Normanton was the possession of the De Normanvilles for fourteen generations following the
Norman Conquest. The estate then passed in 1446 to Alice Basings who was married to Thomas Mackworth, of
Mackworth, Derbyshire. The house was then in the possession of the Mackworths for several generations. Thomas Mackworth,
High Sheriff of Rutland for 1599 and 1609, was created a
baronet on 4 June 1619.
Sir Thomas Mackworth, 4th Baronet, was ruined by electioneering costs in the early 1720s and was forced to sell. The estate was bought by
Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 1st Baronet,
Lord Mayor of London, in 1729. His son,
Sir John Heathcote, 2nd Baronet, rebuilt the hall between 1735 and 1740 to the design of Henry Joynes In the 18th century the village was cleared to make a park for the estate of the Heathcote family with the population mainly re-housed in
Empingham, and the old church on the estate was rebuilt in 1764 by the 3rd Baronet. , now on the shore of
Rutland Water In 1827
Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 5th Baronet (later Lord Aveland), married
Clementina Willoughby (later Baroness Willoughby d'Eresby), who was heiress to the Ancaster estates. The stable block of the hall is now the Normanton Park Hotel.
St Matthew's Church, Normanton, due to be demolished with the construction of Rutland Water, has been rescued and is reachable by a causeway. ==References==