Rutland
- This article is about the county in England. For other articles on subjects named Rutland, see Rutland (disambiguation).
| Rutland | |
|---|---|
| Image:EnglandRutland.png | |
| Geography | |
| Status: | Ceremonial county and Unitary District |
| Region: | East Midlands |
| Area: - Total - District | Ranked 45th 382 km² Ranked 118th |
| Admin HQ: | Oakham |
| ISO 3166-2: | GB-RUT |
| ONS code: | 00FP |
| NUTS 3: | UKF22 |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total (2003 est.) - Density - District | Ranked 47th 35,651 91 / km² Ranked 348th |
| Ethnicity: | 98.1% White |
| Politics | |
| Rutland County Council http://www.rutland.gov.uk/ | |
| Executive: | Conservative |
| MP: | Alan Duncan |
Rutland is traditionally England's smallest county and is bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire, and southeast by Northamptonshire.
Its greatest length north to south is only 18 miles; greatest breadth east to west, 17 miles. It is the smallest (in terms of area) normal unitary authority in mainland England (only the City of London is smaller), and is 345th of the 350 districts in terms of population.
The two principal towns are Oakham, the county town, and Uppingham. At the centre of the county is a large reservoir, Rutland Water, which 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.
The highest point of the county is Cold Overton Park at 646 ft. (197 m).
The county's small size led ex-Monty Python man, Eric Idle to name his "solo" series Rutland Weekend Television. The most successful spinoff of this is The Rutles which mentions Rutland frequently as an injoke.
Contents |
History
Main article: History of Rutland.
The north-western 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.
In the 19th century it was divided into the hundreds of Alstoe, East, Martinsley, Oakham and Wrandike.
The administrative county was made a district of Leicestershire in the local government reorganisation of 1974, but was restored to top-level authority status by popular demand on 1 April 1997. There are 26 county councillors representing 16 wards.
Towns and villages
See the list of places in Rutland. and List of civil parishes in Rutland
Places of interest
Rivers
Trivia
Following Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait in August 1990, The Independent featured a cartoon with the sign 'Rutland: Twinned with Kuwait'.
External links
See also
| United Kingdom | England | Ceremonial counties of England | Image:England flag.svg |
|
Bedfordshire | Berkshire | City of Bristol | Buckinghamshire | Cambridgeshire | Cheshire | Cornwall | Cumbria | Derbyshire | Devon | Dorset | Durham | East Riding of Yorkshire | East Sussex | Essex | Gloucestershire | Greater London | Greater Manchester | Hampshire | Herefordshire | Hertfordshire | Isle of Wight | Kent | Lancashire | Leicestershire | Lincolnshire | City of London | Merseyside | Norfolk | Northamptonshire | Northumberland | North Yorkshire | Nottinghamshire | Oxfordshire | Rutland | Shropshire | Somerset | South Yorkshire | Staffordshire | Suffolk | Surrey | Tyne and Wear | Warwickshire | West Midlands | West Sussex | West Yorkshire | Wiltshire | Worcestershire | |
| United Kingdom | England | Traditional counties of England | Image:England flag.svg |
|
Bedfordshire | Berkshire | Buckinghamshire | Cambridgeshire | Cheshire | Cornwall | Cumberland | Derbyshire | Devon | Dorset | Durham | Essex | Gloucestershire | Hampshire | Herefordshire | Hertfordshire | Huntingdonshire | Kent | Lancashire | Leicestershire | Lincolnshire | Middlesex | Norfolk | Northamptonshire | Northumberland | Nottinghamshire | Oxfordshire | Rutland | Shropshire | Somerset | Staffordshire | Suffolk | Surrey | Sussex | Warwickshire | Westmorland | Wiltshire | Worcestershire | Yorkshire | |
| Districts of England - East Midlands | Image:England flag large.png |
|
Amber Valley | Ashfield | Bassetlaw | Blaby | Bolsover | Boston | Broxtowe | Charnwood | Chesterfield | Corby | Daventry | Derby | Derbyshire Dales | East Lindsey | East Northamptonshire | Erewash | Gedling | Harborough | High Peak | Hinckley and Bosworth | Kettering | Leicester | Lincoln | Mansfield | Melton | Newark and Sherwood | Northampton | North East Derbyshire | North Kesteven | North West Leicestershire | Nottingham | Oadby and Wigston | Rushcliffe | Rutland | South Derbyshire | South Holland | South Kesteven | South Northamptonshire | Wellingborough | West Lindsey | |
|
Administrative counties with multiple districts: Derbyshire - Leicestershire - Lincolnshire - Northamptonshire - Nottinghamshire |