heartengland.blogspot.com
Heart of England: The Forest of Arden
http://heartengland.blogspot.com/2011/09/forest-of-arden.html
Saturday, 3 September 2011. The Forest of Arden. A wide footpath inside Crakley Wood. The part of Warwickshire North-West of the river Avon was the old Forest of Arden. The name still occurs in the several place names in the region: Hampton-in-Arden and Henley-in-Arden. Much of the Forest of Arden was cleared during the Middle Ages, and some of it earlier. By the time of Domesday, 1086, about 35% of North West Warwickshire is known to have been wooded. Woodland Clearings - Place Names. Such place names a...
heartengland.blogspot.com
Heart of England: Kenilworth Castle
http://heartengland.blogspot.com/2011/05/kenilworth-castle.html
Saturday, 14 May 2011. The earliest reference to Kenilworth occurs in the Domesday Book, of 1086, where we find that Kenilworth was a small settlement of about 100 villagers living in a clearing in the Forest of Arden, belonging to the Royal Manor of Stoneleigh. Kenilworth Castle was established by Geoffrey de Clinton, Chamberlain to Henry I, in about 1122. Warwick Castle was founded slightly earlier, shortly after the Norman Conquest. The picture at right shows the remains of John of Gaunt's Great Hall.
heartengland.blogspot.com
Heart of England: Aston Cantlow
http://heartengland.blogspot.com/2011/07/aston-cantlow.html
Friday, 29 July 2011. Aston Cantlow lies 5 miles North-West of Stratford, and 2 miles North-East of Wilmcote, the home of Mary Arden, Shakespeare's mother. This picture shows the 16th Century Guild House, just opposite the village church. This is the village pub, The King's Head. Old tombstones, old yew trees, and old pines in the churchyard of St John the Baptist at Aston Cantlow. This is the church in which Shakespeare's parents, John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, are believed to have been married. A wid...
heartengland.blogspot.com
Heart of England: Henley-in-Arden
http://heartengland.blogspot.com/2011/07/henley-in-arden.html
Wednesday, 27 July 2011. Henley-in-Arden is a charming and friendly small town in the heart of the old Arden region. Henley has a long winding High Street, about a mile long, with well-preserved old buildings on either side. These are small human-scale buildings, unlike the grandiose High Street in Chipping Campden, and the shops are not as commercialised here as in, for example, Broadway. A castle was originally built here, sometime before 1140, probably with help from the Earls of Warwick. Near the mid...
heartengland.blogspot.com
Heart of England: City of Coventry
http://heartengland.blogspot.com/2011/07/city-of-coventry.html
Sunday, 31 July 2011. Statue of Lady Godiva in Broadgate. Coventry has an important historical place in the region, and there are some attractive historical buildings that can still be found in the City. Arthur Mee's The Kings England. Written in 1936, describes Coventry in the following terms:. In the middle of England like the hub of a wheel stands Coventry, the town of Fortune's Wheel, for the wheel has made its fortune. It is England's birthplace of the age of speed and swift communications. All that...
heartengland.blogspot.com
Heart of England: Dunchurch
http://heartengland.blogspot.com/2011/08/dunchurch.html
Thursday, 4 August 2011. This is St Peter's Church, Dunchurch. Dunchurch was an important staging post on the road from London to the Midlands. It lies at the cross roads between the old London-Birmingham road, and the old Oxford-Leicester road. Just across the road from the Dun Cow Inn is the village Smithy. A blacksmith on hand was essential to keep those horses shod. And over the smithy is the Chestnut Tree. The present tree is a replacement for its parent. 2 miles West of Dunchurch is Draycote Water.
heartengland.blogspot.com
Heart of England: Alcester
http://heartengland.blogspot.com/2011/07/alcester.html
Thursday, 28 July 2011. Alcester lies 6 miles West of Stratford. Alcester was a Roman settlement, at the crossing of the Ryknild Street and the Salt Road. Alcester is now a very small town, with several notable medieval buildings. This is a view along Alcester High Street. There is a collection of Roman artifacts on display in the town's Roman Alcester Museum, which is in Priory Road, off to the left of this picture (limited opening times, Fridays and weekends only). The old Malt House, built around 1500.
heartengland.blogspot.com
Heart of England: Warwickshire Churches
http://heartengland.blogspot.com/2011/05/warwickshire-churches.html
Wednesday, 11 May 2011. Visiting churches and churchyards is becoming increasingly popular among both local people and tourists. This page shows many of the most interesting churches in Warwickshire. These churches are all quite different in character. St George's Church at Brailes, 15 miles South-East of Stratford, is one of the largest and most impressive churches to be found in a village. The church site was used in Saxon times, and the existing building is early 14th century. The earliest parts of th...
heartengland.blogspot.com
Heart of England: Beausale
http://heartengland.blogspot.com/2011/07/beausale.html
Thursday, 28 July 2011. The area to the West of Kenilworth is Beausale. There is a very small hamlet here, but the area is mainly unspoilt countryside. There is virtally nothing to say about this village, just a few photographs. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Robert Moore, Warwickshire. If you'd like to get in touch, just leave a comment on any of my posts, or E-mail me: E-mail. Towns, Villages and Attractions featured on this blog. Dormston and Bag End. Kenilworth Castle - Elizabethan Garden. The e...
heartengland.blogspot.com
Heart of England: Dormston and Bag End
http://heartengland.blogspot.com/2011/08/dormston.html
Thursday, 4 August 2011. Dormston and Bag End. Dormston is a small hamlet 15 miles West of Stratford-upon-Avon. This view shows the approach to Dormston from Stratford. The narrow lane only permits single a file of traffic. Dormston is the location of the original Bag End. J R R Tolkien stayed here in 1923, and it became the inspiration for Bag End in The Hobbit. This is a view overlooking Dormston from the the East. The building at the far right of the picture is St Nicholas' Church (more pictures below).