Binley Woods is a suburban 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 authorit ...

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-Avo ...

, England. The village lies marginally beyond the eastern outskirts of

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the 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 city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

, outside the formal city boundaries. Binley Woods is within the

Borough of Rugby The Borough of Rugby is a local government district with borough status in eastern Warwickshire, England. The borough comprises the town of Rugby where the council has its headquarters, and the rural areas surrounding the town. The borough has a ...

, although the town of

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 ...

is around to the east. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 2,665. The village is east of central Coventry, on the

A428 road The A428 road is a major road in central and eastern England. It runs between the cities of Coventry and Cambridge by way of the county towns of Northampton and Bedford. Together with the A421, (and the A43, M40 and the A34), the eastern ...

, east of the junction with the

A46 road The A46 is a major A road in England. It starts east of Bath, Somerset and ends in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, but it does not form a continuous route. Large portions of the old road have been lost, bypassed, or replaced by motorway developmen ...

. The small village of Brandon lies to the east, with the larger village of

Wolston Wolston is a village and civil parish in the Rugby borough of Warwickshire, England. The village is located roughly halfway between Rugby and Coventry, and had a population of 2,692 at the 2021 census. It is close to the A45 road and the Roman ...

a further to the south.

History

Binley Woods is a relatively modern village. Settlement began in the 1920s, when some of the estates of

Coombe Abbey Coombe Abbey is a hotel which has been developed from a historic grade I listed building and former country house. It is located at Combe Fields in the Borough of Rugby, roughly midway between Coventry and Brinklow in the countryside of Warwicks ...

were sold off and people began to settle and build homes in the area, which was then known as Binley Common. In the early years, the village lacked modern amenities such as paved roads, street lighting, piped water or mains drainage; though these were gradually provided from the 1930s onwards, some of the side roads were not paved or lighted until the 1960s. During the 1940s, many people trekked to Binley Woods from Coventry to avoid air raids, often living in shacks and caravans. The village adopted its current name of Binley Woods in 1961 after a vote by villagers. The name was chosen in order to avoid confusion with, and establish a separate identity from nearby Binley, a suburb of south-east Coventry. As the name suggests, Binley Woods is close to some woods: Brandon Wood is next to the village. A village church was established in Binley Woods in 1987, which doubles as the village hall.

Facilities

The village boasts one public house, The Roseycombe. There is a

village hall A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as: United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...

on Rugby Road. There is also a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional se ...

, a pre school nursery and a primary school, along with a range of shops. The village is now home to

Broadstreet RFC Broadstreet Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in the city of Coventry, West Midlands, England. The club currently play in Midlands Premier; at the fifth tier of the English rugby union system, following their relegation from Na ...

, a National League Rugby club that moved to a new ground called

Ivor Preece Field The Ivor Preece Field on Rugby Road, Binley Woods, Warwickshire is the home ground of Broadstreet Rugby Club, designed by SR Davis architects with the sports ground designed by Peter Jones Associates, Quantity Surveyors Bucknall Austin, proj ...

in the village in 2001, after selling their ground in Binley, Coventry.

Brandon Wood

Brandon Wood, just south of the village from which it takes its name, covers an area of : it is a designated

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...

, having been mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086. It was once run by the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also resp ...

, but since 1981 it has been managed by a local group, the "Friends of Brandon Wood", who in 2000 purchased the wood from the Forestry Commission; it is now run as a community wood and is open to the public.

Use as a filming location

One of Binley Woods' claims to fame is that it was used as one of the locations for the filming of the 1990s BBC sitcom ''

Keeping Up Appearances ''Keeping Up Appearances'' is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke. It originally aired on BBC1 from 1990 to 1995 with two specials airing in 1997 and 2008 on PBS. The central character is an eccentric and snobbish middle class s ...

''; exterior shots of

Hyacinth Bucket Hyacinth Bucket is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom ''Keeping Up Appearances'', portrayed by Patricia Routledge. Routledge won a British Comedy Award in 1991, and was nominated for two BAFTA awards in 1992 and 1993 for her portrayal. Hy ...

's house were filmed at 117 Heather Road. 119 Heather Road was used as the house of her neighbours Elizabeth Warden and

Emmet Hawksworth ''Keeping Up Appearances'' is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke. It originally aired on BBC1 from 1990 to 1995 with two specials airing in 1997 and 2008 on PBS. The central character is an eccentric and snobbish middle class so ...

Notable residents

Mark Pawsey Mark Julian Francis Pawsey (born 16 January 1957) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rugby since the 2010 general election. He is a member of the Conservative Party. His father, Jim Pawsey, was the MP fo ...

, Member of Parliament for

, grew up in the village.

References

External links

Binley Woods Parish CouncilBinley Woods On-lineBrandon Wood websiteThe Church in Binley Woods website
{{authority control Villages in Warwickshire