Kenilworth

Kenilworth (/ˈ k ɛ n ɪ l w ər θ / KEN -il-wərth) is a market town and civil parish in the Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, 6 miles (10 km) south-west of Coventry, 5 miles (8 km) north of Warwick and 90 miles (140 km) north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a tributary of the River Sowe, which joins the River Avon 2 miles (3 km) north-east of the town. At the 2011 Census, the population was 22,413.[1] The town is home to the ruins of Kenilworth Castle and Kenilworth Abbey.

A settlement existed at Kenilworth by the time of the 1086 Domesday Book, which records it as Chinewrde.[2]

Geoffrey de Clinton (died 1134) initiated the building of an Augustinian priory in 1122,[3] which coincided with his initiation of Kenilworth Castle.[4] The priory was raised to the rank of an abbey in 1450[3] and suppressed with the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. Thereafter, the abbey grounds next to the castle were made common land in exchange for what Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester used to enlarge the castle. Only a few walls and a storage barn of the original abbey survive.

During the Middle Ages, Kenilworth played a significant role in the history of England: Between June and December 1266, as part of the Second Barons' War, Kenilworth Castle underwent a six-month siege, when baronial forces allied to Simon de Montfort, were besieged in the castle by the Royalist forces led by Prince Edward, this is thought to be the longest siege in Medieval English history. Despite numerous efforts at taking the castle, its defences proved impregnable. Whilst the siege was ongoing King Henry III held a Parliament at Kenilworth in August that year, which resulted in the Dictum of Kenilworth; a concillatory document which set out peace terms to end the conflict between the barons and the monarchy. The barons initially refused to accept, but hunger and disease eventually forced them to surrender, and accept the terms of the Dictum.[5][6]

During the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century, Kenilworth Castle served as an important Lancastrian base in the Midlands: The Lancastrian King Henry VI and his wife, Margaret of Anjou spent much time here.[7]

Elizabeth I visited Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester at Kenilworth Castle several times, the last in 1575. Dudley entertained the Queen with pageants and banquets costing some £1,000 per day that surpassed anything seen in England before.[8][9] These included fireworks.[10]

Near the castle there is a group of thatched cottages called 'Little Virginia': According to local legend they gained this name because the first potatoes brought to England by Sir Walter Raleigh from the New World were planted and grown here in the 16th century. Modern historians however consider this unlikely, and have suggested that the name may have originated from early colonists to America returning to England from Virginia.[11][12]

During the English Civil War, Kenilworth Castle, was occupied by Parliamentarians, after the Royalist garrison was withdrawn. After the end of the war, the castle's defences were slighted on the orders of Parliament in 1649, after which the castle became a ruin.[5][13]

In 1778 Kenilworth windmill was built. In 1884, it was converted into a water tower, by the addition of a large water tank on the top of the tower in the place of the sails. It continued to be the town's main water supply until 1939, and finally became disused in 1960. It is still a local landmark, but is now a private home.[14]

With the demise of the defensive role of the castle, Kenilworth had ceased to be a place of national significance, but Sir Walter Scott's 1821 novel Kenilworth brought it back to public attention, and helped establish the ruins of the castle as a major tourist attraction.[5][15]

In the early 19th century Kenilworth was known for its horn comb making industry, which peaked in the 1830s.[5][16]

Kenilworth was revolutionised by the arrival in 1844 of the railway to the town, when the London and Birmingham Railway opened the Coventry to Leamington Line, including Kenilworth railway station. The L&NWR had a new station built in 1883 and a new link line between Kenilworth and Berkswell in 1884 to bypass Coventry. This closed to all traffic on 3 March 1969.[17]

The railway in the 19th century brought industrialists from Birmingham and Coventry, to develop the residential area around the town's railway station. In the 19th century the town had some fine large mansions with landscaped gardens; these were demolished after the First World War and Second World War for housing developments. The railway also brought a number of new industries to Kenilworth, such as tanning, brick making, and chemicals, and also caused substantial growth in Kenilworth's market gardening; which became known for producing crops such as tomatoes and strawberries.[15][16]

The town's growth occasioned the addition of a second Church of England parish church, St John's, which is on Warwick Road in Knights Meadow. It was designed by Ewan Christian and built in 1851–1852 as a Gothic Revival building with a south-west bell tower and broach spire.[18]

During The Blitz in World War II on the night of 21 November 1940, a German aircraft dropped two parachute mines on Kenilworth, the large explosions in the Abbey End area demolished a number of buildings, killing 25 people, and injuring 70 more. The bomb damaged area of the town was redeveloped in the 1960s.[19][5]

In May 1961, the Kenilworth Society was formed over concerns about a group of 17th-century listed cottages adjacent to Finham Brook in Bridge Street.[20] It sets out to promote awareness of Kenilworth's character and encourage its preservation.

British Rail withdrew passenger services from the Coventry to Leamington Line and closed Kenilworth Station in January 1965 in line with The Reshaping of British Railways report. In May 1977, British Rail reinstated passenger services, but did not reopen Kenilworth station, which became derelict and was eventually demolished. In 2011 Warwick Council granted John Laing plc planning permission to build a new station,[21] It finally reopened in 2018.[22]

In the early 1980s, the town's name was used by one of the first generation of computer retailers, a company called Kenilworth Computers based near the Clock Tower, for its repackaging of the Nascom microcomputer with the selling point that it was robust enough to be used by agriculture.[23]

Kenilworth was struck by an F0/T1 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide outbreak on that day.[24]

Kenilworth is in close proximity to the University of Warwick at Gibbet Hill in Coventry 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the north. Kenilworth has several suburbs, which include Borrowell, Castle End, Crackley, Ladyes Hill, Mill End, Park Hill, Whitemoor and Windy Arbour. The town has good transport links to Coventry, Warwick, Leamington Spa and Birmingham.[25]

The principal shopping area of Kenilworth is around Warwick Street, Abbey End and Talisman Square; a 1960s shopping precinct. In 2008 the square was modernised and partly redeveloped to include a new Waitrose supermarket.[26][27] Kenilworth has been a Fairtrade Town since 2007.[28] The hardware chain Robert Dyas opened a new-format store in November 2011. The town's public library underwent a renovation in 2021.[29] The Cross, a local pub-restaurant, received a Michelin star in 2015.[30]

Near the centre of Kenilworth is Abbey Fields, a public park which covers 68 acres (28 hectares), within the valley of Finham Brook. Abbey Fields contains the ruins of the historic Kenilworth Abbey as well as St Nicholas church. It contains public amenities such as a swimming pool, a lake, a children's play area, and heritage trails.[31][32] There are several further public open spaces in Kenilworth; firstly Kenilworth Common, an area of historic common land covering 30 acres (12 hectares).[33][34] Secondly, Parliament Piece, a field and nature reserve covering 14 acres (5.7 hectares), which according to legend, was where King Henry III held a Parliament in 1266.[35]

In the centre of Kenilworth stands a Kugel ball water feature, called the Millennium Globe.[36]

Kenilworth's clock tower (pictured at top of article) is an important local landmark. It was first built in 1906–1907 by a notable local benefactor George Marshall Turner, as a memorial for his late wife. It stands in a roundabout in the town centre. The top part of the tower was severely damaged in 1940 by World War II bombing and had to be pulled down, it was fully restored in the 1970s. The clock tower is locally listed as a heritage asset by Warwick District Council.[37][38]

The A46 bypass opened in June 1974.[39] Both Birmingham Airport and the M6, M42 and M40 motorways are within 12 miles (19 km) of the town.

The railway station at Kenilworth is on the Coventry to Leamington Spa line, it was closed in 1965 and reopened in April 2018. it has direct services operated by West Midlands Trains to Nuneaton, Coventry and Leamington Spa.[40] Warwick Parkway station is 11–14 minutes' drive away.

Kenilworth Town FC, located in Gypsy Lane in the south of the town, played in the Midland Combination until June 2011, when it resigned,[41] preferring to spend money on ground improvements rather than fielding a team. It re-entered the English football pyramid in the 2013–14 season and was placed in the Midland Football League Division 3, the 12th highest tier in the English league system. The stay, however, was brief; the first team again resigned shortly afterwards. The Gypsy Lane ground was purchased in 2018 by Coventry Plumbing F.C., which demolished the clubhouse and built a new one, before starting the 2019–20 season there.[42][43]

Kenilworth Wardens FC is based at Kenilworth Wardens, a Community Amateur Sports Club in Glasshouse Lane to the east of the town.[44]

Kenilworth RFC is the town's rugby union club. It fields three senior sides and hosts a large minis, juniors and colts section. The ground is also located in Glasshouse Lane.[45]

Kenilworth Tennis, Squash and Croquet Club, in Crackley Lane, has nine tennis courts, five squash and racketball courts and two croquet lawns.[46]

Kenilworth has two cricket clubs: Kenilworth Wardens in Glasshouse Lane fields five senior teams and a juniors section starting from seven years old;[47] Kenilworth Cricket Club fields three senior teams and plays at the Warwick Road ground.[48]

Kenilworth Runners meets at the Wardens. It caters for runners of all ages and abilities.[49]

Octavian Droobers is the local orienteering club, using maps of Abbey Fields and Kenilworth Common on which to stage events.

Kenilworth Wheelers meets all the year round on Saturday and Sunday morning for a road ride. During the summer months, regular evening training rides cater for all abilities from novice to racer.[50]

Abbey Fields Swimming Pool is in Abbey Fields. It has a 25 m by 10 m indoor pool and an outdoor pool open from May to September. It is home to Kenilworth Swimming Club and Kenilworth Masters Swimming Club.[51]

Kenilworth Golf Club features a mature 18-hole parkland course, plus a small six-hole par 3 course.[52]

Castle Farm Recreation Centre has a four-court badminton hall suitable for basketball, volleyball, netball, table tennis, short mat bowls and children's parties. It is available for use by the public and by sports clubs that make block bookings throughout the year.

The Two Castles Run began in 1983 as a fun run between Warwick Castle and Kenilworth Castle.[53] It has grown into an English Athletics-licensed run with 3,000 entrants in 2010.[54] In 2010 and 2011 it held the Warwickshire Amateur Athletic Association 10 Kilometre Championship. In 2012 all 4,000 places were sold within 25 hours. The race is organised each June by Kenilworth Rotary Club[55] in conjunction with the Leamington Cycling and Athletic Club.[56][57]

The Talisman Theatre, founded as Talisman Players in 1942, moved to its current 156-seat premises in Barrow Road in 1969.[58] It won eight NODA awards between 2004 and 2014.[59]

The Priory Theatre, founded in 1932 as the Kenilworth Players, uses the former Unitarian/Christadelphian chapel, a Gothic Revival building[3] dating from 1816, which was converted into a 119-seat theatre building in 1945–1946.[60] It was gutted by fire in 1976, but restored and reopened in September 1978.[60]

The first Kenilworth Festival was held in 1935. After a 70-year interval, it was revived locally in 2005. Between 2005 and 2015, events were held almost every year, with varying success.[61] The company became a social enterprise in 2010.[62] In 2015–16, a new team oversaw a change in direction, with a new name, branding and mission statement, as Kenilworth Arts Festival, its focus being to "celebrate and support high quality, original work within the contemporary arts."

The inaugural Kenilworth Arts Festival, in September 2016, featured singer-songwriters Rachel Sermanni and Luke Jackson, jazz pianist Jason Rebello, BAFTA fellow Andrew Davies, classical duo the Ayoub Sisters, nature-writer Rob Cowen, and poets David Morley, Sarah Howe, Jo Bell and Luke Kennard. The second edition of the festival took place in September 2017, with well-known participants including singer-songwriter John Smith, pianist Gwilym Simcock, nature writer Alys Fowler and novelists Kit de Waal and Sarah Moss.

In 2018, Kenilworth Arts Festival expanded to 10 days, running from 20 to 29 September. The festival featured over 30 events, with headliners including American musicians S. Carey and Jesca Hoop; pianist Zoe Rahman; nature writer John Lewis-Stempel and novelists Kamila Shamsie, Donal Ryan, Kit de Waal, Fiona Mozley and Kiran Millwood Hargrave. The festival secured funding from Arts Council England.

Kenilworth Arts Festival took place again on 19–28 September 2019.[63]

Kenilworth Castle hosts an annual firework display, known as one of the best Bonfire Night firework displays in the UK.

The principal secondary school in Kenilworth is the Kenilworth School and Sixth Form, based at two different sites in the town. There are also a number of schools for primary age children.

Kenilworth gained a local board of health in 1877, which was converted into an Urban District Council in 1894.[16] Under local government reforms in 1974 Kenilworth Urban District was merged into the new Warwick District along with Warwick and Leamington Spa. The former urban district of Kenilworth was then reconstituted as a successor parish with a Town (parish) Council.[64]

Since 2010 Kenilworth has been part of the Parliamentary constituency of Kenilworth and Southam, prior to that it was part of Rugby and Kenilworth.

In order of birth:

Kenilworth is twinned with:

Kenilworth also has friendship links with: