History of Warwickshire
[1] The county also included the eastern half of Tamworth (including the castle) and its suburbs, and the parish of Ipsley which nowadays comprises roughly half of suburban Redditch, which were ceded to Staffordshire in 1888 and Worcestershire in 1931, respectively, as well as the Tutnall and Cobley exclave, which was ceded to Worcestershire as part of the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844.
Much of northwestern Warwickshire, including that area now forming part of Coventry, Solihull and Birmingham, was covered by the ancient Forest of Arden which was still the case at the time of the Domesday Book but much of which was later cut down to provide fuel for industrialisation.
Thus the names of a number of places in the northwestern part of Warwickshire end with either the Old English "ley" or "leah" meaning a clearing in a forest or latterly the phrase "-in-Arden", such as Henley-in-Arden, Hampton-in-Arden and Tanworth-in-Arden.
The Warwickshire area has almost certainly been inhabited since Prehistoric times, with the arrival of the first people half a million years ago during the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age.
Small family groups roamed the thickly wooded landscape in search of food using simple stone tools such as hand-axes and scrapers.
There is evidence of a temporary camp site at Waverley Wood Farm Pit, near Leamington Spa, whilst elsewhere, particularly in north Warwickshire, large numbers of hand-axes have been found suggesting repeated visits.
The main building was a thatched round house where the family and some of the livestock lived and around it workshops, storehouses and stock pens.
The historian, Dr Graham Webster has suggested it took place near Manduessedum ("the place of the war chariots"),[12] modern day Mancetter[13] and military finds of armour and military coinage relating to the 14th Legion, whom Tacitus[11] records formed part of Suetonius' army, have been found in the region, giving weight to Webster's hypothesis.
Town defences have been confirmed only on the east side of the settlement's circuit, where they consist of a clay rampart dated to the "second century or later", fronted by a 2.75-metre wide wall which was probably not contemporary with the bank.
While its earliest boundaries will never be known, there is general agreement that the territory that was called "the first of the Mercians" in the Tribal Hidage covered much of south Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Northern Warwickshire.
Warwickshire was invaded in 1016 during the Christmas period by Cnut as part of his ultimately successful invasion against Æthelred the Unready and his son Edmund Ironside,[21] destroying Coventry and massacring the local saint, Osberg, virgin and martyr.
The Norman conquest in 1066 brought with it the most active and notable period of military architecture resulting in the building of much of Warwick Castle and others at Kenilworth Maxstoke and Tamworth.
Others existed at Allesley, Ansley, Aston Cantlow, Baginton, Beaudesert, Bickenhill, Birmingham, Brandon, Brinklow, Caludon at Wyken, Castle Bromwich, Coleshill, Coventry, Fillongley, Fulbrooke, Hartshill, Rugby and Studley, but in many cases only the earthworks can now be seen.
[25] Many of the main settlements of Warwickshire were established in the Middle Ages as market towns, including Birmingham, Bedworth, Nuneaton, Rugby and Stratford-upon-Avon amongst others.
The city has held the title of episcopal see, Lichfield and Coventry, from the time of Earl Leofric early in the 11th century arising from the monastery he and his wife, Godiva, founded in 1043.
The Parliamentum Diabolicum assembled in Coventry in 1459 to pass bills of attainder for high treason against the Duke of York and other Yorkist nobles at the start of a new stage of the Wars of the Roses.
[29] Robert Catesby, the prime mover in the conspiratory, was a Warwickshire man, born probably at Bushwood, near Lapworth and John Grant, whose house at Northbrook, Snitterfield, was the rendezvous and powder magazine of the conspirators, was of the gentry of the county.
After the discovery of the plot and the arrest of Guy Fawkes was known, the conspirators rode from London to Warwickshire, meeting Digby's hunting party at the Red Lion at Dunchurch to discuss their plans.
[24] The final flight took place on 6 November, the fugitives raided Warwick Castle for supplies and continued to Norbrook to collect weapons.
Thomas Bates left the group and travelled to Coughton Court to deliver a letter from Catesby, to Father Garnet and the other priests, informing them of what had transpired, and asking for their help in raising an army.
[29] During the English Civil War in the 17th century the county was generally on the Parliamentarian side, Lord Brooke of Warwick Castle being one of the fiercest enemies of the king.
[30] Charles II was assisted in his escape following his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651 by Jane Lane who, disguising the king as her man-servant accompanied him across the county, passing through Wooton Wawen, Stratford-upon-Avon and Long Marston.
These boroughs remained part of the ceremonial county of Warwickshire, which expanded into Worcestershire and Staffordshire as Birmingham annexed surrounding villages.
