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Rutland, in the Saxon Roteland, is in a manner encompassed with Leicestershire; unless on the South, where it lies on the river Welland, and on the East, where it borders on the county of Lincoln. It is no way inferior to Leicestershire, either in richness of soil, or pleasantness of situation; but only for its quantity, in which respect it is much inferior, being the least county of all England. Its form is almost circular, and contains within its compass so much ground as a good horseman may ride about in one day. Hence it is, that the people of this country have a story of I know not what King, who gave to one Rut as much land as he could ride about in a day; and he riding round this county within the time specified, had it thereupon given him, and called it after his own name. But let such fables vanish: we will not injure truth with idle fancies. In regard therefore, that the earth of this county is in many places so ruddy that it colours the fleeces of the sheep; and considering that the Saxons called a red colour roet and rud, why may we not suspect that Rutland was so named, quasi redland? As the poet says, conveniunt rebus nomina saepe suis i.e. "there's commonly an agreement between names and things."

several places among all nations have been named from redness; Rhuddlan Castle in Wales built on a red shore, the Red Promontory, the Red Sea between Egypt and Arabia, Erytheia in Ionia; and several other instances evince the same thing. There is therefore no occasion to listen to fables for this etymology.

this little parcel of land has made a county but of late days; for in the time of Edward the Confessor, it was esteemed a part of Northamptonshire. And our historians who writ before the last 300 years, mention not this in the number of the counties.

wash, or Gwash, a rivulet rising in the West, runs to the East, almost through the very middle of this county, and divides it into two parts. In the hithermost, or South division, stands Uppingham on a rising ground, from whence it had its name. It is not memorable for anything besides a well-frequented market, and a handsome school, which (as also another at Ockham) R. Johnson a divine, with a laudable design for the good education of youth, lately erected out of certain contributions.

below this stands Stoke Dry, which I cannot omit, in regard it hath been an old seat of that famous and ancient family of the Digbys. Which (I grieve to utter it, but all men know it.) Everard Digby hath now branded with an eternal mark of infamy by wickedly conspiring with those wretched incendiaries, who designed with one single charge of gun-powder to have destroyed both their Prince and country. More eastward upon the river Welland I saw nothing remarkable, unless it be Berohdon, now Barrowden, which Thomas Beauchamp Earl of Warwick held with South Luffenham and other hamlets, by service to the King's Chamberlain in the Exchequer.

in the furthermost division, beyond the river, encompassed with hills, lies the pleasant and fruitful valley, now called the Vale of Catmose, perhaps from coet maes, which in the British tongue signifies a woody field or ground. In the midst of which vale, stands Ockham, that seems for the same reason to have taken its name from oaks. Near the church, which is large and fair, are still remaining the ruinous walls of an old castle, built, as is reported by Walkelin de Ferrers in the beginning of the Normans. He was a younger son to William de Ferrers Earl of Derby, and held Ockham by the service of one knight's fee and a half, 12 Hen. 2. And that it was the habitation of the Ferrars, besides the authority of tradition, is sufficiently evident from the horse-shoes, (which that family gave for their arms) nailed on the gates, and in the hall. Afterwards this town belonged to the Lords of Tatteshall. But when King Richard 2 advanced Edward, son of the Duke of York, to the title of Earl of Rutland, he also gave him this castle. In the memory of the last age it came to Thomas Cromwell, and, as I have read, he was Baron Cromwell of Wimbledon, but not of Ockham. See the printed stat. of 31 Hen. 8 concerning gavelkind.<290> Henry 8 advanced this person to the highest dignity; but soon after, when by his many projects he had exposed himself to the storms of envy, on a sudden he deprived him both of life and honours.

Eastward from hence is Burley, most pleasantly situated, overlooking the vale. This is now the magnificent seat of the Harringtons, who by marriage with the daughter and heir of Culpepper, came to so large an inheritance in those parts, that ever since they have been a flourishing family: in like manner as the Culpeppers were before them, to whom, by N. Green, the great estate of the Bruces did in part descend. Which Bruces being of the chief nobility of England, matched into the royal family of Scotland; from whom, by Robert the eldest brother, the royal line of the Scots, and by Bernard a younger brother, the Cottons of Conington in the county of Huntingdon, (of whom I have already spoken) and these Harringtons, are descended. Upon which account, K. James dignified Sir John Harrington, a most famous and worthy knight, with the title of Baron Harrington of Exton a town adjacent, where be hath also another fair house.

on the East side of this county, near the river Gwash, lie Brigcasterton (of which more hereafter,) and Ryhall, where, when superstition had so bewitched our ancestors that it had almost removed the true God by the multiplicity of gods, one Tibba, a saint of the lesser rank, was worshiped by falconers, as a second Diana, and reputed a kind of patroness of falconry. Next adjoining is Essendon, whose Lord, Robert Cecil, (the excellent son of an excellent father who was the support of our kingdom,) was lately created by King James, Baron Cecil of Essendon.

this little county, Edward the Confessor devised by his last will to his wife Edith, conditionally, that after her death it should go to St. Peter's at Westminster. These are the words of the testament: I will, that after the decease of Queen Eadgith my wife, Roteland, with all things thereunto belonging, be given to my monastery of the most blessed Peter, and that it be surrendered without delay to the Abbot and monks there serving God, for ever. But this testament of his was vacated by William the Norman, who keeping a great part of this estate to himself, divided the rest to Judith the Countess (whose daughter married David K. of Scots) to Robert Mallet, Ogier, Gislebert of Gaunt, Earl Hugh, Alberic the clerk, and others. But to Westminster he left indeed at first the tithes, but afterwards only the church of Ockham with the appendices [or chapelries] thereunto belonging.

this county cannot boast of many earls. The first Earl of Rutland was Edward, eldest son of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York; who, by the special favour of K. Rich. 2 was created during the life of his father, and after that by the same King declared Duke of Albemarle. This is he who wickedly conspired to remove K. Hen. 4 and then with like levity discovered the conspiracy. But after his father's death, being Duke of York, he was slain valiantly fighting amidst the thickest of the enemies at the battle of Agincourt. A good while after, succeeded in this title Edward, the young son of Richard Duke of York, who was slain with his father at the battle of Wakefield, during the dismal times of those civil wars. Many years after that, Henr. 8 advanced Thomas Manors to the earldom of Rutland, who in right of Eleanor his grandmother was then possessed of the large and noble inheritance of the Barons Roos, lying in the neighbouring parts. To him succeeded Henry; and after him Edward his son, to whom (not to say more) that of the poet is most truly and properly applicable:

— nomen virtutibus aequat,
nec sinit ingenium nobilitate premi.
— in virtues as in titles great,
nor lets his honour soar above his wit.

but he dying young, left his honours to John his brother; and he also being soon after cut off by death, Roger his son became his successor, who discovers all the marks of the nobility of his ancestors.

this little county is adorned with 48 parish churches.

additions to Rutlandshire.

what the original of this county's name was, we are in a great measure in the dark; for as Mr. Camden's roet and rud will not do, because we are assured there is nothing in the county to justify such a conjecture; so Mr. Wright's rotelandia quasi rotunda-landia, will hardly pass, till we can give some probable account how it came by a Latin name, more than other parts of England. The Conquest could not bring it in, because we find it called so in the time of Edward the Confessor; and beside, so much of it as belonged to Nottinghamshire, (to which the name Roteland was given before the rest came to be part of it) is far from making a circular figure, how round soever it may be when all together.

when the county of Rutland came to be distinct, or upon what occasion; is altogether unknown. Mr. Camden says, that authors 300 years old make no mention of it as of a separate shire; but that it was distinct before, is certain; for in the 5th of King John, Isabel his new Queen had, at her coronation, assigned her in parliament for her dowry among other lands, Com. Roteland. & villam de Rokingham in com. Northampt.<291> &c. And in 12 Johan the custos did account for the profits of this county in the exchequer. Which custos can relate to nothing but the sheriff of the county, who was and still is as it were a guard; and his office is implied in his name scyre-gerefa, from which sheriff is contracted, signifying no more than a keeper of the county.

In the South part of this county lies Uppingham, the site whereof will hardly bear Mr. Camden's derivation from an ascent, the ground upon which it stands being something above a level, but hardly amounting to a hill. Johnson who is said to have built the school, was called Robert; and beside that, built two hospitals, one at Ockham, and another here at Uppingham.

near this place is Lyddington, where, about the year 1602 Thomas Lord Burghley settled an hospital or alms-house, for a warden, 12 poor men, and 2 poor women; which he called Jesus-Hospital. And in the same hundred at Morcott was another, founded in the time of King James 1 By one Gilson, for six poor people.

next is Stoke Dry; where, as the family of the Digbys has been rendered infamous by Sir Everard, so by his eldest son Sir Kenelm Digby, a person of noted worth and learning, hath it received no small honour.

more towards the North is Ockham, where is an ancient custom continued to this day, that every Baron of the realm, the first time he comes through this town, shall give a horse-shoe to nail upon the Castle Gate; which if he refuses, the bailiff of that manor has power to stop his coach, and take one off his horse's foot. But commonly they give 5, 10, or 20 shillings, more or less as they please; and in proportion to the gift, the shoe is made larger or smaller, with the name and titles of the donor cut upon it; and so 'tis nailed upon the gate.

In the year 1619 was born here a dwarf scarce 18 inches in height, when a year old. His father was a lusty stout man, and so were all his other children. Being taken into the family of the late Duke of Buckingham, when the court came progress that way, he was served up to the table in a cold pie. Between the 7th and the 30th year of his age, he grew not much; but a little after 30 he shot up to that heighth which he remained at in his old age, i.e. About 3 foot and 9 inches. See Wright's Rutlandshire, pag. 105.

in the 22nd of K. Rich. 2 William Dalby of Exton, a merchant of the staple,<292> founded an hospital at Ockham for the maintenance of 2 chaplains and 12 poor men, endowing the same with a revenue of 40l. per ann. It is still in being, but extremely decayed, impoverished, and different from its first institution. About the ruins of the old castle wall there grows Daneweed,<270> which comes up every spring, and dies in the fall.

North from hence lies Market Overton, where Mr. Camden, in his edition of 1590 places the Margidunum of Antoninus, and calls it Marged-Overton, but without laying down any reason why he alters the orthography from the common pronunciation. In the edition of 1607 he has removed it to about Belvoir Castle, invited (I suppose) principally by the height of the hill, which answers the termination dunum. But there was no occasion for that, since Market Overton stands upon the highest hill within view thereabout, except Burley and Cole-Overton. And as for the marga; in the fields about it there is great store of limestone, whereof good lime has been made; which agrees very well with the British marga, used by them (as he says) to improve their grounds. Here are likewise to be found such plenty of Roman coins, as but few places in those parts afford. Within these few years, there have been gathered between 200 and 300 on a little furlong about half a mile from this town. As for the distances with respect to other stations thereabouts, they are very uniform. From Gausennae, i.e. Great Casterton, 6 miles; from Verometum, i.e. Burgh Hill, 7 miles; and from ad pontem, i.e. Great-Paunton, 7 miles. So that they who seek it in any other place, may probably lose their labour.

the objection against it is, that market, the affinity whereof with the Latin name seems to have given the first hint to this conjecture, must not be thought any remain of the Roman name, but grounded upon the market there every week. And no doubt, this has been the constant opinion of the inhabitants, now time out of mind. But if Dugdale transcribed the name from the charter, it was called Market Overton, before Bartholomew Lord Badlesmere, in the reign of Edw. 2 obtained a grant for a weekly market here; for in reciting that passage, he names the town so. Beside, I cannot conceive to what end the word market should be added: not but it is common enough to distinguish towns from some other of the same name not far off; but here there does not appear to be any such. So that upon the whole, 'tis probable enough, that posterity finding something prefixed, that sounded like market, might imagine that the market there gave occasion to it, and so frame the name to their own fancies.

not far from Market Overton is Cottesmore, memorable for the charity of Anne Lady Harrington, widow of John Lord Harrington of Exton, who purchased a rent-charge of a hundred pound per ann. to be issuing out of this manor of Cottesmore, and left it to be divided quarterly for ever among the poor of seven parishes in this county.

on the East side of the county lies Ryhall, where our author says St. Tibba was worshiped like another Diana; though Mr. Wright tells us he knows neither the reason of that character, nor what relation she had to that place. For the first, upon what our author grounds his description, I know not; but as to the second, we have the authority of the Saxon Annals, which expressly tell us she was buried at Rihala, now the same Ryhall. And that those times had likewise a great veneration for her, may be gathered from the circumstances there delivered. For after Aelfsi came to be Abbot of Peterburough, he took up the body of St. Kyneburge and St. Cyneswithe, and at the same time the body of St. Tibba; and carried them all three to his monastery, where in one day he dedicated them to St. Peter, the saint of the place.

as to the earls; Mr. Camden makes Edward, son of Edmund de Langley, (under Richard 2) the first; yet amongst the witnesses subscribing to the charter granted by King Henry 1 to Herbert Bishop of Norwich, and the monks of the church of the holy trinity there, A.D. 1101 we find this name and title, ego Robertus comes Rutland. And the learned Selveden tells us, he has seen original letters of protection (a perfect and incommunicable power royal,) by that great prince Richard Earl of Poitiers and Cornwall, sent to the sheriff of Rutland, in behalf of a nunnery about Stamford. Now King Henry the Third granted him the castle of Ockham and custody of this county; and Selden brings this as one instance of that vast power the earls formerly enjoyed.

continuation of the Earls.

Roger dying without issue, was succeeded by Francis his brother and heir; who having no issue male, Sir George Manners, his brother and next heir-male, came to this dignity. But he likewise dying without issue, this honour descended to John Manners esquire, son and heir of Sir George Manners, son of J. N. Manners, second son of Thomas first Earl of Rutland of this family. John departed this life, Sept. 29. 1679, and left this title to his only son John, the present Earl of Rutland.

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