Rutland Rutland The Gift Category="Rutland"

: This article is about the county in England. For other articles on subjects named Rutland, see Rutland (disambiguation).

Rutland
[image]
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
[image]
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.

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

Districts of England - East Midlands	[image]
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''

History

Towns and villages

Trivia

External links

See also