Everything about Kingsbury Warwickshire totally explained
Kingsbury is a large village and
civil parish in the
North Warwickshire district of the county of
Warwickshire, in the
West Midlands region of
England.
It is situated between
Birmingham and
Tamworth (which is 6 miles/10 km to the north), overlooking the
River Tame. The
A51 to
Chester starts from here; as does the
A4097, which runs through
Curdworth and
Minworth before joining the
A38. This continues to Junction 6 of the
M6 (
Spaghetti Junction) giving access to the motorway network of the Midlands and the City of Birmingham. Kingsbury is notable for the
Kingsbury Water Park and a large oil storage depot to the northeast.
Kingsbury parish
The village of Kingsbury forms part of a larger
civil parish of the same name which includes the nearby settlements of
Hurley,
Piccadilly and
Wood End. In the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 7,523 .
The urban area of Kingsbury village itself had 4,168 inhabitants .
History
The name Kingsbury is derived from the
Saxon Chinesburie meaning 'royal fortified house' or 'Kings Fort'. The 'bury' part of the name means 'fort' or 'defensive work'. The location of the church and remains of a
medieval home (Kingsbury Hall) above the river suggest a good location for a 'defensive' work. Kingsbury Hall (or Bracebridge Hall as it was their family home for many years) is now only part lived in as a farmhouse. It was a fortified manor house and the remains of a curtain wall can still be seen. Kingsbury was founded by the same
Angles tribe that established
Curdworth and
Minworth.
The village is mentioned in the
Domesday survey. Two priests are recorded, so the church must have existed. So is Hemlingford Mill, which still exists. It was originally a water mill, 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 1473-4 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, didn't 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 has now gone and the
railway station was closed in 1968 under the '
Beeching' cuts. Whilst 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-1960's to the northeast of Kingsbury.
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 (situated at the secondary school but open to the public), two pubs, the Swan and the Royal Oak, a country club, churches and shops. In 2006 its population was in excess of 8,000 inhabitants and is frequently referred to as a town rather than a village.
Neighbouring Areas
Tamworth,
Atherstone,
Water Orton,
Coleshill,
Curdworth,
Minworth,
Hurley,
Erdington,
Sutton Coldfield,
Lea Marston,
Whitacre Heath,
Grendon,
Wishaw,
Bodymoor Heath,
Birmingham. District:
North Warwickshire.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Kingsbury Warwickshire'.
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