Long Itchington is a large 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 ...

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-Avo ...

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 ...

, which at the 2011 Census had a population of 2,013. The village is named after the River Itchen which flows to the south and west of the village. Long Itchington is around two miles north of Southam on the

A423 road The A423 road is a primary A road in England in two sections. The main section leads from central Banbury to the A45 near Coventry. Route It starts in Banbury town centre as Southam Road and goes through the Southam Road Industrial Estate ...

, just north of the

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...

. The focal point at the centre of the village is a village green with a

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from tha ...

. Long Itchington is mostly made up of 20th century developments, but includes several historic buildings, including a

half-timber Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...

ed Tudor house on the main road at which Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

is said to have stayed in 1572 and 1575.''Warwickshire Towns & Villages'', by Geoff Allen (2000) Page 82 The old

Manor House A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals ...

in the square dates from the 15th century. The village church of Holy Trinity originates from the 1100s, with later additions. It is a grade II* listed building.

St Wulfstan Wulfstan ( – 20 January 1095) was Bishop of Worcester from 1062 to 1095. He was the last surviving pre- Conquest bishop. Wulfstan is a saint in the Western Christian churches. Denomination His denomination as Wulfstan II is to indicate th ...

, is said to have been born in Long Itchington in around 1012. He became

Bishop of Worcester A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

in 1062. Another notable born in the village is the journalist

Tom Hilditch Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

. The village has long had an involvement in the

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixe ...

industry. Just south of the village was a cement works and quarry. The cement works is now closed, but quarrying at the site still continues. Opposite the old cement works a little way from the main village is a small model village, which was originally built to house the cement workers. The village was once served by the former Weedon to Leamington Spa railway line. The village station, Southam and Long Itchington railway station was to the south of the village on the road towards Southam, and closed to passengers in 1958, although the line to the cement works continued in operation for goods trains until 1985. Part of the old railway line has been converted into a cycleway as part of the National Cycle Network. In October 2018, a war memorial was erected to commemorate the 54 men of the village who were killed in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The

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 ...

includes 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 ...

of Bascote.

Amenities

The village contains seven

pubs A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, a diner, a small shop, a Co-op small supermarket, a church, a Congregational chapel, a nursery, 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 ...

, a hairdressers, a park with skate ramp and a community centre.

Gallery

File:Elizabethan house, Long Itchington - geograph.org.uk - 1112333.jpg, Tudor house in Long Itchington, Queen

is believed to have stayed here File:Church tower Long Itchington - geograph.org.uk - 1111753.jpg, Holy Trinity Church File:Long Itchington duck pond - geograph.org.uk - 2336937.jpg, Duck pond on the village green

References

External links

Long Itchington Parish Council

Long Itchington Archives
- Our Warwickshire {{authority control Villages in Warwickshire