Stretton-on-Dunsmore

Knightlow Hundred was a hundred of the county of Warwickshire in England, formed in the 12th century out of the Domesday hundreds of Bomelau (Bumbelowe), Stanlei, and Meretone. It covered the eastern part of the county, including Coventry, Bedworth, Rugby, and Leamington. It was one of four hundreds of Warwickshire, alongside Barlichway, Kington and Hemlingford. It contained four subdivisions, those of Kenilworth, Kirby, Rugby and Southam.

The 29th Division War Memorial is a war memorial beside the junction of the A45 and the B4455 near Stretton-on-Dunsmore, near Rugby, Warwickshire. It commemorates the service of the British 29th Division during the First World War. The memorial became a Grade II listed building in 1987, upgraded to Grade II* in 2015, and it is described by Historic England as "probably the most significant single memorial in Britain associated with the Gallipoli campaign".

Princethorpe is a village and civil parish in the Rugby district of Warwickshire, England. In the 2011 census the parish had a population 376, increasing to 429 at the 2021 census.Princethorpe is located roughly halfway between the towns of Rugby 6.5 miles (10.5 km) to the north-east, and Leamington Spa 6 miles (9.7 km) to the south-west. It is at the centre of a busy junction between the A423 (Coventry to Banbury), B4453 (Rugby to Leamington) and B4455 (Fosse Way) roads. The village contains a pub called the Three Horseshoes, which has been in business continuously since at least 1816. Situated on Leamington Road in the village is Our Lady's Primary School. It is a primary school with around 100 children between the ages of 4 and 11. Just outside the village is Princethorpe College, a Roman Catholic school. The school incorporates the buildings of the former St. Mary's Priory, which was founded by French Benedictine nuns from Montargis who sought asylum from the French Revolution in 1792. After several moves, they settled in Princethorpe in 1832, and established a priory and school. In 1966 it was purchased by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart who established it into its present form.The village has a history extending to at least the Roman period, related to the fact that the Fosse Way, an old Roman road ran through it. Two Roman settlements existed just south of the current village. In the 1950s, a number of Roman coins were found in Princethorpe.Its name likely derived from an Anglo-Saxon farmer called Pren. It was first mentioned in 1275-6. In the reign of Henry VI it came into the possession of the Hugford family of Emscote and stayed in that family until the reign of Henry VII when John Hugford sold it to Sir William Compton. Princethorpe was originally in the parish of Wolston but was made, for convenience, a separate parish with Stretton by an Act of Parliament in 1694 the reign of William III. Princethorpe is today still part of the ecclesiastical parish of Stretton-on-Dunsmore, but became a separate civil parish in 1866.

Princethorpe College is a Catholic independent day school located in Princethorpe, near Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Princethorpe College opened in September 1966 after the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSCs), purchased the site to use as the senior school for their already established boys’ school, St Bede’s College in Leamington Spa. It occupies a former Benedictine monastery surrounded by 200 acres (0.81 km2) of parkland.

Wolston is a village and civil parish in the Rugby borough of Warwickshire, England. The village is located approximately midway between Rugby and Coventry, with a population of 2,692 at the 2021 census. It is close to the A45 road and the Roman road the Fosse Way. The River Avon flows through the village. Near the river are the remains of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle, Brandon Castle. A Benedictine priory, Wolston Priory, was sited to the east of the village and its earthwork remains are now a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The village has two churches: the parish church of St Margaret's and Wolston Baptist Church. The ancient parish of Wolston was large, and included Wolston itself, plus the nearby villages of Brandon and Bretford to the north, and Stretton-on-Dunsmore and Princethorpe to the south. The latter two became a separate parish in 1696, whilst Brandon and Bretford became a separate civil parish in 1866.Wolston once had a railway station, Brandon and Wolston railway station on the Rugby-Coventry line, but this was closed in 1960. One of the most notable features in the village is the railway viaduct crossing the Avon, which dates from the 1830s and was part of the original London and Birmingham Railway. The viaduct separates Wolston from the smaller village of Brandon. The two shared a football team "Brandon & Wolston Football Club". They no longer have a senior men's team but they still run a junior club. The village contains a primary school (Wolston St Margarets Primary C of E School). St Margaret's Primary was originally in School Street, but that building is now used as offices. Wolston also used to have a secondary school called Wolston High School, but it was knocked down and replaced with a community centre. Wolston has a small library, two pubs (The Rose & Crown & The Half Moon), a convenience store, a pharmacy and a local doctors surgery. Near to Wolston is the community-owned Brandon Wood. In geology, the village gives its name to the Wolstonian Stage, a British regional subdivision of the Pleistocene Epoch.

Brandon Castle was sited overlooking the River Avon between the virtually adjacent villages of Brandon and Wolston in Warwickshire which in turn lie between the town of Rugby and city of Coventry (grid reference SP408759). It was originally a 12th-century earthwork motte and bailey fortress founded by Geoffrey de Clinton. Around 1226 the de Verdon family founded the stone castle consisting of the keep and a large outer enclosure. It is said to have been 'pulled down' (slighted) by the baronial troops from Kenilworth Castle in 1265 because John de Verdon was an active supporter of the king. Only low earthworks and some masonry are now visible. The site is a scheduled ancient monument. It has been placed on the Heritage at Risk Register due to the risks from scrub and tree growth and its condition is declining.

Frankton is a village and civil parish in the Rugby borough of Warwickshire in England. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 344, increasing to 351 at the 2011 Census.

Wolston Priory was a Benedictine priory near Wolston in Warwickshire, England. The earthwork remains of the priory are a Scheduled Ancient Monument. A present grade II* listed house is based on the remains of the rectory. The priory was established between 1086 and 1194 on land granted by Hubert Boldran to the Benedictine Abbey of St-Pierre-sur-Dives in Sees, France. It was of a modest size and run down by 1388 and by 1394 was transferred to the Carthusians at Coventry. After the Dissolution it was purchased by Roger Wigston, who was probably responsible for the renovation of the rectory building as a dwelling house. In this house, known now as Priory Farm, some of the Martin Marprelate tracts attacking the episcopacy of the Anglican Church were secretly printed in a cellar. The building remained in the Wigston family until Roger Wigston's death in 1608, when the property was inherited by his grandson, Sir Peter Wentworth. Sold in the 18th century by the descendants of Fisher Wentworth, it was later acquired by the Wilcox family who retained it until c. 1926. The house is built in red sandstone ashlar with a clay tiled roof and incorporates timber framing from the 16th century. A central two storey block with a tall gabled dormer is flanked by a three-storey chamber block and west wing.

Brandon and Wolston railway station was a railway station serving the villages of Brandon and Wolston in the English county of Warwickshire. The original Brandon station was built by the London and Birmingham Railway and was the only one between Coventry and Rugby. It was replaced by a new station nearby, Brandon and Wolston, in 1879.There were small sidings on each side of the double track, with a goods shed on the up. For each, until 1903, there were wagon turntables, with track between them passing at right angles across the running lines. Although this was a common arrangement for small wayside stations, the LNWR had removed them elsewhere before 1880. At grouping in 1923 it became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway. There was a fairly substantial timber-built booking office on the up platform, and a footbridge, as was required by the Inspector of Railways for stations built at that late date. The LNWR provided only five trains a day in each direction, less than a third for stations at that time and in that area. By 1938 the LMS was providing about a dozen trains a day but this trade virtually disappeared after the war. The station never generated a great deal of business and was closed on 12 September 1960. The signal cabin which had survived, possibly since 1879, was closed when Rugby power box was opened in September 1964.

The River Itchen flows through east Warwickshire in England. It is a small river, about 18 miles (29 km) long, and its general course is from south to north.

Brandon is a small village in Warwickshire, England. Along with nearby Bretford, it forms part of a joint civil parish of Brandon and Bretford. Administratively it is part of the borough of Rugby. The River Avon passes just to the east of the village. Brandon is located upon the A428 road between Coventry, 5 miles (8.0 km) to the west, and Rugby, 6 miles (9.7 km) to the east. Just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Brandon is the suburban village of Binley Woods and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the east is the hamlet of Bretford. Brandon is separated from the much larger village of Wolston by a railway viaduct, but the two villages practically form a single entity. The railway viaduct dates from 1837 and was part of the original London and Birmingham Railway, which is now part of the Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford Line, which runs across the parish; Brandon and Wolston railway station operated here until 1960.The village contains a number of old cottages and has a pub near the railway line. Just to the north of the village is Brandon Stadium, also known as the Coventry Stadium, which was used for speedway racing, greyhound racing, and stock car racing before being sold with the intention of house-building on the site. The stadium was home to the Coventry Bees speedway team. West of the village is Brandon Marsh, a 228-acre (0.92 km2) nature reserve with a wide variety of wildlife, especially pondlife. The reserve's visitor centre was opened in 1998 by Sir David Attenborough. Also to the west and north of Brandon Marsh is Brandon Wood, a community woodland owned and managed by a local group the Friends Of Brandon Wood. A grassy mound marks the remains of Brandon Castle, which is found to the south of the village. The castle was built in the 12th century by the de Verdon family. It was garrisoned in 1195, but was relatively short lived, as it was said to have been ‘pulled down’ in 1265 by the baronial troops from Kenilworth Castle, because John de Verdon was an active supporter of the king.

Marton is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. The parish is within the Borough of Rugby and in the 2011 Census' had a population of 484. The hamlet of Marton Moor lies south of the village.Marton is on the A423 road between Coventry and Southam. To the north of the village is the River Leam and just to the west the River Itchen joins the Leam. Due to its proximity from these two rivers, parts of the village have periodically suffered from flooding.Marton was mentioned in the Domesday Book as Mortone. In the early Middle Ages it was a place of some importance, as it was the centre of a hundred named Meretone. By the late 12th century this had become part of the hundred of Knightlow.Just north of Marton is a medieval bridge over the River Leam known as Marton Bridge, which was built in 1414 by a locally born merchant called John Middleton. In 1928 a modern bridge was effectively built over the top of the medieval one, and it was hidden from view. However, in 2000 a new bridge was built alongside and the old bridge was uncovered and restored. The old bridge now carries pedestrians, while the modern bridge carries road traffic. Another point of interest in Marton is the Marton Museum of Country Bygones which has a collection of old agricultural implements. The village church of St Esprit is Grade II* listed.Marton used to have a a railway station on the former Rugby to Leamington Spa line, which was about half a mile south of the village, but this closed in 1959. There was also a junction called Marton Junction further south from the village, where the Rugby to Leamington Spa railway joined the Leamington to Weedon route.