Fenny Drayton (once Drayton-in-the-Clay) is a village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of

Witherley Witherley is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : The civil parish of Witherley includes Atterton, Fenny Drayton, and Ratcliffe Cul ...

, in the

Hinckley and Bosworth Hinckley and Bosworth is a local government district with borough status in south-western Leicestershire, England, administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Its only towns are Hinckley, Earl Shilton and Market Bosworth. Villages in ...

district of Leicestershire, England. OS Explorer Map 232: Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000): It lies near the

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-Av ...

boundary, three miles north-east of

Atherstone Atherstone is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone is on the A5 national route, and is adjacent to the border with Leicestershire w ...

in the Coventry postcode area, just off the A444, the Roman

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main ...

. Another Roman road crosses at the end of the scenic Fenn Lanes. The village is four miles from

Stoke Golding Stoke Golding is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England, close to the county border with Warwickshire.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : According to the 2001 census ...

, where

Henry VII of England Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beauf ...

was crowned after the

Battle of Bosworth The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 Au ...

in 1485. The reinterment of Richard III of England on 21 March 2015 started along Fenn Lanes, near the village. In 1931 the parish had a population of 125. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Witherley, parts also went to Hartshill, Mancetter and Caldecote. The name means "farm/settlement for portage" or "farm/settlement used as a dragging place". "Fenny" reflects the

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich Groundwater, ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as ...

-like ground along the Roman road.

Education

School children mostly attend St Margaret's Church of England Primary School in Stoke Golding or Higham on the hill Church of England Primary School and St Martin's Catholic Academy in Stoke Golding or the independent

Dixie Grammar School Dixie Grammar School is an independent school in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire. The earliest records of the School's existence date from 1320, but the school was re-founded in 1601 under the will of an Elizabethan merchant and Lord Mayor of L ...

Market Bosworth Market Bosworth is a market town and civil parish in western Leicestershire, England. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 1,906, increasing to 2,097 at the 2011 census. It is most famously near to the site of the decisive final battle o ...

Church

The Grade II listed Anglican Church of St Michael and All Angels in the

Diocese of Leicester The Diocese of Leicester is a Church of England diocese based in Leicester and including the current county of Leicestershire. The cathedral is Leicester Cathedral, where the Bishop of Leicester has his episcopal chair. The diocese is divided int ...

is in Gothic style with 12th-century Norman features and a 13th-century bell tower. It is surrounded by one of the oldest circles of giant yew trees in the United Kingdom. There are two monuments of the Purefoy family dating back to 1543 in the church grounds. One has an incised slab, which is rare. The church is open free of charge by appointment.

George Fox

George Fox, founder of the

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

, or children of light, was born in Drayton-on-the-Clay in July 1624. His father, Christopher Fox, was a weaver and

churchwarden A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' members of the parish b ...

. Fox is reputed to have been baptised in the older of the two fonts in the church. There is a large monument to him where two roads, George Fox Lane and Old Forge Road, meet. Quakers from all over the world sign the church visitors' book.

Centre of England

The Ordnance Survey in 2002 defined Lindley Hall Farm on the village outskirts as the geographical centre of England. () Coordinates are 52°33′42.942″N 1°27′53.474″W Grid Reference SP36373.66 96143.05. It was previously thought to be Meriden in Solihull.

References

External links