VIEWS AROUND
CHURCH LAWFORD AND KINGS NEWNHAM
 |
Church Lawford and Kings Newnham are two villages occupying the Avon Valley, between Coventry and Rugby.
The area was selected by government planners as a possible greenfield site for a huge international airport. See Airport Links. This picture shows part of the small village of Kings Newnham, viewed from the A428 Coventry to Rugby road. |
 |
This is a slightly wider view of the scene above.
In the centre of the picture can be seen the River Avon (white). The houses just beyond are also part of Kings Newnham. The houses at the right of the picture are the village of Church Lawford. |
| The picture below is a wide angle panorama, through almost 180 degrees, showing the entire view of the Avon Valley at this point. At the far left lies Coventry, Kings Newnham is two-thirds the way along the picture, and Church Lawford is visible at the far right. Rugby lies beyond Church Lawford, to the right. Various woods are visible in the background, and the River Avon meanders back and forth across the picture. |
Click here to see a large scrollable version of the picture above.
This will open in a new window.
 |
This is a view looking towards Church Lawford from the Rubgy side.
The River Avon is visible in the foreground. The river meanders wildly in this area. It flows right-to-left in the foreground, but just behind, where there are willow trees visible, it flows back left-to-right. The church tower visible in the distance is St Peter's Church, Church Lawford. |
 |
Sheep grazing on the banks of the meandering Avon. This view is taken mid-way between Church Lawford and Kings Newnham, looking down the Avon Valley in the direction of Coventry. The tall buildings of Coventry are just visible beyond the group of 3 trees at the far left of the picture. |
 |
A ford across the River Avon. The place name Law-ford means a ford over the river. I don't know if this is the original ford. The Avon flows left to right, behind the fence in the foreground. The water in the foreground is the roadway, which crosses the Avon here, then rises up the far bank. |
 | A view looking down into the village of Kings Newnham from a hill just behind the village. |
 | St Peter's Church, Church Lawford. |
 | The Elizabethan Manor House, Church Lawford. |
 |
3 miles South of Church Lawford is Draycote Water.
Managed by Severn Trent to supply Rugby with water, Draycote Reservoir covers more than 600 acres with a capacity of 5,000 million gallons. Draycote Water is one of the best locations in the Midlands for winter wildfowl and gulls, and for migrating birds on spring and autumn passage. More:
|
 |
This is St Peter's Church, Dunchurch, 3 miles South-East of Church Lawford. Dunchurch was an important staging post on the road from London to the Midlands. It lies at the cross roads between the old London-Birmingham road, and the old Oxford-Leicester road. |
 | The inn sign of the Dun Cow Inn, Dunchurch. An 18th century coaching inn, the inn had stabling for 40 pairs of horses. The Dun Cow comes from a medieval romance. It was a monster terrorising local villages. Something like Alistair Darling. According to the tale, the beast was defeated by the legendary Guy of Warwick. In spite of the popularity of the suggestion, there are no plans to hang up Mr Darling's entrails in Warwick Castle, (yet). |
 |
Just across the road from the Dun Cow Inn is the village Smithy. A blacksmith on hand was essential to keep those horses shod. And over the smithy is the Chestnut Tree. The present tree is a replacement for its parent.
It is claimed by many English tourism guidebooks that this is the Smithy and Chestnut Tree that inspired Longfellow's poem The Village Blacksmith. |
The Village Blacksmith has been learnt by heart by generations of American children and has a special place in American culture. Longfellow was born in the United States, though his family came from Yorkshire. Aged 19 he made a grand tour of Europe lasting 3 years, visiting England, and travelling around villages on foot. It has also been claimed that the Smithy and Chestnut Tree were in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Cambridge Claim). But there is no smithy or tree there now. That tree seems to have been cut down during transport infrastructure improvements. So the one here is the only one. A nation's heritage can be destroyed in a moment, and once lost can never be recovered. |
More Warwickshire countryside views:
Churches and Churchyards
Panoramas and Long Distance Views
Trees and Woodlands
Rivers
Canals
Farmland and Farming