| The smallest County in England, with an area of about 400 km2 and a population around 35 000. It is also called Rutlandshire. Its county town is Oakham. The arms of Rutland allude to this by featuring acorns and a horseshoe.
It contains the Ruddles brewery, and a large artifical lake called Rutland Water, created in 1976, famous for its birdlife. A famous Rutlander was Titus Oates, he of the Popish plot.
Rutland has existed continuously since Anglo-Saxon times (named after someone called Rota), but between 1974 and 1996 the two Counties of Rutlandshire and Leicestershire were grouped for administrative purposes into an administrative county also called Leicestershire. This was scorned by the locals and Rutland is now governed as a unitary authority. | 
