St Matthews Church, the private chapel to the Normanton Estate, was lucky to have escaped being demolished as it was below the high water line of the proposed reservoir. It was deconsecrated in 1970 and a Trust was formed to try and ensure its preservation.









Various alternatives were considered but the adopted plan was to fill the lower half of the church to just below window level with limestone and rubble capped with concrete.




Externally, a bank was to be built to give protection from the water, and a causeway was to be laid to provide access. It is now a Water Museum and it is a dominant feature in the landscape at Rutland Water. Normanton church as a building was saved, but inevitably other buildings were lost, including a number of farms and one entire village. The hamlet of Nether Hambleton was a small community of houses and farms at the western end of the south arm of the proposed reservoir. It came as a severe blow to the inhabitants on realizing that they were to lose their homes, and some their livelihoods.