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 - swim the reservoir. The parents of Rudyard Kipling, John Lockwood Kipling and Alice Macdonald first met at Rudyard and named their son after the village.[1] The lake is also home to Rudyard Lake Sailing Club and the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway.
