The Warwickshire Avon rises in Naseby (in Northamptonshire) and the old photo shows an overgrown pool of water and the side of a monument. It’s not easy to find the source today in Naseby, even though it is marked on the modern OS map. You need to peer over a wall into a wood opposite the church and there is the metal monument shown in the modern picture. It stands in a hollow and is capped by a fountain and basin; however a local person told me that it has been dry since the 1950s, which she attributed to nearby housing development. The metal monument there today has the date 1822 on it, but strangely does not appear to be the same as the one shown in the Rev Dew’s picture (which looks to me to be taller, thinner and angular).
A trip down the river Avon revisited
This is the start of a series of ‘before and after’ photographs based on the Rev. E.N. Dew’s lantern slides for a talk about the Warwickshire Avon. The original photos date from around 1900 and the linked article explains the history of the photographs.
Comments
Dear Anne, Naseby is in the county of Northamptonshire, not Leicestershire, I lived in Naseby and adjoining villages for over 30 years and we were told that the Avon had, at least at one time, risen in the cellars of the Fitzgerald Arms. Like all small springs it was liable to move and so difficult to pin down, and indeed may have several small sources in the area. Thank you, I look forward to further photographs. Heather Bird
Whoops! Many thanks Heather for pointing this out and adding interesting information. I’ve now corrected the county in the article. (The Fitzgerald Arms is a pub nearby and I’ll try and get a photo of it to add.)
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