STRETTON-UPON-DUNSMORE - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"STRETTON-UPON-DUNSMORE, a parish in the Rugby division of Knightlow hundred, county Warwick, 2½ miles S. of Brandon railway station, and 6 S.E. of Coventry, its post town. The village is on the Roman Fosse Way and Dunsmore Heath. At Knightlow Hill, near the boundary of the parish, is an ancient stone called Knightlow Cross, one of the oldest memorials of feudal tenure existing. The parish includes the township of Princethorpe with St. Mary's priory.

The county asylum, established by Judge Dallas in 1817, for juvenile offenders between fourteen and sixteen years of age, is in this parish. The village is about half a mile to the S.W. of the road from London to Holyhead. Many of the women and children are employed in preparing silk for the ribbon-weavers of Coventry. Large quantities of lime are burnt, and plaster-of-paris is prepared from gypsum, of which a considerable stratum is found in this parish. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Worcester, value £438. The church is dedicated to All Saints. The parochial charities produce about £309 per annum, of which sum £52 goes to Herbert's school.

There are some traces of Brandon Castle, which was taken and dismantled by the barons under Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, but rebuilt by Theobald de Verdune, who had the privilege of courtleet and gallows, with assize of bread and beer."

"PRINCETHORPE, a township in the parish of Stretton-upon-Dunsmore, Rugby division of the hundred of Knightlow, county Warwick, 7 miles S.W. of Rugby, 6 N. by W. of Southam, and 4 S. of the Brandon railway station. It is situated on the Fosse Way, near- the river Ichene. There is a Roman Catholic establishment for nuns, called St. Mary's Priory, erected in 1833, on a plot of land four acres in extent. The extensive buildings are. situated on an eminence covering two acres, and include a chapel, which is crowned with a low steeple, and contains a clock and three bells. There are also a circular-shaped cemetery and pleasure gardens. In the village is a National school."

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