council. Parishes with between 150 and 200 local government electors could have a Parish Council if the Parish Meeting so requested. Parishes with less than 150 local government electors may have a Parish Council if the Parish Meeting so resolves and the District Council so order.

Rev Maynard W Hay 4 December 1894 – 24 June 1905

Rev Wentworth Watson 24 June 1905 – 9 March 1906

Rev Leonard H Rees 19 March 1906 – 16 November 1925

Mr William Aldwinkle 16 November 1925 – 21 March 1932

Rev H Elrington Reece 21 March 1932 – 5 March 1934

Rev Oscar Plant 5 March 1934 – 12 February 1937

Lady Florence Culme-Seymour 12 February 1937 – 27 April 1948

Sir Michael Culme-Seymour 27 April 1948 – 28 June 1971

Mr Robert Hoad 28 June 1971 – 25 July 1972

Mr Charles T Best 25 July 1972- 27 September 1977

Mr Ian J Norman 27 September 1977- Present