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Rutland 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 and county town.
Rutland has an area of 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 purposes Rutland is a unitary authority area. The county was the smallest of the historic counties of England.
The geography of Rutland is characterised by low, rolling hills, the highest of which is a point in Cold Overton Park. Rutland Water was created in the centre of the county in the 1970s; the Water reservoir is a nature reserve that serves as an overwintering site for wildfowl and a breeding site for .
There is little evidence of Prehistoric settlement in Rutland; however, a Roman Britain mosaic and probable farming complex is located west of the village of Ketton. The area was settled by the Angles from the 5th century and later formed part of the kingdom of Mercia. Rutland was first mentioned as a distinct county in 1179, and during the High Middle Ages much of it was forested and used as hunting grounds. The wool trade was important during the 16th century. The older buildings in the county are built from local limestone or ironstone, and many have roofs of Collyweston stone slate or thatch. Rutland's main industry is agriculture, and there is a limestone quarry near Ketton.
The office of High Sheriff of Rutland was instituted in 1129, and there has been a Lord Lieutenant of Rutland since at least 1559. Oakham Castle was built β1190 and is "one of the nationβs best-preserved Norman buildings" and is a Grade I listed building. By the 19th century it had been divided into the hundreds of Alstoe, East Rutland, Martinsley, Oakham and Wrandike.
Rutland covered parts of three poor law unions and rural sanitary districts (RSDs): 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 β the eastern part in Stamford RSD was included in the Lincolnshire registration county. Under the Poor Laws, Oakham Union workhouse was built in 1836β37 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.]]In 1894, under the Local Government Act 1894, the rural sanitary districts were partitioned along county boundaries to form three . 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 Urban District was created from Oakham Rural District in 1911. It was subsequently abolished in 1974.
On 1 August 1963 the Minister of Housing and Local Government, Sir Keith Joseph, announced that the proposed merger with Leicestershire would not be implemented, citing Rutland's case as "unique", while the opposition alleged that cancelling the merger was a purely political consideration seeking to appease Tory voters in Rutland who did not want to see their county lose its status. The historian Alexander Hutton suggests that the 1962 by-elections in Orpington (where the Liberal Party successfully campaigned as a protest vote against local government reorganisation) and Leicester North East (where Conservative activists from Rutland and Leicestershire refused to campaign, instead endorsing the Liberals) caused the Conservative government to reverse their decision regarding Rutland.
Rutland was a postal county until Royal Mail integrated it into the Leicestershire postal county in 1974. After a lengthy campaign, Stamford Mercury, MP wins seven-year postal address battle , 5 November 2007. and despite counties no longer being required for postal purposes,Royal Mail, ftp://ftp.royalmail.com/Downloads/public/ctf/rm/PAF_Code_of_Practice_March_2004_2.pdf, (2004) Royal Mail agreed to re-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.AFD Software β Latest PAF Data News
Rutland is dominated by Rutland Water, a large reservoir formerly known as Empingham Reservoir, in the middle of the county, which is almost bisected by the Hambleton Peninsula. The west part is in the Vale of Catmose. Rutland Water, when construction started in 1971, became the largest man-made lake in Europe; construction was completed in 1975, and filling the lake took a further four years. This has been voted Rutland's favourite tourist attraction.
The highest point of the county is at Cold Overton Park (historically part of Flitteriss Park) at 197 m (646 ft) above sea level close to the west border (Ordnance Survey Grid reference: SK8271708539). The lowest point is close to the east border, in secluded farmland at North Lodge Farm, northeast of Belmesthorpe, at just 17 m (56 feet) above sea level (OS Grid reference: TF056611122); this corner of the county is on the edge of The Fens and is drained by the West Glen.
The Ruddles Brewery was Langham's biggest industry until it was closed in 1997. Rutland bitter is one of only three UK beers to have achieved Protected Geographical Indication status; this followed an application by Ruddles. When Greene King, the owners of Ruddles, closed the Langham brewery it was unable to take advantage of the registration. However, in 2010 a Rutland Bitter was launched by Oakham's Grainstore Brewery.
It is 348th out of 354 on the Indices of Deprivation for England, showing it to be one of the least economically deprived areas in the country.
In March 2007 Rutland became only the fourth Fairtrade county.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire and Rutland at current basic prices with figures in millions of Pound sterling.
| 3,758 |
| 4,840 |
| 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.
As far as the National Health Service is concerned Rutland is generally treated as part of Leicestershire.
Following the 2023 council elections, the Liberal Democrats emerged as the largest group and subsequently formed a cabinet led by Gale Waller.
As at the 2024 general election, Alicia Kearns of the Conservative Party is the member of Parliament for Rutland and Stamford, having received 43.7% of the vote.
| 1831 | 19,380 |
| 1861 | 21,861 |
| 1871 | 22,073 |
| 1881 | 21,434 |
| 1891 | 20,659 |
| 1901 | 19,709 |
| 1991 | 33,228 |
| 2001 | 34,560 |
| 2011 | 37,400 |
| 2021 | 41.049 |
At the 2021 census the demographics for the county were recorded as follow:
Rutland had a recorded population of 41,049 at the 2021 census, an increase from the previous population recorded of 37,369 at the 2011 census and 34,563 at the 2001 census. At the 2021 census there was an estimated 21,072 men and 19,977 women living in Rutland.
The county had an ethnicity makeup at the 2021 census of:
The county's religious makeup at the 2021 census was:
In 2006 it was reported that Rutland has the highest fertility rate of any English county β the average woman having 2.81 children, compared with only 1.67 in Tyne and Wear.
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.
In 2012 the well-being report by the Office for National Statistics found Rutland to be the "happiest county" in the mainland UK.
Rutland was the last county in England without a direct rail service to London (apart from the Isle of Wight and several administrative counties which are unitary authorities). East Midlands Trains started running a single service from Oakham railway station to London St Pancras via Corby on 27 April 2009.
Through the Rutland Electric Car Project, Rutland was the first county to offer a county-wide public electric-vehicle charging network.
The events in several of Peter F. Hamilton's novels (including Misspent Youth and Mindstar Rising) are situated in Rutland, where the author lives. Adam Croft is writing the Rutland crime series, beginning with What Lies Beneath (2020).
Rutland was the last English county without a branch of the American fast-food chain McDonald's. However, in January 2020 a planning application for a McDonald's restaurant on the outskirts of Oakham was approved by the County Council, and it opened on 4 November 2020.
State schools include Catmose College, Uppingham Community College and Casterton College for secondary education and Harington School for sixth form.
Independent, fee-paying schools include Uppingham School and Oakham School, offering both secondary education and sixth form.
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