Church Lawford 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 ...

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 ...

. It is located just under west of 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 ...

and east of

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 ...

. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2021 census was 432. The village lies north of the

A428 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 se ...

main road, between Coventry and Rugby, and the Rugby to Coventry railway line. From the main road, the village is on a descending slope into the valley of the River Avon. On the opposite side of the Avon, which is crossed by an old stone bridge, is the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

King's Newnham King's Newnham (otherwise known as Newnham Regis) is a village and civil parish located just under west of the town of Rugby and east of Coventry. For population details see Church Lawford. It is within the borough of Rugby and Warwickshire co ...

. The village is one of several Lawfords in the locality, along with

Long Lawford Long Lawford is a village and civil parish in the Rugby borough of Warwickshire, England, located just west of Rugby, around west of Rugby town centre. In the 2021 census, the population of the parish was 4,545, a significant increase from 3,180 ...

and

Little Lawford Little Lawford is a hamlet and civil parish around to the north of the much larger village of Long Lawford and west of Rugby in Warwickshire, England. Consisting of 5 dwellings plus numerous other buildings that are used for commercial or farming ...

to the east and to the north, and Lawford Heath to the south-east, although they are completely separate settlements. The village was 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 as ''Leileford''. The village church of St Peter stands on high ground overlooking the Avon, and was first built in the

14th century As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was a century lasting from 1 January 1301 ( MCCCI), to 31 December 1400 ( MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and n ...

. It was extensively rebuilt in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

, between 1873 and 1874. The village once had a school, but this was closed in 1996. A reading room and village hall was built in 1912. But this was demolished in 2007 and replaced by a more modern building.

RAF Church Lawford

There was a

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

training station situated just over south of the village from 1941 until 1955 called

RAF Church Lawford Royal Air Force Church Lawford or more simply RAF Church Lawford is a former Royal Air Force station located south of Church Lawford, Warwickshire, England, south-west of Rugby, Warwickshire. The airfield opened in April 1941 and was used by ...

References

External links

Church Lawford Parish CouncilChurch Lawford entry on Our WarwickshireChurch Lawford official websiteChurch Lawford Village Hall
{{authority control Villages in Warwickshire