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| Warwickshire | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Geography | |
| Status: | Ceremonial & Non-metropolitan county |
| Region: | West Midlands |
| Area: - Total - Admin. council |
Ranked
31st 1,975 km2 Ranked 28th |
| Admin HQ: | Warwick |
| ISO 3166-2: | GB-WAR |
| ONS code: | 44 |
| NUTS 3: | UKG13 |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total ( ) - Density - Admin. Council |
Ranked / km² Ranked |
| Ethnicity: | 95.6% White 2.8% S. Asian |
| Politics | |
 Warwickshire County Council http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/ |
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| Executive: | |
| MPs: | |
| Districts | |
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.
The
county town is Warwick, although
the largest town is Nuneaton
in the far
north of the county. The shape of the administrative area
Warwickshire differs considerably from that of the historic county. Commonly used
abbreviations for the county are Warks or
Warwicks.
. Even today, road signs at the county
boundary describe Warwickshire as "Shakespeare's County".
The
county has also produced other literary figures such as George Eliot (from Nuneaton), Rupert Brooke (from
Rugby
), and Michael
Drayton from Hartshill
. The poet Philip Larkin
lived in Warwick (born in nearby Coventry), and
Elizabeth Gaskell went to school
in Barford and Stratford.
to the northeast, Northamptonshire
to the east, Worcestershire to the west, Oxfordshire to the south and Gloucestershire
to the southwest. An average-sized English
county covering an area of almost 2,000 km2, it
runs some north to south.
, Bedworth
, Nuneaton, and Rugby. Major industries included coal mining, textiles,
engineering, and cement production, but heavy industry is in decline,
being replaced by distribution centres, light to medium industry,
and services. Of the northern and eastern towns, only Nuneaton and
Rugby (as the birthplace of rugby
football) are well-known outside of Warwickshire. The prosperous towns
of central and western Warwickshire including Leamington
Spa
, Stratford-upon-Avon, Kenilworth
, Alcester
, and Warwick harbour
light to medium industries, services and tourism as major
employment sectors.
. The only town in the south of Warwickshire
is Shipston-on-Stour
. The highest point in the county, at , is
Ebrington Hill on the border with northernmost Gloucestershire, at its southwest extremity.
and Birmingham
were incorporated into the West Midlands county in
1974 and are now metropolitan authorities in themselves. The
largest towns in Warwickshire as of 2004 are: Nuneaton (pop.
77,500), Rugby (62,700), Leamington Spa (45,300), and Bedworth
(32,500). Stratford, Warwick, and Kenilworth all house
20,000-25,000 inhabitants, while the smaller towns of Atherstone, Alcester, Coleshill
, Southam
, Bulkington
, Polesworth
, Kingsbury
, Henley-in-Arden
, Studley
, Shipston. Wellesbourne
and Whitnash
have populations between 5,000 and
12,000., Hampton-in-Arden
and Tanworth-in-Arden
. The remaining area, not part of the forest,
was called the Felden - from fielden., Solihull
, and most of Birmingham. These became part of the metropolitan county of West Midlands following local
government re-organisation in 1974.
, in Birmingham, still observe the historic county
boundaries.
. In 1842 the county of Coventry was
abolished and Coventry was remerged with Warwickshire. In recent
times, there have been calls to formally re-introduce Coventry into
Warwickshire, although nothing has yet come of this. The county's
population would explode by almost a third-of-a-million overnight
should this occur, Coventry being the UK's 11th largest city.
was historically divided between Warwickshire and
Staffordshire, but since 1888 has been
fully in Staffordshire. from Worcestershire
and several villages, including Long
Marston
and Welford-on-Avon
, from Gloucestershire.
in the
early 11th century. The first reference to Warwickshire was
in 1001, as Waeinewiscscr named after Warwick (meaning
"dwellings by the weir")., which was at the time one of the most important
cities in England due to its textiles trade in the heart of
England. Warwickshire played a key part in the
English Civil War, with the
Battle of
Edgehill
and other skirmishes taking place in the
county. During the Industrial Revolution Warwickshire
became one of Britain's foremost industrial counties, with the
large industrial cities of Birmingham and Coventry within its boundaries. lying in Warwickshire were ceded to Staffordshire.
became part of the county borough of Birmingham and thus transferred from Staffordshire to
Warwickshire by the Local Govt. Bd.'s Prov. Orders Conf.
(No. 13) Act, 54 & 55 Vic. c. 161 (local act).
was formally removed from Worcestershire and
incorporated into the county borough of Birmingham, then in
Warwickshire, on 9 November.
and the Worcestershire towns of Northfield
, Kings
Norton
and Yardley
became part of Birmingham and thus
Warwickshire.
was ceded to Birmingham, from
Staffordshire was gained from Worcestershire and several
villages, including Long Marston and Welford-on-Avon, from Gloucestershire., Solihull and Sutton Coldfield
were ceded to the new West Midlands county, the latter town
also becoming part of Birmingham.| Year | Regional Gross Value Added | Agriculture | Industry | Services |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 5,063 | 153 | 1,717 | 3,193 |
| 2000 | 7,150 | 125 | 2,196 | 4,829 |
| 2003 | 8,142 | 159 | 2,054 | 5,928 |
which is
elected every four years (the last election was held on 4 June 2009
the same day as the European Elections} it is
currently controlled by the Conservative Party), and is also
divided into five districts each with their own
district councils. These districts are: North
Warwickshire
, Nuneaton and Bedworth
, Rugby
, Stratford
, and Warwick
(see map). The county and district councils
are responsible for providing different services. is the headquarters of the North Warwickshire
district, whereas Leamington Spa is the headquarters of the Warwick
district.
; King
Edward VI School
, a boys school; and Alcester Grammar School
(mixed)). The exam is sat on three different days and
consists of two verbal reasoning and mathematics papers and one
extended writing paper. In order to maintain standards, there is a
bank of papers that are used in rotation. In 2006, it was revealed
in a local newspaper, the Stratford Herald, that some private
eleven plus tutors had copies of the exam papers and that they were
using them as practice papers for their pupils. This meant that, in
some cases, pupils sitting the exam had seen the paper in
advance.
, Warwick
School
, Princethorpe College
, Kingsley
School
in Leamington Spa, and The King's High School For
Girls
, Warwick. and Warwick School are arguably the two most notable schools within
Warwickshire, with Rugby
School being founded in 1567 and Warwick School originally being founded c.914 AD, which makes it
the oldest survivng boys school in the country. Both schools
achieve very impressive exam results and benefit from exceptional
facilities. Rugby School is one of nine schools that were defined as the
"great" English public schools by the Public Schools Act 1868, and is
unsurprisingly a member of the Rugby
Group. Both Rugby School and Warwick School are HMC schools, with the
Headmaster from each school attending the Headmasters' and
Headmistresses' Conference.
in Solihull is also sometimes classified as being
in the county of Warwickshire. The changes of the county
border has meant that the town was, at some points in time, within
Warwickshire and at others was not.
to
Birmingham, runs through the centre of the county, and serves
Leamington Spa, Warwick, and Stratford.
) and Hatton
. Rail services are provided by Chiltern Railways and London Midland (Birmingham to Leamington
only). There are also two branches off the Chiltern line, one from
Leamington to Coventry, and another from Hatton near Warwick to
Stratford.
The WCML at Rugby
(WCML) runs through Warwickshire.
At Rugby
the WCML splits into two parts, one runs west through to Coventry
and Birmingham, and the other the "Trent Valley Line" runs
north-west towards Stafford
and the north-west of England. This section has
stations at Nuneaton, Atherstone, and Polesworth (North bound services only). There is one branch
off the WCML from Nuneaton to Coventry, and there is a station at Bedworth on this branch.
and Peterborough
. Nuneaton has direct services to Birmingham
and Leicester on this line, and there is one intermediate station
at Water
Orton
near Coleshill in the extreme north-west of the
county.. This line used to continue southwards to
Cheltenham
but is now a dead-end branch. There are several
stations on this line at Henley-in-Arden and at several small villages. Stratford
also has direct rail services to London via the branch line to
Warwick (mentioned earlier).. Although the Leamington to Coventry line
passes through the town, its station was closed in the 1960s as
part of the Beeching Axe. There is a
concerted campaign to re-open the station, although currently there
are no local services operating on the line, as it is used only by
CrossCountry services.
is located in the Warwickshire village of Baginton
.
, which runs through Leamington and Warwick and
onwards to Birmingham.
, which runs from near Coventry and then eastwards
around Rugby, and then through the rural south of the county
towards Oxford
. through Bedworth, Nuneaton, Atherstone, and Polesworth, and then onwards to Tamworth.
which runs from the Grand Union west of Warwick
to Stratford.. would create a new cruising ring.
Warwickshire County Council believed the scheme to be a catalyst
for economic regeneration in the area, but after gauging public
support in 2003, decided not to support the plans. The Stratford
and Warwick Waterway Trust is still actively pursuing the
proposals.
. Notable players for Warwickshire have
been Brian Lara, Bob Willis, Allan
Donald , Geoff Humpage and
Sreesanth.
.Warwickshire Schools GAA Board was
originally setup in September 2000. It has grown at a very healthy
rate such that as of May 2007 WSGAA now work in partnership with 28
primary schools, 15 Secondary schools, 2 HE/FE Colleges and 5 local
GAA clubs and in total an estimated 2385 young people. The aims of
the WSGAA include competition by their elite team in the
All-Ireland underage championships. This initiative is a remarkable
departure from the traditional way in which British GAA clubs have been organised.| Embed code: |
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