Nuneaton, Warwickshire

Historical Description

Nuneaton, a market-town, the head of a poor-law union and county court district, and a parish in Warwickshire. The town stands on the river Anker, adjacent to the Coventry Canal, 2 miles SW of Watling Street, at the boundary with Leicestershire, 8½ N by E of Coventry, 13½ NW of Rugby, and 97 by railway from London. It has a station on the L. & N.W.R. (a junction for Leicester, Coventry, and Ashby), and another, 1 mile distant, on the M.R. The name of the town was originally Eton or Eaton, the prefix Nun having been probably added when the nunnery became known. Nuneaton occupies a site centrally low, but rising on all sides. The town is well built, has an urban district council which embraces Chilvers Coton in its area, is a seat of county courts and petty sessions, and has a head post office, two banks, three bridges over the Anker, a town-hall, a literary institute and reading-room, an hospital opened in 1893, a grammar school, and a police station. The ancient nunnery was founded by Robert, Earl of Leicester; was a cell to Fontevrault Abbey in Picardy; and had, at the dissolution, revenues amounting to £291. The foundations of the church and the bases of the tower piers still exist. The parish church, dedicated to St Nicholas, stands on high ground on the road to Lutterworth; is Early English, and handsome; comprises nave, aisles, and chancel, with pinnacled tower; and contains ancient monuments to the Stratfords and the Trotmans, and a white marble tomb of Sir Marmaduke Constable. The church of St Mary the Virgin was erected in 1878 as a reproduction, as far as possible, of the style of the church of the nunnery. There are Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels, and a cemetery. The grammar school was founded in the time of Edward VI., and has an endowed income of about £200. New buildings, with accommodation for boarders, were erected in 1880. There are large national schools and a free school under the charity of Mr Richard Smith. Two weekly newspapers are published. A weekly market is held on Saturday, sales of stock on Tuesdays, and a fair is held on 14-16 May. Eibbon manufacture was the staple trade, but has now greatly declined. Cotton, woollen, and worsted spinning is carried on; hats and elastic web, as also tennis balls and plush, are manufactured, and the Nuneaton Wool Company have a large establishment for wool and skin dressing and tanning. There is also a corn mill. Brickfields, quarries, and coal and ironstone mines are in the neighbourhood. The workhouse is at Chilvers Coton.

The parish contains also the large hamlets of Attleborough and Stockingford. Acreage, 6541; population, 11,580. Population of the ecclesiastical parish of St Nicholas, 4046. The ecclesiastical parish of St Mary the Virgin was constituted in 1878. Population, 3074. The parish contains also the ecclesiastical parishes of Attleborough (constituted in 1854; population, 1779) and Stockingford (constituted in 1846; population, 2678). The parochial living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester; net value, £600 with residence. Patron, the Crown. The living of St Mary the Virgin is a perpetual curacy and titular vicarage in the diocese of Worcester; value, £150 with residence. Patron, the Vicar of Nuneaton. See ATTLEBOROUGH and STOCKINGFORD.

Nuneaton Parliamentary Division of North-Eastern Warwickshire was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 52,644. The division includes the following:-Coventry or Kirkby-Allesley, Anstey, Astley, Bed-worth, Berkswell, Binley, Brandon and Bretford, Brinklow, Bulkington, Burton Hastings, Combe Fields, Copson, Coundon, Coventry (St Michael-with-St John), Coventry (Holy Trinity), Easenhall, Exhall, Foleshill, Harborough (Magna), Hinckley (part-Hydes Pastures), Keresley, Monks Kirby, Monks Riding, Pailton, Shilton, Sowe, Stivichall, Stoke, Stretton Baskerville, Stretton-under-Fosse, Wibtoft, Willenhall, Willey, Withybrook, Wolvey, Wyken; Atherstoue (part of)-Ansley, Atherstone, Baddesley, Ensor, Baxterley, Bentley, Caldecote, Chilvers Coton, Hartshill, Mancetter, Mere-vale (the part in the county), Nuneaton, Oldbury, Weddington; Coleshill (part of)-Arley, Fillongley, Kinwalsey, Meri-den, Packington (Great), Packington (Little); Coventry, municipal borough.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

The Warwickshire County Record Office hold the following registers for Nuneaton:

Most of the records prior to 1911 have been digitised and are available on Ancestry.co.uk

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Nuneaton from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Nuneaton (St. Nicholas))

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Warwickshire is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Nuneaton 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:

• Leamington Spa Courier

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Warwickshire 1619 is available on the Heraldry page.