M
Member
Speaking in the House of Lords on 20 October 2025
Debate
Planning and Infrastructure BillContribution
Similarly, when Rutland Water was constructed in the 1970s—the largest reservoir by surface area, though not by capacity—a number of historic villages were lost below the waters there. The Jacobean old hall in Middle Hambleton, built in 1611 and home to the Barker baronets, now finds itself on the water’s edge, and several other dwellings find themselves underneath it. The historic church of St Matthew’s, Normanton, which was rebuilt in the classical style by Thomas Cundy in the late 1820s, at the behest of the Earls of Ancaster, on the foundations of a building dating back to the 14th century, was saved only because of a public outcry when the plans for Rutland Water were first mooted. When the plans were first introduced, a trust had to be hastily assembled to campaign to save this impressive place of worship. Thankfully, the trust was successful, and the church now stands on a sort of escarpment in Rutland Water, with an artificial causeway leading to it. But it was only because those civic-minded people had the opportunity—and, crucially, the time—to organise, campaign and propose an alternative scheme that the church was saved in the way that it is today.
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