Everything about Rutland totally explained
Rutland is a
county of mainland
England, bounded on the west and north by
Leicestershire, northeast by
Lincolnshire, and southeast by
Peterborough (a
unitary authority in
Cambridgeshire) and
Northamptonshire.
Its greatest length north to south is only, greatest breadth east to west, . It is the smallest (in terms of population) normal unitary authority in mainland England (only the
City of London is smaller), and is 348th of the 354 districts in terms of population. It is traditionally called the smallest English county, although the
Isle of Wight,
Bristol and the former
County of London are all counties and are all smaller in area.
The only towns in Rutland are
Oakham, the
county town, and
Uppingham. At the centre of the county is the large
reservoir Rutland Water, with a similar surface area to
Windermere. It is an important nature reserve serving as an overwintering site for
wildfowl and a breeding site for
ospreys. The town of
Stamford is just over the border in a protruding part of
Lincolnshire.
Rutland's older cottages are built from
limestone or
ironstone and many have roofs of
Collyweston slate or
thatch. The county used to supply iron ore to
Corby steel works but these quarries closed in the 1960s. Agriculture thrives with much
wheat farming on the rich soil. Tourism continues to grow.
Etymology
The origin of the name of the county is unclear. In a 1909 edition of
Notes and Queries Harriot Tabor suggested "that the
name should be Ruthland, and that there's a part of Essex called the Ruth, and that the ancient holders of it were called Ruthlanders, since altered to Rutland", however responses suggest "that Rutland, as a name, was earlier than the
Norman Conquest. Its first mention, as "Roteland", occurs in the will of
King Edward the Confessor; in
Domesday it's "the King's soc of Roteland", not being then a shire; and in the reign of
John it was assigned as a dowry to
Queen Isabella.
The northwestern part of the county was recorded as Rutland, a detached part of
Nottinghamshire, in the
Domesday Book; the south-eastern part as the
wapentake of
Wicelsea in
Northamptonshire. It was first mentioned as a separate county in 1159, but as late as the 14th century it was referred to as the '
Soke of Rutland'. Historically it was also known as Rutlandshire, but in recent times only the shorter name is common.
Rutland may be from
Old English hryþr/
hrythr "cattle" and
land "
land", as a record from 1128 as Ritelanede shows.
History
Earl of Rutland and
Duke of Rutland are titles in the
peerage of England, derived from the historic county of Rutland. The Earl of Rutland was elevated to the status of
Duke in 1703 and the titles were merged. The family seat is at
Belvoir Castle.
The office of
High Sheriff of Rutland was instituted in 1129, and there has been a
Lord Lieutenant of Rutland since at least 1559.
By the time of the 19th century it had been divided into the
hundreds of
Alstoe,
East,
Martinsley,
Oakham and
Wrandike.
Rutland covered parts of three
poor law unions and
rural sanitary districts: those of Oakham, Uppingham and
Stamford. The
registration county of Rutland contained the entirety of Oakham and Uppingham RSDs, which included several parishes in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire – the eastern part in Stamford RSD was included in the Lincolnshire registration county.
In 1894 under the
Local Government Act 1894 the rural sanitary districts were partitioned along county boundaries to form three
rural districts. The part of Oakham and Uppingham RSDs in Rutland formed the
Oakham Rural District and
Uppingham Rural District, with the two parishes from Oakham RSD in Leicestershire becoming part of the
Melton Mowbray Rural District, the nine parishes of Uppingham RSD in Leicestershire becoming the
Hallaton Rural District, and the six parishes of Uppingham RSD in Northamptonshire becoming
Gretton Rural District. Meanwhile, that part of Stamford RSD in Rutland became the
Ketton Rural District.
Oakham was split out from Oakham Rural District in 1911 as an
urban district.
(External Link
)
Rutland was included in the "East Midlands General Review Area" of the 1958–67
Local Government Commission for England. Draft recommendations would have seen Rutland split, with
Ketton Rural District going along with
Stamford to a new administrative county of
Cambridgeshire, and the western part added to
Leicestershire. The final proposals were less radical and instead proposed that Rutland become a single
rural district within the administrative county of Leicestershire.
This victory was to prove only temporary, with Rutland being included in the new non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire under the
Local Government Act 1972, from
1 April 1974. Under proposals for non-metropolitan districts Rutland would have been paired with what now constitutes the
Melton district – the revised and implemented proposals made Rutland a standalone non-metropolitan district (breaking the 40,000 minimum population barrier).
In 1994, the
Local Government Commission for England, which was conducting a structural review of English local government, recommended that Rutland become a unitary authority. This was implemented on
April 1,
1997, with Rutland regaining a
separate Lieutenancy and shrievalty as well as its council regaining control of county functions such as education and social services.
Royal Mail included Rutland in the Leicestershire postal county in 1974. After a lengthy and well organised campaign, and despite a code of practice which excludes amendments to former postal counties, the Royal Mail agreed to create a postal county of Rutland in 2007. This was achieved in January 2008 by amending the former postal county for all of the
Oakham (
LE15) post town and a small part of the
Market Harborough (LE16) post town.
The council remained formally a non-metropolitan district council, with
wards rather than electoral divisions, but has renamed the district to '
Rutland County Council' to allow it to use that name. This means the full legal name of the council is Rutland County Council District Council.
Under the Poor Laws, Oakham Union workhouse was built in 1836–37 at a site to the north-east of the town, with room for 100 paupers. The building later operated as the Catmose Vale Hospital, and now forms part of the
Oakham School.
Workhouses website
Politics
There are 26 councillors representing 16 wards on
Rutland County Council (
unitary authority).
Rutland formed a Parliamentary constituency on its own until 1918, when it became part of the
Rutland and Stamford constituency, along with Stamford in Lincolnshire. Since 1983 it has formed part of the
Rutland and Melton constituency along with
Melton borough and part of
Harborough district from Leicestershire.
Conservative MP Alan Duncan is the Member of Parliament for Rutland. He was the first openly
gay Conservative MP. He has been representing Rutland and Melton since 1992.
Demographics
The population in the 2001 Census was 34,560, a rise of 4% on the 1991 total of 33,228. This is a population density of 87 people per square kilometre. 1.9% of the population are from ethnic minority backgrounds compared to 9.1% nationally.
| Year |
Population |
| 1831 |
19,380 |
| 1861 |
21,861 |
| 1871 |
22,073 |
| 1881 |
21,434 |
| 1891 |
20,659 |
| 1901 |
19,709 |
| 1991 |
33,228 |
| 2001 |
34,560 |
In December 2006,
Sport England published a survey which revealed that residents of Rutland were the 6th most active in England in sports and other fitness activities. 27.4% of the population participate at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes.
Rutland is the county in England with the highest Total Fertility Rate at 2.81.
(External Link)
Geography
The particular geology of the area has given its name to the Rutland Formation which was formed from muds and sand carried down by rivers and occurring as bands of different colours, each with many fossil shells at the bottom. At the bottom of the Rutland Formation is a bed of dirty white sandy silt. Under the Rutland Formation is a formation called the Lincolnshire Limestone. The best exposure of this limestone (and also the Rutland Formation) is at the Castle Cement quarry just outside
Ketton.
Rutland is dominated by
Rutland Water, a large
artificial lake formerly known "Empingham Reservoir", in the middle of the county, which is almost bisected by a large spit of land. The west part is in the
Vale of Catmose. Rutland Water, when construction started in 1971, became Europe's largest man-made lake; construction was completed in 1975, and filling the lake took a further four years. This has now been voted Rutland's favourite tourist attraction.
The highest point of the county is at Flitteris (a farm east of
Cold Overton Park) at 197 m (646 ft) above sea level. Grid Reference: SK8271708539
The lowest point is a section of secluded farmland near Belmesthorpe, 17 m (56 feet) above sea level. Grid Reference: TF056611122
Rivers
Economy
There are 17,000 people of working age in Rutland, of which the highest percentage (30.8%) work in Public Administration, Education and Health, closely followed by 29.7% in Distribution, Hotels and Restaurants and 16.7% in Manufacturing industries. Significant employers include
Lands' End in Oakham and
Castle Cement in Ketton. It is 348th out of 354 on the
Indices of Deprivation for England, showing it to be one of the least deprived areas in the country.
The
Ruddles brewery was
Langham's biggest industry until the brewery was closed in 1997.
In March 2007 Rutland became only the fourth
Fairtrade County.
Other employers in Rutland include two
Ministry of Defence bases -
RAF Cottesmore and St George's Barracks (previously
RAF North Luffenham), two public schools - Oakham and Uppingham - and two prisons - Ashwell and
Stocken.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire and Rutland at current basic prices
published (pp.240-253) by
Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year |
Regional Gross Value Added |
Agriculture |
Industry |
Services |
| 1995 |
6,666 |
145 |
2,763 |
3,758 |
| 2000 |
7,813 |
112 |
2,861 |
4,840 |
| 2003 |
9,509 |
142 |
3,045 |
6,321 |
includes hunting and forestry
includes energy and construction
includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
Trivia
The castle in Oakham is little more than an old Great Hall, but features a large collection of horseshoes. These have been presented over the years by royalty, and some are significantly more elaborate than others. The horseshoe features prominently on the county coat of arms.
Rutlanders were proverbially called Raddlemen.
The events in several Peter F. Hamilton books (like Misspent Youth and Mindstar Rising) are situated in Rutland, where the author lives.
The county's small size has led to a number of joke references such as Rutland Weekend Television, a television series hosted by Eric Idle.
In the first episode of the British comedy series Blackadder, the title character claims that if he loses a battle "I'll be chopped to pieces ... my genitalia stuck up a tree somewhere in Rutland". From this point on, there are continuous references to this notion.
Rutland is the only county in England without a McDonald's restaurant.
Traditions
Rutland has many varied traditions.
Letting of the Banks (Whissendine): Banks are pasture land, this traditionally occurs on the third week of March
Rush Bearing & Rush Strewing (Barrowden): Reeds are gathered in the church meadow on the eve of St Peter’s Day and placed on the church floor (late June, early July)
Uppingham Market was granted by Charter in 1281 by Edward I.
Schools
Oakham School (public school)
Uppingham School (public school)
Vale of Catmose College
Uppingham Community College
Casterton Business and Enterprise College
The above colleges are for pupils in years 7-11 (ages 11-16), they're not FE or Sixth Form colleges.
Places of interest
Further Information
Get more info on 'Rutland'.
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