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St Mary the Virgin’s Church, in the villageSmall rural collection of buildings with a church. of Bottesford, Leicestershire, is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Framland, the archdeaconry of Leicester and the diocese of Leicester. It is one of the nine churches in the beneficeOriginally used in feudal societies to describe a grant of land as a reward for services rendered. In modern usage it refers to a collection of parishes working together under a single incumbent. of Vale of Belvoir Par.[1] St Mary’s is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed buildingStructure of particular architectural and/or historic interest deserving of special protection..[2]
The oldest part of the church, the chancelPart of a church containing the altar, used by the officiating clergy., dates from the 13th century. The north transeptPart of a Christian church crossing the area between the nave and the chancel, forming a characteristic cruciform shape., south aisle and south porch date from the 14th century, the north aisle and south transept from the 15th century. The west tower and spire were also originally 15th-century, but were completely rebuilt in 1876, followed by many further restoration projects later that century.[2]
The chancel was rebuilt in the 17th century to accommodate the monuments of the Manners family, earls (later dukes) of Rutland.[3] One of the Rutland tombs commemorates the unusual deaths of two young boys, Henry and Francis Manners, heirs to the 6th Earl and Countess of Rutland, who were alleged to have been killed by the Witches of BelvoirMother and her two daughters accused of causing the deaths by witchcraft of two young nobles, Henry and Francis Manners.. Its inscription notes that the boys “died in their infancy by wicked practices and sorcerye”, the only known tomb in England to determine witchcraft as a cause of death.[4]
Organ
A pipe organ built by Forster and Andrews of Hull was installed in 1859, modified by Wadsworth of Manchester in 1892.[5] Norman Hall and Sons replaced it in 1995 with a second-hand organ by T. C. Lewis from St Hugh’s Church, Bermondsey. The organ comprises two manuals and pedals and has fifteen speaking stops.[6]