Marton, Warwickshire

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.

Marton railway station was a railway station serving Marton in the English county of Warwickshire on the Rugby to Leamington line. Among the many schemes to build a line between Rugby and Leamington was one by the Rugby, Leamington and Warwick Railway Company. This later became known as the Rugby and Leamington Railway and received royal assent on 13 August 1846. The undertaking was sold to the London and North Western Railway on 17 November 1846 and the line opened on 1 March 1851. Marton station was situated half-a-mile south of the village it served on the road to Long Itchington (now the A423). The brick-built station buildings were on the Down (Leamington-bound) side of the line. Marton station closed to passenger traffic on 15 June 1959 and closed to freight in July 1961. The rail bridge over the A423 was demolished in August 2022, removing the access to the former station permanently.

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.

Eathorpe is a small village and civil parish five miles east of Leamington Spa, in Warwickshire, England. The parish is part of the electoral ward of Cubbington. It is close to the B4455, which follows the line of the Roman Fosse Way, and the River Leam. According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 113, increasing to 190 at the 2011 census. The village has a village hall, the original being built in the early 1970s. The only public house is The Plough, an 18th-century former coaching inn situated beside the Fosse Way. The first mention of a post office in Eathorpe was in 1875, but the village post office closed in March 1999. Eathorpe Hall is the former home of Samuel Shepheard, who built the original Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo, Egypt. An inscription on the bridge, over the River Leam, which links Eathorpe with the nearby village of Wappenbury reads: "This bridge was erected by Samuel Shepheard of Eathorpe Hall, 1862". Close to the bridge is a pipeline which feeds water from the Leam to nearby Draycote Water. This pipeline was used to fill the reservoir when it opened in 1966.

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.

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.

Stretton-on-Dunsmore is a village and civil parish in the English county of Warwickshire. Its population in the 2001 Census was recorded as 1,143, rising slightly to 1,159 at the 2011 Census. In the 19th century the population was 634. The village is situated just south of the A45 road, approximately midway between Rugby and Coventry. Administratively, Stretton is part of the borough of Rugby. Stretton means "settlement on a Roman Road" (from the Old English stræt and tun). In this case the road is Fosse Way. This site is referred to in the Domesday Book.

Long Itchington is a large village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, which at the 2011 Census had a population of 2,013. The village is named after the River Itchen which flows to the south and west of the village. Long Itchington is around two miles north of Southam on the A423 road, just north of the Grand Union Canal. The focal point at the centre of the village is a village green with a pond. Long Itchington is mostly made up of 20th century developments, but includes several historic buildings, including a half-timbered Tudor house on the main road at which Queen Elizabeth I is said to have stayed in 1572 and 1575. The old Manor House in the square dates from the 15th century.The village church of Holy Trinity originates from the 1100s, with later additions. It is a grade II* listed building. St Wulfstan, is said to have been born in Long Itchington in around 1012. He became Bishop of Worcester in 1062. Another notable born in the village is the journalist Tom Hilditch. The village has long had an involvement in the cement industry. Just south of the village was a cement works and quarry. The cement works is now closed, but quarrying at the site still continues. Opposite the old cement works a little way from the main village is a small model village, which was originally built to house the cement workers.The village was once served by the former Weedon to Leamington Spa railway line. The village station, Southam and Long Itchington railway station was to the south of the village on the road towards Southam, and closed to passengers in 1958, although the line to the cement works continued in operation for goods trains until 1985. Part of the old railway line has been converted into a cycleway as part of the National Cycle Network. In October 2018, a war memorial was erected to commemorate the 54 men of the village who were killed in the First World War. The parish includes the hamlet of Bascote.

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.

Birdingbury Hall is a 17th-century country house situated at Birdingbury, near Rugby, Warwickshire. It is a Grade II listed building and now serves as the head office of a commercial organisation.

Birdingbury railway station was a railway station serving Birdingbury in the English county of Warwickshire on the Rugby to Leamington line. Among the many schemes to build a line between Rugby and Leamington was one by the Rugby, Leamington and Warwick Railway Company. This later became known as the Rugby and Leamington Railway and received Royal assent on 13 August 1846. It was sold to the London and North Western Railway almost immediately on 17 November 1846. It was not, however, until 1 March 1851 that the line opened with stations at Birdingbury and Marton, that at Dunchurch opening in 1871. Originally it was a single line, but was doubled in the 1880s, and the driveway leading to its level crossing was private property used by arrangement with the owners. The station building was of plain but substantial brick-built design and, on the opposite down platform, there was a waiting room with an awning (not present on the main platform). On the up side was a short double head shunt, with a siding leading to a loading stage. Unusually, on each platform was a small lever frame which could be used when the signal box was closed.At grouping in 1923 it became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway. The goods yard closed in August 1953 and its track was lifted almost immediately. The station closed to passengers on 15 June 1959 when the Rugby and Leamington local service ended the track was lifted from Southam and is now a cycleway. The station buildings are now a private dwelling.

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".