Brinklow is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
in the
Rugby district of
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It is about halfway between
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
and
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
, and has a population of 1,041 (
2001 Census), increasing to 1,101 at the
2011 Census.
Geography
Brinklow sits astride the former
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
Fosse Way and is most notable for the remains of a large
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
motte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...
castle (
Brinklow Castle, known locally as The Tump or the Big Hill), which is one of the largest and best preserved of its type in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
[Collins Nicholson Waterways guides 1 2012] The
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
is believed to be built on the site of an ancient
burial mound
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
or Roman signal station, although this has not been confirmed. Brinklow's name may have come from
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''Brincehláw'' = "burial mound on the brink of a hill" or alternatively perhaps "The Hill of Brynca", an
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
personal name. More likely though the name Brinklow is a combination of the British/Welsh bryn,a hill and the Anglo Saxon hlaw also meaning hill. The name came about when the original
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
speaking inhabitants were assimilated into Anglo Saxon culture. The meaning of the British word bryn was after some time forgotten causing the Anglo Saxonized inhabitants to add the word hlaw or low to signify a hill. Place names in England which combine both British and Anglo Saxon elements which have the same meaning are quite common. Penhill in
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
and
Mount Caburn
Mount Caburn is a 146-metre (490 ft) prominent landmark in East Sussex, England, about one mile (1.6 km) east of Lewes overlooking the village of Glynde. It is the highest part of an outlier of the South Downs, separated from the main ra ...
, originally called Caer Bryn, in
Lewes
Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...
,
East Sussex
East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...
are both notable examples.
Brinklow contains a 13th-century church, a
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
, and several shops and
pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
s. Brinklow was established as a
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
during the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, and was once considerably more important than it is today.
The
Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thame ...
was authorised in 1769 and the section through Brinklow was completed in 1778. The original route of the canal crossed Broad Street (B4455) near the Church Rooms, circled through the playing fields to the west of the village before crossing the
Lutterworth
Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. It is located north of Rugby, ...
Road again at the north end of the village. This brought much trade and prosperity to Brinklow. However, by the late 1820s, the extravagant winding contour route of the Oxford canal had become outdated. It was said that boatmen with their horse-drawn boats could hear the sound of Brinklow church bells ringing for morning and then evening prayer on the same day!
To maintain its competitive edge much of the northern section of the canal between
Braunston
Braunston is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, next to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1,759. Braunston is situated just off the A45 main road and lies between the to ...
and its junction at
Hawkesbury Hawkesbury or Hawksbury may refer to:
People
*Baron Hawkesbury, or Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1727-1808), English statesman
Places
;Geography
*Hawkesbury Island, an island in British Columbia, Canada
* Hawkesbury Island, Queensland ...
with the
Coventry Canal
The Coventry Canal is a navigable narrow canal in the Midlands of England.
It starts in Coventry and ends to the north at Fradley Junction, just north of Lichfield, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. It also has connections with th ...
was straightened with massive engineering works creating embankments and cuttings. This cut off nearly 14 miles of its length and much of the original course consequently became disused. Some of the loops remain at least in part such at the arm leading north from the boatyard at Stretton Stop. Although much of the original route has been abandoned it can still be traced and parts are still in water such as the stretch running west from the
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
Road.
The village maintains its links with the canal through the thriving boatyard and boat hire company Rose
Narrowboats
A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commer ...
at Stretton Stop to the north of the village. The boatyard was started in 1960 at the site of the old lengthmans cottage. The manager was Charles Haslam and he worked for the Maid Line Cruiser Company from
Thames Ditton
Thames Ditton is a suburban village on the River Thames, in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Apart from a large inhabited island in the river, it lies on the southern bank, centred 12.2 miles (19.6 km) southwest of Charing Cross ...
, in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. The house was renovated by a local building in 1960 but was never more than a very drafty pile with a very damp basement. The old outbuildings were renovated and turned into a small workshop and a waterfront office. The waterfront office was the gathering place for boat owners on a Sunday evening to sit and enjoy the summer air while sharing stories and the odd pint of beer from the (now closed) Railway
Inn
Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...
.
In 1962 a slipway was dug and a large boatshed built to the north of the canal. Since the 1960s the boatyard has become a thriving source of income for the village. There is also a council estate towards the south east of the village known as Great Balance (based on the road which has the most houses on it) and a development in the 1960s on
Heath
A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...
Lane. In 2017, the local boroug] proposed a neighbourhood plan creating 100 new homes for the overflow from
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
and
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
. The site is planned to be on farmland of
Lutterworth
Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. It is located north of Rugby, ...
Road, close to the
Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thame ...
and Brinklow Arches.
Governance
Brinklow is governed by Brinklow
Parish councils in England, Parish Council, which consists of six
councillors
A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries.
Canada
Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...
. They launched a redeveloped website in 2011.
Gallery
Image:Brinklow castle 6y07.JPG, The remains of Brinklow Castle
Image:Brinklow high st 6y07.JPG, The main road through Brinklow
Image:Church brinklow 6y07.JPG, St John's Church in Brinklow
References
Sources
* Allen, Geoff, (2000) ''Warwickshire Towns & Villages'',
External links
Brinklow Parish Council Website
{{authority control
Villages in Warwickshire