Every day I go for a walk up Cape Road in Warwick, and I noticed that on the side of a large house there are the remains of a painted ...
This article, written in March 1997, reflects on 40 years of research at Warwickshire County Record Office. The author, Revd. Dr. Anthony Upton, and his wife have each continued their research since ...
On this day, Warwick had shined its shoes and brushed itself down to welcome Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother as she came to open the completed Shire Hall ...
You never know what’s under your feet, this Warwick building plan deposited at the Warwickshire County Record Office shows the planned underground toilet constructed on the south side of Market ...
This photograph was found in a Building Byelaw application file from 1937, for the erection of a house, milk shop and dairy: the photograph of the site was taken by ...
These stunning photographs from the top of St Mary’s Church Tower in Warwick were taken by Dr Hubert Tibbits.
Twice Mayor of Warwick
Dr Hubert Tibbits followed both his father’s and grandfather’s ...
It is sad to see the remains of the Great Western pub that has been badly damaged. A fierce fire broke out in the afternoon of 24th August 2017 and ...
Timber framed buildings are subject to many alterations over the centuries and Oken’s House is no exception. Nevertheless, there were fascinating survivals from the past uncovered by this survey.
The findings
A ...
Small beginnings can be important. A chance remark at a lecture to a well-established evening class at Warwickshire County Record Office in the autumn of 1988 was the starting point ...
From 1950 to 1955 the County Archivist, Anthony Wood, kept an office diary. He had been appointed in 1946 when the Office was re-opened after the war and he set ...
Northgate House is now used for among other things, meeting rooms for the council. This wasn’t always the case however.
The 1950s
In the early 1950s, my father worked for local government ...
The first racing in Warwick was held in 1694, hoping to raise money for the town after the great fire of that year. The first race at what is now ...
What is a house in Virginia doing on a site about Warwickshire? At first, this may appear to be a strange choice for an article on this website, at least ...
The book begins in August 1915, and at first the guests are mainly theatrical folk. As World War I progresses servicemen gradually dominate. There are many appreciative comments about the ...
When researching the Jensen brothers, I discovered that their second design, after the one based on the Austin Seven, used a Standard 9 chassis and running gear. This was later ...
Pub signs are well-known and well documented; pub murals may have been painted by the same sort of artist but are often less well-known, and sadly more ephemeral. Here are ...
These keys were “rescued” by my father when the Workhouse, by this time renamed Lakin House, was demolished in September 1974. Although I have no recollection of the workhouse its ...
The early museum
A museum has existed at Market Hall since 1836, when the Warwickshire Natural History and Archaeological Society hired some rooms in the centre of Warwick. Expanding rapidly, by ...
This famous Hospital was founded by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth the First (who gave him Kenilworth Castle). The magnificent buildings were in fact not ...
Opening
Come the mid 19th century there were repeated complaints by visiting justices, who remarked that the Warwick gaol on Barrack Street, and the Bridewell were unfit for purpose, suffering from ...
The founder
Nicholas Eyffler was a glass maker from Germany who worked at Charlecote and Kenilworth Castle. Warwickshire County Record Office has a fine collection of documents about him; including his ...
The almshouses were founded in the 1570s by Thomas Oken, who has been called ‘Warwick’s most famous son’. He was a silk merchant – a self-made man without children who ...
The minutes of the Quarter Sessions held in Warwick and Coventry are currently being indexed and they turn out to contain all sorts of surprising snippets of information. For example, ...