Burley-on-the-Hill
Burley-on-the-Hill is a tiny village in Rutland, on a hill overlooking the Vale of Catmose and Oakham, 2 miles away.
Burley House was originally built in the 16th century by Sir John Harrington and it was later owned by George Villiers, the notorious Duke of Buckingham.
Here it was that the tiny Jeffery Hudson, the Rutland Dwarf, leapt out of a pie to the delight of Charles I.
It was destroyed by Cromwell's army and the present house was completed in 1700, and converted into apartments in the 1990s.
Holy Cross Church, restored in the 19th century, has traces of Norman work. It is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.
On the Village Green is a smithy, referred to in the poem "Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree". It was a feature of Cherry Blossom shoe polish advertisements.
Outside the present village are the earthworks of Mount Alstoe, an Anglo-Saxon moot (meeting place) which was converted into a motte and bailey castle.