Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/766

Rh WARWICK. 751 WARWICK. ing virtually two counties. Of the northern division the City of Coventry was made the capital by Order in Council of the 3rd February, 1843, by which the shire of the city of Coventry -was abolished ; and of the southern division the ancient municipal and parlia- mentary borough of Warwick has for centuries been the county-town. The county is further divided into four hundreds, each of which contains several divisions. These four hundreds comprise the ten mentioned in Domesday survey : 1st, llemlingford, in Domesday survey called Coleshill ; 2nd, Knightlow, in Domesday survey comprising the three hundreds of Mereton, Stanley, and Bromelatv ; 3rd, Barlichway, in Domesday surve3 r, Pathelan and Fernecumbc ; and 4th, Kineton, in Domesday survey comprising four hundreds Berricestone, foxhole, Jloncsberie, and Tremelan. The borough and county-town of Warwick, with two mem- bers, and a population in 1861 of 10,570, is included in Kinetou or Kington hundred; the city of Coventry, with two members, and a population of 41,647, in Knightlow hundred ; and the municipal and parliamen- tary borough of Birmingham, which fairly claims to rank as the capital of the midland counties, with two members, and a population of 296,076, in llemlingford hundred. The municipal boroughs are Stratford-on- Avon and Sutton Colefield, besides Tamworth, chiefly in Staffordshire. The market towns are Alcester, Ather- stone, Coleshill, Henley-in-Arden, Kenilworth, Kington, Leamington Priors, Nuneaton, Rugby, Solihull, and Southam, besides about 400 villages and hamlets, 198 parishes, 8 parts of parishes, and 9 extra-parochial places. The chief seats of manufacture are at Birming- ham and Coventry, the former celebrated for its hard- ware, arms, and toys, and the latter for ribbons und silks, but clocks and watches are also largely manufactured. Tho other seats of industry are Astley, Chilvers Colon, Foleshill, Nuneaton, and Sow for ribbons and silks, Atherstone for hats, Kenilworth for combs, Tamworth and Berkeswell for flax and yarn, Alcaster, Ipsley, Lambourne, and Studley for needles, and Warwick for worsted and rush mats. There are also many hands employed in the collieries, iron mines, brick and lime- kilns, and stone quarries, besides brewing and paper- making, which are carried on upon a largo scale. The government is administered by a lord-lieutenant, sheriff or chairman of sessions, about 40 deputy-lieutenants, and 115 magistrates. The county is comprised within the midland circuit and military district, and belongs to the Birmingham bankruptcy court. For ecclesiastical purposes it forms part of the dioc. of Worcester, pro- vince of Canterbury. WARWICK, a post and market town, municipal and parliamentary borough, and county town of South Warwickshire, locally situated in the Warwick div. of Kington hund., co. Warwick, 90 miles N.W. of London by road, 100 by the London and North- Western, and 107J by the Great Western railway. It is situated on the banks of the river Avon, near the junction of the Birmingham and Napton canals, and closely adjoining the town of Leamington. It was almost destroyed in the early wars of the Danes, but was restored by the Lady Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great, who built a fort here in 914. At the time of the Domesday survey it contained 261 houses, when it was held by the Danish nobleman Thurkil, or Turcil, and was shortly after protected by a ditch and gates. It subsequently came to Henry de Newburgh, the first Earl of Warwick, who rebuilt the castle, which was surrendered by Stephen to Prince Henry, in 1153, and was surprised and partly destroyed in the baronial wars ot Henry III. In the reign of Edward I. the streets were paved and the town walled round. In the same reign it first sent members to parliament, and in the succeeding one of Edward II. was the scene of the execution of the king's favourite, Gaveston, by Guy Earl of Warwick in 1312. It was here that the king-maker, Warwick, imprisoned Edward IV. in 1468, and subsequently received him in 1470. In the time of Philip and Mary the town received ita first charter of incorporation, and was visited by Queen Elizabeth and James I., who gave the castle, then used as a gaol, to Sir Fulke Greville, whose kins- man, Lord Brooke, garrisoned it in 1642 for the parlia- ment. It was much damaged by fire in 1694, and was visited by William III. in 1695. The castle and earl- dom have successively belonged to the families of Turchil, Do Newburgh, Le Plessetis, Maudit, De Bca;>- champ, Nevill, Plantagenet, Dudley, Rich, and Greville, the family name of the present earl. The castle, which stands on a solid rock, in which the cellars are excavated, overlooking the river, is still the great attraction of the town. The great hall is 62 feet longby 40 wide, containing a collection of ancient armour, and the room contains paintings by ancient masters, including the original of Charles I. on horseback by Vandyke. In one of the greenhouses is the " AVarwick Vase," presented to the late Earl by Sir William Hamilton. Above the castle the Avon is crossed by a stone bridge of one arch 100 feet in span, connecting the town with a suburb on the left bank. The streets are spacious, well paved, and lighted, and the houses generally modern. The princi- pal public buildings are the county hall and courts, with a room 100 feet by 65 ; courthouse and assembly- room, with portraits of Henry VIII. and Charles II. ; market house, on arches, surmounted by a dome ; county gaol, recently erected ; savings-bank, three commercial branch banks, theatre, race -stand, museum of the Archasological Society, gas and water works, dispensary, and the earl's mill. The business is chiefly in connec- tion with the corn and general trade, but there is a considerable hat manufactory and some large flour mills. There are also malthouses, iron-foundries, breweries, rope-walks, and numerous wharves on the Napton and Birmingham canals. The population of the borough in 1851 was 10,973, inhabiting 2,229 houses, and in 1S01 10,570, inhabiting 2,272 houses. The boundaries of the municipal and parliamentary boroughs are conterminous, the old bounds remaining unaltered by the Refor.n Act of 1832. It has returned two members to parliament since the reign of Edward I. Under the Municipal Reform Act the borough is divided into two wards, governed by a mayor, who is also returning officer, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors, with the style of " mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the borough of Warwick." The municipal revenue is about 1,200. It is the place of election for the southern division of the county, and the head-quarters of the county militia. Tho assizes and quarter-sessions for the county, quarter-sessions for the borough, and a county court are hold here. Warwick gives name to a deanery in the archdeaconry and diocese of Worcester. There were anciently 8 churches in the town, of which 3 only now remain. The livings are St. Mary's, a vie.* in the dioc. of Worcester, vul. 300, in the gift of the lord chancellor; St. Niche; vie.,* with the cur. of All Saints annexed, val. 220 ; and St. Paul's, a perpet. cur.,* val. 150, in the patron, of the vicar of St. Mary's. The church of St. Mary, situate in Old-square, is an ancient foundation, and wits made collegiate by Roger Earl of Warwick, in 1123. The body of the present edifice was rebuilt in 170 J, but the lady chapel and choir was built by the Beauchamps in the 14th century. It has a carved roof and stalls, effigies of the Beauchamps and Dudleys, several brasses, the earliest dated 1401, and the tomb of Cartwright, the Puritan. Tho church of St. Nicholas was rebuilt on the site of an ancient nunnery in 1780. St. Paul's district church, situated in Friar-street, has a stained window presented by the lato Countess of Warwick; All Saints is situated at Emscoto. The Wesleyans, Independents, Baptists, Roman Catho- lics, Unitarians, and Society of Friends have chapols. There is a public library, and a weekly newspaper, the Warwick Advertiser, is published iu the town. The college, founded by Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, in the reign of Henry VI., has :ui income from endowment of 400, besides four ex- hibitions to Oxford University of 40 each for four years ; there are also National, British, infant, and industrial schools, and Lady Greville's freo school,