Kingsbury, Warwickshire
| Kingsbury | |
| Warwickshire | |
|---|---|
 River Tame through Kingsbury, Warwickshire | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP2196 |
| Location: | 52°33’41"N, 1°41’30"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 4,168 (2001) |
| Post town: | Tamworth |
| Postcode: | B78 |
| Dialling code: | 01827 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | North Warwickshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North Warwickshire |
Kingsbury is a large village in Warwickshire, sitting between the county's greatest city, Birmingham, and Tamworth, the latter 6 miles to the north. The village sits on the bank of the River Tame.
The A51 to Chester starts from here; as does the A4097, which runs through Curdworth and Minworth before joining the A38, which continues to Junction 6 of the M6 at Spaghetti Junction.
Kingsbury is notable for the Kingsbury Water Park, a shooting range and a large oil storage depot to the north-east.
History
The name "Kingsbury" is from the Old English Cyningesbyrig (recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Chinesburie, the name meaning 'Kings Fort' (dative)
Kingsbury Hall is now only part lived in as a farmhouse. It was once though a fortified manor house and the remains of a curtain wall can still be seen.
The Domesday Book records that there were two priests in the village, so the church must have existed then. Hemlingford Mill is mentioned too, which still exists though not of course the original building nor works. This water mill has been used for many purposes including milling corn into flour and grinding gun barrels for muskets during the Napoleonic Wars. Later it was used as a garden centre. A bridge was built across the River Tame near to the mill in 1783. This was single carriageway so traffic lights were installed later on, until it was bypassed by a new road to serve the oil terminal in the 1960s. The centre section of the old bridge was swept away by a flash flood in the early 1980s and was replaced with modern concrete. It is now used for pedestrians only.
In 1473-74 during the Wars of the Roses there was a family dispute involving the Bracebridges and their distant relations, the Ardens (William Shakespeare's maternal ancestors) of Park Hall in Castle Bromwich. John Arden had fallen in love with Alice Bracebridge. John's father, Sir Walter, did not approve. John was kidnapped and taken to Bracebridge Hall. Sir Walter appealed to King Edward IV, who appointed Sir Simon de Montford of Coleshill and Sir Richard Bingham of Middleton to arbitrate. John and Alice were married in February 1474. In 1502 John inherited Park Hall in Castle Bromwich, while his younger brother Thomas settled at Wilmcote near Stratford upon Avon. Thomas had a son Robert who was the father of Mary Arden, William Shakespeare's mother.
The stones of the church porch show evidence of arrow-sharpening grooves, sometimes said to have been done by soldiers but more probably by hunting parties or locals waiting their turn for the nearby village butts, as all males had to be proficient with a longbow.
Until the 19th century Kingsbury was a small hamlet, and the main landowner in the area was the Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel. The Birmingham and Derby Railway was built through Kingsbury in 1839 and industry was soon established, most notably coal mining and gravel extraction, which fuelled the expansion of the village.
Kingsbury today
The mine, Kingsbury Colliery, has now gone and the railway station was closed in 1968 under the 'Beeching Axe' cuts. although the station building has gone, the station master's house (built by LMS in 1926) still exists alongside the site. The large oil storage depots, which serve the whole of the Midlands, were established in the late-1960s to the north-east of Kingsbury.
Kingsbury Water Park between Kingsbury and Bodymoor Heath, is a series of 15 lakes, situated in 600 acres of land. It was reclaimed from the old gravel pits. It is now home to a camp site, children's play areas, a sailing club, model boat club and jet ski and power boat racing clubs.[1]
Kingsbury is now mainly a large commuter village. Although relatively small, the village has facilities and services including a primary school, a secondary school, a swimming pool (at the secondary school but open to the public), two public houses, the Swan and the Royal Oak, a country club, churches, a doctors' surgery and shops.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Kingsbury, Warwickshire) |
References
- ↑ "Country Parks - Kingsbury Water Park - Warwickshire Web". Warwickshire.gov.uk. http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/D33FC76C03246E3580256B740045C34B. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
- Allen, Geoff (2000): Warwickshire Towns & Villages. ISBN 1-85058-642-X
