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Kenilworth in Warwick County England History and GeographyKENILWORTH, a market town and parish, in the Kenilworth division of the hundred of KNIGHTLOW county of WARWICK, 5 miles (N.) from Warwick, and 101 (N.W by N.) from London, containing 2577 inhabitants. This place, anciently called Kenelworda, is supposed to have derived its name from Kenelm, or Kenulph, one of its Saxon possessors, who had on the bank of the Avon a strong hold or fortress, which was demolished in the war between Edmund Ironside and Canute. After the Conquest, Henry I. bestowed the manor upon Geoffrey de Clinton, his treasurer and cham berlain, who built the church and founded a priory for canons regular of the order of St. Augustine, which he dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, the revenue of which, at the dissolution, was £643. 14. 9¼. The same Geoffrey, soon after the establishment of his monastery, erected the earlier portion of that stately castle, for the magnificent and picturesque remains of which the town is principally distinguished. This castle, which was sold by his grandson to Henry III., was greatly enlarged and strongly fortified by Simon de Montfort, to whom that monarch gave it as a marriage portion with his sister Eleanor. Simon de Montfort afterwards rebelling against his sovereign, and joining the discontented barons who had taken up arms against the king, took that monarch prisoner at the battle of Lewes, but was afterwards defeated and slain by Prince Edward at the battle of Evesham. After the defeat of this baron, his younger son Simon shut himself up with a party of his adherents in the castle, which sustained a siege for six months against the royal forces commanded by the king in person; but the garrison being reduced by famine, the castle was surrendered to the king, by whom it was bestowed upon his younger son Edmund, afterwards created Earl of Leicester. Upon this occasion was issued the 'Dictum de Kenilworth,' enacting that all who took up arms against the king should pay him the value of their lands for five years. In the 7th of Edward I. the Earl of Leicester held a splendid tournament here, at which one hundred knights and as many ladies assisted. Edward II., having been made prisoner by the Earl of Lancaster, was confined in the castle of Kenilworth, and, on his deposition being voted by parliament, a deputation was sent to extort from him an abdication of the throne, soon after the signing of which he was removed to Berkeley castle, where he was inhumanly put to death. In the reign of Edward III. the castle was considerably enlarged, and in that of Richard II. many additional buildings were erected by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, whose son becoming king, the castle reverted to the crown. Queen Elizabeth gave it to her favourite, Dudley, Earl of Leicester, by whom the magnificent gate-house was built; and who also erected the Gallery tower and Mortimer's tower, at each extremity of the tilt-yard, and after having completed and embellished the castle at a prodigious expense, entertained Queen Elizabeth and her whole court for seventeen days, with the most splendid pageants and costly magnificence: the expense of these sumptuous entertainments, which included every variety of luxurious gratification, was not less than £1000 each day. During the civil war in the reign of Charles I., Cromwell took possession of the castle, which he gave up to his soldiers, who plundered it of every thing valuable, destroyed the walls and the park, drained the lake, and divided the lands among themselves into small farms, and after wantonly defacing the building, left it in a state of ruin and desolation. The present remains bear evident testimony of its ancient grandeur and formidable strength: the entrance into the outer ward is through a lofty arch under the Gateway-tower, a square building of great beauty, with angular turrets, now occupied as a farmhouse; in one of the parlours is preserved an ancient mantel-piece of alabaster richly sculptured, and surmounted with finely-carved oak, which, having escaped the destructive ravages of the soldiery, was removed from one of the state apartments. The ruins occupy three sides of a spacious quadrangle forming the inner ward, and consist of C?sar's tower, built by Geoffrey de Clinton, a lofty and massive square structure, the walls of which are sixteen feet in thickness, beyond which are the keep, or strong tower, and part of the kitchens; the banquet-hall, eighty-six feet long, and forty-four feet wide, with a range of windows of excellent symmetry, ornamented with rich tracery, and a triangular recess of three very beautiful windows almost entire; and the Water tower and Lion's tower, which are in good preservation. Opposite to C?sar's tower, with which it was connected by a range of buildings forming the fourth side of the quadrangle, but of which only the vestiges of the arched entrance are discernible, is Mortimer's tower, extending from which was the tilt-yard, two hundred and forty feet in length, and terminated by the Gallery tower. The prevailing character of the architecture is the Norman, intermixed with the decorated and later English styles: the walls included an area of more than seven acres, and the venerable ruins, in many parts overspread with ivy, form one of the most extensive, superb, and interesting memorials of baronial splendour and feudal magnificence. Of the monastery, situated to the east of the castle, only some fragments of the walls and part of the gateway entrance are remaining. The town consists principally of one street, extending for more than a mile along the turnpike-road, and divided into two parts by a small valley, in which are situated the church and the remains of the ancient monastery; on the higher grounds are some handsome well-built houses, and crowning the summit are the magnificent remains of the castle. A stream, tributary to the Avon, and abounding with excellent trout, after passing under an ancient stone bridge, divides into two branches, enclosing the castle and the town. There is a subscription book society; and assemblies are held occasionally at the principal inn. The chief articles of manufacture are, horn combs, Prussian blue, Glauber salts, and sal ammoniac. The market is on Wednesday, and a fair for cattle is held on the last day in April. The town is within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates; and two constables and two headboroughs are appointed at the court leet of the lord of the manor. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Coventry, and diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, rated in the king's books at £6. 13. 4., and in the patronage of the Crown. The church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a venerable structure, exhibiting portions in the Norman and in the early and decorated styles of English architecture, with a square embattled tower, strengthened with angular buttresses, and surmounted by a lofty spire: the western entrance is through a very fine and richly-moulded Norman archway, and the north porch has two finely-pointed and richly-moulded arched doorways, above which is a small window with elegant tracery; the interior contains an ancient circular font supported on a single Norman column, and some ancient and interesting monuments. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, and Presbyterians. The free school was founded, in 1724, by Dr. Edwards of Kenilworth, who endowed it with twenty acres of land in the parish, producing about £70 per annum: it is under the direction of five trustees, who appoint the master, with a salary of £68 per annum, a house, and garden: the scholars are instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic; the number at present on the foundation is about fifty. A school for teaching eight poor boys to read, prior to their admission into Dr. Edwards's school, is endowed with £5 per annum, from a bequest by William Turner, in 1790; and there is a school of industry for thirty girls, supported by the interest of £200 left by the Earl of Clarendon, in 1775, with the aid of voluntary contributions. Under Dr. Edwards's endowment eight almshouses also have been erected for aged widows, to which Alicia, Duchess Dudley, was a considerable benefactress; and eight additional almshouses are now being built. Several benefactions have been made for apprenticing poor children, and for other charitable purposes. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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