Dunchurch, Warwickshire
Historical Description
Dunchurch, a small town and a parish in Warwickshire. The town stands on the eastern verge of the county, 3½ miles SSW of Rugby, and has a station on the L. & N.W.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Rugby. A horse fair is held on Nov. 15 and 16. In the town is a statue to the late Lord John Scott, erected by public subscription. There are remains of an old village cross. Dunchurch was a meeting-place of the conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot. A court leet and court baron is still held here. Acreage, 3137; population, 964. The parish includes also the hamlets of Toft and Cawston, and the township of Thurlaston. Acreage, 4960; population, 1276. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester; gross value, £264 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Worcester. The church belonged to Pipewell Abbey, is chiefly Decorated, includes a fine Norman arch in its western porch, has a large square tower, and contains a curious monument to Thomas Newcombe, the King's printer, who founded an almshouse here in 1695, which was rebuilt in 1818. There are Primitive Methodist and Baptist chapels.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Warwickshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Dunchurch St. Peter | |
| Hundred | Knightlow | |
| Poor Law union | Rugby |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The Warwickshire County Record Office hold the following registers for Dunchurch:
| Baptisms | Marriages | Burials |
|---|---|---|
| 1538-1948 | 1538-1974 | 1538-1972 |
Most of the records prior to 1911 have been digitised and are available on Ancestry.co.uk
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Dunchurch from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Dunchurch (St. Peter))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Warwickshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Dunchurch are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Warwickshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Warwickshire 1619 is available on the Heraldry page.