Kenilworth

Kenilworth is a town in central Warwickshire, England. In 2001 the town had a population of 22,582 (24,000 est.2006). It is situated 10 km (6 miles) south of Coventry, 10 km (6 miles) north of Warwick and 145 km (90 miles) northwest of London.

Kenilworth Castle

Kenilworth is perhaps best known for Kenilworth Castle, although other significant local landmarks include Kenilworth Clock, Abbey Fields and St Nicholas Church. A settlement has existed at Kenilworth since at least the time of the Domesday Book, the book refers to Kenilworth as Chinewrde. However, the main development of the town occurred to serve Kenilworth Castle and St Mary's Abbey. The original development by Geoffrey de Clinton II in 1140 being along what is now Warwick Road, from the present St John's Church to the clock tower. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the Abbey grounds, adjacent to the Castle, were designated as common land, in exchange for the common land used for expansion of the Castle by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Only a few walls and a storage barn of the original Abbey now exist.

Kenilworth Clock

The first potato grown in England, brought back from South America by Sir Walter Raleigh, is thought to have been planted in the Little Virginia area of the town, near the castle.

Just off the Coventry Road, Kenilworth, is a field known as 'The Parliament Piece', traditionally said to be the site where Henry III held a Parliament in August 1266 while he was besieging Kenilworth Castle, where the late Simon de Montfort's followers, led by his son Simon, were still holding out against the King's forces. This Parliament led to the "Dictum of Kenilworth", a settlement that offered the rebels a way of recovering the lands that the Crown had seized from them. One copy of the Dictum is endorsed "in castris apud Kenilworth" - in the camp at Kenilworth. Members of the public have free access to Parliament Piece, which is owned by the Open Spaces Society and leased by Warwick District Council. The Council own and manage land across the Coventry Road at Tainter's Hill. This area of public open space was designated "for the poor of the parish" under the 1756 enclosure acts and is now registered as common land.

The arrival of the railways in 1844 brought industrialists from Birmingham and Coventry who developed the residential area around the town's railway station. In the nineteenth century the town had some fine large mansions with landscaped gardens, these were demolished after the First World War and the Second World War for housing developments. The names of these mansions still survive in the names of some roads and areas of the town (for example, Towers Close, built upon the grounds of Rouncil Towers) and some large trees from their grounds still survive (for example sequoiadendrons from The Moorlands and Rouncil Towers). The original railway station (1844) was partially rebuilt as the Kings Arms and Castle public house (now called Drummonds) when the new station was built in 1883. Sir Walter Scott stayed in the Kings Arms when he wrote Kenilworth. Drummonds is due for redevelopment, although the developers pledge to retain the pillars at the front of the building in the new buildings.

The railways also boosted Kenilworth's market gardening. There were reputedly 40 nurseries growing market garden produce in Kenilworth and all have now been used for housing developments (the last nursery, Guests Nursery, was developed as 23 houses in 2002). The railway transported the produce to London where Kenilworth tomatoes had a reputation for quality. The Victorian period saw a large expansion of the town to the West of Abbey Fields and in the land surrounding Warwick Road. Most of the buildings along Warwick Road date from this period and later, although a few cottages still exist. Warwick Road is now the main commercial centre of the town.

Most of the older existing buildings of Kenilworth are on Castle Green, New Row and the High Street (formerly Alta Strata, meaning the high dry ground above the Abbey). The age of these buildings make it appear that this is the original settlement, but in fact this is simply the oldest existing part of the town. The original settlement along the present day Warwick Road having been subject to continuous redevelopment since the 12th century and now retains little of the original town. Many of the houses around Castle Green are made of stone salvaged when the castle walls were torn down after the English Civil War.

Modern Kenilworth is frequently regarded as a dormitory town for commuters to Coventry, Birmingham and Leamington Spa. Despite its proximity to the University of Warwick on Coventry's southern outskirts, it has only a small student population. The town has good transport links - the Birmingham International Airport, and M6, M42 and M40 motorways are within 16 km (10 miles) of central Kenilworth. The town's station was closed in the 1960s as part of the Beeching rail cuts, but there is a regular bus service to Coventry and Leamington stations, and Warwick Parkway railway station is less than 10 minutes' drive away on the A46 bypass (which was built in June 1974).

Despite Kenilworth's huge historical importance it is now stereotyped as dull and suburban^{[citation needed]} as a result of its high elderly population, somewhat dated appearance and middle-class label^{[citation needed]}. However, the town is soon to undergo a £multi-million facelift^{[citation needed]} as its central retail areas have been criticized^{[citation needed]} for being too retrospective and for attracting too many thrift shops and downmarket stores. The scheme boasts increased shop sizes, contemporary looks rivaling neighbouring cities/towns and a brand new Waitrose supermarket. There are also plans to renovate the existing youth centre and library buildings.

Local debates continue about the expansion of Coventry airport, the need for a new train station (probably justified) and the closure of the Warwick road (see Leek Wootton). Like most 'smalltown' environments in the UK, local social problems include underage drinking in parks/recreational areas and 'dogging' in out-of-town nature reserves^{[citation needed]}. Dogging in particular has become completely out of control in recent months, since the town was featured in an article in Maxim. But to solve this local authorities are conducting undercover surveillance in these affected areas.

In the early 1980's there was a Z80 based computer named after the town produced by a shop near the clock tower with the selling point that it was robust enough to be used by agriculture.

Kenilworth Common is the home of the Boxingday International Cycle scrambling event.