Grendon, Warwickshire
| Grendon | |
| Warwickshire | |
|---|---|
 All Saints Church in Grendon | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP2799 |
| Location: | 52°35’28"N, 1°35’46"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Atherstone |
| Postcode: | CV9 |
| Dialling code: | 01827 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | North Warwickshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North Warwickshire |
Grendon is a parish in the Hemlingford hundred of Warwickshire, containing Old Grendon and New Grendon.[1]
Old Grendon
Old Grendon is a village situated three miles west of Atherstone and five miles east of Tamworth. It lies on the north-western tip of Warwickshire, divided from Leicestershire by a small stream and by the River Anker. Also, Grendon has since enlarged and is currently at a population of circa 1000.
History
Grendon is mentioned in the Domesday Book:
"Henry de Ferrers holds Catmore and five and a half hides in Grendon and Turstin holds on him. There is land for 16 ploughs. There are 24 villans and sixteen bordars with eight ploughs. There is a mill rendering 5 shillings and 36 acres of meadow, woodland - one and a half leagues long and one league broad. It was and is worth 40 shillings. Siward Barn held it."[2]
Parts of All Saints Church date back to the 12th century, but the tower is a much later addition from 1845. The churchyard has several graves dating back to the 17th century and possibly older, but due to corrosion on some of the graves this is difficult to verify.
Seven men from Grendon were among the 32 killed in the 1882 explosion at Baddesley Pit. Some of these men are buried in the graveyard of All Saints Church in Old Grendon.
Grendon Hall was demolished in 1933. However, there are several structures of age which remain, most notably the bridge over the River Anker, which in its current form dates back to 1633. The old servants' quarters is now a residential property and several old barns and stable buildings have also been converted into residential properties.
Farm lane
It is rumoured that the houses located on Farm Lane, originally to house farmworkers of Grendon Farm, were built on foundations created from the rubble produced in the demolition of Grendon Hall.
In the woods off Farm Lane can be found a well-preserved underground ice house, which would have been used as a place to store ice (probably dragged from the nearby River Anker during the winter months) to serve the manor house's rudimentary refrigeration needs. This structure is of red brick, with a domed ceiling and is covered by a thin layer of earth. Ice would have been insulated with straw and if the ice was in large enough quantity it would have kept until the following winter.
There are several other mounds of brick and earth in these woods suggesting other structures once existed as well.
New Grendon
New Grendon is located two miles from Atherstone and three miles from Tamworth, centred on the A5 (Watling Street). The village has post office, two public houses (now closed as of 2019), a Working Mans Club and a newsagents.
Grendon was spawned from the mine that once existed in Baxterley, Grendon was originally a small hamlet called Suckle green and construction of Grendon didn't start fully until the 1950s. Grendon was named after the older village of Grendon about a mile away. The mine at Baxterley that Grendon was built to serve closed in 1989.
The two former pubs in Grendon, The Black Swan (aka The Mucky Duck) and The Boot Inn have both now closed their doors. The Black Swan closed in 2010 and is now home to a “Costa Coffee drive-through”.
The Boot closed its doors for the final time in March 2017 and is currently being redeveloped in to a COOP convenience store run by Central England COOP.
References
Bibliography
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Grendon, Warwickshire) |