Houses of Interest: Rutland

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It is only right and proper that the ECW travelogue turns it's attention to England's smallest County, and the home of 'England's smallest man', Captain Jeffrey Hudson.

Purposefully, slightly wonky picture so I know who keeps nicking my pictures and not crediting me

Jeffrey was variously known as the 'Queen's Dwarf', or 'Lord Minimus'; he was gifted, at age 7 to Queen Henrietta Maria via the medium of a large pie, from whence he leapt, dressed in full cuirassier armour, at a banquet at Burley-on-the-Hill. 

Jeffrey's life was the stuff of a blockbuster movie script. Unfortunately much of what we do know about his life has been clouded by Sir Walter Scott's embellishments (bloody Victorians!). If anyone's life story did not need embellishing, it is Jeffrey's.

He killed a man and was exiled to France; was kidnapped by Barbary pirates; enslaved in North Africa; and, imprisoned on his return to England in the 1670s for being a Catholic.

Jeffrey's story is claimed to be one of the many inspirations for the Tom Thumb story.



Clearly a man of importance (or amusing C17th accessory) he was painted with the Queen by van Dyck. Lord Minimus's house is located in Oakham.

North Luffenham was the scene of a small siege in February 1643.

Parliamentarian forces, under the command of Lord Grey, had been seizing powder and provisions in the area, with a nice little sideline in arresting Royalist sympathisers.

Henry Noel, a known Royalist, heard of this and decided to take a "little guard" into his house, North Luffenham Hall. Lord Grey, with 1300 men, made his way to North Luffenham, destroying the nearby hamlet of Sculthorpe and surrounded the Hall. 

Considerably outnumbered and out gunned (Grey's men had two drakes in their possession), Henry Noel had little choice but to surrender. 

The Hall was plundered and the nearby church was attacked, windows were smashed, and it is claimed that Grey's men defaced a statue of Henry Noel's first wife, Susanna (the damage to the fingers and nose can still be seen). Noel was taken as a prisoner to London, where he died shortly afterwards.

Luffenham Hall, not to be confused with North Luffenham Hall

Despite what online maps 'say', don't confuse Luffenham Hall with North Luffenham Hall (as I did, thank you Robert for pointing out my error - see comments below). North Luffenham Hall was demolished in 1806 and is now the site of the local primary school.

Susanna Holt's memorial 

County boundaries have been a little fluid over the centuries, so you might want to look at the Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire entries too.

Postcodes for SatNavs
Jeffrey Hudson's House, 27 Melton Road, Oakham LE15 6AX
North Luffenham Hall (site of), Church Street, North Luffenham LE15 8JR
St John the Baptist Church, North Luffenham LE15


Comments

  1. PDL31 March 2025 at 10:21

    Very interesting, I find these are always a good read. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Radar31 March 2025 at 19:07

      You are welcome, and thanks for your kind words

      Delete
  2. Robert Hodkinson2 April 2025 at 10:19

    As a point of information, North Luffenham Hall was the seat of the Digby family but it was NOT the house attacked by Lord Grey. Henry Noel's home was the (confusingly named) North Luffenham House, also off Church Lane. Noel's house was demolished in 1806 and is now the site of the St Mary and St John primary school.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Radar3 April 2025 at 16:30

      Thanks for the clarification on that Robert. I will amend the entry forthwith

      Delete

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