Where is Rutland located?

Rutland is a historic county in England, part of Great Britain.

What archaeological sites are in Rutland?

Rutland contains a variety of archaeological sites spanning prehistoric, Roman, and medieval periods. Aubrey Research can generate a detailed historical report for any specific location within Rutland.

Was Rutland in the Domesday Book?

Yes. As a historic county of England, settlements within Rutland were recorded in William the Conqueror's 1086 Domesday survey.

British Counties›England›Rutland

Historic County of England

Rutland

Q: What is the history of Rutland?

Rutland is a historic county of England. Rutland is England's smallest historic county, its origins as a separate entity going back to the 10th century when it was a royal manor. It was often absorbed into neighbouring counties but always reasserted its separate identity.

County town: Oakham

County origins

Rutland Historical Research

Rutland is England's smallest historic county, its origins as a separate entity going back to the 10th century when it was a royal manor. It was often absorbed into neighbouring counties but always reasserted its separate identity.

Rutland is England's smallest county — 'multum in parvo' ('much in little') is its motto — a compact area of limestone upland and river valleys between Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. Its small size belied its prosperity: the county had some of the richest agricultural land in the East Midlands, and its landowners were among the most powerful in the region. Oakham Castle, whose Norman great hall survives intact, was the caput of the county's medieval lords. Rutland Water, created in the 1970s, is now one of the largest man-made lakes in England. The county was abolished in 1974 but restored in 1997, making it the newest as well as the oldest English county.

Domesday Book 1086

Rutland was surveyed in the Domesday Book of 1086, William the Conqueror's great census of England. The survey recorded 17 settlements in the county, with details of their lords, landholders, population, and resources.

Browse 17 Domesday settlements in Rutland

Domesday settlements

About England's historic counties

England's 39 historic counties, established between the 9th and 12th centuries, are the framework through which English local history, legal records, and landscape have been organised for a thousand years. Most survive today as ceremonial counties, their boundaries deeply embedded in place identity.

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Everything a full report reveals about Rutland

This page introduces the historic county of Rutland. A full Aubrey report for a location within it pulls together everything the record actually holds about that ground, from the geology beneath it to the last coin dropped in a field:

Overview

An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.

Monuments

The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.

Battlefields

The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.

Roman Britain

The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.

Domesday

The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.

Civil War

The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.

Geology

The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.

LiDAR

Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.

Local Names

What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.

Historical Maps

Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.

Literature

The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.

Legal

The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.

Spotlight

A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.

Target Zones

For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.

Timeline

The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.

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Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.

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Scheduled monuments

Rutland contains 30 scheduled monuments — sites of national importance protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

Browse scheduled monuments in England

Scheduled monuments

Aubrey Research

Research Rutland's History

An Aubrey report for a specific location in Rutland draws on historical maps, archaeological records, Domesday data and landscape history to tell the full story of any site in the county.

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