Oakham Rutland
Oakham is the county town of Rutland, England's smallest historic county, a market town of considerable charm whose combination of medieval castle remains, historic church, attractive market square and the surrounding agricultural landscape of England's most rural county makes it a rewarding destination for those seeking uncrowded historic England at its most genuine. Rutland was absorbed into Leicestershire in the local government reorganisation of 1974 but recovered its county status in 1997, a restoration that reflected the strong attachment of the county's population to their distinctive identity. Oakham Castle, in the centre of the town, is one of the finest surviving examples of a Norman great hall in England. The hall, built in the late twelfth century by Walkelin de Ferrers, retains its complete Norman arcade of pillars and arches in a remarkable state of preservation, and the interior walls are hung with over two hundred decorative horseshoes donated by royalty and peers as a local tradition requiring every peer of the realm passing through Oakham to surrender a horseshoe. The collection, beginning with an example attributed to Edward IV and including shoes from every subsequent monarch and many noble visitors, constitutes one of the most unusual collections of royal and aristocratic memorabilia in England. The Church of All Saints in the market place is a fine medieval building with an excellent collection of Victorian stained glass and the market place itself, with its traditional butter cross and surrounding Georgian and earlier buildings, provides a handsome central space of the kind increasingly rare in English market towns. Rutland Water, a large reservoir created in the 1970s that is now one of the most important freshwater wildlife habitats in the Midlands and a centre for sailing and water sports, lies immediately east of the town and provides an additional natural and recreational dimension.