The county that gave the world Shakespeare, rugby, tennis, the bicycle, and the jet engine.

Probably the only English county that can claim to be a gateway to the north, south, east, AND west, Warwickshire is notable in that it has quite a remarkable north-south divide, with the (generally) poorer, industrial, coal mining north of the county a stark contrast to the much wealthier and more touristy towns of the south.

One of the worst affected counties in the local government reforms of the 70s, having its two largest (and only) cities stripped away, the county's identity throughout the last half a century has been rather battered to say the least, with most of the population of the traditional county not even living within the modern ceremonial county.

Nonetheless, a beautiful county, with the Cotswolds in the south and a near-quadrapoint border with Derbyshire and the National Forest in the north. A fantastic array of National Trust and similar properties, lots of castles, and some really lovely villages, with buildings of local rusty Arden Sandstone being a signature of many of Warwickshire's most historic buildings.

Some great music coming out of there too, with rock bands like ELO and Black Sabbath (the O.G. Mr. Crowley himself also a Warwickshire lad), to the melancholic folk of Nick Drake, the psychedelia of Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized, the 2-tone ska of The Specials, and even grindcore pioneers Napalm Death, just to name a few, as well as a long list of writers and poets.

I don't think Warwickshire gets anywhere near enough mention or credit as it ought to as a county. It just seems to be one of those places that people from outside seldom think about outside of Shakespeare and cricket. What do you think? What's YOUR thoughts on Warwickshire?

by Kajafreur

1 comment

  1. Coventry isn’t in Warwickshire. Thank God, some would say. N Warks is a different world to the cute bits of South Warks. Hardscrabble towns that get ignored.

    Meanwhile, planners are doing their absolute best to destroy mid and south Warks at the same time that HS2 has utterly destroyed large amounts of ancient forest in S Warks- many 500 yr old oaks gone.

    Sycamore Gap? Outrage. Cutting down a recent ‘tree of the year’ for HS2? Whatever.

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