Oakham
 Castles |
Uninterrupted centuries of hunting and farming have rolled over the vales around Oakham and by-and-large the rigours of history have left it largely unscathed. For hundreds of years the townsfolk's proudest boast was of Oakham's role as county town of Rutland, England's smallest county until 1974 when it was merged with Leicestershire. Oakham most probably derived its name from a Saxon lord, Occa.
Oakham is also renowned for its magnificent church of All Saints, the tower of which dominates the little town. High above the church, with its big windows, handsome pinnacles and richly buttressed canopies, is a familiar sight on view from each of Oakham's streets. This is Cock Peter, an ancient weathervane watching over the medieval town. It must be one of the oldest in England and is said to have shown the way of the wind to soldiers on their way to Agincourt in 1415. Cock Peter crowns the graceful 14 th century spire, the glory of Oakham's noble tower, which has two saints and a figure of Christ displayed upon it.
There was a church here in Norman times of which nothing now remains. Of the one built in the 13 th century, the chancel arch, south doorway and a spacious porch carved with animals, are left to us. Most of the rest of the church is 14 th century, splendidly lit, unspoiled by restorations, beautifully furnished and enhanced throughout by rich carvings, especially in the sanctuary. Four items are rightly treasured in All Saints. Two are splendid Elizabethan chalices, a third is the Oakham Bible written on vellum and predating the Magna Carta of 1215, and the fourth and last is a small alabaster figure of a little maid of 15 years, Anne Burton, who died at the beginning of the Civil War (1642-9).
Beside Station Road stand the original 16 th century buildings of Oakham School, founded by Archdeacon Johnson in 1584. It contains a modern War Memorial Chapel, one of the simplest, yet finest of its kind in the Midlands. Its west front is enriched with carvings of the fallen form World War I, created by F W Sargant, brother of one of the headmasters. Two of the school's original buildings are still here. One, a vicarage in the 16 th century, has an admirable doorway; the other, a plain building having stood in the churchyard for 300 years, provided the only Oakham room where lessons were taught. Though restored, the building still retains its fine old roof together with inscriptions in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Now a museum, its prize possession is the original charter granted by Elizabeth I, with its seal intact.
Oakham also gave us one of the meanest men in the world and one of the smallest. The mean fellow was the wretched Titus Oates (1649-1705), fabricator of the Popish Plot in 1684. The little man was Jeffrey Hudson (1619-82), the town's celebrated 18 inch high dwarf, who was ‘served' to Charles I and his Queen Henrietta in a cold pie when the king was hunting from nearby Burley on the Hill in 1628. The delighted Henrietta appointed Jeffrey her page.
Oakham's small market square appears to the visitor like a 17 th century picture of Old England, frozen in time. It has a curious old butter-cross, with an ancient sundial, that used to stand on the roof of the market stall where butter was sold. Today it is placed atop eight old oak posts. The whole scene is delightfully quaint and visitors would hardly be surprised to find some miscreant locked in the ancient five-hole stocks still displayed in the market square.