Tolethorpe Hall

Tolethope Hall in the parish of Little Casterton, Rutland, England, PE9 4BH is a country house near Stamford, Lincolnshire at grid reference TF023104. It is now the location of the Rutland Theatre of the Stamford Shakespeare Company.

From the A1 Great North Road, southbound, Tolethorpe Hall may be approached from the Old Great North Road (B1081) through the village of Little Casterton. It is about two miles (3 km) from the A1. The grounds of Tolethorpe occupy about seven acres.

For 800 years from around 1088 until 1839 it was the home of three distinguished families, the de Tolethorpes (1088–1316), the Burtons (1316–1503) and the Brownes (1503–1839).

Sir Thomas Burton (c.1369–1438) was MP for Rutland three times and High Sheriff of Rutland three times.

Francis Browne was MP for Stamford and High Sheriff for 1524. His grandson Robert Browne (c. 1550-1633), born at Tolethorpe, became the leader of the Brownists, early advocates of a congregational form of organisation for the Church of England. Having in 1580 attempted to set up a separate church in Norwich, he moved to Middelburg in the Netherlands in 1581. He returned to England and to the Church of England, being employed as a schoolmaster and parish priest.

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