Stoneleigh Park, known between 1963 and 2013 as the National Agricultural Centre, is a

business park A business park or office park is a designated area of land in which many office buildings are grouped together. These types of developments are often located in suburban areas where land and building costs are more affordable, and are typically ...

located south-west of the village of Stoneleigh,

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 home to the Stoneleigh conference and

exhibition centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

History

The park was once part of the much larger

Stoneleigh Abbey Stoneleigh Abbey is an English country house and estate situated south of Coventry. Nearby is the village of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire. The Abbey itself is a Grade I listed building. History In 1154 Henry II granted land in the Forest of Arden t ...

estate which was created in 1154 when Henry II granted land in the

Forest of Arden Arden is an area located mainly in Warwickshire, England, with parts in Staffordshire and Worcestershire, and is traditionally regarded as extending from the River Avon to the River Tame. It was once heavily wooded, giving rise to the name 'F ...

to a group of

Cistercians 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 ...

monks from Staffordshire. It was separated from the rest of the estate and developed only in 1963 when the

Royal Agricultural Society of England The Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) promotes the scientific development of English agriculture. It was established in 1838 with the motto "Practice with Science" and received its Royal Charter from Queen Victoria in 1840. RASE is bas ...

decided to permanently base their previous nomadic Royal Show there, after it had been on tour annually since 1839. The popular annual Town and Country Festival started on the site in 1973. In 1978 it hosted the outdoor European Archery Championships, being the first UK venue to do so. 2003 saw the

National Farmers' Union of England and Wales The National Farmers' Union (NFU) is a member organisation/industry association for farmers in England and Wales. It is the largest farmers' organisation in the countries, and has over 300 branch offices. History On 10 December 1908, a meetin ...

move their headquarters to the park.. The Royal Show was held for the last time in 2009 after a 170 year history, following the Town and Country finishing in 2006 after 35 years. In December 2010 the Royal Agricultural Society ceased running the park, agreeing a 150 year lease with American company

LaSalle Investment Management LaSalle Investment Management ("LaSalle") is a real estate investment management firm. It is an independent subsidiary of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a real estate financial and professional services company. LaSalle manages capital for institut ...

for a reported £50 million. By 2018 27 units had been refurbished and that year 26 were demolished as being unviable. The park struggled financially during 2020 and 2021 due to the global

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. At the same time work was started on a section of

High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...

railway line which will run through a north east portion of the site.

Business park

The site covers about , of which is maintained, and is home to over 70 businesses, including an

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

and

conference centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

. It was announced on 12 April 2010 that Stoneleigh Events would play host to The Great Exhibition 2012, a festival showcasing the best of British taking place in the Olympic summer of 2012 and also as a tribute to the original

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary The Crystal Palace, structure in which it was held), was an International Exhib ...

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

in 1851. NAEC Stoneleigh hosts a range of events including Race Retro, International Jaguar Spares day and the MG & Triumph spares day.NAEC Stoneleigh
/ref> NAEC Stoneleigh has: - * Over 21,000m² of indoor exhibition space * 800 acres of event and activity space * Conference facilities for up to 12,000 people * On site hotel * An off-road vehicle track File:Stoneleigh park sheds 12n06.jpg, Buildings in Stoneleigh Park File:Cow sheds SP 12n06.jpg, Cow sheds in Stoneleigh Park

References

External links

* {{coord, 52.343, -1.527, type:landmark_region:GB-WAR, display=title Tourist attractions in Warwickshire Buildings and structures in Warwickshire