Boundary stream between the River Leam and the Radford Road. This small field alongside the stream is designated as a nature reserve and is overgrown and appears to be abandoned! It takes a dedicated follower of parish boundaries to venture into this rural cul-de-sac. Boundary stream from the canal towpath, looking towards the Radford Road. … Read more
The parish boundary now returns westward towards Leamington, along the River Leam. This is best followed along the bank-side footpath, although the actual boundary is in the centre of the river, and would appear to have been the path followed in 1856. The parish boundary now follows the River Leam. At this point the parish boundary … Read more
The footpath to Offchurch cuts across the parish boundary at this point. The parish boundary, after two or three bends, turns alongside Pedley’s Wood. It then follows the edge of the wood until it reaches the wetland bird sanctuary. At this point the parish boundary enters the wetland bird sanctuary and is not easily accessible … Read more
This large copper beech tree stood in Jephson Gardens, close to the Davis Clock, for almost 170 years. According to Leamington History Group member Robin Stott, the tree dates back as far as the late 1840s when Edward Willes’ Newbold Gardens were remodelled and renamed Jephson Gardens. The tree was felled in 2013 because although … Read more
The present field pattern in almost every village in central England is the result of an Enclosure Award at some time in the distant past. Prior to Enclosure, each village would have had two, three or possibly four large open fields, farmed on a communal system, with the good and not-so-good fields being divided equally … Read more
The parish was for many centuries the limit of most people’s life. The parish was their social security system, their safety blanket in times of stress, their extended family, so it was vitally important that they knew the extent of their home parish. When people ventured ‘abroad’ they could, if the parish agreed, carry a … Read more
Footpaths must be one of man’s earliest creations, even hunting and gathering needed footpaths to follow. Generally speaking every footpath had/has a reason for its existence, even if that reason is now difficult to discern. Usually paths radiated from a given point of habitation, for example from a village out into the surrounding fields and … Read more
