ASTLEY - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"ASTLEY, a parish in the hundred of Knightlow, in the county of Warwick, 4 miles to the S.W. of Nuneaton, its post town. The village is situated on a hill in a pleasant and wooded district. In the reign of King John, the manor belonged to the Astleys, from whom it came, in the Henry V., to the Greys of Ruthin. It is now held by the Newdegates, who came into possession of it in the 18th century. A castle was erected here at a very early period, part of the walls of which still remain. It was once the abode of Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset. The present structure is probably of the age of Queen Mary.

It is surrounded by a moat, and the entrance is by a stone bridge, through a pointed arch. The aspect of the mansion and of the ruins is rendered beautiful and impressive by a luxuriant growth of ivy. In one of the apartments is preserved a curious and interesting, though rudely-executed portrait of the Duke of Suffolk, father of the Lady Jane Grey. It presents him in a high-crowned hat, with a ruff and peaked beard. The castle is now the seat of Viscount Lifford.

In the neighbourhood of the village are the Duke's Farm and Astley Hall, both ancient houses. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Worcester, of the value of £60, in the patronage of C. N. Newdegate, Esq., M.P., whose seat is Arbury Hall, 2 miles from Astley. The present church is part of a much more extensive structure, which was erected in the reign of Edward III. by Lord Thomas de Astley, who first founded a chantry, and then converted it into a college. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, was cruciform, and had a very lofty spire, which, serving as a landmark through the forest region, was named poetically "the lanthorn of Arden". It fell at the commencement of the 17th century.

Part of the building was demolished in the reign of Queen Mary; the western part and many of the ancient monuments perished in 1607. Part of a tower and the choir, now forming the body of the church, are all that remain of the ancient venerable pile. There are sixteen stalls, with figures of saints and scrolls inscribed with Scripture sentences. Two monuments with effigies remain. There is a charity school, chiefly supported by the Newdegates. The school-house and the house for the master are very ancient buildings."

"SOLEY END, a village in the parish of Astley, county Warwick, 5 miles N. of Coventry, on the river Sow."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]