WARWICK - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"WARWICK, comprises the parishes of St. Nicholas and St. Mary, and is a post and market town, municipal and parliamentary borough, and county town of South Warwickshire, locally situated in the Warwick division of Kington hundred, county Warwick, 90 miles N.W. of London by road, 100 by the London and North-Western, and 107½ by the Great Western railway. It is situated on the banks of the river Avon, near the junction of the Birmingham and Napton canals, and closely adjoining the town of Leamington.

It was almost destroyed in the early wars of the Danes, but was restored by the Lady Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great, who built a fort here in 914. At the time of the Domesday survey it contained 261 houses, when it was held by the Danish nobleman Thurkil, or Turcil, and was shortly after protected by a ditch and gates. It subsequently came to Henry de Newburgh, the first Earl of Warwick, who rebuilt the castle, which was surrendered by Stephen to Prince Henry, in 1153, and was surprised and partly destroyed in the baronial wars of Henry III.

In the reign of Edward I. the streets were paved and the town walled round. In the same reign it first sent members to parliament, and in the succeeding one of Edward II. was the scene of the execution of the king's favourite, Gaveston, by Guy Earl of Warwick in 1312. It was here that the king-maker, Warwick, imprisoned Edward IV. in 1468, and subsequently received him in 1470.

In the time of Philip and Mary the town received its first charter of incorporation, and was visited by Queen Elizabeth and James I., who gave the castle, then used as a gaol, to Sir Fulke Greville, whose kinsman, Lord Brooke, garrisoned it in 1642 for the parliament. It was much damaged by fire in 1694, and was visited by William III. in 1695. The castle and earldom have successively belonged to the families of Turchil, De Newburgh, Le Plessetis, Maudit, De Beauchamp, Nevill, Plantagenet, Dudley, Rich, and Greville, the family name of the present earl.

The castle, which stands on a solid rock, in which the cellars are excavated, overlooking the river, is still the great attraction of the town. The great hall is 62 feet long by 40 wide, containing a collection of ancient armour, and the room contains paintings by ancient masters, including the original of Charles I. on horseback by Vandyke. In one of the greenhouses is the "Warwick Vase", presented to the late Earl by Sir William Hamilton. Above the castle the Avon is crossed by a stone bridge of one arch 100 feet in span, connecting the town with a suburb on the left bank.

The streets are spacious, well paved, and lighted, and the houses generally modern. The principal public buildings are the county hall and courts, with a room 100 feet by 65; courthouse and assembly-room, with portraits of Henry VIII. and Charles II.; market house, on arches, surmounted by a dome; county gaol, recently erected; savings-bank, three commercial branch banks, theatre, race-stand, museum of the Archæological Society, gas and water works, dispensary, and the earl's mill.

The business is chiefly in connection with the corn and general trade, but there is a considerable hat manufactory and some large flour mills. There are also malthouses, iron-foundries, breweries, rope-walks, and numerous wharves on the Napton and Birmingham canals. The population of the borough in 1851 was 10,973, inhabiting 2,229 houses, and in 1861 10,570, inhabiting 2,272 houses. The boundaries of the municipal and parliamentary boroughs are conterminous, the old bounds remaining unaltered by the Reform Act of 1832. It has returned two members to parliament since the reign of Edward I.

Under the Municipal Reform Act the borough is divided into two wards, governed by a mayor, who is also returning officer, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors, with the style of "mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the borough of Warwick". The municipal revenue is about £1,200. It is the place of election for the southern division of the county, and the head-quarters of the county militia. The assizes and quarter-sessions for the county, quarter-sessions for the borough, and a county court are held here. Warwick gives name to a deanery in the archdeaconry and diocese of Worcester.

There were anciently 8 churches in the town, of which 3 only now remain. The livings are St. Mary's, a vicarage* in the diocese of Worcester, value £300, in the gift of the lord chancellor; St. Nicholas, a vicarage*, with the curacy of All Saints annexed, value £220; and St. Paul's, a perpetual curacy*, value £150, in the patronage of the vicar of St. Mary's. The church of St. Mary, situate in Old-square, is an ancient foundation, and was made collegiate by Roger Earl of Warwick, in 1123. The body of the present edifice was rebuilt in 1701, but the lady chapel and choir was built by the Beauchamps in the 14th century.

It has a carved roof and stalls, effigies of the Beauchamps and Dudleys, several brasses, the earliest dated 1401, and the tomb of Cartwright, the Puritan. The church of St. Nicholas was rebuilt on the site of an ancient nunnery in 1780. St. Paul's district church, situated in Friar-street, has a stained window presented by the late Countess of Warwick; All Saints is situated at Emscote. The Wesleyans, Independents, Baptists, Roman Catholics, Unitarians, and Society of Friends have chapels. There is a public library, and a weekly newspaper, the Warwick Advertiser, is published in the town.

The college, founded by Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, in the reign of Henry VI., has an income from endowment of £400, besides four exhibitions to Oxford University of £40 each for four years; there are also National, British, infant, and industrial schools, and Lady Goreville's free school, held in St. Peter's chapel, over the eastern gateway of the town, which has an income from endowment of £250.

The local charities produce about £8,000 per annum, including the endowment of Henry VIII. to the church, clergy, and schools; Sir Thomas White's bequest of £11,511 to be employed by way of loans to deserving inhabitants, and the endowment of several sets of almshouses, including the Leicester Hospital, founded by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, for a master and 12 brethren, impotent or infirm men, which number has been recently increased to 20, who receive a pension of £80 per annum.

The buildings consist of the brethren's lodgings and, public kitchen, forming a quadrangle; the ancient chapel of St. James, over the western gateway of the town, originally founded as a guild by Roger, Earl of Warwick, in the reign of Henry I., and an old hall. On the W. side of the town is a racecourse, where the races take place twice annually, in March and September. Market day is on Saturday. Fairs are held on the second Monday in January, February, March, April, June, July, August, September, and November, and on the first Saturday in Lent, 12th May, 12th October, last Monday in October, and the Monday prior to St. Thomas's day."

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