Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/405

Rh W A R W I G K 379 south-west of the Edge Hills is Brailes Hill. Some elevated land is found at Corley, Oldbury, Hartshill, &c., in the north of the county. The lofty elevation of the county in general is evidenced by the fact that rivers flow from it in several directions, contributing to each of the three systems of the Severn, Trent, and Thames. The Avon rises in Northampton shire, and flowing south-west through the county receives on its way the Swift, Sowe, Learn, Itchene, Stour, Alne, and other tributaries, and falls into the Severn at Tewkesbury. It is navigable for barges up to Stratford, and is rich in its associations with Shakespeare. The Tame rises in Staffordshire, and flowing through the northern portion of Warwickshire takes in the Cole, Blythe, Anker, Rea, and other minor streams. A few small rivulets in the south of the county fall into the Cherwell, a tributary of the Thames. The New Red Sandstone is the principal geological formation of the county, but towards the south the Lias prevails. In the north central district there is a large deposit of gravel, which consists of &quot; small boulders and sea-worn pebbles, and ancient rocks traceable to the parent beds in Yorkshire, Cumberland, and Scotland, and commonly known as the northern drift. Quartz pebbles especially abound in it ; granite, gneiss, syenite, porphyry, slate, mica schist, trap, and almost every other variety of the primary rocks may be collected.&quot; The Lias is near Edge Hill ; the strata immediately below it consist of clay and ironstone, rich in iron ore. The Upper Lias crosses the county by Henley-in-Arden, Stratford, Kineton, Southam, and Rugby. With the exception of one coal field, small but rich, extending from Tamworth to near Wyken, about 15 miles, the New Red Sandstone and Permian occupy the whole of the central part of the county. In the north Upper Cambrian quartzites and shales are found, together with some volcanic rocks. The Coal- Measures dip under the Lower Permian rocks, and in the southern part of the field underlie the Trias. According to the report of the Coal Commission in 1871, the area of the Warwickshire coal-field is 30 square miles, the thickness of the coal being from 26 to 30 feet. The quantity raised in 1870 was 647,540 tons, and in 1885 it was 1,281,724. The minerals of the county are limestone, freestone, iron, blue flagstone, marl, and blue clay. The blue flag stone is found in many places, and ironstone at Bedworth, Oldbury, and Merevale. The limestone quarries are principally at Bearley, Grafton Court, Stretton, Prince- thorpe, Ufton, Harbury, Arlescote, Bidford, Newbold-on- Avon, Stockton, and Southam ; freestone is found largely about Warwick, Leamington, Kenilworth, and Coventry. Climate and Agriculture. The climate is generally mild and healthy. The soil is on the whole good, and consists of various loams, marls, gravels, and clays, well suited for most of the usual crops. It is rich in pasture-land, and dairy fanning is increasing. It has excellent orchards and market gardens, and possesses some of the finest woodlands in England. Nearly all the farm build ings are good ; and many of the cottages of the labourers are exceedingly picturesque. There are many charming villages in the county. According to the agricultural returns, out of a total area of 566,458 acres there were 496,429 acres under cultivation in 1887, corn crops occupying 105,039 acres, green crops 31,411, rotation grasses 40,783, permanent pasture 308,689, and fallow 10,493 ; of the corn crops much the largest area was under wheat, which occupied 43,728 acres, barley occupying 16,290, oats 26,297, rye 256, beans 14,050, and pease 4418. Of the green crops turnips occupied 16,913 acres, potatoes 4936 acres, while 4198 were under mangolds, 114 under carrots, 971 under cabbage, &c., and 4279 under vetches and other green crops. The number of horses in 1887 was 20,769, cattle 107,555, of which 37,080 were cows and heifers in milk or in calf, sheep 294,442, 172,151 of them one-year-old and above, and pigs 37,092. According to the lleturn of Owners of Land, 1873, the total number of proprietors in the county was 51,516, possessing 541,022 acres, with a gross annual rental of 3,318,304, or about 6, 2s. 8d. per acre all over. Of these owners of land only 4622 had one acre and upwards. Of waste or common land there was 1833 acres. The following possessed over 5000 acres: Lord Leigh, 14,892 acres ; Lord &quot;Willoughby de Broke, 12,621 ; earl of Aylesford, 12,159 ; marquis of Hertford, 10,282; earl of Craven, 8448 ; earl of Warwick, 8263 ; Sir N. W. Throckmorton, 7619 ; duke of Buccleuch, 6881 ; II. J. Lucy, 5766 ; W. S. Dugdale, 5689 ; Sir G. R. Philips, 5397 ; and C. N. Newdegate, 5318. Manufactures. The principal seats of manufacture in the county are BIRMINGHAM and COVENTRY (qy.v.). Suffice it to say here that in Birmingham almost every article of use, from a pin to a steam engine, is produced, and that Coventry has long been famous for its ribbons and watches, and has recently won a well-merited reputation for bicycles and tricycles. Communication. The county is well supplied with excellently preserved roads. There are also a great number of canals giving access to the Trent, the Mersey, the Thames, and the Severn. The London and North-Western, the Great Western, the Midland, and various branch railways traverse the county in various directions. Population and Administration. The population in 1871 was 634,189, and in 1881 737,339 (357,146 males and 380,193 females). More than half the population is contained in the borough of Birmingham. The county is divided into four hundreds : (1) Hemlingford, (2) Knightlow, (3) Barlichway, (4) Kiueton. It has one city, Coventry (42,111), which is also a municipal borough ; five other boroughs Birmingham (400,774), Leamington (22,979), Stratford-on-Avon (8054), Warwick (11,800), and Sutton Coldfield (7737) ; and, besides the boroughs, ten market towns, viz., Alcester (2430), Atherstone (4645), Coleshill (2356), Henley in Arden (1119), Kenilworth (4150), Kineton (1053), Nuneaton (8465), Rugby (9891), Solihull (5280), and Southam (1784). It is mostly in the diocese of Worcester. It is in the midland judicial circuit, has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into fourteen petty and special sessional divisions. The boroughs of Birmingham and Warwick have separate courts of quarter sessions and commissions of the peace, and the city of Coventry and the boroughs of Leamington and Stratford-on-Avon have commissions of the peace. By the Redistribution Bill of 1885 Warwickshire was for parliamentary purposes divided into four boroughs and four county divisions. The boroughs are Birmingham, Aston Manor, Coventry, and Warwick and Leamington united. Birmingham has seven divisions, each returning a member Bordesley, Central, East, Edgbaston, North, South, and West; the other three boroughs return one member each. The county divisions (Nuneaton, Rugby, Stratford-on-Avon, and Tamworth) each return one member. History and Antiquities. Warwickshire was occupied by the British tribes Cornavii and Dobuni. The Romans named this part of England Flavia Ciesariensis, and many evidences of their occupa tion and works exist in the county, ft was crossed by the three great roads Watling Street, the Fosse Way, and Icknield Street ; the last-named gives its name to a street in Birmingham which is on the lines of the old Roman road. The Ridgeway borders a part of Warwickshire on the west. Roman stations or camps were at Mancetter, High Cross, Alcester, Chesterton, and other places ; coins, pottery, and other remains have been found at Warwick, Willoughby, Hampton-in- Arden, Birmingham, and elsewhere. The Teutons followed the Romans, and after suffering many changes Warwickshire became part of Mercia. From 593 to 918 it was the scene of frequent invasions, conquests, and reconquests. Although Mercia was for the most part peopled, by Angles, the Saxons seem to have occupied the portion now known as Warwick shire in very considerable numbers ; for, if we except Alcester, Mancetter, and a few other places, nearly all the towns and villages have Saxon names. Of the three hundred and sixty places in the county mentioned in Domesday nearly all are of Saxon origin. As Verstegan says, &quot; In Fooril, in Ham, in Ley, in Tun, The most of English surnames run.&quot; And these terminations are found in the vast majority of the names of places in Warwickshire. This prevalence of the Saxons here is also confirmed by the fact that Mr Kemble discovered no fewer than thirty-one Mark names in places in Warwickshire. The Danes, although theymade inroads into Warwickshire several times, seem to have made no settlements in the county, the only names bearing the Danish suffix by being on the north-east border. In later times the &quot; king-maker&quot; carl of Warwick made the county memorable by the part he took in the Wars of the Roses. In the civil war under Charles I. &quot;scarcely a place of any note escaped&quot; without a struggle : at Edge Hill the first engagement was fought; Aston Hall was besieged; Birmingham was sacked and burned by Prince Rupert; Coventry endured a siege; Warwick was the centre of several encounters; and a skirmish took place near Southam. Few remains of Saxon architecture arc to be found in the county, and these are of minor importance. Saxon jewels have been found at Compton-Verney ; a fine burial urn filled with ashes, an iron sword, a spearhead, and other relics, at Church Over; in a tumulus or barrow, at Marston, were found two sepulchral urns, one of them containing bones, a fibula, a pin, part of a sword, and two