article Related Topics:
Warwickshire_CCC :: Warwickshire
 


Warwickshire County Council
http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/
Warwickshiremap 700.jpg
  1. North Warwickshire
  2. Nuneaton and Bedworth
  3. Rugby
  4. Stratford-on-Avon
  5. Warwick
Warwickshire
Geography
Status:Ceremonial & Non-metropolitan county
Region:West Midlands
Area:
- Total
- Admin. council		Ranked 31st
1,975 km²
Ranked 28th
Admin HQ:Warwick
GB:GB-WAR
ONS code:44
NUTS 3:UKG13
Demographics
Population:
- Total ()
- Density
- Admin. Council 		Ranked

/ km²
Ranked
Ethnicity:95.6% White
2.8% S.Asian
Politics
Executive:
MPs:John Maples, Mike O'Brien, Bill Olner, James Plaskitt, Jeremy Wright
Districts
Warwickshire (pronounced /ˈwɒɹɪkˌʃə/, /ˈwɔːɹɪkˌʃə/, or /ˈwɔːɹɪkˌʃɪə/) is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in central England. The county town is Warwick. The shape of the administrative area Warwickshire differs considerably from that of the historic county. Commonly used abbreviations for the county are Warks or Warwicks.

Warwickshire is perhaps best known for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare from Stratford-upon-Avon. The county has also produced other literary figures such as George Eliot (from near Nuneaton), Rupert Brooke (from Rugby) and Michael Drayton from Hartshill.

Geography

Warwickshire is bounded to the northwest by the West Midlands metropolitan county and Staffordshire, by Leicestershire to the northeast, Northamptonshire to the east, Oxfordshire to the south, and Gloucestershire to the southwest and Worcestershire to the west.

The majority of Warwickshire's population lives in the north and centre of the county. The market towns of northern and eastern Warwickshire were industrialised in the 19th century, and include Atherstone, Bedworth, Nuneaton and Rugby. Major industries included coal mining, textiles, engineering, and cement production, but heavy industry is in decline, being replaced by distribution centres, light to medium industry, and services. Of the northern and eastern towns, only Rugby (as the birthplace of Rugby football) is well-known outside of Warwickshire. The prosperous towns of central and western Warwickshire include Kenilworth, Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Warwick, with light to medium industry, services, and tourism as major employers.

The south of the county is largely rural and sparsely populated, and includes a small area of the Cotswolds. The only town in the south of Warwickshire is Shipston-on-Stour. The highest point in the county, at 261 m (856 ft), is Ebrington Hill on the border with Gloucestershire, GR SP187426.

The largest towns in Warwickshire as of 2004 are: Nuneaton (pop. 77,500), Rugby (62,700), Leamington Spa (45,300), and Bedworth (32,500).

Historically much of western Warwickshire, including the area now forming part of Birmingham and the West Midlands, was covered by the ancient Forest of Arden (although most of this was cut down to provide fuel for industrialisation in the 17th to 19th centuries). For this reason, the names of a number of places in the northwestern part of Warwickshire end with the phrase "-in-Arden".

Traditional boundaries

Areas traditionally part of Warwickshire include Coventry, Solihull, and most of Birmingham. These became part of the West Midlands metropolitan county following local government re-organisation in 1974.

Since 1986 Birmingham, Coventry and Solihull have been effective unitary authorities, but they still remain legally part of the West Midlands.

Some organisations, such as Warwickshire County Cricket Club, which is based in Edgbaston, in Birmingham, still observe the traditional county boundaries.

Coventry is effectively in the centre of the Warwickshire area, and still has strong ties with the county. Coventry and Warwickshire are sometimes treated as a single area and share a single NHS trust and ambulance service as well as other institutions.

Coventry has been an administrative part of Warwickshire for only some of its history. In 1451 Coventry was separated from Warwickshire for some purposes and made a county corporate in its own right, called the County of the City of Coventry. In 1842 the county of Coventry was abolished and Coventry was re-merged with Warwickshire.

The town of Tamworth was historically divided between Warwickshire and Staffordshire, but since 1888 has been fully in Staffordshire.

In 1931, Warwickshire gained the town of Shipston-on-Stour from Worcestershire and several villages, including Long Marston and Welford-on-Avon, from Gloucestershire.

Main settlements

This is a list of the main settlements in Warwickshire, including towns, or villages with a population of over 5,000. For a complete list see List of places in Warwickshire.

History

Main article: History of Warwickshire.

Warwickshire came into being as a division of the kingdom of Mercia in the early 11th century, the first reference to Warwickshire was in 1001, as Waeinewiscscr named after Warwick (meaning "dwellings by the weir").

During the middle ages Warwickshire was dominated by Coventry, which was at the time one of the most important cities in England due to its textiles trade.in the heart of england

Warwickshire played a key part in the English Civil War, with the Battle of Edgehill and other skirmishes taking place in the county.

During the Industrial Revolution Warwickshire became one of Britain's foremost industrial counties, with the large industrial cities of Birmingham and Coventry within its boundaries.

1974 boundary changes removed Birmingham and Coventry from Warwickshire, leaving the present day county with a rather odd shape, which looks like a large chunk has been bitten out of it.

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Warwickshire at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
Year Regional Gross Value Added Agriculture Industry Services
1995 5,063 153 1,717 3,193
2000 7,150 125 2,196 4,829
2003 8,142 159 2,054 5,928

includes hunting and forestry

includes energy and construction

includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

Local government

Like most English shire counties, Warwickshire has a two-tier structure of Local government. The county has a county council based in Warwick, and is also divided into five districts each with their own district councils. These districts are : North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Rugby, Stratford, and Warwick.(see map). The county and district councils are responsible for providing different services.

Atherstone is the headquarters of the North Warwickshire district, whereas Leamington Spa is the headquarters of the Warwick district.

In addition many small towns and villages have their own parish councils although these have only limited powers.

Transport

Roads

Several major motorways run through Warwickshire. these include:

  • The M40 motorway which connects London to Birmingham, runs through the centre of the county, and serves Leamington Spa, Warwick and Stratford.
  • The M6 motorway, which connects the north west of England and the midlands to the M1 motorway (and then on to London). Runs through the north of Warwickshire, and serves Rugby, Nuneaton and Bedworth on its way to Birmingham.
  • The M69 Coventry to Leicester motorway which serves Nuneaton.
  • Other motorways pass briefly through Warwickshire including the M45 (a short spur south of Rugby connecting to the M1), the southern end of the M6 Toll, and the M42 which passes through the county at several points.

Other major trunk routes in Warwickshire includes the A45 (Rugby-Coventry-Birmingham and east into Northamptonshire route). The A46 (connects the M40 to the M6 via Warwick, Kenilworth and Coventry) and the A452 (Leamington to Birmingham route).

Rail

Two major railway lines pass through Warwickshire.

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Warwickshire".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world