The church in the water

St Matthew’s Church in Normanton looks permanently on the verge of being drowned by the rising waters of Rutland Water – and it is. In fact half of this now deconsecrated chapel is beneath the waterline, its floor filled with rubble and capped with concrete. Scheduled to be knocked down during construction of the reservoir, Rutlanders’ outcry stilled the wrecking ball, and now the 1764 reconstruction of a medieval church is available to hire from Anglian Water as a wedding venue.