Weddington is an area of

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire to the north-east.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

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

, in the

Nuneaton and Bedworth Nuneaton and Bedworth is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Warwickshire, England. It includes the towns of Nuneaton (where the council is based) and Bedworth, as we ...

district, in the county 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 ...

, England. It bounded on the northeast by

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England, running from Dover and London in the southeast, via St Albans to Wroxeter. The road crosses the River Thames at London and was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the M ...

, and on the west by the

River Anker The River Anker flows through Nuneaton, England. It is a major tributary of the River Tame, which it joins in Tamworth. The name derives from the old British for ''winding river''. From source to river mouth at Tamworth is . Course The river ...

. The Ward population taken at the 2011 census was 7,256. In 1921 the parish had a population of 87. It is surrounded on the west and south by the Anker, and comprises the church, Rectory, Church Farm, the Grove, and the grounds of the former Weddington Castle. A branch road leading south from Watling Street passes through the village.

History

Weddington Castle was probably built on the site of the capital mansion-house mentioned in a suit of 1566. It may have been built by Thomas,

Marquess of Dorset The title Marquess of Dorset has been created three times in the Peerage of England. It was first created in 1397 for John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, but he lost the title two years later. It was then created in 1442 for Edmund Beaufort, 1s ...

, who enclosed the whole manor of Weddington in 1491, converting all the land to pasture, whereby went out of cultivation, 10 houses were allowed to go to ruin, and 60 people were driven from their homes, losing their occupation. After the forfeiture of Thomas's son, the

Duke of Suffolk Duke of Suffolk is a title that has been created three times in the peerage of England. The dukedom was first created for William de la Pole, who had already been elevated to the ranks of earl and marquess, and was a powerful figure under Henr ...

, the manor was leased by the Crown until 1561 and one of the lessees, Mr. Trye, rebuilt the village and 'made habitations mete for husbandry'. In 1730 Thomas notes that there were four farmhouses and the Manor House in the parish, and even in 1901 the population was only just over 100. Since that time, with the development of Nuneaton, many small houses have been built. Weddington became part of the parish and borough of Nuneaton under the Borough of Nuneaton (Extension) Order 1931, which came into operation on 1 April 1931. The woodland in Weddington was 2 furlongs in length and 1 furlong broad in 1086, and in 1849 there were of woodland, but by 1886 there was none outside the grounds of the Castle. Richard Vines, a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

Divine and

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

scholar, was presented to 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 * ...

of Weddington in 1627 and to Caldecote in 1630, holding both for a time. He was one of the orthodox divines presented for Warwickshire to be consulted about the reformed liturgy. He had gifts as a preacher, and a sermon preached before the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in 1642 made a great impression. With other Puritans he took refuge at

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 ...

in 1643. In the following year he was made Master of

Pembroke Hall, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

, where he did good work, showing himself a good administrator and promoter of learning. He married Katherine, daughter of Humphrey Adderley of Weddington.

Transport and facilities

Weddington is now a suburb of Nuneaton with two local primary schools, Weddington Primary School and the new Lower Farm Academy on the newly built estate and secondary school, Higham Lane School. The A444 runs through the parish where it is called Weddington Road; further out of Nuneaton, it is Weddington Lane. There is a stretch of greenbelt bordering Weddington which is called Sandon Fields, known locally as Weddington or Weddy Meadows. The field has a sports pavilion, football pitches and the Cleaver Gardens flats. There is a second field, which is a narrow strip with a children's park, running south of Weddington to St. Nicolas Park; this is called Coronation Walk and known locally as Brookie Fields. Weddington in generally considered as the most prosperous area of Nuneaton.

Notable people

Charles Shawe Charles Shawe (15 November 1878 – 9 February 1951) was an English first-class cricketer. The son of Henry Cunliffe Shawe and his wife, Georgina Wilmot Gresley, he was born at Weddington Hall in Warwickshire. Shawe attended the Royal Militar ...

(1878–1951), cricketer

References

{{Reflist

External links

Weddington
in the

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History (VCH), is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of Englan ...

of Warwickshire, volume 4 (1947)
Weddington Castle online
Areas of Nuneaton Former civil parishes in Warwickshire