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| Great Alne is a small village, known as Ruwenalne or Round Alne in the
Middle Ages (the first part of the name does not mean 'round' but
'rough'), seven miles north-west of Stratford-upon-Avon, in the County
of Warwickshire, England. The name Great Alne takes its name from the
River Alne. First chronicled in the charter of King Ethelbald (723-737)
"near to the river which our ancestors used to call, and which is
called to this day, 'Alwine'." The Celtic word Alwine meaning bright or
clear. Land at Alne was given by Coenwulf, King of the Mercians, about
809, to his newly founded abbey of Winchcombe in Gloucestershire. The
Domesday Book records " in Ferncombe Hundred, Winchcombe Abbey holds 6
hides in (Great) Alne. Land for 6 ploughs. In lordship 1 plough; 3
slaves. 11 villagers with 4 smallholders have 5 ploughs. A mill at 5s;
woodland 1/2 leaugue long with 4 furlongs wide. The value was £3; now
£4." The parish church of St Mary Magdalene consists of a chancel with
a modern north vestry, nave, north aisle, and west porch-turret. Whilst
13th century in origin with some later additions, much restoration was
completed in 1837 when the nave was enlarged and a west gallery added.
St Mary's belonged to Winchcombe Abbey in 1175, but soon became a
chapel attached to Kinwarton Church, where it has remained ever since.
Thomas Clarke the rector at the time of the puritan "Survei of the
Ministrie in Warwickshier" of 1586 was described; "parson no precher
nor learned, yet honest of life & zealous in religion he hath 3 or
4 charges & cures beside that of Kynerton, Witeley (Weethley) he
supplieth by his deputies : his hirelinges that serue by his
non-residentship are all dumbe & idle & some of them gamsters :
vah of all Ixxx" a yeare."[Wikipedia, Alcester Minster Churches] Barford is a village and civil parish about three miles south of Warwick, Co Warwickshire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,171. Barford has been inhabited from Neolithic through Roman and Anglo-Saxon times up to the present day. The area attracted Neolithic people who left stone flint tools and pottery nearly 5000 years ago. Just outside Barford is a 4000 year old 'henge', rather like Stonehenge but without the stones. There is evidence of a Bronze Age burial barrow at Barford, as well as several Iron Age settlements. The Saxons probably formed the first recognisable community at Barford. At this time much of central Britain would have been woodland without roads or bridges. Early settlers would have soon discovered the shallow crossing or ford near today’s bridge and this gradually became recognised as a reliable crossing over which a load of barley or other grain could be carried - hence the name "Barford". These early farmers worked an "open field system" with each man’s holding consisting of scattered long narrow strips of half an acre or more separated by furrows for drainage. This system lasted for almost another 750 years. After 1066 Barford thus came under the control of the de Bereford family, followed by the Naffords. The Verdon family held another Manor from 1212 till 1385 when it passed to Lord Willoughby de Broke and the Earls of Warwick. Early in the thirteenth century, lands in Barford were given to the canons of Thelsford Priory. By 1332, the friars were the largest landowners in the village. By 1538, Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and Thelsford Priory estates were acquired by a lawyer named Thomas Ward who built a magnificent timber-framed house known as Barford Hall, on the site of the Priory Grange. In the late 1700s, Charles Warde sold the estate to the 2nd Earl of Warwick and the house was demolished. In 1339, a document refers to "the ford at Barford", the river crossing point important since Anglo-Saxon times. The first record of a medieval bridge is in 1484 and was described by Leland in 1540,as "a greate stone bridge over the Avon consisting of eight fayre arches". The present bridge was built in 1795. The Enclosure Act of 1761 took away from villagers the long-held right to farm under the strip system and from then the parish began to take on its present day appearance. Inevitably as the strips were incorporated into large fields many villagers lost their source of food production, so “allotments” of land of about two or three acres were made available to them. The Church allotments date back to the 1760s when they were given to the church in exchange for meadow land at Westham. The first church at Barford, dedicated to St Peter, is thought to date back to the 600s. By the time of Domesday survey in 1086 we know that there was a thriving church on the present site as evidenced by the mention of a resident priest. The Saxon church was rebuilt in the early 1200s. The church building stood unchanged for over 450 years. There are shot marks on the sides of the tower believed to have been made in 1642 by the Parliamentary soldiers marching towards Kineton before the battle at Edgehill. The four pinnacles on the tower were removed for safety reasons in 1840 and the church, except for the tower, was re-built and enlarged in 1845. In the 1850s, directories of the village listed five maltsters, five shoemakers, five carpenters, three tailors, a saddler, a wheelwright, a coachbuilder, a cooper making barrels, a basket and sieve-maker, a cattle doctor etc There were two blacksmiths forges in the village. The mill at Barford was mentioned in Domesday Book and by 1692 there were four.[Wikipedia, Barford Heritage] |
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| St Nicholas, Warwick, once called the 'Low ' church', (simply because it was further down the hill from St. Mary's, the 'High' church), was one of the two ancient parish churches of Warwick, in the later middle-ages. The old church dated back to Norman times, and may have been older still, with possibly an earlier Saxon nunnery on the same site. By the mid 18th. century, it was in a very poor state of repair, and the tower, which was causing great concern, was taken down, and replaced in 1748. In 1779 local architect Thomas Johnson, rebuilt the church, to his own design. A vestry was added in 1826, and the chancel was rebuilt in 1869-70 to the designs of John Gibson. St Nicholas is an example of Gothic revival architecture, pre-dating the Victorian period, and displaying a delicate & simple style. Internally the unusually fine columns support a squared capitol, from which rises a very shallow vaulted plaster ceiling. With only four free standing pillars, the essence of the building is a light and airy square space with large decorated style windows. Originally built with a small rounded apse, the former chancel arch has been filled in.[St Nicholas, Warwickshire Churches] |
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| Clifford Chambers is a village two miles south of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. It consists of some 150 houses and the population of the parish in the 2001 census was 418. Until 2004 the village was in its own parish but it is now part of the parish of Clifford Chambers and Milcote. The village was in Gloucestershire until 1931. The River Stour runs along the north-eastern edge of the village. The village claims to be the real birthplace of William Shakespeare as the bubonic plague was rife in Stratford-upon-Avon at the time of the bard's birth and during times of plague Clifford Chambers rectory was used as a refuge. Shakespeare's father's legal advisor also lived in the village. The parish church, St Helens, was built in 1308.[Wikipedia, A Church Near You] |
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| Coleshill is a market town in the North of Co Warwickshire, England, taking its name from the River Cole. It has a population of 6,343 (2001 census) and is situated 18 km east of Birmingham. Coleshill is located on a ridge between the rivers Cole and Blythe which converge to the north with the River Tame. Coleshill began life in the Iron Age, before the Roman Conquest of 43 AD, as the Grimstock Hill Romano-British settlement, north of the River Cole. Throughout the Roman period there was a Romano-Celtic temple on Grimstock Hill. In the post Roman period the nucleus of Coleshill moved about a kilometre to the south - to the top of the hill. Here the present church is set and the medieval town developed around it. By 1066 the town was a Royal Manor held by King Edward the Confessor and is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as land held by William the Conqueror. King Henry VII granted the lands to Simon Digby in 1496. His descendants still hold the titles. Coleshill was granted a Market Charter by King John in 1207, alongside Liverpool, Leek and Great Yarmouth. During the middle ages Coleshill became important as a major staging post on the coaching roads. At one point there were over twenty inns in the town. The parish church, St Peter and St Paul, is at the top of the Market Square. It has a 52 metre high steeple, dating from the 13th century. Inside there is a 12th century font of Norman origin. The Market Square is also the location of the town's Pillory and Whipping Post. Historically these were used to punish drunks, and bakers who sold underweight loaves.[Wikipedia] |
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| St Philip, Birmingham. The Cathedral Church of Saint Philip is the Church of England cathedral and the seat of the Bishop of Birmingham. Built as a parish church and consecrated in 1715, St Philip's became the cathedral of the newly-formed Diocese of Birmingham in 1905. St Philip's was built in the early 18th century in the Baroque style by Thomas Archer. It is the third smallest cathedral in England. St Philip's Church was planned when the nearby medieval church of St Martin in the Bull Ring became insufficient to house its congregation because of the growing population of Birmingham. The land, previously named The Barley Close, was donated by Robert Philips in 1710. It it was dedicated to the Apostle Philip as a tribute to the benefactor Robert Philips. St Philip's served as a Parish church from 1715 to 1905. The tower was completed in 1725. Externally the Baroque style building is surrounded by tall windows between pilasters of low relief, supporting a balustrade at roof level with an urn rising above each pilaster. The western end is marked by a single tower which rises in stages and is surmounted by a lead-covered dome and delicate lantern. The building is of brick and is faced with stone quarried on Thomas Archer’s estate at Umberslade.[Wikipedia, St Philips Church] |
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| St Martin in the Bull Ring,
Birmingham, England was the original parish church of Birmingham. It is
believed that there was a Norman Church on the site as early as 1166.
The medieval church was built in 1290, from red sandstone,
by the de Bermingham family. The
present Victorian church was built on the site of a 13th century
predecessor, which was documented in 1263. The church was enlarged in
medieval times and the resulting structure consisted of a lofty nave
and chancel, north and south aisles and a northwest tower with spire.
In
1547, although no record is kept to indicate when the first clock
appears in Birmingham, during this year the King's Commissioners report
that the Guild of the Holy Cross are responsible "ffor keeping the
Clocke and the Chyme" at a cost of four shillings and four pence a year
at St Martin's Church. In 1690, the churchwardens "dressed the church
in brick". All was cased in brick with the exception of the spire. John
Cheshire rebuilt 40 feet of the spire in 1781, which was strengthened
by an iron spindle running up its centre for a length of 105 feet. It
was secured to the sidewalls at every ten feet by braces. In 1801,
several metres from the top of the spire were replaced after they were
found to have decayed. The tops of the four pinnacles surrounding the
main spire were also rebuilt. By 1808, the spire had been struck by
lightning three times. In 1853, the brick casing was removed
from the tower by Philip Charles Hardwick, who added the open-air
pulpit. The church also contained an organ, the reedwork of which had
been done by John Snetzler. However, the pipes were found to be
ineffective due to their proximity to the church roof and walls. In
1873, the church was demolished and rebuilt, preserving an earlier
tower and spire. During the demolition,
medieval wall paintings and decorations were discovered in the chancel,
including the charity of St Martin dividing his cloak with a beggar.
The
exterior is built of rockfaced grimshill stone. The interior is of
sandstone and an open timber roof.[Wikipedia, St Martin in the Bullring, Birmingham Churches] Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. It is the second most populous British city, after London, with a population of 1,028,701 in 2009. A medium-sized market town during the medieval period, Birmingham grew to international prominence in the 18th century at the heart of the Midlands Enlightenment and subsequent Industrial Revolution, which saw the town at the forefront of worldwide developments in science, technology and economic organisation, producing a series of innovations that laid many of the foundations of modern industrial society. By 1791 it was being hailed as "the first manufacturing town in the world". Birmingham's distinctive economic profile, with thousands of small workshops practising a wide variety of specialised and highly-skilled trades, encouraged exceptional levels of creativity and innovation, and provided a diverse and resilient economic base for an industrial prosperity that was to last into the final quarter of the 20th century. Some of the earliest evidence of settlement in Birmingham are artefacts dating back 10,400 years discovered near Curzon Street in the city centre. In the early 7th century, Birmingham was an Anglo-Saxon farming hamlet on the banks of the River Rea. It is commonly believed that the name 'Birmingham' comes from "Beorma inga ham", meaning farmstead of the sons (or descendants) of Beorma. Birmingham was first recorded in written documents by the Domesday Book of 1086 as a small village, worth only 20 shillings. In 1166 the holder of the manor of Birmingham, Peter de Birmingham, was granted a royal charter to hold a market in his castle, which in time became known as the Bull Ring, transforming Birmingham from a village to a market town. The de Birmingham family continued to be Lords of Birmingham until the 1530s when Edward de Birmingham was cheated out of its lordship by John Dudley. As early as the 16th century, Birmingham's access to supplies of iron ore and coal meant that metalworking industries became established. By the time of the English Civil War in the 17th century, Birmingham had become an important manufacturing town with a reputation for producing small arms. Arms manufacture in Birmingham became a staple trade and was concentrated in the area known as the Gun Quarter. During the Industrial Revolution Birmingham grew rapidly into a major industrial centre and the town prospered. Birmingham’s population grew from 15,000 in the late 17th century to 70,000 a century later. By the 1820s, an extensive canal system had been constructed, giving greater access to natural resources to fuel to industries. Railways arrived in Birmingham in 1837. During the Victorian era, the population of Birmingham grew rapidly to well over half a million and Birmingham became the second largest population centre in England.[Wikipedia] |
