NUNEATON (St. Nicholas), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the Atherstone division of the hundred of Hemlingford, N. division of the county of Warwick, 18 miles (N. N. E.) from Warwick, and 100 (N. W. by W.) from London; containing, with the hamlets of Attleborough and Stockingford, 7105 inhabitants. The name of this place is derived from a river in its neighbourhood, Ea in Saxon signifying "water;" and from a priory established here in the reign of Stephen, by Robert, Earl of Leicester, for nuns of the order of Fontevrault. In the convents of the order abroad were sometimes nuns and monks in one establishment; here were only a prior, a prioress, and nuns, the prioress having supreme authority. In the reign of Henry III., a weekly market was granted to the prioress, and at the Dissolution the revenue of the nunnery was £290. 15. 0½. The town is pleasantly situated on the borders of Leicestershire, on the river Anker, over which are two bridges, and consists principally of one long street, from which a cross street leads to the market-place; the houses are in general of mean appearance, but interspersed with some handsome modern buildings, and are well supplied with water. The chief occupation is ribbon-weaving for the London market, in which branch of manufacture French looms and machinery have been introduced, especially in the figured gauze ribbon. The Trent-Valley railway passes by the town; and in 1846 acts were passed for making a railway from Nuneaton to Burton-on-Trent, 23 miles in length; a railway to Wigston Magna, near Leicester, 15 miles in length; and a line to Coventry, 10½ miles in length. The Birmingham and Coventry canal passes by the north-west extremity of the town. About two miles distant are some coal-mines; fine clay for pottery, and also manganese, are dug; and there are quarries of freestone in the parish. The market is on Saturday: fairs are held on May 14th, 15th, and 16th, for cattle and hardware, and on Feb. 18th and Oct. 31st for horses and cattle; and a statute-fair takes place fourteen days before Michaelmas. Three constables are annually elected and sworn in at the court leet for the town and hamlets; there is also a permanent constable. The powers of the county debt-court of Nuneaton, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Nuneaton, and the parishes of Ansley and Bedworth. The town-hall is a neat modern edifice of brick.
The parish contains 6005 acres of productive land. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £24. 14. 7., and in the patronage of the Crown; appropriator, the Bishop of Lichfield. The vicarial tithes have been commuted for £554. 16. 1., and there are 226 acres of vicarial glebe. The church is a fine structure exhibiting portions in the various styles of English architecture, with a square embattled tower having pinnacles at the angles. At Stockingford is a chapel, built in 1824; a proprietary chapel has been erected, which is elegantly fitted up, and a chapel has also been completed at Attleborough. Here are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics. The free grammar school was founded in the 6th of Edward VI., and endowed with 103 acres of land at Coventry. An English free school for boys and girls, established in 1712, by the will of Mr. Richard Smith, of St. Anne's, Westminster, and endowed with 94 acres of land producing about £100 annually, is now conducted on the national system. The poor-law union of Nuneaton comprises 7 parishes or places, containing a population of 12,240. The ground plan of the monastery and a considerable portion of the walls of the main edifice, with fragments of columns and richly-moulded arches, are yet visible: the outer walls, also, which inclosed a spacious quadrangular area, are still standing on the east and north sides. A portion of the materials was used in repairing or rebuilding the church.