Tanworth-in-Arden
Encyclopedia
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...
. It is located south-east of Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
in the Tanworth-in-Arden parish and is administered by Stratford-on-Avon District Council. The population of the parish was 3,017 at the 2001 UK census; this figure includes the small village of Wood End, about one mile north of Tanworth-in-Arden but located within the parish.
The suffix to the name Tanworth refers to the Forest of Arden in which the village lay. Notable historical buildings still standing in the village include The Bell Inn public house and the 14th-century Church of St. Mary Magdalene.
Tanworth was the childhood home of folk musician Nick Drake
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...
and his sister the actress Gabrielle Drake
Gabrielle Drake
Gabrielle Drake is a British actress who was born in Lahore, British India and lived in several Far Eastern countries .-Career:...
. Nick Drake now lies buried in the churchyard. The song "Life in a Northern Town
Life in a Northern Town
"Life in a Northern Town" is a pop song by The Dream Academy, an English dream pop group. The song is the first single from their 1985 self-titled debut, The Dream Academy. Reaching #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1986, it is also their highest-peaking chart single in the US...
" by The Dream Academy
The Dream Academy
The Dream Academy was a folk rock band from England, comprising singer/guitarist Nick Laird-Clowes; multi-instrumentalist Kate St John; plus keyboardist Gilbert Gabriel. They are most noted for their hit single, "Life in a Northern Town".-History:Laird-Clowes and Gabriel met each other in the late...
is a reference to Tanworth - despite its midlands, and not northern situation - and a tribute to Drake.
The grave of nine-times world motorcycle champion Mike Hailwood
Mike Hailwood
Stanley Michael Bailey Hailwood, MBE, GM was a British Grand Prix motorcycle road racer regarded by many as one of the greatest racers of all time. He was known as "Mike The Bike" because of his natural riding ability...
MBE, GM, and his daughter Michelle, who were both killed in a car accident at Portway in 1981, are also to be found here. An annual memorial motorcycle run is held every March from the former Norton motorcycle factory to Tanworth. The boxer "Gentleman" Jack Hood was the licensee of the Bell public house in Tanworth, displaying above the bar the Lonsdale belt
Lonsdale belt
The Lonsdale Belt was a boxing prize introduced by Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale, to be awarded to British boxing champions. It is still awarded to British champions today.-National Sporting Club:...
that he won on 31 May 1926. (The belt was sold by his daughters in 2011.)
The village was also the filming location for the fictional village of Kings Oak
Kings Oak
Kings Oak was the fictional village in the television serial Crossroads which ran on ITV between 1964 and 1988 and returned in 2001 and axed in 2003.It is sometimes written as King's Oak....
from the British television series Crossroads between 1970 and 1988.
The parish includes Umberslade Hall
Umberslade Hall
Umberslade Hall is a 17th century mansion converted into residential apartments situated near Tanworth in Arden, Warwickshire. It is a Grade II* listed building....
, for six hundred years the home of the Archer family
Baron Archer
Lord Archer, Baron of Umberslade, in the County of Warwick, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created on 14 July 1747 for Thomas Archer, who had previously represented Warwick and Bramber in the House of Commons. He was succeeded by his son, the second Baron. He sat as Member of...
and later the industrialist George Frederic Muntz
George Frederic Muntz
George Frederick Muntz was an industrialist from Birmingham, England and a Liberal Party Member of Parliament for the Birmingham constituency from 1840 until his death....
.
The village lies close to the ex-Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
line from Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
to Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
but has never had a station of its own: rather it lies mid-way between two others - Wood End
Wood End railway station
Wood End railway station serves the village of Wood End in Warwickshire, England.Situated on the Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham route, the station was opened after the First World War, and still has its original wooden sign...
to the north and Danzey
Danzey railway station
Danzey railway station serves the village of Danzey Green, in Warwickshire, England.First opened in 1908 as "Danzey for Tanworth" on the Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham Snow Hill route, it consists of two platforms with shelters, linked by a footbridge...
to the south, both about a mile distant, though the latter was once known as Danzey for Tanworth.
External links
- Warwickshire County Council Towns of Warwickshire — Tanworth-in-Arden
- Tanworth-in-Arden Parish Council, Tanworth-in-Arden & Earlswood