Meriden Rural District

Meriden is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England. Historically, it is part of Warwickshire and lies between the cities of Birmingham and Coventry. It is located close to the Warwickshire border within a green belt of the countryside known as the Meriden Gap and is in the ecclesiastical parish of the Diocese of Coventry. The village is 6.75 miles (11 kilometres) east-northeast of Solihull, 6.5 miles (10.5 kilometres) west-northwest of Coventry and 4.5 miles (7 kilometres) east-southeast of Birmingham Airport. Birmingham city centre is 12.5 miles (20 kilometres) east-northeast of the village. Known as "Alspath" in the Domesday Book, it was historically thought to be the geographical centre of England until the early 2000s, though after an analysis by the Ordnance Survey this was proved to be incorrect. The village gives its name to the Meriden parliamentary constituency, which was created in 1955 and covers the Meriden Gap. In the 2011 Census, the population of the Meriden parish was 2,719. The population is estimated to have risen to 3,096 by 2017.Meriden is served by National Express West Midlands service X1 between Birmingham and Coventry and by Stagecoach's service 82 between Solihull and Coventry. The latter also serves the nearest mainline station at Hampton-in-Arden.

The English Open was a professional golf tournament held in England. First played in 1988, it was an annual event on the European Tour until 2002. After several aborted attempts at reviving the tournament, it returned to the tour schedule in 2021, when it was titled as the Cazoo Classic. Winners of the tournament include some of the most successful players in European Tour history including Mark James, Ian Woosnam, Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke. James and Clarke are the only two players to have won the title more than once.

The Forest of Arden Hotel & Country Club is a hotel and country club complex in England. Operated by Marriott Hotels & Resorts, it is located 4 miles (6 km) to the east of Birmingham Airport in Warwickshire. The Forest of Arden has two golf courses, the Arden and the Aylesford, both of which were designed by Donald Steel, and a golf academy. The Arden is the championship course, and has been the venue for many prestigious tournaments, including European Tour events, the British Masters on three occasions, and the English Open four times between 1993 and 1996.

The Cyclists War Memorial is a war memorial on the village green in Meriden, West Midlands. The village between Coventry and Birmingham was long reputed to be at the geographical centre of England. The national memorial was built in 1920 to commemorate cyclists killed in the First World War (it is now believed that the first British soldier killed in the war was Private John Parr, a reconnaissance cyclist with the 4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment). A bronze plaque was added in 1963 to commemorate cyclists killed in the Second World War. A committee to organise a national cyclists war memorial was established in November 1919, chaired by the Conservative politician W. G. Howard Gritten, known as the "cyclists' MP", with the Lord Chancellor, the 1st Earl of Birkenhead as president. Funding of around £1,100 was raised by public donations, including the proceeds from auctioning the Rudge-Whitworth bicycle of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, which was sold for £100 to Rev. Basil Graham Bourchier. The memorial comprises a 30 ft (9.1 m) high obelisk of Cornish grey granite with stepped top, weighing about 32 t (31 long tons; 35 short tons), standing a 7.5 ft (2.3 m) square plinth with inscription panel on front, on a square base. An inscription with gold lettering reads "TO THE / LASTING MEMORY / OF THOSE / CYCLISTS / WHO DIED IN THE / GREAT WAR 1914 - 1919". The memorial was deliberately kept simple in design eschewing cycling symbolism, and located at the heart of England to make it easier for people to visit from around the country. It was constructed in 1920 by stonemasons J White and Sons of Yardley, Birmingham and unveiled on 21 May 1921 by the Earl of Birkenhead, and dedicated by Rev. Bourchier, at a ceremony attended by an estimated 20,000 people including many thousands of cyclists. Around the anniversary of the unveiling, a memorial service is held by the Cyclists' Touring Club in May each year. The memorial was rededicated in 1963, when a plaque was added to commemorate cyclists killed in the Second World War, which reads "IN REMEMBRANCE / OF THOSE / CYCLISTS / WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES / IN WORLD WAR II / 1939 - 1945". It became a Grade II listed building in 2001. A second plaque was added 2013, commemorating all cyclists who fought and died for their country, dedicated at the remembrance service in May 2014. Nearby is the Grade II listed sandstone monument that by tradition marks the centre of England.

St James' Church is an 18th-century chapel situated in the grounds of Packington Hall, near Meriden, Warwickshire. It is a Grade I listed building. The church was built in 1789 to a design by architect Joseph Bonomi for the Earl of Aylesford as a private family chapel. It is said to commemorate the recovery of George III from insanity. The red brick church, in neo-classical style, has an unusual square plan with four corner turrets topped with domes and finials. It houses an organ built by Thomas Parker, to specifications outlined by Handel in 1749, for his librettist Charles Jennens. Jennens' home Gopsall Hall, has not survived, but the organ passed to his relatives the Earls of Aylesford. The instrument was filmed and recorded for the documentary The Elusive English Organ.

Packington Old Hall is a 17th-century manor house situated at Great Packington, near Meriden, Warwickshire. It is a Grade II* listed building. An original manor house was rebuilt in red brick in 1679 by the Sir Clement Fisher, 2nd Baronet. In 1693 his nephew, the third baronet built another larger mansion on the estate. The new house became known as Packington Hall and from 1729 the new house has been the seat of the Earl of Aylesford.

Maxstoke is a hamlet and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of the county of Warwickshire, England. It is situated approximately 2.5 miles north of Meriden. Maxstoke and the parish of Maxstoke were established in the hundred of Hemlingford.

The Maxstoke air crash occurred on the 19 August 1918. A No. 14 Aircraft Acceptance Park Handley Page O/400 of the Royal Air Force took off from Castle Bromwich Aerodrome. The aircraft was taking part of a test flight, testing a dynamo and lighting system. While flying over North Warwickshire, the pilots lost control of the aircraft and crashed into a field at Maxstoke, North Warwickshire, killing all seven crew on board. The pilots were Canadian Lt. Robert Edward Andrew MacBeth and Lt. Frederick James Bravery. The other crew were air mechanics. Charles William Offord was testing the dynamo and lighting system and J May was performing a rigging test. Albert J. Winrow and H. Simmons were to make up war load to pilot's instructions and G. Greenland was responsible for the petrol pumps. MacBeth and Simmons were buried in the Maxstoke cemetery.The cause of the accident was determined to be loss of control due to wing failure when the aircraft lost fabric from a wing. It was the deadliest accident involving the Royal Air Force at the time.

Great Packington is a hamlet, civil parish and country park in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. The parish of Meriden is to the south-east, and Little Packington to the west. At Great Packington is Packington estate, which includes Packington Hall, Packington Old Hall and St James' Church.

Walsh Hall is a six-bedroom, Grade II* listed house on Walsh Lane, Meriden, West Midlands (originally Warwickshire), England.It comprises a 16 foot (4.9 m) bay of a 15th-century hall, with original roof truss, and 16th century additions. The timber frame sits on an ashlar base. The infill is whitewashed, and the chimneys are in red brick. An additional wing was added sometime in the early-to-mid 20th century.The hall sits in 4.8 acres (1.9 ha) of land, and was given listed status in November 1952. It lies adjacent to and north of the Meriden Bypass, part of the A45, which separates the hall from the centre of Meriden, to the south-west. The hall was once owned by musician Jeff Lynne, founding member of Electric Light Orchestra, who sold it to UB40's Robin Campbell in 1995, and moved to Beverly Hills, California. Campbell put the house back on the market in 2013, when it was valued at around £1.65 million.

Hermitage Manor is a small manor house in Warwickshire (UK) with a trihedral moat, associated land and farm. A manor house or fortified manor-house is a country house, which has historically formed the centre of a manor (see Manorialism). The term is sometimes applied to relatively small country houses which belonged to gentry families, as well as to grand stately homes, particularly as a technical term for minor late medieval castles more intended for show than for defence.

The Coventry Way is a 40-mile (64 km) long distance footpath in central England that starts and finishes in Meriden. It forms a circular route around the city of Coventry covering countryside in both the West Midlands and Warwickshire. The path is managed by A Coventry Way Association.