Monks Kirby

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St Edith's Church

Monks Kirby is a village and civil parish in north-eastern Warwickshire, England. The population of the parish is 432 (2001 census).

Monks Kirby is located around one mile east of the old Fosse Way, around 8 miles north-west of Rugby, seven miles north-east of Coventry and six miles west of Lutterworth. Administratively it forms part of the borough of Rugby.

The village is dominated by the priory church of St Edith, a site of Christian worship since the 10th century AD. The priory is long since ruined but the church remains, seeming out of proportion to the size of the village.

Monks Kirby Village Green

The first church at the site was founded in 917 by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great. The church was rebuilt in around 1380, although by this time the Black Death had caused the priory to fall into ruin. There is also the Catholic St Joseph's Church, built in the late 1980s. The cemetery on the outskirts of Monks Kirby is a Roman Catholic burial site, originally a private graveyard for the Lord of Denbigh and Fielding (once recusant) families, today the cemetery is used for burials from St Joseph's.

The Earl of Denbigh lives at Newnham Paddox, his estate being on the edge of the village.

Monks Kirby has two pubs, the Denbigh Arms which is next to the church and the Bell Inn, at the end of Bell Lane.