Rudyard is a lakeside village in the
county
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
of
Staffordshire, England, west of
Leek and on the shore of
Rudyard Lake. 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 , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
''rude'' + ''geard'', first recorded in 1002, meaning 'a yard or enclosure where
rue 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
(1086) as 'Rudierd'.
Rudyard Lake
The
Rudyard Lake was built in 1797 by the
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
John Rennie, for the
Trent and Mersey Canal company, to provide water for the
Caldon Canal. The
Rudyard Lake Steam Railway operates
steam trains 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, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
- 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 journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...
,
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 lake is also home to Rudyard Lake Sailing Club and the
Rudyard Lake Steam Railway.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Horton, Staffordshire
References
External links
Rudyard Lake Steam RailwayRudyard Lake Sailing Club
{{authority control
Villages in Staffordshire
Towns and villages of the Peak District
Staffordshire Moorlands