Southam (St. James)

SOUTHAM (St. James), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the Southam division of the hundred of Knightlow, S. division of the county of Warwick, 10 miles (E. S. E.) from Warwick, on the road to Banbury, and 84 (N. W.) from London; containing 1670 inhabitants. This town, anciently called Suthau, is of great antiquity, and possessed a mint. The monks of Coventry had a religious establishment here; and in Bury orchard, near the churchyard, foundations have been discovered, and many skeletons dug up. In an old mansion near the centre of the town, which appears to have been built before Queen Elizabeth's reign, Charles I. and his two sons are said to have slept, on the night before the battle of Edge-Hill, in which engagement a son of the Earl of Pembroke, who was buried in Southam church, was slain. The parochial register, under the year 1641, contains an entry of money paid to the royal footman for opening the church doors, which had been locked and sealed by the king's order, as a punishment to the inhabitants for not ringing the bells on his entering the place.

The town is situated on an eminence rising from the eastern bank of a tributary of the river Leam, and consists of two streets; the houses in general are modern and well built, the inhabitants are adequately supplied with water from springs, and the surrounding scenery is pleasingly diversified. The stream is crossed by a neat stone bridge of two arches, at the lower extremity of the town; and on rising ground on the opposite side, an antique mansion forms a striking contrast with the other buildings. The market is on Monday, and is well supplied with corn. Fairs are held for cattle and horses on the first Monday in every month: at the June fair is occasionally celebrated the procession of Lady Godiva, in imitation of that at Coventry. The powers of the county debt-court of Southam, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Southam. The parish comprises 2976 acres, whereof two-thirds are arable, and the remainder pasture; the surface is elevated, the soil a fertile clay: limestone of good quality is quarried for building purposes and agriculture.

The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £22. 17. 6., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £534. The church is a handsome structure in the decorated and later English styles, with a tower and fine spire; the chancel has some remarkably good windows in the former, and the clerestory is lighted by windows in the latter, style. The roof of the nave contains some remains of rich ornamental work; an old pulpit from a neighbouring church has been erected, and there is a new and handsomely-carved reading-desk. The Independents have a place of worship. A free school was founded in 1762, and endowed with land now producing about £60 per annum. The townlands estate produces £178. 15. per annum, for the relief of the poor, and the repair of bridges and highways; and £24. 10., left by the Rev. Henry Edmunds, go to the clothing of ten poor men. An infirmary for curing diseases of the eye and ear, established by Mr. Smith, a resident surgeon, in 1818, under the patronage of the nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood, is supported by subscription. The union of Southam embraces 19 parishes or places, and contains a population of 9907. Here is a mineral spring with the same properties as the waters at Leamington; also a spring called Holywell. Francis Holyoake, author of the first collection of English words published in the form of a dictionary, was rector of the parish in the seventeenth century.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.