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Ridlington

Ridlington maps

Historic maps of Ridlington and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis.   View all Ridlington maps

Ridlington photos

We have no photos of Ridlington, although we do have photos of these nearby places:

Uppingham| Oakham| Seaton| Langham| North Luffenham| Caldecott| South Luffenham| Great Easton| Tilton On The Hill

Ridlington area books

Displaying 1 of 9 books about Ridlington and the local area.   View all books for this area

Memories of Ridlington

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Leicestershire memories

Queens Visit

The Queen's Horseshoe c1967
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I remember the Queen's visit to Rutland in this year. I remember all the children from the local schools forming the shape of a horseshoe in a field/park? and the Queen being driven around the horseshoe waving to us all.

Castle Hit by Storm

Castle, The Great Hall c1967
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Not 100% sure if it was 1966 or 67, but I do remember that the castle roof was covered with a tarp for quite some time after lightening hit the castle during a storm.

Seaton Station

As a youngster living in Great Easton along the Welland valley, my school holidays in the early 1960s were largely spent at Seaton Junction station in Rutland. My friend Colin and I would cycle there with a bottle of orange squash and a bag of sandwiches and spend our days watching the trains on the Rugby to Peterborough line and also the Kettering to Nottingham trains over the viaduct nearby. We were allowed to open and close the hand operated level crossing gates and pull off the locking levers on the ground frame. I wonder what Health & Safety would make of 11- and 12-year-olds doing that these days? A special treat was to ride on the footplate of the tank loco that was used on the Stamford push and pull, great days that are never forgotton. We would also play cricket with the station master on the platform between trains. 6/6/1966 is a day I will never forget, when the line closed in its entirety.

Seaton in The 1950s And 60s

I lived in Seaton from the very early 1950s to the very early 1970s. My happy memories are: going down to the River Welland in Harringworth and fishing, going down to Seaton railway station and watching the trains go through. Seaton station in the 1950s and 1960s was a very important station, with trains running from Peterborough to Rugby, and single line tracks running to Uppingham and Stamford. We used cycle to Foxton Locks and the surrounding area. I remember the plane crash on Spanhoe airfield. I saw the aircraft come down and explode, that must have been 1965-ish. My first experience with alcohol was at the George and Dragon pub that was run by Algie Baines and his wife, then Dick Twigg took it over and modernised it and did meals etc. I remember going to school in Uppingham on the school bus. The house we then lived in in Drurys Lane had no running water or mains sewage, but we got by OK without them. I was christened... Read more

RCAF North Luffenham

The Village c1960
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My father was in the RCAF, stationed at the former RAF base. We lived in the village from 1952 to 1954. The picture on this site was where we lived at the time. The village shop was next door and was operated by Mr and Mrs Gale and they had a son named Blyth. Our family consisted of my mother and father, myself and my 2 younger sisters.We kids all went to the village school and I sang in the Church choir. The Headmistress was Mrs Barnett and I think the lady who looked after the lunches was called Mrs Rose, who a was a very nice lady especially to all the children. Mrs Barnett was an old dragon! We left in November 1954 when the base closed and we moved to France. I have many fond memories of growing up in the village during this time as it was quite carefree. I have been back a few times, the last time in 1976, and our house had become the village... Read more

RCAF Brat

The Village c1960
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Like John Langston, our family lived in the village until #1 fighter wing was moved to France. We also lived next door to the store and I went to the village school. The Head Mistress was a dragon lady compared to the other teacher who I liked. I do remember that period in my life with the fondness of memories and hope to revisit after some 58 years. I still have a small book given to me for one year's perfect attendance at the Anglican Church.

My Great Great Grandfather Lived Here.

High Street c1955
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My grandfather William Keightley moved to Sheffield, Yorkshire in the 1890s.
He was born in one of these cottages, as was my great grandfather Albert Keightley.   On the 1871 Census he is listed at no. 44 Cottage and on the 1881 Census he is listed at no. 31 cottage with the "White Hart" Inn as No. 32.
I would love to hear from any family members still living at Caldecott.

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