Warwickshire is a flat, lowland county, but its far south contains part of theCotswolds, which have been designated anational landscape. TheRiver Avon, a major tributary of theSevern, flows through the south of the county.
The region was part ofRoman Britain and later the Roman road calledWatling Street became the boundary between theAnglo-Saxon kingdom ofMercia and theDanelaw. The county was relatively settled during the rest of the Middle Ages and Early Modern period; Coventry developed as a major centre of the textiles trade. The playwrightWilliam Shakespeare was born inStratford-upon-Avon in 1564, living much of his life there, and theGunpowder Plot of 1605 was planned nearSnitterfield. During the Industrial Revolution, theWarwickshire coalfield was exploited and Coventry and the west of the county became manufacturing centres; Leamington Spa developed as a tourist resort at the same time. The Victorian novelist Mary Ann Evans, better known asGeorge Eliot, was born just outside Nuneaton in 1819.
Warwickshire is bordered byLeicestershire to the northeast,Staffordshire to the northwest,Worcestershire and theWest Midlands to the west,Northamptonshire to the east and southeast,Gloucestershire to the southwest andOxfordshire to the south. The northern tip of the county is only 3 miles (5 km) from theDerbyshire border. An average-sized English county covering an area of 1,975 km2 (760 sq mi),[5] it runs some 56 miles (90 km) north to south.
The majority of Warwickshire's population live in the north and centre of the county.[6] The market towns of northern and eastern Warwickshire were industrialised in the 19th century, and includeAtherstone,Bedworth,Coleshill,Nuneaton, andRugby. Major industries includedcoal mining,textiles,engineering andcement production, but heavy industry is in decline, being replaced by distribution centres, light to medium industry and services. Of the northern and eastern towns, Nuneaton and Rugby (as the birthplace ofrugby football) are best known outside of Warwickshire. The prosperous towns of central and western Warwickshire, includingLeamington Spa,Warwick,Stratford-upon-Avon,Kenilworth,Alcester,Southam andWellesbourne, harbour tourism, gaming and services as major employment sectors.
The north of the county, bordering Staffordshire and Leicestershire, is mildly undulating countryside (rising to 178m / 581 ft nearHartshill) and the northernmost village,No Man's Heath, is only 34 miles (55 km) south of thePeak District National Park's southernmost point.
The south of the county is largely rural and sparsely populated, and includes a very small area of theCotswolds, at the border with northeast Gloucestershire. The plain between the outlying Cotswolds and theEdgehill escarpment is known as theVale of Red Horse.[7] The onlytown in the south of Warwickshire isShipston-on-Stour. The highest point in the county, at 261 m (856 ft), isEbrington Hill, again on the border with Gloucestershire,grid referenceSP187426 at the county's southwest extremity.[8][9]
There are no cities in Warwickshire since bothCoventry andBirmingham were incorporated into the West Midlands county in 1974 and are now metropolitan authorities in themselves. According to the2011 United Kingdom census, the largest towns (+20,000 pop.) in Warwickshire were: Nuneaton (pop. 81,900), Rugby (70,600), Leamington Spa (49,500), Bedworth (32,500), Warwick (30,100), Stratford (25,500) and Kenilworth (22,400)[10]
Much of western Warwickshire, including the area now forming part of Coventry, Solihull and Birmingham, was covered by the ancientForest of Arden[11] (most of which was cut down to provide fuel for industrialisation). Thus the names of a number of places in the central-western part of Warwickshire end with the phrase "-in-Arden", such asHenley-in-Arden,Hampton-in-Arden andTanworth-in-Arden. The remaining area, not part of the forest, was called the Felden – fromfielden - and is now an undulating and agricultural landscape, through which the rivers Avon and Leam flow.[12]
Coventry is effectively in the centre of the Warwickshire area, and still has strong ties with the county. Coventry and Warwickshire are sometimes treated as a single area and share a singleChamber of Commerce,Local Enterprise Partnership and BBC Local Radio Station (BBC CWR).
Coventry was administered separately from the rest of Warwickshire between 1451 and 1842. It formed theCounty of the City of Coventry, acounty corporate from 1451. In 1842 the county corporate of Coventry was abolished and remerged with the rest of Warwickshire.
The town ofTamworth was historically divided between Warwickshire andStaffordshire, but since 1888 has been fully in Staffordshire.
Warwickshire contains a large expanse ofgreen belt area, surrounding theWest Midlands andCoventry conurbations, and was first drawn up from the 1950s.[clarification needed] All the county's districts contain some portion of the belt.
Warwickshire has a strong and growing economy with the automotive industry being a major contributor. In the north, BMW's Hams Hall plant employs over 1,000 people,[16] while Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin Lagonda have headquarters, including a giant advanced production creation centre,[17] at Gaydon in the south.
Warwickshire is also establishing a growing reputation as a global hub of thevideo game industry.[18] One of Britain's oldest still-running game studios,Codemasters, has operated out ofSoutham for decades; the greater "Silicon Spa"[19] area, including Southam,Royal Leamington Spa andWarwick, is now home to dozens of game studios which employ a combined total of over 2,000 highly skilled people, equating to more than 10% of the UK's games development workforce.[20]
Increasingly the region is establishing itself as one of the leading areas in battery technology with major developments announced in 2021 that include a £130 million UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC)[21] based in Coventry.
Tourism is also a key area of employment with country parks, rural areas and historic towns across the county. It generates a total business turnover of over £1 billion to the local economy and supports almost 20,000 jobs.[22]
18 of the 20 largest settlements of Warwickshire, see the green section for Bidford and Wellesbourne. District centres inyellow. Cities which were historically in (or partially in) the county of Warwickshire.[23][24] – Orange. Settlements which have recently been targeted for planned population growth to become larger, suburban villages/towns, across the current and historic county boundaries.[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] – Green.
Main Warwickshire towns and villages, with a population of at least 5,000:
During theMiddle Ages Warwickshire was dominated byCoventry, at the time one of the most important cities in England because of its prominence in the textiles trade. Warwickshire played a key part in theEnglish Civil War, with theBattle of Edgehill and other skirmishes taking place in the county. During theIndustrial Revolution Warwickshire became one of Britain's foremost industrial counties, with the large industrial cities ofBirmingham andCoventry within its boundaries.
1891: The district ofBalsall Heath, which had originally constituted the most northerly part of the Parish ofKing's Norton in Worcestershire, was added to theCounty Borough of Birmingham, and therefore Warwickshire, on 1 October 1891.
1909:Quinton was formally removed from Worcestershire and incorporated into the County Borough of Birmingham, then in Warwickshire, on 9 November 1909.
1931: The boundaries between Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire were adjusted by the Provisional Order Confirmation (Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire) Act which transferred 26 parishes between the three counties, largely to eliminateexclaves. The town ofShipston-on-Stour was gained from Worcestershire and several villages, includingLong Marston andWelford-on-Avon, fromGloucestershire, while the parish ofIpsley was ceded fromAlcester Rural District toRedditch Urban District in Worcestershire.
1969:Matchborough was ceded to Worcestershire as part of thenew town development of Redditch.
Atherstone is the headquarters of the North Warwickshire district,Nuneaton is headquarters of the Nuneaton and Bedworth District andLeamington Spa is the headquarters of the Warwick district.
Warwickshire County Council, based inWarwick is elected every four years. Theelection on 6 May 2021 resulted in a Conservative majority. The county council operates acabinet-style council. The county council is made of 57 councillors, who decide upon the budget and appoints the council leader. The council leader selects 8 councillors and together they form the cabinet. The Leader assigns portfolios on which cabinet members make decisions. Key decisions are made by the whole cabinet while others are made only by the portfolio holders for relevant areas.[36]
In addition many small towns and villages have their owntown council orparish council as the most local tier of local government.
In August 2020 Warwickshire County Council put forward proposals for the five district and borough councils in the county to be abolished and replaced with a single county-wideunitary authority.[37] This prompted a backlash from the district and borough councils who commissioned their own report, which argued in favour of Warwickshire being split into two unitary authorities, one for the north of the county, covering the current districts of North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth and Rugby, and one for the south of the county, covering Warwick and Stratford districts.[38] In September 2020, it was agreed that both proposals would be sent for consideration to theSecretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.[39]
In the state sector, children start school in the school year in which they turn five. They stay at primary school for seven years (although this varies even within the county, as some people have previously gone for four years and then spent another four years at a 'middle school') until they are eleven. Warwickshire is one of36 local authorities in England to still maintain thegrammar school system in two districts: Stratford-on-Avon and Rugby. In the final year of primary school, children are given the opportunity of sitting the11-plus exam to compete for a place at one of the 5 grammar schools:Stratford-upon-Avon Grammar School for Girls;King Edward VI School, a boys' school from year 7–11 with a mixed Sixth-Form;Lawrence Sheriff Grammar School for Boys;Rugby High School for Girls andAlcester Grammar School (mixed). The Warwickshire 11+ selection test consists of two papers, each containing a mixture of verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning and non-verbal reasoning multiple-choice questions.[40]
Warwickshire contains four colleges of further education:North Warwickshire & Hinckley College, King Edward VI Sixth Form College (K.E.G.S) in Nuneaton,Stratford-upon-Avon College and theWarwickshire College Group an institution made up of six main separate colleges that have merged (Leamington Centre, Rugby Centre, Moreton Morrell Centre, Pershore College, Henley-in-Arden Centre and the Trident Centre in Warwick).
There are no universities per se in Warwickshire, though theUniversity of Warwick forms part of the border with Warwickshire on the southern edge of the city of Coventry. Some areas of the University of Warwick are within the boundaries of Warwickshire including Lakeside Village and Warwick Business School[41] The university has a small campus near Wellesbourne which houses the Warwick Horticultural Research Centre and an Innovation Centre.[42]
Several majormotorways run through Warwickshire; these are:
TheM40 motorway, which connectsLondon toBirmingham, runs through the centre of the county; it serves Leamington Spa, Warwick and Stratford.
TheM6 motorway, which connectsNorth West England and the West Midlands to theM1 motorway (and then on to London), runs through the north of Warwickshire; it serves Rugby, Nuneaton and Bedworth on its way to Birmingham.
TheM69 Coventry to Leicester motorway serves Nuneaton.
Other motorways pass briefly through Warwickshire including theM45 (a short spur south of Rugby connecting to the M1), the southern end of theM6 Toll and theM42; it passes through the county at several points.
Other major trunk routes in Warwickshire include:
A45 takes a route through Birmingham, Coventry and Rugby, then east into Northamptonshire
A46 connects the M40 to the M6 via Warwick, Kenilworth and Coventry
Birmingham-Nuneaton section of theBirmingham to Peterborough Line, which continues east of Nuneaton towardsLeicester andPeterborough. Nuneaton has direct services to Birmingham and Leicester on this line; there are two intermediate stations atWater Orton andColeshill in the extreme north-west of the county.
North Warwickshire Line from Birmingham toStratford-upon-Avon. This line used to continue southwards toCheltenham, but is now a dead-end branch. There is an intermediate station on this line atHenley-in-Arden and at several small villages. Stratford also has direct rail services to London via the branch line to Warwick.
Between 1965 and 2018, the only major town in Warwickshire without a station wasKenilworth. The Leamington to Coventry line passes through the town, but the station was closed as part of theBeeching cuts.Kenilworth railway station was rebuilt and opened in April 2018,[43] with an hourly service to Coventry and to Leamington provided byWest Midlands Trains.
HS2 construction near Leamington Spa in August 2021
The newHigh Speed 2 (HS2) line is a long-distance route that is being constructed through Warwickshire; however, there will be no stations in the county. It will pass south ofSoutham, then between Kenilworth and Coventry, before running into the West Midlands towards Birmingham.[44]
TheOxford Canal runs from near Coventry, then eastwards around Rugby and through the rural south of the county towardsOxford.
TheGrand Union Canal runs through Leamington and Warwick, then onwards to Birmingham.
The restoredSaltisford Canal Arm is close to the centre of Warwick and is now a short branch of the Grand Union Canal. The arm is the remains of the original terminus of the Warwick and Birmingham Canal; it dates back to 1799.
TheStratford-upon-Avon Canal runs from the Grand Union west of Warwick to Stratford, where it joins the Avon.
TheRiver Avon runs through Warwickshire on a south-west to north-east axis, running through Stratford, Warwick and Rugby. It is navigable for 47 miles (76 km) from theRiver Severn atTewkesbury toAlvestonweir just east of Stratford-upon-Avon, making it the only navigable river in Warwickshire.[45] There have been proposals to extend the Avon navigation 13 miles (21 km) to Warwick.[46] However, as of 2019, these plans look unlikely to proceed.[47]
Warwickshire's rural roads, canal towpaths and historic towns are increasingly popular with cycling enthusiasts.[50] Its reputation as a major cycling destination has been bolstered in recent years having hosted a stage of the Women's Tour since 2016[51] and the Men's Tour of Britain in 2018 and 2019.[52]
In 2022, St Nicholas Park in Warwick hosted theElite Men's and Women's Road Race as part of theCommonwealth Games that took place in Birmingham.[53]
There are six Saturday morning 5 km parkruns in Warwickshire for all ages and abilities: Leamington, Stratford upon Avon, Rugby, Bedworth, Southam and Kingsbury. There are also three Sunday 2 km junior events at Stratford upon Avon, Rugby and Warwick.[54]
The Warwickshire County Board of theGaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (or Warwickshire GAA) is one of thecounty boards outsideIreland and is responsible forGaelic games in Warwickshire. The county board is also responsible for the Warwickshire inter-county teams. They play their home games atPáirc na hÉireann.
In March 2014 the freedom of the county was bestowed on theRoyal Regiment of Fusiliers. The honour was officially bestowed following a parade throughWarwick on 6 June 2014.[57]
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