County Dossier
Rutland
A little county with a long, proud independence.
Rutland is an inland county in the English Midlands and holds the distinction of being the smallest in England. The county is almost entirely agricultural, dotted with charming villages where cottages of limestone and ironstone, often with thatched or Collyweston stone slate roofs, give a timeless character.
At a glance
Rutland at a glance
A little county with a long, proud independence.
- Motto = Multum in Parvo
- Lordship > county by 1159
- England's smallest county
- Area: 152 sq miles
- Population: 37,677
- County Top: Flitteris Park
County Geography
Rutland is enclosed by Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, and Northamptonshire.
The Vale of Catmose lies at its centre, with limestone uplands and shallow watershed country enclosing the county on all sides. Its unusual feature is scale: Rutland is small, but its form is clean and easily read on the ground.
Rutland is easy to recognise through the central vale, surrounding ridges, and short internal routes between Oakham, Uppingham, and the eastern villages. Its geography is compact, but it is not fragmentary.
Later administrative changes did not alter that geography. Vale, ridge, village pattern, and market-town pair still describe the same county.
Map Reference
View Rutland on the map
Rutland is the county. The map also shows lieutenancies and council areas that use the county name.
The county.
The lieutenancy.
Council areas.
Places and routes
Oakham, Uppingham, Ketton, and Lyddington belong to the county’s story, alongside the Vale of Catmose, the limestone ridges, the Gwash valley, and the eastern stone-built village country.
Connections
Movement through Rutland followed short routes across the Vale of Catmose, south-east toward Ketton, and west-east links between Oakham, Uppingham, and the surrounding villages. Those corridors made the county function as a small but self-contained unit.
Names
- Rutland
- County of Rutland
County of Rutland is the formal historical style used alongside Rutland. The county name stands on its own without requiring a wider regional label.
Recognised as a county by the twelfth century, Rutland retained its identity as a single geographic county, with its vale, ridges, and market-town pattern still clearly intact.