Everything about Warwick totally explained
Warwick (
war-ick (silent w in middle)) is the
county town of
Warwickshire in the
West Midlands region of
England. The town lies upon the
River Avon, 18 km (11 miles) south of
Coventry and 4 km (2.5 miles) west of
Leamington Spa, with a population of 25,434 (2001 census).
Warwick hosts annual festivals ranging from the Spoken Word to Classical and Contemporary Music to a Folk Festival and the Victorian Evening, held in late November or early December.
Warwick Chamber of Trade
helps to promote the town for visitors, residents and businesses. The town is also famous for
Warwick Castle, the construction of which began in 1068. The town centre is also known for its historic architecture, and contains a mixture of
Tudor and
17th-century buildings. In recent years, several high-profile national and international companies have set-up large office complexes in and around Warwick, notably
National Grid and
IBM.
Warwick is also known for
Warwick Racecourse, near the west gate of the medieval town which hosts several televised meets a year. Within the racecourse is a small golfcourse.
Warwick Hospital and
St Michael's Hospital (a psychiatric which replaced
Central Hospital, Hatton are situated within the town.
Warwick is twinned with Saumur in France and Verden in Germany. Warwick was twinned with Saumur in 1976. Verden, already the twin town of Saumur, became Warwick's German partner in 1989. Havelberg, in former East Germany was adopted by Verden on re-unification, and was welcomed as a friendship town by Warwick and Saumur.
History
According to tradition, Warwick was founded on the banks of the River Avon in the year
914 AD, when
Ethelfleda, sister of
Mercian king
Edward the Elder built defences against
Danish (Viking) invaders; these were to be the basis of
Warwick Castle. The name 'Warwick' means "dwellings by the
weir".
In
1016 the Danes invaded Mercia and burned down much of Warwick, including the
nunnery (which stood on the site of the present day St Nicholas Church).
Its fortifications led Warwick to become an important administrative centre within the Mercian kingdom. In the early
11th century Anglo-Saxon England was divided into administrative areas known as
shires, and the shire administered from Warwick became known as
Warwickshire. By the time of
Domesday Book, Warwick was a royal borough.
In
medieval times, Warwick remained under the control of various
Earls of Warwick, mostly of the Beauchamp family, and became a walled town. Today the only remains of the town walls are the east and west gatehouses. The Eastern gatehouse now serves as part of the King's High School, a sister institution to Warwick School. Warwick wasn't incorporated as a town until
1545.
During the
English Civil War the town and castle were garrisoned for Parliament. The garrison, under Sir Edward Peyto, withstanding a two week siege by the Royalists. Later musters from 1644 to 1646 record a garrison of up to 350 men under the command of Colonel Purefoy and Major John Bridges. The middle of the 17th century also saw the founding of
Castle Hill Baptist Church, one of the oldest baptist churches in the world. In
1694 a great fire destroyed much of the town, and as a result most of the buildings in the town centre are of 17th and 18th century origin, although a number of older medieval buildings survive, especially around the edges of the town centre.
The fire burnt down much of the medieval
church of St Mary; both the chancel and the Beauchamp Chapel, however, survived, the latter having been built between 1443 and 1464 according to the wishes of
Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (who had died in Rouen in 1439). A full size reclining copper gilt effigy of the Earl lies upon his Purbeck marble tomb - a fine piece of medieval metalwork cast in 1459.
Warwick School is an
independent school for boys which claims to be the oldest boys' school in England. The actual date of its founding is unknown, although 914 has been quoted in some cases. For some years the school honoured the fact that King
Edward the Confessor (c.1004–1066) chartered it, although there's no direct evidence for this, and
King Henry VIII re-founded the school in
1545. Whatever the truth of the matter, there's no doubt that there has been a grammar school in the town of Warwick since before the
Norman Conquest, and its successor, the present school, has been on its current site south of the
River Avon since 1879. On
28 March 2007, the
Warwick School Under 18s Rugby Union team beat
Barnard Castle School 24-23 at
Twickenham Stadium, to win the
Daily Mail Cup for the first time in the school's history.
Education
There are a number of secondary schools located within Warwick, including
Warwick School, an independent school for boys,
The King's High School For Girls, an independent school for girls,
Myton School and
Aylesford School, both of which are state run co-educational schools.
The
University of Warwick, one of the leading
universities in the
UK, is somewhat confusingly named after the 'county' of Warwickshire, rather than the town, and is in fact situated several miles north of Warwick on the southern outskirts of
Coventry.
Transport
Warwick is near the
M40 motorway and the
A46 trunk road. The town also has good
rail links, with direct services to
London,
Birmingham and
Stratford-upon-Avon provided by
Chiltern Railways from
Warwick railway station in the town and also from
Warwick Parkway, a new out-of-town station opened in
2000 a few miles from the town. In addition, a few peak-hour trains to and from Birmingham are operated by
London Midland.
The
Grand Union Canal and the
River Avon also pass through the town.
The restored Saltisford Canal Arm, is close to the town centre, and is a short branch of the Grand Union Canal. The arm is the remains of the original terminus of the Warwick and Birmingham Canal and dates back to 1799. The Saltisford Canal Trust have restored most of the surviving canal, which is now the mooring for colourful narrowboats and a waterside park open to the public. Over 800 visiting narrowboats come by water to Warwick each year and moor on the arm.
Administration
Population growth has led to Warwick becoming joined to its larger neighbouring town
Leamington Spa with which it forms a small
conurbation. Both towns are now administered as part of the
Warwick District, which has its headquarters in Leamington, although each retains a separate
town council. Warwickshire County Council remains based in Warwick itself.
Associations
J. R. R. Tolkien seems to have been very influenced by Warwick (where he was married in the Catholic Church of Saint Mary Immaculate) and by its Mercian connections: Lynn Forest-Hill, in an article in the
Times Literary Supplement (TLS 8 July 2005 pp 12-13) argues cogently that two important settlements in Tolkien's work were modelled on Warwick —
Edoras closely on the early town, and
Minas Tirith more remotely on the Norman; and that aspects of the plot of the
The Lord of the Rings are paralleled in the romance known as
Guy of Warwick.
Warwick and its historic buildings have featured in a number of television series, including the
BBC's drama series
Dangerfield, the period dramas
Pride and Prejudice and
Tom Jones and
Granada Television's
Moll Flanders. Parts of the town subbed for Elizabethan London in the third-series episode two (
The Shakespeare Code) of
Doctor Who which ran
7 April 2007.
Warwick has many long established sports clubs including
Warwick Hockey Club which was founded in 1920 and
Racing Club Warwick F.C. founded a year earlier.
Some Warwick lineage still exists in the USA, including Warwicks in Rhode Island, Vermont and Georgia.
Suburbs
Suburbs of Warwick include :-
Emscote, Woodloes Park, The Cape, Packmores, Bridge End, Myton (connecting Warwick with Leamington Spa) and Forbes.
Landmarks
Town twinning
Warwick, Rhode Island
Saumur, Pays de la Loire
Verden, Lower Saxony
Warwick, New York
Warwick, Queensland
Famous People From Warwick
Edgar Broughton Band (Rock Band)
John Fairfax (Journalist)
Margaret Harrington (Politician in Canada)
Sir John Hicks (Nobel Prize in Economics)
Walter Savage Landor (Poet)
June Tabor (Folk Singer)
Simon Taylor-Davis (Lead Guitarist of Klaxons)
Naomi Freeth (Pop Singer)Further Information
Get more info on 'Warwick'.
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