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Coleshill in Warwick County England History and GeographyCOLESHILL, a market town and parish, in the Birmingham division of the hundred of HEMLINGFORD, county of WARWICK, 18 miles (N. by W.) from Warwick, and 103½ (N.W.) from London, containing 1760 inhabitants. This place derives its name from being situated on the acclivity and summit of an eminence rising gradually from the south bank of the river Cole, over which is a neat brick bridge of six arches leading into the town; it consists principally of one long street, from the centre of which a shorter street of considerable width diverges towards the church, and affords a convenient area for the market-place, in which is a portico of brick. The houses are in general well built, and several of them are handsome and of modern date; the inhabitants are amply supplied with water from springs, and from the rivers Thame and Blyth, which intersect the parish. The market is on Wednesday: the fairs are on the first Monday in January for cattle and sheep, on Shrove-Monday for horses, which is the principal fair, May 6th, the first Monday in July, and the first Monday after Sept 25th, all for cattle. The county magistrates occasionally hold here a petty session for the division; two constables, two headboroughs, two clerks of the market, and two pinners, are chosen at the court of the lord of the manor held in October: the bishop holds his annual visitation in August, and a court of probate quarterly. Part of the workhouse is appropriated to the confinement of malefactors previously to their committal. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Coventry, and diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, rated in the king's books at £10. 18. 6½, and in the patronage of Earl Digby. The church, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, is an ancient and spacious structure in the decorated style of English architecture, with a lofty tower surmounted by an octagonal spire crocketed at the angles, part of which was taken down and rebuilt in the same style in 1812; the interior contains an ancient Norman font, with an effigy of St. Peter, and a representation of the Crucifixion, rudely sculptured on it. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. The free grammar school was founded in the reign of James I. by Lord Digby, who, in conjunction with some of the parishioners, endowed it with seventy acres of land and several houses in the parish; the management is vested in thirteen trustees, of whom Earl Digby nominates three: it comprises two school-rooms, one exclusively for classical literature, the other for English, writing, and arithmetic: the head master's salary is £80 per annum, with a house and seven or eight acres of land; the second master has a salary of £70 per annum; both are nominated by the trustees, and their appointment is confirmed by Earl Digby. A charity school was endowed, in 1694, by Simon, Lord Digby, with £500, which has been vested in the purchase of a house and land, for clothing and instructing poor girls, and apprenticing poor children; and under the same trust is a small endowment for the distribution of bibles and prayer-books. There are two almshouses for widows; and a house which has been lately rebuilt is endowed with land for the accommodation of poor travellers for one night, with a small hospital attached to it for those that are sick. About a mile to the east of the town is Maxstoke castle, in a high state of preservation, and inhabited by a descendant of the founder: the buildings occupy an irregular quadrilateral area, enclosed by an embattled wall, and defended at the angles by octagonal towers; the entrance on the east side is under a finely groined arch in the gateway-tower, which is square and strengthened with angular turrets, and was formerly defended by a portcullis. About a mile and a half to the south-east of the castle are the remains of Maxstoke priory, consisting of part of the walls and the entrance gateway; the conventual buildings have been converted into farm offices: the castle and the remains of the priory are in the decorated style of English architecture, and appear to be of the same date with the church, to which it is said there was a subterraneous passage leading from the priory. Coleshill gives the title of viscount to Earl Digby. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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