Merevale is a small 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 North Warwickshire district of the county 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 ...

. Located about one and a half miles west of Atherstone, it is the site of a

medieval 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, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

(founded in 1148) and

Merevale Hall Merevale Hall is a private country house in Merevale, near Atherstone, Warwickshire. It is a Grade II* listed building. The estate descends from Merevale Abbey which once stood on the site. The Manor of Merevale was granted in 1540 to Sir Walte ...

(built in 1840 and home to the Dugdale family).

Merevale Abbey

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

was built in Merevale in 1148 by Robert de Ferrers. It was a relatively small abbey with only around 10 monks. The abbey was dissolved in October 1538, during the reign of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

and fell into ruin, but traces of it remain to the present day. One of the most significant parts to have survived is the gate

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

, now used as St. Mary The Church of Our Lady Merevale. The church is significant for its

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

, including its

Jesse window The Tree of Jesse is a depiction in art of the ancestors of Jesus Christ, shown in a branching tree which rises from Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of King David. It is the original use of the family tree as a schematic representation of a gen ...

(one of the most important in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

), and for being the only Cistercian gate chapel to be open for regular weekly services throughout the year. William de Ferrers is buried here.

Merevale Hall

Edward Blore Edward Blore (13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary. Early career He was born in Derby, the son of the antiquarian writer Thomas Blore. Blore's backg ...

was completed in 1840 and has been the home of the descendants of

Sir William Dugdale Sir William Dugdale (12 September 1605 – 10 February 1686) was an English antiquary and herald. As a scholar he was influential in the development of medieval history as an academic subject. Life Dugdale was born at Shustoke, near Coleshi ...

since this time. Dugdale was a strong

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

supporter of King Charles I during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

, and was appointed as his '

Garter Principal King of Arms The Garter Principal King of Arms (also Garter King of Arms or simply Garter) is the senior King of Arms, and the senior Officer of Arms of the College of Arms, the heraldic authority with jurisdiction over England, Wales and Northern Ireland. ...

'. Many of his artefacts, including ceremonial clothes, can be seen at the hall.

Governance

The village has its own

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

called Merevale

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 ...

although for some purposes it is merged to form

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...

and Merevale Civil Parish. The community is served by Bentley and Merevale Parish Council

Merevale was part of the Atherstone Rural District. In 1974 under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

the Atherstone Rural District became part of the newly formed district of North Warwickshire. Inside North Warwickshire Merevale is part of the

Baddesley Ensor Baddesley Ensor is a village and civil parish in the district of North Warwickshire in Warwickshire, England, about three miles west of Atherstone. It runs into the village of Grendon, which forms a parish itself. History There were mining ac ...

and Grendon Ward and is represented by Andy Wright and Bernadette Davey who are both Conservative, Merevale is covered by the Baddesley Ensor Ward in

and is also represented by Andy Wright a Conservative

Councillor 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 ...

. It is part of the North Warwickshire constituency and the current MP is pro-

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

Conservative

Craig Tracey Craig Paul Tracey (born 21 August 1974) is a British Conservative Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Warwickshire since his election in 2015. Originally from the North East, Tracey settled in North Warwicksh ...

. Prior to Brexit in 2020 it was part of the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

constituency which was represented by 6 MEPs.

Public services

Waste collection services are provided by North Warwickshire

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Council. Water and sewage services are provided by Severn Trent Water. The distribution network operator for

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

Central Networks Western Power Distribution was the trade name, trading identity of four electricity distribution companies in the United Kingdom: WPD South West (operating in South West England), WPD South Wales (in South Wales) and WPD Midlands (two companie ...

better known as

E.ON UK E.ON UK is a British energy company and the largest supplier of energy and renewable electricity in the UK, following its acquisition of Npower. It is a subsidiary of E.ON of Germany and one of the Big Six energy suppliers. It was founded in ...

. Merevale has a Coventry (CV)

postcode A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal a ...

. The postal town is Atherstone which is also the location of the nearest

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 serv ...

. The nearest

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

is also in Atherstone. Merevale uses the Tamworth 01827 area code. The nearest police and fire stations are in Atherstone. Atherstone is part of

Warwickshire Police Warwickshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Warwickshire in England. It is the second smallest territorial police force in England and Wales after the City of London Police, with only 823 (full-time equivalents) ...

Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service serving the county of Warwickshire in the West Midlands region of England. The service covers an area of and a population of around 546,600 people. It employs 550 st ...

and West Midlands Ambulance Service. The village lies in the North Warwickshire NHS trust area. The village does not have its own doctor's surgery or

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

. The nearest GP's surgeries can be found in Atherstone. The George Eliot Hospital at

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...

is the area's local

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

. It has an Accident and Emergency Department. Out of hours GP services are also based at George Eliot.

Transport

The A5 runs to the east of Merevale. The village has one bus stop on the A5 and is served by routes 48 and 765.Atherstone, Merevale Lane, Adj (On Watling Street)
/ref> The nearest

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

is . The nearest

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

s are

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

Media

The local

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

s covering the area are the Tamworth Herald, which has a separate edition for North Warwickshire and the Atherstone Recorder. The local

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radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

covering the area is

BBC Coventry & Warwickshire BBC CWR (Coventry & Warwickshire Radio) is the BBC's local radio station serving Coventry and Warwickshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Priory Place in Coventry city centre. According to RAJAR, t ...

. Local commercial stations in the area include

Free Coventry & Warwickshire Free Radio Coventry & Warwickshire is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Coventry and Warwickshire. As of September 2022, the stati ...

and

Capital Mid-Counties Capital Mid-Counties is a regional radio station owned by and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Coventry, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, south Staffordshire, the Cotswolds and north Oxfordshire. The station la ...

. The village is covered by the Central ITV and

BBC West Midlands BBC Midlands (known as the Midland Region from 1927 until c. 1974) is the BBC English Region producing local radio and web content for Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, the West Midlands, and Worcestershire. Although the r ...

TV regions broadcast from the nearby Sutton Coldfield transmitting station.

References

External links

Merevale and Blyth EstatesHistory of Merevale Abbey at British History Online
* List of English abbeys, priories and friaries serving as parish churches * {{authority control Villages in Warwickshire Atherstone