Cottesmore Religious Houses.[1]

Wesleyan Methodists

Methodists were meeting in Cottesmore as early as 1810 when they met in the house of Richard Cramp. It was registered on the 23^rd of March with Richard and his wife each giving their mark.

There were Wesleyan Methodist meetings in Cottesmore  in 1851 according to the Religious Register. They met in a room of a private house with services held on Sunday evenings and fortnightly on Tuesday evenings. Average attendance was about 25. Their leader was a John Almond but the meeting seemed to ben dissolved later in the same year.

Protestant Dissenters

In 1813 a house belonging to Thomas Atkinson was registered to allow preaching. A further dwelling house belonging to William Cox was similarly registered for preaching on 1^st December 1827.

Cottesmore Methodist Church (formerly Primitive Methodist Chapel)

In about 1870 the Primitive Methodist Superintendent Minister of the Oakham Circuit, Theophilus Parr, went to preach on the Green at Cottesmore. A few people turned and he announced future services. The numbers increased and he was asked to come on a Sunday. On a very busy day with events in Langham Hambleton and Oakham he managed a service in Cottesmore where he claimed 500 people attended.

The following year it is recorded That Reverend Parr asked the Quarterly Meeting that Cottesmore should be part of the Plan and 1880 a cottage was converted into a chapel with the first preacher being Mr S Pains. The chapel was situated at the top of Clatterpot Lane and is now a private welling. Lord Gainsborough, who owned much if the village and was a Roman Catholic, would not allow a Non-conformist chapel in the village centre.

By 1897 Cottesmore appears on the Primitive Methodist Preachers Plan as having services each Sunday at 2.30 pm and 6pm. There also appears to have been a service on alternative Tuesdays.

During the World War II the church was visited by American airmen from the local airbase. The chapel closed in about 1964 and became aprivate residence called ‘The Old Chapel House’.

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[1] Extract from Rutland in Dissent by Pauline Colletett published by Spiegl Press Stamford