Wolston 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 authorit ...

in the Rugby borough 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-Av ...

, England. The village is located roughly halfway between

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

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 ...

, and had a population of 2,692 at the 2021 census. It is close to the

A45 road A45 or A-45 may refer to: * A45 Infantry Support Tank, the chassis of which was developed into the Conqueror tank * A45 Records, a German record label notably producing the band Real McCoy * Article 45 Concern Group, a political party in Hong Ko ...

and the Roman road the Fosse Way. The River Avon flows through the village. Near the river are the remains of a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

motte-and-bailey castle, Brandon Castle. A Benedictine priory,

Wolston Priory Wolston Priory was a Benedictine priory near Wolston in Warwickshire, England. The earthwork remains of the priory are a Scheduled Ancient Monument. A present grade II* listed house is based on the remains of the rectory. The priory was establish ...

, was sited to the east of the village and its earthwork remains are now a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The village has two churches: the parish church of St Margaret's and Wolston Baptist Church. The ancient

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 o ...

of Wolston was large, and included Wolston itself, plus the nearby villages of

Brandon Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name *Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins Places Australia *Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales *Brandon, Q ...

and

Bretford Bretford is a small hamlet in Warwickshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Brandon and Bretford. Location It is about east-southeast of Coventry, at a junction of the A428 road (Coventry–Rugby) and the old Fosse Way. The two ro ...

to the north, and

Stretton-on-Dunsmore Stretton-on-Dunsmore is a village and civil parish in the English county of Warwickshire. Its population in the 2001 Census was recorded as 1,143, rising slightly to 1,159 at the 2011 Census. In the 19th century the population was 634. The vill ...

and

Princethorpe Princethorpe is a village and civil parish in the Rugby district of Warwickshire, England. In the 2011 census the parish had a population 376, increasing to 429 at the 2021 census. Princethorpe is located roughly halfway between the towns of Ru ...

to the south. The latter two became a separate parish in 1696, whilst

Brandon and Bretford Brandon and Bretford is a civil parish in the Rugby borough of Warwickshire, England. It contains the village of Brandon and the smaller hamlet of Bretford. Both are within 1½ miles of each other, along the A428 road. In the 2001 Census the pa ...

became a separate

in 1866. Wolston once had a railway station,

Brandon and Wolston railway station Brandon and Wolston railway station was a railway station serving the villages of Brandon and Wolston in the English county of Warwickshire. The original Brandon station was built by the London and Birmingham Railway and was the only one betwee ...

on the Rugby-Coventry line, but this was closed in 1960. One of the most notable features in the village is the railway viaduct crossing the Avon, which dates from the 1830s and was part of the original

London and Birmingham Railway The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, in operation from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). The railway line which the company opened in 1838, betw ...

. The viaduct separates Wolston from the smaller village of

. The two shared a football team "Brandon & Wolston Football Club".Brandon, Bretford & Wolston History Group: ''A History of Brandon & Wolston Football Club'', page 1, Brandon, Bretford & Wolston History Group They no longer have a senior men's team but they still run a junior club. The village contains a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

(Wolston St Margarets Primary C of E School). St Margaret's Primary was originally in School Street, but that building is now used as offices. Wolston also used to have a secondary school called Wolston High School, but it was knocked down and replaced with a community centre. Wolston has a small library, two pubs (The Rose & Crown & The Half Moon), a convenience store, a pharmacy and a local doctors surgery. Near to Wolston is the community-owned Brandon Wood. In geology, the village gives its name to the

Wolstonian Stage The Wolstonian Stage is a middle Pleistocene stage of the geological history of Earth from approximately 374,000 until 130,000 years ago. It precedes the Eemian Stage in Europe and follows the Hoxnian Stage in the British Isles. It is also appr ...

, a British regional subdivision of the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

Epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...

Notable people

* William Rose (1842–1917), cricketer

References

External links

Railways of Warwickshire websiteWolston archives - Our Warwickshire
{{authority control Villages in Warwickshire