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St. John the Baptist - North Luffenham
Village
North Luffenham is a village in Rutland, at the centre of which is the attractive church. Archdeacon Robert Johnson (1540-1625) was Rector of North Luffenham for 51 years, from 1574 until his death; he founded Oakham and Uppingham Schools in 1584, as well as other charitable institutions including almshouses.
Popular with the local cricket clubs is "The Oval" large green area. To the north of the village is the former RAF station of RAF North Luffenham which is now St George's Barracks. (see Edith Weston)
There are two pubs in the village; The Fox & Hounds and The Horse & Panniers (popularly known as The Nag & Bag).
St Mary & St John's Primary School is a Voluntary Aided Church of England school. It is built on the site of North Luffenham Hall and the southern boundary is a 'ha-ha'.
- The 'ha-ha' is an expression in garden design that refers to a trench, in which is a fence concealed from view. The ha-ha is designed not to interrupt the view from a garden, while maintaining a physical barrier.
- It can be used to mean a ditch the one side of which is vertical and faced with stone, the other face sloped and turfed, making the trench, in effect, a retaining wall.
An interesting link on the registers can be found here: The registers of North Luffenham, in the county of Rutland. 1572-1812
Church
The church of St John The Baptist at North Luffenham is on the edge of the village, and the view from the back of the church grounds looks out over glorious Rutland countryside.
The church has a huge chancel, with a very high arch.
Towards the bottom end of the grounds there is a small military cemetery with graves from several nationalities from World War 2 and the Korean War and one grave from World War 1. The churchyard contains 31 graves maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. These include 11 Canadian servicemen who died while North Luffenham was a RCAF base in the 1950s.
There is a small stained glass window which commemorated those who served in the Royal Air Force, The Canadian Air Force and the Allied Air Force who served at RAF North Luffenham between the years 1940 and 1998. The legend on the window reads...."Dedicated to the glory of God, and in memory of those who served in the Royal Air Force, the Canadian Air Force and the Allied Air Forces, all from RAF North Luffenham. 1940 - 1998. In recognition of the close links between them, the Village and the county of Rutland".
Organ
There have been two organs in this church. More information from the National Pipe Organ Register (NPOR) entries can be found by following the links below:
Some items extracted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia [link]