It is located close to the North Warwickshire district border within a green belt of the countryside known as the Meriden Gap and is in the ecclesiastical parish of the Diocese of Coventry.

The importance of the hilltop location of Alspath as the hub of the village declined as the 'king's highway' main route from London to Chester and Holyhead developed—in turn encouraging the development of Meriden.

[3] By the reign of Henry VIII, the village was growing more substantial and stretched from the foot of Meriden Hill to where the Bull's Head is now.

Thomas Telford renovated the whole route to Holyhead in 1810, lowering Meriden Hill and thus bypassing the Queen's Head Pub and the 'Old Road'.

[3] His wife Millicent gave the name to what is now known as Millisons Wood, at the far east end of the village, at the top of Meriden Hill.

Gerard was implicated in the escape;[14] but Segrave escaped the initial reprisal, as described by the 14th-century chronicler Henry Knighton[15] from St Mary de Pratis Abbey, Leicester, better known as Leicester Abbey: listing Stephen's excuse being that he had been duped by a supposedly loyal servant in whom he had confidence, Gerard Alspath.

[16][17][18] Another person involved in the escape was a progenitor of John Wyard of what is now Walsh Hall, whose effigy resides in the parish church.

[8] After the death in 1460 of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, the previous owner of Maxstoke Castle, at the Battle of Northampton, an inquisition was held in Alspath to determine the heirs and liabilities for his estates.

[20] Shortly before the first battle of the English Civil War in 1642, 30 miles (48 kilometres) south at Edgehill, the royal army camped on Meriden Heath whilst the King slept at nearby Packington Hall.

[21] When Bonnie Prince Charlie marched south in the last of the great Jacobite rebellions in 1745, the government forces, recalled from the continent and assembled to oppose him, waited on Meriden Heath under the command of the Duke of Cumberland.

[3][8] In 1897, Jane (Jeannie) Monckton founded Meriden School, located in Strathfield, an inner-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, which took the name 'Meriden' from this town.

[23] A grade II listed sandstone monument on the village green carries a plaque commemorating Meriden's status as 'Centre of England'.

The nave and two-thirds of the chancel were finished by the late 12th century—late Norman—and were probably built as an expiation for sins committed during the civil war between Stephen and Matilda by Ivo de Alspath.

To the right, where his chantry was located is John Wyard, a late 14th century man at arms (never knighted) who was part of the retinue for the then Beauchamp Earl of Warwick.

The effigy to the left represents Sir Thomas Bottiler who died at the Battle of Northampton (at the same time as the 1st Duke of Buckingham.

[8] On the left is a squint, an opening allowing penitents from a side chapel to witness the raising of the Host at the main altar.

Legend favors the latter, although, from 1318 onward, the choice of 10 August for the Patronal feast day and the village fair (until 1959) would indicate the Roman Lawrence.

[8] The Heart of England Way long-distance path, linking the Staffordshire Heathlands together with the Cotswolds and the Forest of Arden, passes through the churchyard.

As documented in the book Forty Summers Ago, the factory was visited by Steve McQueen and Bud Ekins with the rest of the 1964 U.S. International Six Day Trials team to collect their specially prepared Triumphs.

The government loaned the subsequent Meriden Workers Co-Operative money to buy the factory and later to market the Triumph motorcycles they produced.

[30] The sit-in and formation of the co-operative were the subject of much media interest including David Edgar's play, Events Following The Closure Of A Motorcycle Factory.

[32] A housing development was built on the site of the Triumph motorcycle factory at Meriden, now known as Millisons Wood, up the hill out of the main village.