Stockton, Warwickshire
Encyclopedia
Stockton is a village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 and civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

, in the Stratford-on-Avon district
Stratford-on-Avon (district)
Stratford-on-Avon is a local government district of southern Warwickshire in England.The district is named "Stratford-on-Avon" to distinguish it from its main town of Stratford-upon-Avon where the district council is based, although this name often causes confusion .The district is mostly rural and...

 of Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. In the 2001 census it had a population of 1,391. The village is located just to the east of the A426 road
A426 road
The A426 road is a road in England which runs from the city of Leicester to the market town of Southam in Warwickshire via the towns of Lutterworth and Rugby.-History:...

 two miles north-east of Southam
Southam
Southam is a small market town in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. The 2001 census recorded a population of 6,509 in the town.The nearest sizeable town to Southam is Leamington Spa, located roughly 7 miles to the west...

, and eight miles south-west of Rugby
Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...

.

Stockton's name was first recorded in 1272, the name meaning 'a fenced enclosure'. During the 19th century, it developed as an industrial village.

Industry

Stockton has long been associated with the manufacture of lime and cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...

. The village is surrounded by areas of blue lias
Blue Lias
The Blue Lias is a geologic formation in southern, eastern and western England and parts of South Wales, part of the Lias Group. The Blue Lias consists of a sequence of limestone and shale layers, laid down in latest Triassic and early Jurassic times, between 195 and 200 million years ago...

 clay, a raw material used in cement manufacture. This is reflected in the name of a nearby pub, the 'Blue Lias', beside the Grand Union Canal
Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. Its main line connects London and Birmingham, stretching for 137 miles with 166 locks...

 on the lane to Long Itchington
Long Itchington
Long Itchington is a large village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. In the 2001 census it had a population of 2,161. The village is named after the River Itchen which flows to the south and west of the village....

 (the title-deeds of the pub date back to 1809).

As early as the 1850s workings in the area were extensive and the quarries in Stockton were among the first to be dug. By the early 20th century, Mssrs Charles Nelson and Co Ltd operated a large cement works half-a-mile north of the village which was closed and demolished in 1949. The extensive quarries remain and are known locally as the 'cally pits' (see below).

The Nelson company was the biggest employer in the village and built the Nelson Club, a working men's club, which remains a centre of Stockton village's social life.

Nelson's cement works was served by the ex-LNWR (later LMS
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...

) Weedon to Leamington railway line.

The works was also connected to the Warwick and Napton Canal, later part of the Grand Union system
Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. Its main line connects London and Birmingham, stretching for 137 miles with 166 locks...

 by a short canal arm leading to a loading dock; much of the company's traffic was carried on the waterways. The arm, now truncated and silted, is still visible. There was a footbridge across the main line of the canal by the junction to give access to the cement works but no trace of the bridge remains. For many years, Nelson operated its own fleet of narrowboats which in the early years of the 20th century included three steam-powered vessels named Jason, Janet and Jupiter.

Another large cement works at Southam was operated by the Rugby Portland Cement Co Ltd and was situated two miles west of the village. This establishment operated until the 1990s and quarrying continued there after manufacturing ceased. Southam was closed in 2000 when the cement works in nearby Rugby was expanded and modernised.

Transport

Stockton Is located just off the A426, turning off it at the junction with the unclassified road that runs through the village takes you almost immediately into the village. It is the only road that runs through the village and thus there is only two ways in and out. There is a footpath from the park at the side of the village to the nearby town of Southam, the village is also served by the 64 bus that goes either to Leamington Spa or Rugby.

Stockton was served by the former Weedon to Leamington railway line which crosses the northern edge of the parish. The station, which was a short walk from the village, was called Stockton & Napton and also served Napton-on-the-Hill
Napton-on-the-Hill
Napton-on-the-Hill, , is a village and civil parish east of Southam in Warwickshire, England.-Manor:...

 about two miles away. The line closed to passengers in 1958 and to all traffic a few years later.

The Quarry

In 1898 a large fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 of an Ichthyosaurus
Ichthyosaurus
Ichthyosaurus is an extinct genus of ichthyosaur from the Early Jurassic of Europe . It is among the best known ichthyosaur genera, with the Order Ichthyosauria being named after it...

 was found locally. It is now at the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...

 in London; in recent years an image of an Ichthyosaurus has been used on the sign at the entrance to the village.

Part of the disused quarries and the neighbouring railway cutting are now a nature reserve.

The disused quarries have been the subject of controversy in the area for many years. In the summer of 1995 it was invaded by New Age travellers
New age travellers
New Age Travellers are groups of people who often espouse New Age or hippie beliefs and travel between music festivals and fairs in order to live in a community with others who hold similar beliefs. Their transport and homes consist of vans, lorries, buses, narrowboats and caravans converted into...

. The council tried to evict them and the night before they were due to be evicted they held an all-night rave
Rave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...

 which could be heard as far away as Long Itchington
Long Itchington
Long Itchington is a large village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. In the 2001 census it had a population of 2,161. The village is named after the River Itchen which flows to the south and west of the village....

. The publicity surrounding this event caused an increase in trespass in the main larger quarries, which had long been fenced off, and this led to several accidents. Rugby Cement, who owned the site, built a substantial galvanised steel paling fence round a large part of the former quarries at a cost of roughly £70,000.

Since this two further unpopular fences at a cost of a further £70,000 have been erected around the two other pits locally known as; The Square Pit and the Long Pit, due to their shapes. The long pit is estimated to be 35 meters deep.

As part of the wildlife preserve, which features rare Butterfly species, many changes have undergone at the site since 2008 to present. This has caused a lot of upset to locals.

External links

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