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Warwickshire
Flag
Geography
Status	Ceremonial and non-metropolitan county
Origin	Historic
Region	West Midlands
Area - Total - Admin. council	Ranked 31st 1,975 km2 (763 sq mi) Ranked 28th
Admin HQ	Warwick
ISO 3166-2	GB-WAR
ONS code	44
NUTS 3	UKG13
Demography
Population - Total (2010 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked 40th 536,100 271 /km2 (700 /sq mi) Ranked 22nd 536,100N
Ethnicity	95.6% White 2.8% S. Asian
Politics
File:Warwickarms.JPG /Warwickshire County Council http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk
Executive	Conservative
Members of Parliament	Daniel Byles (C) Marcus Jones (C) Mark Pawsey (C) Chris White (C) Jeremy Wright (C) Nadhim Zahawi (C)
Districts
North Warwickshire Nuneaton and Bedworth Rugby Stratford-on-Avon Warwick

Warwickshire (ⁱ/ˈwɒrɨkʃər/ or /ˈwɒrɨkʃɪər/) is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare and George Elliot. Commonly used abbreviations for the county are Warks or Warwicks.

The five districts of North Warwickshire, Nuneaton & Bedworth, Rugby, Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon together form the Warwickshire County Council area, and are within the 1974 boundaries. The shape of the administrative area of Warwickshire differs considerably from that of the historic county, which also includes the now autonomous unitary authorities of Coventry and Solihull, as well as a small area around central and northeast Birmingham.

For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG13) and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region.

Geography[link]

Warwickshire is bounded to the north-west by the West Midlands metropolitan county and Staffordshire, by Leicestershire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the east, Worcestershire to the west, Oxfordshire to the south and Gloucestershire to the south-west. The northern tip of the county is only 3 miles (5 km) from the Derbyshire border. An average-sized English county covering an area of almost 2,000 km², it runs some 60 miles (97 km) north to south.

The majority of Warwickshire's population live in the north and centre of the county. The market towns of northern and eastern Warwickshire were industrialised in the 19th century, and include Atherstone, Bedworth, Nuneaton, and Rugby. Major industries included coal mining, textiles, engineering, and cement production, but heavy industry is in decline, being replaced by distribution centres, light to medium industry, and services. Of the northern and eastern towns, only Nuneaton and Rugby (as the birthplace of rugby football) are well-known outside of Warwickshire. The prosperous towns of central and western Warwickshire including Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon, Kenilworth, Alcester, and Warwick harbour light to medium industries, services and tourism as major employment sectors.

The south of the county is largely rural and sparsely populated, and includes a small area of the Cotswolds, at the border with northwest Gloucestershire. The only town in the south of Warwickshire is Shipston-on-Stour. The highest point in the county, at 261 m (856 ft), is Ebrington Hill, again on the border with Gloucestershire, grid reference SP187426 at the county's southwest extremity.

The north of the county, bordering Staffordshire and Leicestershire, is mildly undulating countryside and the northernmost village, No Man's Heath, is only 34 miles (55 km) south of the Peak District National Park's southernmost point.

There are no cities in Warwickshire since both Coventry and Birmingham were incorporated into the West Midlands county in 1974 and are now metropolitan authorities in themselves. The largest towns in Warwickshire as of 2004 are: Nuneaton (pop. 77,500), Rugby (62,700), Leamington Spa (45,300), and Bedworth (32,500). Stratford, Warwick, and Kenilworth all house 20,000-25,000 inhabitants, while the smaller towns of Atherstone, Alcester, Coleshill, Southam, Bulkington, Polesworth, Kingsbury, Henley-in-Arden, Studley, Shipston. Wellesbourne and Whitnash have populations between 5,000 and 12,000.

Arden and Felden[link]

Much of western Warwickshire, including that area now forming part of Coventry, Solihull and Birmingham, was covered by the ancient Forest of Arden (most of which was cut down to provide fuel for industrialisation). Thus the names of a number of places in the northwestern part of Warwickshire end with the phrase "-in-Arden", such as Henley-in-Arden, Hampton-in-Arden and Tanworth-in-Arden. The remaining area, not part of the forest, was called the Felden - from fielden.

Historic boundaries[link]

Areas historically part of Warwickshire include Coventry, Solihull, Sutton Coldfield and most of Birmingham including Aston and Edgbaston. These became part of the metropolitan county of West Midlands (and Sutton Coldfield became part of Birmingham) following local government re-organisation in 1974.

In 1986 the West Midlands County Council was abolished and Birmingham, Coventry, and Solihull became effective unitary authorities, however the West Midlands county name has not been altogether abolished, and still exists for ceremonial purposes, and so the town and two cities remain outside Warwickshire.

Some organisations, such as Warwickshire County Cricket Club, which is based in Edgbaston, in Birmingham, still observe the historic county boundaries.

Coventry is effectively in the centre of the Warwickshire area, and still has strong ties with the county. Coventry and Warwickshire are sometimes treated as a single area and share a single Chamber of Commerce and BBC Local Radio Station (BBC Coventry & Warwickshire).

Coventry has been a part of Warwickshire for only some of its history. In 1451 Coventry was separated from Warwickshire and made a county corporate in its own right, called the County of the City of Coventry. In 1842 the county of Coventry was abolished and Coventry was remerged with Warwickshire. In recent times, there have been calls to formally re-introduce Coventry into Warwickshire, although nothing has yet come of this. The county's population would increase by almost a third-of-a-million overnight should this occur, Coventry being the UK's 11th largest city.

The town of Tamworth was historically divided between Warwickshire and Staffordshire, but since 1888 has been fully in Staffordshire.

In 1931, Warwickshire gained the town of Shipston-on-Stour from Worcestershire and several villages, including Long Marston and Welford-on-Avon, from Gloucestershire.

Settlements[link]

A list of the main settlements in Warwickshire, including towns, or villages with a population of over 5,000.

History[link]

A detailed map

Stratford-upon-Avon

Kenilworth Castle

Warwickshire came into being as a division of the kingdom of Mercia in the early 11th century. The first reference to Warwickshire was in 1001, as Wæringscīr named after Warwick (meaning "dwellings by the weir").

During the Middle Ages Warwickshire was dominated by Coventry, which was at the time one of the most important cities in England due to its textiles trade in the heart of England. Warwickshire played a key part in the English Civil War, with the Battle of Edgehill and other skirmishes taking place in the county. During the Industrial Revolution Warwickshire became one of Britain's foremost industrial counties, with the large industrial cities of Birmingham and Coventry within its boundaries.

Boundary changes[link]

• 1844: The Counties (Detached Parts) Act transferred a township to, and two parishes from, the county.
• 1888: Those parts of the town of Tamworth lying in Warwickshire were ceded to Staffordshire.
• 1891: Harborne became part of the County Borough of Birmingham and thus was transferred from Staffordshire to Warwickshire by the Local Govt. Bd.'s Prov. Orders Conf. (No. 13) Act, 54 & 55 Vic. c. 161 (local act).
• 1891: The district of Balsall Heath, which had originally constituted the most northerly part of the Parish of King's Norton in Worcestershire, was added to the County Borough of Birmingham, and therefore Warwickshire, on 1 October 1891.
• 1909: Quinton was formally removed from Worcestershire and incorporated into the County Borough of Birmingham, then in Warwickshire, on 9 November 1909.
• 1911: The Urban District of Handsworth, in Staffordshire, and the Rural District of Yardley along with the greater part of the Urban District of King's Norton and Northfield, both in Worcestershire, were absorbed into Birmingham, and thus Warwickshire, as part of the Greater Birmingham Scheme on 9 November 1911.
• 1928: Perry Barr Urban District was ceded to Birmingham from Staffordshire.
• 1931: The boundaries between Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire were adjusted by the Provisional Order Confirmation (Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire) Act which transferred 26 parishes between the three counties, largely to eliminate exclaves. The town of Shipston-on-Stour was gained from Worcestershire and several villages, including Long Marston and Welford-on-Avon, from Gloucestershire.
• 1974: Under The Local Government Act 1972, Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull and Sutton Coldfield were ceded to the new West Midlands county, with Sutton Coldfield becoming part of Birmingham.

Economy[link]

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Warwickshire at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Video game developing company Codemasters is based in Warwickshire.

Local government[link]

Like most English shire counties, Warwickshire has a two-tier structure of local government. Warwickshire is divided into five districts each with their own district councils. These districts are: North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Rugby, Stratford, and Warwick (see map). The county and district councils are responsible for providing different services.

Atherstone is the headquarters of the North Warwickshire district, Nuneaton is headquarters of the Nuneaton and Bedworth District and Leamington Spa is the headquarters of the Warwick district.

In addition many small towns and villages have their own parish councils although these have only limited powers.

Warwickshire is policed by the Warwickshire Police.

The 2009 County Council elections resulted in a win for the Conservatives.

County council[link]

The county also has a county council based in Warwick which is elected every four years (the last election was held on 4 June 2009 the same day as the European Elections), is currently controlled by the Conservative Party and operates a cabinet-style council. The county council is made of 62 councillors, who decide upon the budget and appoints the council leader. The council leader selects 2 to 9 councillors and together they form the cabinet. The Leader assigns portfolios on which cabinet members make decisions. Key decisions are made by the whole cabinet while others are made only by the portfolio holders for relevant areas.^[1]

Education[link]

In the state sector, children start school in the school year in which they turn five. They stay at primary school for seven years (although this varies even within the county, as some people have previously gone for four years and then spent another four years at a 'middle school') until they are eleven. Warwickshire is one of the few local authorities in England to still maintain the Grammar school system in two districts: Stratford on Avon and Rugby, although Southam claims to have a comprehensive school. In the final year of primary school, children are given the opportunity of sitting the eleven plus exam in order to compete for a place at one of the Grammar schools, with two in Stratford and Rugby and one in Alcester (including Stratford-upon-Avon Grammar School for Girls; King Edward VI School, a boys school; and Alcester Grammar School (mixed)). The exam is sat on three different days and consists of two verbal reasoning and mathematics papers and one extended writing paper. In order to maintain standards, there is a bank of papers that are used in rotation. In 2006, it was revealed in a local newspaper, the Stratford Herald, that some private eleven plus tutors had copies of the exam papers and that they were using them as practice papers for their pupils. This meant that, in some cases, pupils sitting the exam had seen the paper in advance.^{[citation needed]}

It should be noted that Warwickshire contains 3 Further Education Colleges and 1 6th Form College, North Warwickshire & Hinckley College which has main colleges based in Nuneaton and the Leicestershire Town of Hinckley with smaller colleges based around North Warwickshire, King Edward VI Sixth Form College (K.E.G.S) in Nuneaton, Stratford Upon Avon College and Warwickshire College, an institution made up of six main separate colleges that have merged together (Leamington Centre, Rugby Centre, Moreton Morrell Centre, Pershore College, Henley-in-Arden Centre, and the Trident Centre in Warwick).

There are also five independent schools within the county, namely; Rugby School, Warwick School, Princethorpe College, Kingsley School in Leamington Spa, and The King's High School For Girls, Warwick.

Ashlawn School, King Edward VI School Stratford-upon-Avon, Rugby School and Warwick School are arguably the four most notable schools within Warwickshire,^{[by whom?]} with King Edward VI School Stratford-upon-Avon still using 13th century school buildings and being the likely school of William Shakespeare, Rugby School being founded in 1567 and Warwick School originally being founded c.914 AD, which makes it the oldest surviving boys school in the country. All four schools achieve very impressive exam results and benefit from exceptional facilities. Rugby School is one of nine schools that were defined as the "great" English public schools by the Public Schools Act 1868, and is a member of the Rugby Group. Both Rugby School and Warwick School are HMC schools, with the Headmaster from each school attending the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

In 2011, Warwickshire members of the union NUT supported action by staff at Coventry's Tile Hill Wood School, in opposition to the government's programme of Academies.^[2][3]

Transport[link]

Roads[link]

Several major motorways run through Warwickshire. These include:

• The M40 motorway which connects London to Birmingham, runs through the centre of the county, and serves Leamington Spa, Warwick, and Stratford.
• The M6 motorway, which connects northwestern England and the West Midlands to the M1 motorway (and then on to London), runs through the north of Warwickshire, and serves Rugby, Nuneaton, and Bedworth on its way to Birmingham.
• The M69 Coventry to Leicester motorway which serves Nuneaton.
• Other motorways pass briefly through Warwickshire including the M45 (a short spur south of Rugby connecting to the M1), the southern end of the M6 Toll, and the M42 which passes through the county at several points.

Other major trunk routes in Warwickshire includes the A45 (Rugby-Coventry-Birmingham and east into Northamptonshire route). The A46 (connects the M40 to the M6 via Warwick, Kenilworth and Coventry), the A452 (Leamington to Birmingham route) and the A5 runs through Warwickshire passing Nuneaton between Tamworth and Hinckley (at Atherstone).

Rail[link]

Two major railway lines pass through Warwickshire.

• The Chiltern Main Line, the former Great Western route from London to Birmingham passes through the centre of Warwickshire on a route similar to the M40 motorway, and has stations at Leamington Spa, Warwick, (and Warwick Parkway) and Hatton. Rail services are provided by Chiltern Railways and London Midland (Birmingham to Leamington only). There are also two branches off the Chiltern line, one from Leamington to Coventry, and another from Hatton near Warwick to Stratford.

The WCML at Rugby

• The West Coast Main Line (WCML) runs through Warwickshire. At Rugby the WCML splits into two parts, one runs west through to Coventry and Birmingham, and the other the "Trent Valley Line" runs north-west towards Stafford and the north-west of England. This section has stations at Nuneaton, Atherstone, and Polesworth (North bound services only). There is one branch off the WCML from Nuneaton to Coventry, and there is a station at Bedworth on this branch.

Other railway lines in Warwickshire include the Birmingham-Nuneaton section of the Birmingham to Peterborough Line, which continues east of Nuneaton towards Leicester and Peterborough. Nuneaton has direct services to Birmingham and Leicester on this line, and there is one intermediate station at Water Orton near Coleshill in the extreme north-west of the county.

There is also a branch line from Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon. This line used to continue southwards to Cheltenham but is now a dead-end branch. There are several stations on this line at Henley-in-Arden and at several small villages. Stratford also has direct rail services to London via the branch line to Warwick (mentioned earlier).

The only major town in Warwickshire not to have a station is Kenilworth. Although the Leamington to Coventry line passes through the town, its station was closed in the 1960s as part of the Beeching Axe. There is a concerted campaign to re-open the station, although currently there are no local services operating on the line, as it is used only by CrossCountry services.

Air[link]

Coventry Airport is located in the Warwickshire village of Baginton.

Canals and waterways[link]

The Oxford Canal at Napton-on-the-Hill

Canals in Warwickshire include:

• The Grand Union Canal, which runs through Leamington and Warwick and onwards to Birmingham.

The restored Saltisford Canal Arm is close to the centre of Warwick, and is now a short branch of the Grand Union Canal. The arm is the remains of the original terminus of the Warwick and Birmingham Canal and dates back to 1799. The Saltisford Canal Trust have restored most of the surviving canal, which is now the mooring for colourful narrowboats and a waterside park open to the public. Over 800 visiting narrowboats come by water to Warwick each year and moor on the arm.Saltisford Canal Trust

• The Coventry Canal which runs through the north of the county from Coventry through Bedworth, Nuneaton, Atherstone, and Polesworth, and then onwards to Tamworth.
• The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal which runs from the Grand Union west of Warwick to Stratford.
• The Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal passes briefly through Warwickshire from a junction with the Coventry Canal at Bedworth.
• The Oxford Canal, which runs from near Coventry and then eastwards around Rugby, and then through the rural south of the county towards Oxford.

The River Avon is navigable from just north of Stratford. In 1974, the Higher Avon Navigation Trust made a proposal to extend the navigation to Warwick and Leamington, where a junction with the Grand Union Canal would create a new cruising ring. Warwickshire County Council believed the scheme to be a catalyst for economic regeneration in the area, but after gauging public support in 2003, decided not to support the plans. The Stratford and Warwick Waterway Trust is still actively pursuing the proposals.^[4]

Places of interest[link]

Sports teams[link]

Cricket[link]

Warwickshire County Cricket Club play at Edgbaston. Notable players for Warwickshire have been Brian Lara, Bob Willis, Allan Donald, Geoff Humpage and Ian Bell.

Gaelic Sports[link]

The Warwickshire County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (or Warwickshire GAA) is one of the county boards outside Ireland and is responsible for Gaelic games in Warwickshire. The county board is also responsible for the Warwickshire inter-county teams. The play their home games at Páirc na hÉireann. Warwickshire Schools GAA Board was originally setup in September 2000. It has grown at a very healthy rate such that as of May 2007 WSGAA now work in partnership with 28 primary schools, 15 Secondary schools, 2 HE/FE Colleges and 5 local GAA clubs and in total an estimated 2385 young people. The aims of the WSGAA include competition by their elite team in the All-Ireland underage championships. This initiative is a remarkable departure from the traditional way in which British GAA clubs have been organised.

Hockey[link]

Warwickshire has more Clubs than any other County within the Midlands, and has good representation at all levels of the game, and within the Administrative and Officiating Worlds as well. Old Silhillians Hockey Club is the Home of Warwickshire hockey, with many fixtures being played on the site, as well as the County Club Minis being played, Junior Academy Centres being coached, and meetings/County Officials being based at the Silhillians Sports Ground. There are 3 clubs who include the word "Warwickshire" within their names: Olton & West Warwickshire, Coventry & North Warwickshire, and Rugby & East Warwickshire, though it is not certain where these claims to regional areas within the County came from. Warwickshire as a hockey County is recognised by the England Hockey Board as the region normally associated with Greater Warwickshire, since the West Midlands is not a hockey region within the EHB world, and hence includes Solihull and Coventry as well as the standard regions.

People[link]

Warwickshire is perhaps best known for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare from Stratford-upon-Avon. Even today, road signs at the county boundary describe Warwickshire as "Shakespeare's County". The county has also produced other literary figures such as George Eliot (from Nuneaton), Rupert Brooke (from Rugby), and Michael Drayton from Hartshill. The poet Philip Larkin lived in Warwick (born in nearby Coventry), and Elizabeth Gaskell went to school in Barford and Stratford.

See also[link]

• List of Lord Lieutenants of Warwickshire
• List of High Sheriffs for Warwickshire
• Custos Rotulorum of Warwickshire - List of Keepers of the Rolls
• Warwickshire (UK Parliament constituency) - List of MPs for Warwickshire constituency
• 2007 Atherstone fire
• Warwickshire College
• W. W. Quatremain

References[link]

External links[link]

• Warwickshire County Council
• Warwickshire College Homepage
• Warwickshire County Football
• Warwickshire at the Open Directory Project

v t e Districts of the West Midlands Region Herefordshire Herefordshire Shropshire Shropshire Telford and Wrekin Staffordshire Cannock Chase East Staffordshire Lichfield Newcastle-under-Lyme South Staffordshire Stafford Staffordshire Moorlands Stoke-on-Trent Tamworth Warwickshire North Warwickshire Nuneaton and Bedworth Rugby Stratford-on-Avon Warwick West Midlands Birmingham Coventry Dudley Sandwell Solihull Walsall Wolverhampton Worcestershire Bromsgrove Malvern Hills Redditch Worcester Wychavon Wyre Forest

Coordinates: 52°22′N 1°16′W / 52.37°N 1.26°W / 52.37; -1.26

Rugby
Rugby Market Place, looking west from Church Street
Rugby  Rugby shown within Warwickshire
Population	61,988 (2001 Census)
OS grid reference	SP5075
District	Rugby
Shire county	Warwickshire
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	RUGBY
Postcode district	CV21, CV22, CV23
Dialling code	01788
Police	Warwickshire
Fire	Warwickshire
Ambulance	West Midlands
EU Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	Rugby
List of places: UK • England • Warwickshire

Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 (2001 census^[1]) making it the second largest town in the county. The enclosing Borough of Rugby has a population of 91,600 (2005 estimate).

Rugby is 13 miles (21 km) east of Coventry, on the eastern edge of Warwickshire, near the borders with Northamptonshire and Leicestershire.

The town is credited with being the birthplace of rugby football.

History[link]

Main article History of Rugby

Early Iron age settlement existed in the Rugby area, and a few miles outside what is now Rugby, existed a Roman settlement known as Tripontium. Rugby was originally a small Anglo-Saxon farming settlement, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Rocheberie. Rugby obtained a charter to hold a market in 1255, and soon developed into a small country market town.

The name's likeliest origin is Anglo-Saxon Hrōca burh or similar = "Rook fort", where Rook may be the bird or may be a man's name. Another theory is that the name is originally derived from an old Celtic name Droche-brig meaning "wild hilltop". The change to -by is because of Viking influence: there are other place names ending in -by in the area ('By' meaning town in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish even today).

Rugby School was founded in 1567 by money left in the will of Lawrence Sheriff, a locally born grocer, who moved to London and earned his fortune. Rugby School was originally intended as a school for local boys, but over time became a mostly fee-paying private school. The Lawrence Sheriff School was eventually founded in the late 19th century to carry on Sheriff's original intentions.

Rugby remained a sleepy country market town until the 19th century and the coming of the railways. In 1838 the London and Birmingham Railway was constructed around the town, and in 1840 the Midland Counties Railway made a junction with the London and Birmingham at Rugby. Rugby became an important railway junction, and the proliferation of rail yards and workshops attracted workers to the town. Rugby's population grew from just 2,500 in 1835, to over 10,000 by the 1880s.^[2]

In the 1890s and 1900s heavy engineering industries began to set up in the town, and Rugby rapidly grew into a major industrial centre. Rugby expanded rapidly in the early decades of the 20th century as workers moved into the town. By the 1940s, the population of Rugby had grown to over 40,000.^[3]

In the postwar years, Rugby became well served by the motorway network, with the M1 and M6 merging close to the town.

Fame[link]

Rugby is most famous for the invention of rugby football, which is played throughout the world. The invention of the game is credited to William Webb Ellis whilst breaking the existing rules of a football match played in 1823 at Rugby School, which is near the centre of Rugby.

Rugby School is one of England's oldest and most prestigious public schools, and was the setting of Thomas Hughes's semi-autobiographical masterpiece Tom Brown's Schooldays. A substantial part of the 2004 dramatisation of the novel, starring Stephen Fry, was filmed on location at Rugby School.

Rugby is also a birthplace of the jet engine. In April 1937 Frank Whittle built the world's first prototype jet engine at the British Thomson-Houston works in Rugby, and between 1936-41 based himself at Brownsover Hall on the outskirts of the town, where he designed and developed early prototype engines.^[4] Much of his work was also carried out at nearby Lutterworth. Holography was also invented in Rugby by the Hungarian inventor Dennis Gabor in 1947.^[5]

In the 19th century, Rugby became famous for its once hugely important railway junction which was the setting for Charles Dickens's story Mugby Junction.

The town also inspired Thomas Hughes, (author of Tom Brown's Schooldays) to set up a colony in America, for the younger sons of the English gentry, who couldn't inherit under the laws of primogeniture. He named the town Rugby. The town of Rugby, Tennessee still exists today.

Rugby today[link]

Regent Street with St Andrews Church

The modern town of Rugby is an amalgamation of the original town with the former villages of Bilton, Hillmorton, Brownsover and Newbold-on-Avon which were incorporated into Rugby in 1932 when the town became a borough;^[6] all except Brownsover still have their former village centres. Rugby also includes the areas of New Bilton, Overslade and Hillside. The spread of Rugby has nearly reached the villages of Clifton-upon-Dunsmore, Cawston, Dunchurch and Long Lawford.

The town centre is mostly Victorian and early 20th century, however a few much older buildings survive, along with some more modern developments. Rugby was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as 'Butterfieldtown'^[7] due to the number of buildings designed by William Butterfield in the 19th century, including much of Rugby School and the extension of St Andrews church.

Rugby town centre includes numerous restaurants of various kinds and many pubs. In 2002, Brownsover Fish Bar on Hollowell Way, Brownsover, was named as the best seller of Fish and Chips in the country.^[8] The town centre is noted for its large number of pubs; in the 1960s it was recorded as having the second-highest number of pubs per square mile in England.^[9] The main shopping area in Rugby is in the streets around the Clock Tower, two of which - High Street and Sheep Street - are pedestrianised. The town centre has an indoor shopping centre called The Clock Towers which opened in 1980. A street market is held in the town centre several days a week. In recent years several out-of-town retail centres have opened to the north of the town. Rugby also contains several large parks, most notably Caldecott Park near the town hall. The borough council along with Warwickshire County Council currently have plans to pedestrianise North Street, a busy road through the town centre as part of the town centre's regeneration. This has proved to be very controversial, with the town's major bus operator Stagecoach in Warwickshire threatening to reduce many bus services if the road is closed to traffic.

In 2010 a short local bypass, the first part of the Rugby Western Relief Road, was opened, running from the A428 (Lawford Road) along the edge of the built-up area to the A4071 (road from Rugby through Bilton and Cawston) a little west of Cawston, to take through heavy traffic off through suburban housing roads such as Addison Road. On 10 September 2010, the final part of Rugby's Western Relief Road was opened. The road runs from Potsford Dam near Cawston, through the Lawford Road and ending at Newbold Road, near the Avon Valley School. The initial estimated cost was projected at £36.6 million, while the final figure is in excess of £60 million.^[10]

Politics and governance[link]

Rugby Town Hall - The headquarters of Rugby Borough Council

Rugby is administered by two local authorities: Rugby Borough Council which covers Rugby and its surrounding countryside, and Warwickshire County Council. The two authorities are responsible for different aspects of local government. Rugby is an unparished area and so does not have its own town council.

In 1983 Rugby became part of the parliamentary constituency of Rugby and Kenilworth, one of the Midlands' most marginal seats. Between 1983 and 1997 Jim Pawsey was the Conservative Member of Parliament, losing in 1997 to Labour's Andy King.

At the 2005 general election Jeremy Wright regained the seat for the Conservatives.

From 1885 until 1983 Rugby was a constituency in itself. Following the recommendations of the Boundary Commission for England, Warwickshire was allocated a sixth parliamentary seat. In the 2010 general election, the existing Rugby and Kenilworth constituency was abolished and split in two. A new Rugby constituency was created, and a new constituency of Kenilworth and Southam formed to the south of Rugby, and as a result the town regained its pre-1983 status of returning its own member of parliament, albeit with the addition of the Bulkington Ward from Nuneaton. Jeremy Wright chose to stand for Kenilworth and Southam in the 2010 general election and was successful. Mark Pawsey, son of former Rugby MP Jim Pawsey, was elected for Rugby in 2010.

Geography[link]

Nearby places[link]

• Nearby cities: Coventry, Leicester, Birmingham
• Nearby towns: Lutterworth, Daventry, Hinckley, Kenilworth, Nuneaton, Leamington Spa, Northampton, Southam
• Nearby villages: Newbold, Harborough Magna, Pailton, Brinklow, Monks Kirby, Easenhall, Dunchurch, Barby, Long Lawford

Economy[link]

Rugby's economy is mainly industrial. It is an engineering centre and has a long history of producing gas and steam turbines at the GEC and at the AEI. The AEI was earlier British Thomson-Houston or BTH. They used to dominate employment in the town. They are now amalgamated to form Alstom. Engineering in Rugby is still the most important sector.

Rugby Cement works

Another major industry in Rugby is cement making; Rugby Cement works, on the western outskirts of the town, makes cement from the local Jurassic Lias limestone. The cement industry in Rugby dates back to the 1860s. In the 1990s the Rugby Cement works was dramatically expanded, and in 2000 other Rugby Cement plants at Southam and Rochester were closed, with all production moved to the Rugby plant,^[11] now one of the largest of its type in Europe.

Since the 1980s several large industrial estates have been built to the north of the town, and warehousing and distribution have become major employers.

Further afield, within the Rugby borough is the Rolls-Royce engineering works near Ansty. This is nearer to Coventry than Rugby, but is a major employer to the Rugby population.

Tourism is also important to the town's economy, especially related to Rugby football.^[12]

One of the last links to Rugby's rural past was the town's cattle market held near the railway station, and earlier in the "Market Place" in the old centre of Rugby since medieval times. The market near the railway station was closed in late 2008 and the site has been redeveloped into housing, a hotel and a Tesco store as part of a wider scheme of work in the station area.

Landmarks[link]

Rugby VLF transmitter (now demolished)

One of the most notable landmarks around Rugby was, until August 2007, the Rugby VLF transmitter, a large radio transmitting station located just to the east of the town. The station was opened in 1926 and was used to transmit the MSF time signal. Several of the masts however were decommissioned and demolished by explosives in 2004, although a few including four of the biggest masts remained until 2007. (Firing the explosive charges was delayed by rabbits gnawing the wires).^[13] The remaining four 'tall' masts were demolished on the afternoon of 2 August 2007 with no prior publicity.

Rugby Cement works, to the west of the town, can be seen for many miles. Standing at just 115 metres high, the landmark is not a popular one—in 2005 it came in the top ten of a poll of buildings people would like to see demolished on the Channel 4 television series Demolition.^[14] The works are also the subject of certain local controversy, as some residents believe the emissions from the works have caused health problems for local people. In October 2006, the owners of the Rugby Cement works, Cemex, were fined £400,000 for excessive pollution after a court case brought by the Environment Agency.^[15]

William Webb Ellis' statue

The town has statues of three famous locals: Rupert Brooke, Thomas Hughes and William Webb Ellis. The Rupert Brooke statue is situated at the forked junction of Regent Street on the green and commemorates his contribution to poetry. Thomas Hughes' statue stands in the gardens of the Temple Reading Rooms (the central library of Rugby school) on Barby Road. Since England won the Rugby World Cup, the William Webb Ellis statue outside Rugby School is one of the most visited parts of the town.

St Andrew's Church

St Andrew's Church, in the town centre, is Rugby's original parish church. A church has stood on the site since the 13th century. The church was extensively re-built and expanded in the 19th century, designed by William Butterfield. The expanded church included a new east tower, which has a spire 182 feet (55 m) high. However some parts of the older medieval church were retained, most notably the 22 metre high west tower which bears strong resemblance to a castle turret. The west tower was probably built during the reign of Henry III (1216–1272) to serve a defensive as well as religious role, and is Rugby's oldest building. The church has other artefacts of medieval Rugby including the 13th-century parish chest, and a medieval font.^[16]

St Maries church

Rugby's main Roman Catholic church is St. Maries [1] on Dunchurch Road. It is one of the town's most well-known landmarks as it is quite dominant on the skyline. Its spire is the tallest in Warwickshire^{[citation needed]}. The church was built in 1872, designed by Pugin in the Early English style.^[16]

Places of interest[link]

Places of interest in the town include:

• The Rugby School Museum, which has audio-visual displays about the history of Rugby School and of the town.
• The combined art gallery and museum. The art gallery contains a nationally recognised collection of contemporary art. The museum contains, amongst other things, Roman artefacts dug up from the nearby Roman settlement of Tripontium.
• The Rugby Football Museum, where traditional rugby balls are hand made. It contains much rugby football memorabilia.

Places of interest around Rugby include:

• Brandon Marsh
• Coombe Abbey and Coombe Country Park
• Coton House - Conference centre and former apprentice hostel
• Dunchurch - Historic village
• Draycote Water - Reservoir and nature reserve
• Oxford Canal
• Rugby School
• Stanford Hall
• Ryton Organic Gardens^[17]
• Benn Hall - Conference centre and music venue
• Toft Lakes - Artificial lakes mainly used for carp.

Suburbs[link]

Hillmorton, Overslade, Brownsover, Bilton, Hillside, New Bilton, Newbold-on-Avon, Cawston and Kingsway.

Transport[link]

• By road, Rugby is near several major trunk routes including the M6, M1 and M45 motorways and the A45 road. Other less important main roads include the A426 road and the A428 road. Most traffic from the industrial estates & the cement works has to travel through the town centre, this should be alleviated with the current building of the Rugby Western Relief Road, linking the A45 with the Leicester Road, that connects with the Motorway at Junction 1 of the M6.
• By rail Rugby is served by the West Coast Main Line railway, and has services to London - Birmingham and the North West of England (see Rugby railway station).
• The nearest airport to Rugby is Coventry Airport. The town also has a direct rail link to Birmingham Airport.
• The Oxford Canal runs along the north edge of Rugby, but south of the new housing estates round Brownsover.
• Buses run to Coventry, Southam, Leamington Spa, Daventry, Banbury, Leicester and Northampton as well as serving the major estates of the town on a regular basis.

Railways[link]

Rugby station opened in 1838, sited around half a mile west of the present station. This original station was rebuilt in 1840 and 1885 as the present Rugby station, at the location of a new junction. It is on the West Coast Main Line, which was electrified in the 1960s. The station was named Rugby Midland between 1950 and 1975. It also served the Rugby and Stamford Railway from 1850 until the closure of this line in 1966 under the Beeching Axe.

Rugby Central station opened in 1899 on the Great Central Main Line. The line (from London Marylebone to Nottingham Victoria) was closed south of Rugby in 1966 under the Beeching Axe. Remaining services north of Rugby were closed three years later.

The British Railways steam locomotive testing centre was located in Rugby.

Education[link]

Rugby School

Warwickshire is one of the few local authorities in England to still maintain the grammar school system (based on the eleven plus exam) in two districts: Stratford-upon-Avon and Rugby.^{[citation needed]}

Schools in Rugby include the Lawrence Sheriff School for boys (which came top of the country in the 2009 and 2010 GCSE League Tables),^[18] and Rugby High School for Girls, which are grammar schools. Ashlawn School (formerly Dunsmore School for Boys, Dunsmore School for Girls and Fareham School) is a partially selective school. Perhaps the most renowned school is Rugby School,^{[citation needed]} a public school. This is home of rugby football and the top co-educational boarding school in the country.^{[citation needed]} There are also several other schools, equivalent to the type of school formerly known as a secondary modern school. These are Bilton School (formerly Herbert Kay & Westlands School, and Bilton High School), Avon Valley School (formerly 'Newbold School'), Bishop Wulstan School (now shut), and Harris School. Rugby is also home to a college, which is now a part of the Warwickshire College group.

Other schools in the town include Eastlands Primary School.

Sport[link]

• Rugby has a number of rugby union teams including; the Rugby Lions, Rugby Welsh, Rugby St. Andrews RFC, Newbold, AEI (Rugby) Rugby Football Club and Old Laurentian RFC.
• Rugby's two non-league football clubs have recently been reduced to one, as the original Rugby Town F.C. controversially bought out the other club, VS Rugby. The current club is called Rugby Town F.C..

Rugby Welsh RFC[link]

Rugby Welsh are a local 'junior' rugby club which were formed in 1936, and were originally known as Rugby St Andrews Welsh XV. 'The Welsh' as they are known now play in Midlands Division 4 West (South) following a league win and promotion from Midlands League 6 West (SE) in the 2008/09 season. The club still has an official club house at Bakehouse Lane, although it plays its home games at Alwyn Road, with the unofficial club house being at The Black Horse Pub in Bilton village, Rugby. Season results for Rugby Welsh RFC and further information regarding the clubs history can be found on the Rugby Welsh Website and on the RFU Website.

Notable people[link]

Famous or notable people born in Rugby include the poet Rupert Brooke, actor Tim Pigott-Smith and writer Rose Macaulay.

The scientist Joseph Norman Lockyer who discovered helium and founded the science journal Nature was born in Rugby, as was the inventor of the 'oval' football Richard Lindon.

The band Spacemen 3 and the related spin off bands from its various members Spiritualized (Jason Pierce); Spectrum (Peter Kember) Freelovebabies (Will Carruthers) arose from Rugby, as does the singer/songwriter James Morrison.

The sprinter Katharine Merry and British Judokas Neil and Christopher Adams were natives of Rugby. The former two both won Olympic medals.

Many famous people attended Rugby School, including Neville Chamberlain, Lewis Carroll, Salman Rushdie and Matthew Arnold. Arnold's father Thomas Arnold was a noted headmaster of the school.

Ex-Sheffield United and England goalkeeper Alan Hodgkinson MBE lives here

England cricketer Ian Bell was born in Dunchurch (near Rugby) and attended Princethorpe College.

'Allo 'Allo actor Arthur Bostrom was born in Rugby and attended Lawrence Sheriff School.

Clive Mason of the programme for the deaf See Hear used to live in Rugby.

Bill Maynard (Claude Greengrass in the Heartbeat TV series) lives locally.

Ben Croshaw, better known as 'Yahtzee', a comedic video games reviewer in charge of his own Zero Punctuation segment of The Escapist was born in Rugby. He currently lives in Australia.

Thomas Hedley, publisher and president of Hedley Media Group, was born in the town.

Jez Carne, Made famous as the Web Geezer on the Hamish & Andy Show - 4pm to 6pm Weekdays Australia

Children's TV Presenter Peter Purves lived in Bilton for a time.

Lauren Taylor, Golfer, winner of the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year 2011.

James Morrison, Singer, BRIT award winner.

Twin towns[link]

Rugby is twinned with:

• Évreux, France.
• Rüsselsheim, Germany.

See also[link]

• Rugby, North Dakota
• Rugby, Tennessee

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Rugby, Aspects of the Past. Rugby Local History Group. 
• Timmins, E.W. (1990). Rugby: A Pictorial History. ISBN 0-85033-700-3. 
• Elliot, Peter H (1985). Rugby's Railway Heritage. ISBN 0-907917-06-2. 
• Rawlins, Eddy; Andy Osborne (1988). Rugby Growth Of A Town. ISBN 0-907917-06-2. 

External links[link]

• http://www.rugby-local-history.org.uk/ Rugby Local History Group
• Chronology of Rugby from 1086 to 1992
• The Industrial History of Rugby
• The Rugby Observer The Local Newspaper
• Yourhomepagein Rugby Local Community Website
• Visit Rugby
• Rugby Tourism
• Rugby Borough Council
• Rugby's Clock Towers Shopping Centre
• Subterranea Britannica on Rugby Radio Station
• Rugby Welsh RFC
• The RFU