Rutland

Rutland
Unitary authority and ceremonial county
Oakham Buttercross; Rutland Water and Normanton Church; Uppingham High Street East.
Motto:  Multum in Parvo ("Much in little")
Rutland within England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East Midlands
Ceremonial county	Rutlandshire (1204-1974)
Ceremonial county	Leicestershire (1974-1997)
Ceremonial county	Rutland (1997-present)
Settled	1155
Ceremonial county	1204
Made a district of Leicestershire and loss of its county status	1974
Separated from Leicestershire and became a county again	April 1997
Founded by	Edward the Confessor
Named for	Edith of Wessex
Administrative HQ	Oakham
Government
• Type	Unitary authority and county
• Lord-Lieutenant of Rutland	Sarah Furness
• High Sheriff of Rutland	David Wood[1] (2021–22)
Area
• Total	147 sq mi (382 km2)
• Rank	294th
Population  (2022)
• Total	41,151
• Rank	294th
• Density	280/sq mi (110/km2)
• Rank	280th
Time zone	UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
Postcodes	LE14-15
Area code	01572
ONS code	E06000017 (GSS)
Website	rutland.gov.uk

Rutland (/ˈrʌtlənd/), sometimes archaically called Rutlandshire,^[2] is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town.

Rutland has an area of 382 km² (147 sq mi) and a population of 41,049, the second-smallest ceremonial county population after the City of London. The county is rural, and the only towns are Oakham (12,149) and Uppingham (4,745), both in the west of the county; the largest settlement in the east is the village of Ketton (1,926). For local government Rutland is a unitary authority area. The county was historically the smallest in England, a fact reflected in the motto of the county council: Multum in Parvo, or "much in little".^[3]

The geography of Rutland is characterised by low, rolling hills, the highest of which is a 197 m (646 ft) point in Cold Overton Park. In the 1970s a large artificial reservoir, Rutland Water, was created in the centre of the county. It is now a nature reserve, serving as an overwintering site for wildfowl and a breeding site for ospreys. The older buildings in the county are built from local limestone or ironstone, and many have roofs of Collyweston stone slate or thatch.

There is little evidence of Prehistoric settlement in the county, though Roman habitation is suggested by the discovery of a large Roman mosaic and probable farming complex just west of Ketton.^[4] It was certainly settled by the Angles from the fifth century and later formed part of Mercia. It is not mentioned as a distinct county until 1179, and during the Domesday Survey was treated as part of Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire. During the High Middle Ages much of the county was forested and used as hunting grounds, a tradition which continues to the present with packs such as the Cottesmore Hunt. The county's main industry is agriculture, with wool being particularly important in the sixteenth century, and there is a limestone quarry near Ketton. Rutland bitter is a distinctive ale associated with the village of Langham.^[5][6][7][8]