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Rutland's rivers For its size Rutland has far more rivers than might be expected. To the west Framland Hundred (now Melton Borough), a similar size to Rutland, drains into a single watercourse originally called the River Eye, although around the tenth century the section west of Melton Mowbray was renamed the Wreake, using a Scandinavian word meaning 'crooked'. To the north-west the Vale of Belvoir drains mostly into the River Smite apart from the eastern parishes which are in the valley of the River Devon. The Devon and Smite converge towards the middle of the Vale then join the Trent at Farndon near Newark. In contrast with the simple drainage of Framland and the Vale of Belvoir, Rutland has six named watercourses. With the exception of the upper reaches of the River Eye, which drains the most north-westerly parishes of Rutland, all the other rivers in Rutland flow into the River Welland. As well as the River Eye in the north-west, just to confuse the unwary, there is also the Eye Brook flowing through south-west Rutland from Belton into the Eyebrook Reservoir between Stoke Dry and Caldecot. A little distance south of the reservoir the Eye Brook joins the Welland. In the extreme north-east of Rutland a short stretch of the River Glen passes through the county on its way to Spalding. I've not included it on the map above. In the middle of Rutland two tributaries of the River Gwash flow into Rutland Water. Downstream of the dam at Empingham the River Gwash resumes its historic route, joining the Welland just east of Stamford. To the south of the Gwash and flowing roughly parallel is the River Chater which joins the Welland at Tinwell. Forming the southern boundary of Rutland (although probably not until the seventh or eight century) is the largest of Rutland's rivers, the Welland. The names of Rutland's rivers Chater is probably from the Brythonic ('Celtic') words ceto-dubron meaning 'forest stream'. Chater and Ketton both have the same origin but are now spelt and pronounced differently. Ketton clearly takes its name from the river flowing through the settlement. Eye is a common name for watercourses as it is Old English ea 'the river'. Glen could be Brythonic for 'the clean one', or Brythonic for 'valley', or the Old English word for a shallow valley. Barrie Cox goes with 'clean one'. Occam's Razor favours the later Old English 'valley'. The oldest reference to the Gwash is in 1263 when it was written 'le Whasse'. But the origin is much earlier as it is the Old English word waesse. Originally meaning 'a swamp or marsh' the sense changed to denoting a watercourse which quickly rises, floods, and subsides quickly. It has a namesake in Germany spelt as the River Weser. Early spellings of the Welland are Weolud, suggesting the name is from the Brythonic words vesu luaid 'good mover'. The change of spelling to 'Welland' is presumably because of Scandinavian influences on pronunciation i.e. as in Weland the Smith. 'Chater'/'Ketton', 'Welland' and maybe 'Glen' are the only survivals of pre-Anglo-Saxon names in Rutland. Compared to Leicestershire and most other Midlands counties this is exceptionally few. However it is typical of river names being the oldest surviving names still in use. Back to top of this page     Back to home page   This website does not gather or store any visitor information. Copyright Bob Trubshaw 2026 No unauthorised copying or reproduction except if all following conditions apply: a: Copy is complete (including this copyright statement). b: No changes are made. c: No charge is made. www.hoap.co.uk/rutland

Rutland's history home page what's new? glossary bibliography Rutland's geology Rutland's boundaries Rutland's rivers long, long ago prehistoric Rutland Roman Rutland long ago Anglo-Saxon Rutland Rutland's place-names waterborne transport around the sixth century Rutland's early churches Anglo-Saxon sculpture in Rutland The Matter of Rutland what the Normans did for Rutland Romanesque sculpture in Rutland Rutland's royal forests Rutland in medieval times Rutland's scratch dials Rutland's medieval carvings Rutland's sepulchral effigies Rutland's saltways Rutland in Tudor times Dissolution in Rutland not that long ago Rutland in the 17th century pinfolds and pounds in Rutland dovecotes in Rutland Rutland in the 18th century turnpiking Rutland Rutland's springs and wells changes in Rutland's agriculture since 1800 seems like yesterday Rutland's dialect Rutland's folk customs travellers in Rutland watermills and windmills in Rutland breweries in Rutland gasworks in Rutland ironstone quarrying in Rutland Zeppelins over Rutland redundant telephone exchanges in Rutland Second World War in Rutland WWII airfields and pillboxes in Rutland the making of Rutland Water Rutland Weekend Television free online history resources Victoria County History: Rutland volume one Victoria County History: Rutland volume two free PDFs of Rutland Record issues 1 to 50 old OS maps Historic England Listed buildings database Sepulchral Effigies of Leicestershire and Rutland Open Domesday English Place-Name Society database Wikipedia list of places in Rutland (with links to village entries) Wikipedia list of people from Rutland researching and writing local history getting started free advice from 2005 asking curious questions (YouTube video) local history groups in and around Rutland Belton-in-Rutland History Society Cottesmore History and Archaeology Group Langham Village History Group Lyddington Manor History Society Rutland Local History and Record Society with free PDFs of over forty issues of the Rutland Record Uppingham Local History Study Group you may also be interested in free PDFs written by Bob Trubshaw Earliest Churches in Nottinghamshire How Anglo-Saxons Found Their Way Anglo-Saxon Leicestershire Conversations in Churchyards Little-known Leicestershire and Rutland Bob Trubshaw's YouTube channel Introduction to medieval carvings Anglo-Saxon and Romanesque carvings How Anglo-Saxons found their way Anglo-Saxon shrines at fords Meetings at triangles Rota's Land and Franni's Land Reading Romanesque fonts Church and manor The significances of square headdresses Early churches and waterborne trade Charnwood slate gravestones and C18th trade routes Ironstone quarries of Leicestershire Roman roads in north-east Leicestershire Salt ways in Leicestershire Why Melton Mowbray needed to called 'middle town' Evolving Anglo-Saxon agriculture Nottinghamshire's earliest churches Ploughs not piety? Economic regeneration in the C7th Were Anglo-Saxon weaving huts women-only places? Vale of Belvoir Chronicle Barrowby Until Now website