Warwickshire

WARWICKSHIRE, an inland county, bounded on the east by Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, on the south by Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, on the west by Worcestershire, and on the north-west and north by Staffordshire. It extends from 51° 58' to 52° 42' (N. Lat.), and from 1° 10' to 1° 57' (W. Lon.); and comprises an area of 902 square miles, or 577,280 statute acres. There are 81,321 inhabited houses, 6905 uninhabited, and 668 in progress of erection; and the population amounts to 401,715, of whom 195,679 are males, and 206,036 females.

At the period of the invasion of Britain by Julius Cæsar, the county was included partly in the territory of the Comavii, and partly in that of the Wigantes, or Wiccii; the former occupying the northern, and the latter the southern portion. It was first subjected to Roman sway by Ostorius Scapula, the second Roman governor of Britain, who entered it with his forces about the year 50, and constructed a line of intrenched camps along the Avon: the whole was afterwards included in the province called Flavia Ccesariensis. On the complete establishment of the Saxon heptarchy, it became part of the powerful kingdom of Mercia, whose sovereigns selected Warwick, Tamworth, and Kingsbury, as occasional places of residence.

Warwickshire was formerly partly in the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, and partly in that of Worcester; but under the new ecclesiastical arrangements, made pursuant to the act 6th and 7th of William IV., cap. 77, it is now entirely within the latter diocese, in the province of Canterbury. It contains the deaneries of Arden, Coventry, Marton, and Stonely or Stoneleigh, in the archdeaconry of Coventry; and those of Kington and Warwick, in the archdeaconry of Worcester. For purposes of civil government it is divided into four hundreds; viz., Barlichway, having the divisions of Alcester, Henley, Snitterfield, and Stratford; Hemlingford, having those of Atherstone, Birmingham, Solihull, and Tamworth; Kington, having those of Brailes, Burton-Dasset, Kington, and Warwick; and Knightlow, having those of Kenilworth, Kirby, Rugby, and Southam. In the county are the city of Coventry, the boroughs and market-towns of Warwick and Birmingham, and the market-towns of Alcester, Atherstone, Coleshill, Henleyin-Arden, Kenilworth, Kington, Leamington, Nuneaton, Rugby, Southam, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Sutton-Coldfield. Under the act 2nd of William IV., cap. 45, it was divided into two electoral portions, called the Northern and Southern divisions, each being empowered to send two members to parliament. Two citizens are returned for Coventry, and two burgesses for each of the boroughs of Birmingham and Warwick. The county is in the Midland circuit: the assizes and quarter-sessions are held at Warwick, where stand the common gaol and house of correction.

The general surface is undulated, and though seldom presenting romantic scenery, has, for the most part, a rich and pleasing appearance, greatly heightened by numerous small tracts of woodland. The banks of the Avon, though in some places flat and uninteresting, are in many, particularly near Warwick, highly beautiful and picturesque. The soils are generally fertile, comprehending almost every kind, except such as contain chalk or flints. The crops are various; those commonly cultivated are wheat, barley, oats, peas, beans, turnips, potatoes, and tares or vetches. This is a noted grazing county; the permanent meadow and pasture amount by computation to 235,000 acres, and the quantity of land under artificial grasses to 60,000, making a total of 295,000 acres. On each bank of the Avon, during the whole of its course through the county, there is much rich meadow and grazing land; and numerous other parts abound with fine old pastures. The middle, western, and northern parts of the county are those most abounding with timber, of which a large portion is oak of remarkable growth, the district having been formerly occupied by the extensive forest of Arden: there are numerous thriving plantations of different kinds of foresttrees in various parts. The extent of uninclosed land is inconsiderable: the commons of Sutton-Coldfield and Sutton-Park are the most extensive.

The chief Mineral Productions are coal, limestone, freestone, and a blue flagstone. The best coal in the county is found at Bedworth, between Coventry and Nuneaton, where the seam varies in thickness from three to four feet, and is worked to a considerable extent. Large quantities are also raised at Griff-hollow, Chilvers-Coton, Nuneaton common, Hunts-hall, and Oldbury, lying to the north of the first-mentioned place; and the same vein extends still further northward, by Merevale, to Polesworth and Wilnecote. Limestone is found to a great extent, and quarried at numerous places, where it is also burned into lime. Abundance of freestone exists in the neighbourhoods of Warwick, Leamington, Kenilworth, Coventry, and other places, chiefly where the soil is light and sandy. At Coton-End, near Warwick, a light-coloured sandstone is quarried, which is a bed of the upper new red-sandstone; the quarries here have recently attracted much notice from the discovery of fossil remains of an extinct genus of animals, which, from the structure of the teeth, Professor Owen has called Labyrinthodon, and has determined to belong to a gigantic Batrachian reptile of the frog or toad family. Blue flagstone, of the lias formation, suitable for paving and flooring, is found in many places, and is quarried in the neighbourhoods of Bidford and Wilnecote. There is ironstone at Oldbury and Merevale, near the former of which that mineral was anciently worked. The western part of the county abounds with marl of different colours and qualities, much of which is strong and excellent; and a peculiar kind of blue clay, having some of the properties of soap, exists in great quantities in the eastern part.

The hardware manufactures of Birmingham and its vicinity are the principal in the county; the next in importance is the manufacture of silk, ribbons, &c., at Coventry and the surrounding villages. That city is also noted for its watches. There are considerable flaxmills at Berkeswell and Balsall, and in the vicinity of Tamworth, where much linen-yarn is spun. At Kenilworth, horn combs of all descriptions are manufactured: at Alcester are made fish-hooks and needles; and at Atherstone are several factories for hats and ribbons, which latter are also manufactured at Nuneaton.

The principal rivers are the Avon and the Tame, of which the former, called the Upper Avon, to distinguish it from the river that flows past Bristol, was made navigable for vessels of 40 tons' burthen up to Stratford, in 1637. The county has an extensive artificial navigation; Birmingham is a grand centre from which several important lines of communication radiate, enabling that town to send the produce of its manufactures, by a direct and easy water-carriage, to the four great ports of the kingdom. The Birmingham Old canal affords a medium for the conveyance of coal and iron to Birmingham and other places, from the numerous mines on its banks, and for sending the manufactured goods of that town to Liverpool, Manchester, &c. The Birmingham and Worcester canal was formed principally for the conveyance of coal, and for opening a more direct communication between Birmingham and the Severn. The Dudley Extension canal branches from this a little before it enters the county near Birmingham. The Stratford-on-Avon canal commences at King's-Norton, in Worcestershire, and proceeds through this county to its termination in the navigable channel of the Avon at Stratford. This canal has a short branch to the village of Tanworth, and a longer one to the Grafton lime-works; it also communicates by a short cut with the Warwick and Birmingham canal, near Lapworth-street. The Birmingham and Fazeley canal, commencing in the Coventry canal at Whittington brook, was formed chiefly for conveying the produce of the Birmingham manufactures towards London and Hull, and for supplying Birmingham with grain and other commodities. The Coventry canal is an important line in the communication between London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, &c., and by means of it, great quantities of coal are conveyed from the pits in its vicinity, chiefly to the city of Coventry. It has a branch, about a mile in length, to the Griff collieries, and another, from which are several minor branches, to the collieries near Lees-wood, Pool, and Bedworth. The Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal begins in the Coventry canal at Marston Bridge, near Nuneaton, and, taking an irregular north-eastern course, soon quits the county near Hinckley. The Oxford canal commences at Longford, about four miles from Coventry, and finally quits for Oxfordshire a little to the south of Wormleighton; the Grand Junction canal commences in the last-mentioned line at Braunston, on the eastern border of Warwickshire, but in the county of Northampton. The Warwick and Birmingham canal, commencing in the Digbeth cut of the Fazeley canal at Digbeth, near Birmingham, proceeds south-eastward near Solihull to Warwick, whence the navigation is continued by the Warwick and Napton canal, which terminates in the Oxford canal near Napton-onthe-Hill.

The northern and central parts of the county enjoy excellent means of railway communication. The London and Birmingham line enters it at its eastern extremity, and, passing Rugby, Coventry, and Hampton, terminates at Birmingham: at Coventry a line branches out to Kenilworth, Warwick, and Leamington. At Birmingham and Hampton, respectively, commence two portions of the Midland railway, which unite near Coleshill, whence the line proceeds due north, quitting the county at Tamworth: another portion of the Midland railway begins at Rugby, and soon passes into Leicestershire. The Trent Valley line also commences at Rugby, and proceeds by Nuneaton and Atherstone to Tamworth, where it quits Warwickshire for the county of Stafford. Small portions of the Birmingham and Liverpool and the Birmingham and Bristol lines, are likewise within the county; and other important railways are in progress.

Warwickshire contained the Roman station of Manduessedum, situated on the Watling-street, at Mancetter; and that of Alauna, at Alcester; while another was probably fixed at Chesterton. It was traversed by the Watling-street, the Fosse-way, the Ikeneld-street, and the Ridge-way; and several vicinal ways diverged from the great roads. The Roman camps are not very numerous; the principal are situated along the course of the Fosse-way, and on the banks of the river Avon. In the vicinity of the camps and roads are found many tumuli and coins, and other vestiges of Roman occupation have been discovered in almost every part of the county. On Welcombe hills, to the west of Alveston, are extensive earthworks called the Dingles, supposed to be of Saxon origin. The number of Religious Houses, including hospitals and colleges, was about 57; and remains yet exist of the abbey of Merevale, comprising some interesting specimens of early Norman architecture; of the priories of Coventry, Kenilworth, and Maxstoke; and of the nunneries of Nuneaton, Pindley, and Polesworth. There are remains of Astley, Brandon, Kenilworth, Maxstoke, Tamworth, and Warwick castles: the last are particularly extensive, and form the chief part of the present magnificent residence of the Earl of Warwick. The most remarkable ancient mansions are Clopton House, Compton-Wyniates House, and Aston Hall, near Birmingham; and among the most distinguished modern seats of the nobility and gentry, are Ragley Hall, Combe Abbey, Packington Hall, and Stoneleigh Abbey. There are chalybeate springs at Birmingham, Ilmington, Newnham-Regis, and other places, but the waters of Leamington are by far the most celebrated, their reputation having converted this formerly obscure village into a place of fashionable resort.

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