1065 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



1066 



towers in the castle, known as Caesar's Tower, which ia 147 feet high, 

 in the moat ancient part of the whole building, and ia of uncertain 

 date; another, known as Guy's Tower, 128 feet high, ia of the latter 

 part of the 14th century and ia of decorated English character. The 

 length of the entire suito of apartments is 333 feet. The great hall 

 of the castle, a noble room, 62 by 37 feet, retains, in its appearance 

 and furniture, much of its ancient character. The other apartments 

 contain a number of portraits and other paintings by the old masters, 

 and a valuable collection of ancient and modern armour. The grounds 

 are extensive and beautiful, and one of the greenhouses contains the 

 capacious and beautiful ancient vase brought to England by the late 

 Earl of Warwick, known as the ' Warwick Vase.' St. Mary's church 

 i* a cruciform edifice, of which the choir and its adjuncts, especially 

 the chapel of St. Mary, usually termed Beauchainp Chapel, are ancient ; 

 the nave and transept are modern, and are of barbarous architecture, 

 with a mixture of different styles. The chancel is a beautiful speci- 

 men of perpendicular architecture, and the east front is remarkably 

 fine. The tower, which is 130 feet high, is surmounted at the angles 

 with lofty pinnacle!*. In the centre of the chapel is a very rich altar- 

 tomb, with the figure, in latten, of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of War- 

 wick, who died in 1439. St-Nicholas'a church is a small modern 

 building. There are places of worship for Wesleyan Methodists, 

 Independents, Baptists, Quakers, Roman Catholics, and Unitarians. 

 There are the King's school, founded by Henry VIII., National, Briti.-h, 

 and Infant schools ; an Industrial school for girls ; an Endowed school 

 for boys and girls ; a savings bank, and a dispensary. The public 

 buildings include a spacious and handsome county-hall ; a neat court- 

 house; a large modern jail; a county bouse of correction; a town- 

 hall ; and a substantial market-house. ' Leicester Hospital,' or alms- 

 house, is for a master and 20 brethren, impotent or infirm men. An 

 ancient place of worship, called St. Peter's church, over the east gate 

 of the town, is used as a free-school. On the west tide of the town is 

 a race-course. 



An extensive hat manufactory and some large flour-mills afford 

 considerable employment. There are malt-houses, rope-walks, and 

 lime-, timber-, and coal-wharfs on the bank of the Warwick and Napton 

 CanaL The market is held on Saturday. There are 12 yearly fain, 

 some of which are considerable cattle-fairs. The assizes and quarter 

 eseiona for tbo county, quarter sessions for the borough, and a county 

 court, are held at Warwick. 



WARWICKSHIRE, a midland county of England, is bounded N. 

 for a very small space by Derbyshire ; X.E. by Leicestershire, the 

 line of separation being formed in great part by the ancient Watling 

 Street; E. by Northamptonshire; S.E. by Oxfordshire; 8. and S.W. 

 by Gloucestershire ; W. by Worcestershire ; and N.W. by Stafford- 

 shire. It lies between 51 58' and 52' 42' N. lat., 1 10' and 2 0' 

 W. long. The greatest length ia 50 mile* ; the greatest breadth is 

 S3 mile*. The area of the county is 881 square miles, or 563,946 

 era. The population in 1841 was 401,703; in 1851 it was 475,013. 



Surface and Geology- Warwickshire has no lofty lull", but the 

 whole county is occupied by gentle eminences with intervening vales. 

 The south-eastern border is skirted by hills composed of the lower 

 formations of the oolitic series, overlooking the valley of the Stuur 

 and the ' Vale of Red Horse,' so called from a colossal figure of a horse 

 carved in the ferruginous sands of the slope of Edge Hill, now oblite- 

 rated by the progress of inclosures, and replaced by one of much 

 mailer dimensions. Of these oolite hills the cbief portion in War- 

 wickshire consists of two ridgM separated from each other by a narrow 

 valley drained by a small brook which joins the Cherwell near Ban- 

 bury in Oxfordshire. The northernmost ridge, comprehending the 

 Burton Hills, Gredenton Hill, Bitham Bill, Compton Hill, Kara- 

 borough Hill, Moliington Hill, and others, runs from north-watt to 

 south east, dividing the valley just mentioned from a parallel valley 

 drained by another small feeder of the Cherwell, and through which 

 the Oxford Canal panes. The other ridge consist* of two parts or 

 branches, meeting at Knowle Hill : one part runs parallel to that juit 

 described, and overlooks the valley between them ; the other is nearly 

 at right angles to the former, and runs southward, overlooking the 

 valley of the Stour. This latter part of the ridge, known in one part 

 as txlge Hill, possesses considerable interest as overlooking the scene 

 of the first pitched battle in the civil war of Charles I. : it consists of 

 an elevated platform with a steep escarpment, commanding an extru- 

 sive prospect over Warwickshire and Worcestershire as far as the 

 Malvern and Abberley Hills west of the Severn. The southern pro- 

 longation of Edge Hill consists of detached summit", such as Tysoe 

 i'.room Hiil, Mine Hill, and Long Compton Hill. Brailes Hill is 

 detached from the principal chain of hill*, and is more advanced into 

 the valley of the Stour ; it has two rather lofty summits. 



The valley of the Stour and the Vale of Red Horse, which skirt 

 the foot of the oolite hills, are occupied by the bed* of the lias forma- 

 tion. The lias forms towards iU north-western limit a range of high 

 ground, including Walton or Bath Hill, Morton Hill, Bromaton Hill, 

 Harbury,-upper-Field, and Dunsrnore Heath, at the foot of which range 

 the formations of the red marl and new red-sandstone group crop 

 out, and occupy the valley of the Avon nearly as far as Rugby. The 

 lia* forms the cap or summit of several hills, Red Hill, Bardon Hill, 

 Welcome Hill, Kime Hill, Black Hill, and others, north-west of the 

 Avon, between Stratford, Alcester, Warwick, and Heuley-in-Arden. 



The marUtone of the lias beds ia quarried at Biuton and Grafton, 

 between Stratford and Alcester, and ia used for paving, for stone seats, 

 and as marble for chimney-piecea ; it is not variegated in colour, but 

 presents dendritical appearances. 



The rest of the county, with one or two exceptions, is occupied by 

 the formations of the red marl and new red-sandatone group; and 

 forms part of the great midland red marl and new red-sandstone 

 district. There is a range of high ground in Feckenham Forest, west 

 of Alcester, along which the Ridge-way runs. Another range of high 

 ground forms a semicircle north of Henley-in-Arden, inclosing the 

 valley drained by the Alne (a small feeder of the Avon), which passes 

 Henley and Alceater. A third range extends acrosa the northern part 

 of the county, forming a crescent, and passing by Solihull, Coleahill, 

 and Dosthill, to the border of the county between Athemtoue and 

 Tarn worth ; and a fourth runs northward from the lias-capped hills 

 near Warwick, by Hatton, Berkswell, Meriden, and Maxtoke to Whit- 

 acre, where it unites with the third range. None 6f these high grounds 

 are of much elevation. A range of hills runa eastward from Warwick, 

 or rather from Leamington Priors, by Duuchurch and Rugby to the 

 border of the county, separating the valleys of the Leam and the 

 Avon. , 



There is one coal-field in Warwickshire : it extends in length 

 1 6 miles from Wicken and Sow, two villages close to Coventry on the 

 east, to the border of Staffordshire east of Tamworth : it has an 

 average breadth of about three miles. The coal district is hilly, and 

 the outcrop of the strata on the east forms a well-defined low escarp- 

 ment, presenting iu some places the coal-measures, in others the 

 subjacent strata of the millstone-grit. At the foot of the escarp- 

 ment is a level plain, where the lower formations are covered by the 

 red marl and new red-sandstone, which completely encircle the coal- 

 field. The principal coal-works are at Griff and Bed worth, in the 

 southern part of the field, between Nuueaton and Coventry. Green- 

 stone U found at Griff. 



Hydrography and Communications. The greater part of Warwick- 

 shire belongs to the basin of the Severn ; a considerable portion in the 

 north is included in the basin of the Trent ; and a small portion iu tho 

 south-east in the basin of the Thames. The drainage of the county is 

 conveyed into the Severn by the Upper Avon, one of its most important 

 tributaries. The Avon rises at Nasoby in Northamptonshire, and 

 enters Warwickshire about 12 miles from its source. Its course in 

 this county is westward, passing Brownsover, Rugby, Wolston, and 

 Ryton ou-Dunsmore, below which it turns south-went and flows through 

 Stoneleigh Park by Warwick, through Warwick Castle Park, by Bar- 

 ford, Charlecote, and Stratford-upon-Avon ; and thence partly within, 

 partly upon the border of the county, by Weston-upon-Avon and 

 Bidford, till it quits tho county just above Harvington mill. Its 

 coune through the county is about 57 miles. [AVON.] The naviga- 

 tion commences at Stratford. The feeders of the Avon are the Swift, 

 the Sow, the Leam, the Dene, the Stour, and the Arrow. The Swift 

 is a small stream which rise* iu Leicestershire, 4 miles from Lutter- 

 worth, passes that town, and after a course of 10 miles joins the Avon 

 on iU right bank near Rugby. The Sow rises near Astley, 5 or 6 miles 

 north of Coventry, and flows 18 or 20 miles by Bedworth, Foleshill, 

 Sowe, and Stonoleigh, into the Avon, which it joins on the right bank 

 in Stoneleigh Park. The Leam rises near Shuckburgh Park, flows ia 

 a very winding channel by WoUhatncote, Leamington, Hastings, Rad- 

 ford, and Leamington Priors, and joins the Avon just above Warwick. 

 IU receive* on the left the Itchene, or Ic/tme, which rises at the foot 

 of Hard wick Hill, near Prior's Hard wick, and joins the Leam at Marton. 

 The Dene rises at the foot of the Burton Hills, and flows weat and 

 north-west by Kineton and Wellesbourne Hastings into the Avon, 

 which it joins on the left bank at Charlecote. The Stuur rises near 

 Tadmarton and Swalcliffe in Oxfordshire, flows west to Burmington, 

 then north and north-went by Shipstou-on-Stour and Preston-upon- 

 Stour into the Avon, which it joins on the left bank below Stratford. 

 Tho Arrow rises in the Waste Hills, or West Hill, about 3 miles east 

 of Bromsgrove Lickey in Worcestershire, and flows by Alvechurch, 

 Redditch, Studley, Alceater, where it receives the Alne on its left 

 bank, and Arrow, into the Avon below Bidford. The Alne rises near 

 Lapwortb, and flows by Preston Bagot and Great Alne into the Arrow 

 at Alceater. None of the feeders of the Avon are navigable. 



That part of the county which belongs to the basin of the Trent is 

 drained by the Tame, which rises in Essington Wood, near Bloxwich, 

 flows between Walsall and Wednesbury to Aston, near Birmingham, 

 above which it enters Warwickshire, and below which it receives the 

 Rea from Birmingham ou the right bank. It then flows by Castle 

 Bromwich. and Water Orton to the junction of the Blyth and the 

 Bourur, both on the right bank, and turns northward, flowing partly 

 within, partly on the border of the county, to the junction of the Anker 

 at Tamworth, where it quits Warwickshire. The Blyth rises just 

 within the border of Worcestershire, and has a winding course, by or 

 near Solihull, Hampton-in-Arden, and Colesbill, below which it receives 

 on the left bank the little river Cole. The Bourne rises near Arley, 

 and flows first south-west, then weat, 10 miles into the Tame. The 

 A nkcr rises in Wolvey Fields, and flows by Nuneaton and 1'oles worth 

 into the Tame at Tamworth. It receives the Griff Brook on the left 

 bunk at Nuneaton, and the Scnce, from Market Bosworth in Leicester- 

 shire, ou the right, below Withorby. Part of the course of the Anker 



