Hampton-in-Arden
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Hampton-in-Arden is a village located within the borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands of England. The village was previously located within the county of Warwickshire, until the 1974 county boundary changes. It lies in the countryside between Birmingham and Coventry. Its population in the 2001 census was 1,655.
Hampton was mentioned in Domesday, when it was under a Norman overlord. A priest was recorded, implying that the Parish Church existed. This is confirmed by the Norman Chancel and other traces of this style in the South Arcade. The church dates from about 1130. The spire was a local landmark, until it was destroyed by lightning in November 1643. Only a battlemented tower remains. The church was heavily restored in 1878.
There are some well preserved 17th century and timber framed houses, some of which are listed. A 15th century five bay Pack Horse Bridge that crosses the River Blythe is nearby. Hampton-in-Arden is regarded as one of the first "Railway Villages".
It has been claimed that the village was the setting for the Shakespeare play As You Like It.
Hampton in Arden is a typical Arden village, but is now very much a commuter development for nearby Birmingham, Solihull and Coventry. The M42 motorway and Birmingham International Airport are nearby.
[edit] Transport
The village was renamed in the 1840s, around the time of the arrival of the London and Birmingham Railway line, which runs through it. The re-naming was designed to eliminate confusion with other villages named Hampton; -in-Arden was added, because the village is located within the historic Forest of Arden.
Hampton was at the southern end of the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, later part of the Midland Railway. Opened as a double-track main line on 12th August 1839, the section from Whitacre to Hampton, known as the Stonebridge Railway, was downgraded to a branch line in 1840 after the opening of the line from Whitacre into Birmingham; it was singled in 1841 and lost its final passenger service in 1917 as a wartime economy measure. After lingering on as a goods line, it was closed entirely in 1935 following a bridge failure at Packwood. The line had originally enabled passengers from the Tamworth, Kingsbury, Whitacre, Shustoke and Coleshill areas to make connections at Hampton for other parts of the country, because at one time the Midland Railway and the London and North Western Railway had stations side by side at Hampton, at the point where the two lines met (called Derby Junction). The Midland station building can still be seen, but the LNWR station disappeared long ago, being replaced by the present Hampton-in-Arden station some 500m nearer London in 1884. The track bed of the old Midland route remains and a footpath for hikers and railway buffs runs alongside it until the Arden Brickworks.
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