Rudyard is a lakeside village in the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

of Staffordshire, England, west of Leek and on the shore of

Rudyard Lake Rudyard Lake is a reservoir in Rudyard, Staffordshire, located north-west of the town of Leek, Staffordshire. It was constructed in the late 18th century to feed the Caldon Canal. During the 19th century, it was a popular destination for day ...

. Population details as taken at the 2011 census can be found under Horton. The Rudyard railway station was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway on 22 July 1850.

Etymology

The place-name Rudyard is derived from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

''rude'' + ''geard'', first recorded in 1002, meaning 'a yard or enclosure where

rue ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its bluis ...

is grown'. The name subsequently appears in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

(1086) as 'Rudierd'.

Rudyard Lake

The

was built in 1797 by the

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

John Rennie, for the Trent and Mersey Canal company, to provide water for the

Caldon Canal Caldon Canal is a branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal which opened in 1779. It runs from Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, to Froghall, Staffordshire. The canal has 17 locks and the Froghall Tunnel. History The first plans by the proprietors of the ...

. The

Rudyard Lake Steam Railway The Rudyard Lake Steam Railway is a ridable miniature railway and the third railway of any gauge to run along the side of Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire, England. Overview The railway runs for on the track bed of an old standard gauge North St ...

operates

steam train A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s along a one and a half mile track along the eastern side of the lake. The western shore is part of the Staffordshire Way, a long distance footpath. The lakeside resort developed after the construction of the North Staffordshire Railway in 1845. On one particular day in 1877, more than 20,000 people came to watch Captain Webb - the first man to swim the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

- swim the reservoir. The parents of

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

, John Lockwood Kipling and Alice Macdonald first met at Rudyard and named their son after the village.Drawing by John Lockwood Kipling, and Biography
''

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

''. The lake is also home to Rudyard Lake Sailing Club and the

References

External links

Rudyard Lake Steam Railway

Rudyard Lake Sailing Club
{{authority control Villages in Staffordshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Staffordshire Moorlands

Etymology

Rudyard Lake

See also

References

External links