Rutland has always been mainly an agricultural county. The Domesday survey mentions nu merous mills in Rutland, and a fishery at Ayston rendered 325 eels. In the 14th century the county exported wool. Stilton cheese has long been made in Leyfield forest and the vale of Catmose, and limestone is dug in many parts of the county. The development of the economic resources of Rutland was helped in 1793 by the extension of the Melton Mowbray canal to Oakham. In the east and south-east districts of Rutland the soil is light and shallow, whilst in other districts it is a fertile loam, and in the vale of Catmose the soil is either clay or loam or a mixture of the two. The east part of the county is chiefly under tillage and the west in grass. Over 90% of the whole area, or 88,447 ac., was under cultivation in 1926; of this 31,245 ac. was arable land. Clover and rotation grasses for hay occupied 3,601 acres. The chief crops in 1926 were, in order of acreage occupied : barley, wheat, oats, turnips and swedes, beans and mangolds. Many sheep (Leicesters and Southdowns) and cattle, mainly Short horns, were reared. Large quantities of cheese are manufactured and sold as Stilton. Agriculture is practically the only industry of importance, but there is some quarrying and bootmaking. The
region producing iron is continued from Northampton into Rut land, and the working of the iron ore forms one of the industries of the county.
The main line of the L.N.E. railway intersects the north-eastern corner of the county, and branches of that system, and of the L.M.S. railway, serve the remainder of the county.
The area of the ancient and administrative county is 97,273 ac., with a population in 1931 of 17,397. The county contains five hundreds. There is one urban district, namely Oakham. The county town is Oakham, population (1931), 3,191. The county is in the Midland circuit, and assizes are held at Oakham. It has one court of quarter sessions, but is not divided for petty sessional purposes. The county is in the diocese of Peterborough, and now forms part of the Rutland and Stamford parliamentary division and returns one member.
See Victoria County History, Rutland; James Wright, History and Antiquities of the County of Rutland (London, 1684) ; T. Blore, His tory and Antiquities of the County of Rutland, vol. i. pt. 2 (containing the East hundred and including the hundred of Casterton Parva; Stamford, 1811) ; C. G. Smith, A Translation of that portion of Domes day Book which relates to Lincolnshire and Rutland (London, 187o).