Earlswood is a village split between the counties of

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

and the West Midlands in England. Most of the village is located in the

Tanworth-in-Arden Tanworth-in-Arden (; often abbreviated to Tanworth) is a village and civil parish in the county of Warwickshire, England. It is south-southeast of Birmingham, north-east of Redditch and 8 miles (13 km) south-southwest of Solihull and is admin ...

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of the

Stratford-on-Avon District Stratford-on-Avon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Warwickshire, England. The district is named after its largest town of Stratford-upon-Avon, but with a change of preposition; the town uses "upon" and the district ...

, Warwickshire, while the northern part is in the Tidbury Green parish in the

Metropolitan Borough of Solihull The Metropolitan Borough of Solihull is a metropolitan borough in West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, England. It is named after its largest town, Solihull, from which Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is based. For Eurostat purpose ...

. A hamlet called Warings Green lies to the south east of the village, with the northernmost point crossing into the parish of Cheswick Green in the borough of`Solihull. The village is surrounded by farmland and forests and it gives its name to

Earlswood Lakes Earlswood Lakes is the modern name for three man-made reservoirs which were built in the 1820s at Earlswood, West Midlands, Earlswood in Warwickshire, England, to supply water to the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal. They still supply the canal, and a ...

(entirely within Warwickshire) as well as to Earlswood railway station (on the border with West Midlands), even though

The Lakes railway station The Lakes is a railway station located on the North Warwickshire Line in the north of Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England. The nearest settlement is the village of Earlswood. Opened by the Great Western Railway as ''The Lakes ...

is located closer to the main part of the village.

Amenities

Earlswood Lakes Windmill and Engine Pools

The

are close to the centre of the village. There are numerous footpaths for walking around the lakes and in the adjacent

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

. It is possible to fish in some of the lakes and there is a

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

club. The village has a convenience store,

village hall A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...

(also the home of the village

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

), garage and

petrol station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

. Earlswood is in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

St Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints being Brigid of Kildare and Columba ...

. The village is also home to Earlswood Town F.C.

Transport

Earlswood has a range of transport links. The

M42 motorway The M42 motorway runs north east from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire to just south-west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, passing Redditch, Solihull, the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and Tamworth, Staffordshire, Tamworth on the way, ...

(Junctions 3 and 4 ) is a few minutes away and

, in Malthouse Lane, has hourly services to and . There is a limited bus service from the village to

Solihull Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...

and

Redditch Redditch is a town and non-metropolitan district with borough status in Worcestershire, England. It is located south of Birmingham, east of Bromsgrove, north-west of Alcester and north-east of Worcester. In 2021, the town had a population of ...

, operated by

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

Minibuses.

Church

A brick church dedicated to

was built at Salter Street in 1840 and the area formed into a

in 1843. A

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

with five

bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

s was added in 1860 by Thomas Burman in memory of his father; and in 1899 the body of the church was rebuilt. The

living Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * ...

, now known as Earlswood, is a

vicarage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or Minister (Christianity), ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of n ...

in the gift of the

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

Tanworth Tanworth-in-Arden (; often abbreviated to Tanworth) is a village and civil parish in the county of Warwickshire, England. It is south-southeast of Birmingham, north-east of Redditch and 8 miles (13 km) south-southwest of Solihull and is admin ...

. The church is grade II* listed, and the "reasons for designation" include "The fine High Victorian Gothic tower by G.T. Robinson (1860-1), forms a striking and unexpected accent in a wholly rural landscape". Apart from the tower, it has been described as "one of the finest Arts & Crafts period churches in the Midlands". The church is in the civil parish of Cheswick Green, in Solihull, as Salter Street forms the parish boundary and the church is on its east side, while the

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of St Patrick covers " Cheswick Green, Dickens Heath,

Monkspath Monkspath is a large residential community and light-industrial area of Solihull, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, southeast of the town's Shirley, West Midlands, Shirley district (and served by Junction 4 of the M42 motorway). Mo ...

, Blythe Valley, Illshaw Heath, and parts of Earlswood".

References

External links

Photographs of Earlswood's Past
Villages in Warwickshire Villages in the West Midlands (county) Tanworth-in-Arden Solihull {{Warwickshire-geo-stub