Long Lawford

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Long Lawford
Warwickshire
Long Lawford-Chapel Street - geograph.org.uk - 601285.jpg
Chapel Street
Location
Grid reference: SP472755
Location: 52°23’3"N, 1°18’7"W
Data
Population: 3,180  (2011)
Post town: Rugby
Postcode: CV23
Dialling code: 01788
Local Government
Council: Rugby
Parliamentary
constituency:
Rugby

Long Lawford is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, located just west of Rugby. In 2001 the parish had a population of 2,831,[1] increasing to 3,180 at the 2011 census.[2] The civil parish originates as the township of the ancient parish of Newbold-on-Avon.

The village is one of four Lawfords in the locality, and is named long because, historically, the village ran along the road between Rugby and Coventry. The other three Lawfords are Church Lawford, Little Lawford and Lawford Heath. The village is next to the A428 road. The Rugby to Coventry railway line (West Coast Main Line) runs through the village, but it has never had its own station.

The main manor house in Long Lawford is Holbrook Grange, the ancestral home of the Caldecotts. Although the house has now changed hands, the influences of the Caldecotts remain, with one of the two village public houses being "The Caldecott Arms".

Long Lawford is effectively a suburb of Rugby, although it is not administered as part of the town. There are three parts of Long Lawford:

  • the old village, which contains many old buildings and several pubs
  • a modern (1960s) council estate a primary school
  • a newer (1990s) residential area. Another development was built in 2006, just off the A428 road. The primary road in this development, 'Tee Tong Road', was named after the highest bidder (£1,300) in a Children in Need auction in November 2005.

Recent archaeological excavations have found evidence that Long Lawford has been used as a settlement for 2000 years. Excavations of a Celtic Iron Age Village uncovered an Iron Age sword.[3] The village is mentioned in the Domesday book referred to as Lelleford (The ford by the elders).[4]

The village is reputedly haunted by a one-armed spectre, known as One-handed Boughton.[5]

References

Further reading

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("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Long Lawford)

Judge, Keith (c. 1996). A History of the Parishes of Long Lawford and Little Lawford, 1754-1995. Privately published. pp. 148. 

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