Warwick has ancient origins and an array of historic buildings, notably from the Medieval, Stuart and Georgian eras.

Much was destroyed in the Great Fire of Warwick in 1694 and then rebuilt with fine 18th century buildings, such as the Collegiate Church of St Mary and the Shire Hall.

[1] Human activity on the site dates back to the Neolithic, when it appears there was a sizable settlement on the Warwick hilltop.

Artifacts found include more than 30 shallow pits containing early Neolithic flints and pottery and a number of small post holes indicating rectangular buildings.

[2] Archaeological work on the site of Warwick School in 2017–2018 revealed the footings of a sizeable Roman barn from the 2nd century AD.

There are three alternative explanations for town's Old English name, Wæringwīc: (a) it may be composed of Wæring, which is a clan name or patronymic,[5][6][7] and the suffix wīc, meaning a 'settlement characterised by extensive artisanal activity and trade'; (b) alternatively, it may be derived from wering, meaning a 'fortification'[8][9] (c) or it may reflect a 'weir,'[10] the latter implying that the original settlement was located by a natural weir over the River Avon, possibly on the south side of the river, which offered easily cultivable land.

[11] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 914 reports that the Anglo-Saxon Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, daughter of king Alfred the Great and sister of king Edward the Elder of Wessex, built a burh or fortified dwelling there on a hilltop site overlooking the earlier riverside settlement, as one of ten to defend Mercia from the Vikings.

[14] In 1016 the Danes invaded Mercia and burned down much of Warwick including a nunnery, which stood on the site of today's St Nicholas Church.

[11] The west gate was first recorded in 1129, and had a chapel of St James above it, which was reconstructed in the 14th century and extensively restored in 1863–1865.

[25] Relatively few medieval buildings survive in Warwick, however one of the most notable examples is the Lord Leycester Hospital on the High Street, whose oldest parts date from 1383.

The siege collapsed when, on hearing of the approach of the Earl of Essex to Southam, Lord Northampton marched his force away towards Worcester.

Major John Bridges was appointed governor of the castle in 1643, and a garrison was maintained there with artillery and other stores until 1659, which at its height in 1645 consisted of 302 soldiers.

Many of the buildings in the rebuilt town were designed by the architects Francis Smith, and later William and David Hiorne, who gave Warwick its 18th century appearance.

Daniel Defoe gave his opinion that Warwick had been 'rebuilt in so noble and so beautiful a manner that few towns in England make so fine an appearance'.

A full-size reclining copper-gilt effigy of him lies on his Purbeck marble tomb – a fine piece of medieval metalwork cast in 1459.

[40] In 2021 it was announced that Warwick had entered a competition with 38 other contenders to be awarded city status as part of the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours.

Warwickshire County Council has its headquarters at Shire Hall, a complex of buildings between Market Place and Northgate Street in the centre of Warwick.

Population growth has led to Warwick adjoining its larger and younger neighbour Leamington Spa and also Whitnash as part of a conurbation of some 95,000 inhabitants.

The 17th-century antiquarian William Dugdale wrote that Warwick was "standing upon a rocky ascent from every side, and in a dry and fertile soil, having... rich and pleasant meadows on the south part... and... woodland on the north.

Warwick experiences the usual English maritime climate, marked by a narrow temperature range, mild winters and cool summers.

The nearest official Met Office weather station is at Wellesbourne, about 6 miles (10 km) south of the town centre and at a similar elevation.

Since November 2004, National Grid UK has had its United Kingdom headquarters on the Warwick Technology Park south of the town near the A452 road.

IBM, Wolseley and Volvo Group UK have bases on the Wedgnock Industrial Estate in the north of the town, near to the A46 trunk road.

J. R. R. Tolkien seems to have been very influenced by Warwick (where he was married in the Catholic Church of Saint Mary Immaculate and is commemorated by a blue plaque[64]) and by its Mercian connections: Lynn Forest-Hill, in an article in the Times Literary Supplement (TLS 8 July 2005 pp 12–13) argues cogently that two important settlements in Tolkien's work were modelled on Warwick – Edoras closely on the early town, and Minas Tirith more remotely on the Norman; and that aspects of the plot of The Lord of the Rings are paralleled in the romance known as Guy of Warwick.

Christopher Tolkien, in The Book of Lost Tales, stated that Kortirion, the main city of Tol Eressëa, "would become in after days Warwick."

Parts of the town substituted for Elizabethan and Jacobean era London in the third-series episode two ("The Shakespeare Code") of Doctor Who which ran 7 April 2007.

[68] Secondly, the 17th century St John's House, which hosts, among other things, a full sized replica of a Victorian kitchen and classroom, and the Royal Warwickshire Regiment of Fusiliers Museum.

[citation needed] Warwick is on the M40 London-Birmingham motorway, connected to junctions 13, 14 and 15; it is also on the A46 dual-carriageway trunk road positioned between Coventry and Stratford-upon-Avon.

There have been proposals made to extend the Avon navigation to Warwick, which would involve the construction of seven new locks, some dredging, and some new canal sections.

[76] The most recent proposals, which would have seen the river linked with the Grand Union Canal at Warwick, failed to win the support of the local council in 2019.