Rugby is situated on the eastern edge of Warwickshire, near to the borders with Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. It is the most easterly town within the West Midlands region, with the nearby county borders also marking the regional boundary with the East Midlands. It is 83 miles (134km) north of London, 30 miles (48km) east-south-east of Birmingham, 11.5 miles (18.5km) east of Coventry, 18 miles (29km) north-west of Northampton and 19 miles (31km) south-south-west of Leicester.
Rugby became a market town in 1255. In 1567, Rugby School was founded as a grammar school for local boys but, by the 18th century, it had gained a national reputation and eventually became a public school. The school is the birthplace of rugby football which, according to legend, was invented in 1823 by a Rugby schoolboy named William Webb Ellis.[3] Rugby remained a small and fairly unimportant town until the mid-19th century, when a major railway junction was established there, which spurred the development of industry and the rapid growth of population.
Early Iron Age settlement existed in the Rugby area: The River Avon formed a natural barrier between the Dobunni and Corieltauvi tribes, and it is likely that defended frontier settlements were set up on each side of the Avon valley. Rugby's position on a hill overlooking the Avon, made it an ideal location for a defended Dobunni watch settlement. During the Roman period the Roman town of Tripontium was established on the Watling StreetRoman road around 3.4 miles (5.5km) north-east of what is now Rugby, this was later abandoned when the Romans left Britain.[4]
Medieval
The west tower of St Andrew's Church, dating from the 13th or 14th century
The small settlement at Rugby was taken over by the Anglo-Saxons around 560AD, and it was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Rocheberie; there are several theories about the origin of the name; one is that it is derived from an old Celtic name droche-brig meaning 'wild hilltop'.[5] Another theory is that Rocheberie was a phonetic translation of the Old English name Hrocaberg meaning 'Hroca's hill fortification'; Hroca being an Anglo-Saxon man's name pronounced with a silent 'H', and berg being a name for a hill fortification, with the 'g' being pronounced as an 'ee' sound. The first part of the name may also be Old English hrōc (> "rook"). By the 13th century the name of the town was commonly spelt as Rokeby (or Rookby) before gradually evolving into the modern form by the 18th century.[4][6]
In 1140, the first recorded mention was made of St Andrew's Church, which was originally a chapel of ease to the mother church at Clifton-upon-Dunsmore, until Rugby was established as a parish in its own right in 1221, at which point it was elevated to the status of parish church. In 1255, the lord of the manor Henry de Rokeby obtained a charter to hold a weekly market in Rugby, which soon developed into a small country market town.[7]
In the 12th century, Rugby was mentioned as having a castle at the location of what is now Regent Place. However, the nature of the 'castle' is unknown, and it was possibly little more than a fortified manor house.[8] In any event, the 'castle' may have been short lived: It has been speculated that it was constructed early in the reign of King Stephen (1135–1154) during the period of civil war known as The Anarchy, and then, as a so-called adulterine castle, built without Royal approval, demolished in around 1157 on the orders of King Henry II. The earthworks for the castle were still clearly visible as late as the 19th century, but have since been built over. According to one theory, the stones from the castle were later used to construct the west tower of St Andrew's Church, which bears strong resemblance to a castle, and was probably intended for use in a defensive as well as a religious role.[4][9]
17th century
The Rugby area has associations with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605: On the eve of the plot, the plotters stayed at the 'Lion Inn' (now a private residence called 'Guy Fawkes House') in nearby Dunchurch, convened by Sir Everard Digby, awaiting news of Guy Fawkes's attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament. If he had been successful they planned to kidnap the King's daughter Princess Elizabeth from Coombe Abbey in the countryside between Rugby and Coventry.[10][11]
During the English Civil War, one of the earliest armed confrontations of the conflict took place at the nearby village of Kilsby in August 1642.[12] That same year, King Charles I passed through Rugby on his way to Nottingham, and 120 Cavalier Horse Troops reportedly stayed at the town, however the townsfolk were sympathetic to the Parliamentarian cause, and they were disarmed by the Cavalier soldiers. Later, in 1645, Rugby was strongly Parliamentarian, and Oliver Cromwell and two regiments of Roundhead soldiers stayed at Rugby in April that year, two months before the decisive Battle of Naseby, some 12 miles (19km) to the east, in nearby Northamptonshire.[4][7]
Influence of Rugby School
Rugby School was founded in 1567 with money left in the will of Lawrence Sheriff, a locally born man, who had moved to London and made his fortune as the grocer to Queen Elizabeth I. Sheriff had intended Rugby School to be a free grammar school for local boys, but by the 18th century it had acquired a national reputation and gradually became a mostly fee-paying private school, with most of its pupils coming from outside Rugby. The Lawrence Sheriff School was eventually founded in 1878 to continue Sheriff's original intentions.[13][7]
Rugby High Street in 1830
Until the 19th century, Rugby was a small and relatively unimportant settlement, with only its school giving it any notability. Its growth was slow, due in part to the nearby markets at Dunchurch and Hillmorton which were better positioned in terms of road traffic. In 1663 Rugby was recorded as containing 160 houses with a population of around 650. By 1730 this had increased to 183 houses, with a population of around 900. Rugby's importance and population increased more rapidly during the late 18th and early 19th century due to the growing national reputation of Rugby School, which had moved from its original location at a (now long vanished) schoolhouse north of St Andrew's Church, to its present location south of the town centre by 1750. By the time of the first national census in 1801, Rugby had a population of 1,487 with 278 houses. By 1831 this had increased further to 2,501 in 415 houses. This growth was driven by parents who wished to send their boys to Rugby School, but were unable to afford the boarding fees and so took up residence in Rugby, this in turn attracted domestic staff and tradesmen to the town to service the needs of the newcomers.[14][15][4]
Railway town
Rugby's growth into a significant town was prompted by the arrival of the railways, as its location made it an ideal meeting place for various railway lines, by the middle of the 19th century, the railway junction at Rugby had become one of the most important in the country: The first railway arrived in 1838 when one of the earliest inter-city main lines, the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was constructed around the town. In 1840 the Midland Counties Railway made a junction with the L&BR at Rugby, which was followed by a junction with the Trent Valley Railway in 1847. A line to Peterborough opened in 1850, followed by a line to Leamington in 1851, by which time there were more than sixty trains a day passing through Rugby railway station via the five converging lines. A line to Northampton opened in 1881, and finally the Great Central Main Line opened in 1899.[14][5]
Rugby was transformed into a railway town, and the influx of railway workers and their families rapidly expanded the population.[7] Rugby's population grew to nearly 8,000 by 1861.[15] reaching nearly 17,000 by 1901. By which time around 1 in 5 Rugbeians were employed by the railways.[16][5]
Map of Rugby from 1946
Growth of industry
The arrival of the railways had the effect of transforming Rugby from a rural backwater, into a substantial industrial town. In the later half of the 19th century, local industries began to develop: Large-scale cement production began in the town in 1862 when the Rugby Lias Lime & Cement Company Ltd was founded to take advantage of the locally available deposits of Blue Liaslimestone.[17][4] A factory producing corsets was opened in 1882, employing local women, this survived until 1992, by which time it was making swimwear.[7]
In the 1890s and 1900s heavy engineering and electrical industries began to set up in Rugby, attracted by its central location and good transport links, causing the town to rapidly grow into a major industrial centre: Willans and Robinson were the first engineering firm to arrive in 1897,[18] building steam engines to drive electrical generators, they were followed by British Thomson-Houston (BTH) in 1902, who manufactured electrical motors and generators. Within a short time, their product range expanded, and a wide array of electrical equipment came to be produced by BTH at Rugby. Both firms started producing turbines in 1904, and were in competition until both were united as part of GEC in 1969. Another name associated with Rugby was Lodge Plugs, manufacturer of spark plugs, who set up a factory in the town in 1916.[19]
For most of the 20th century, the various engineering works dominated employment in Rugby; at their height in the 1960s, BTH alone employed around 22,000 people.[20] Rugby expanded rapidly in the early decades of the 20th century as workers moved in. By the 1940s, the population of Rugby had grown to over 40,000, and then to over 50,000 by the 1960s.[16]
Civic history
The parish of Rugby was made a local board district in 1849, which was the town's first modern form of local government; previously it had been governed by its vestry and manorial court.[21] The local board's main responsibilities were to provide the town with infrastructure such as paved roads, street lighting, clean drinking water and sewerage. Such districts were converted into urban districts in 1894.[22] Rugby's status was upgraded to that of a municipal borough in 1932, and its boundaries were expanded to incorporate the formerly separate villages of Bilton (including New Bilton), Hillmorton, Brownsover and Newbold-on-Avon which have become suburbs of the town.[15][23] In 1974 the municipal borough was merged with the Rugby Rural District to form the present Borough of Rugby.[24]
Modern history
In the postwar years, Rugby became a major junction of the motorway network, with the M1 and M6, and M45 merging close to the town. The railways went into decline during the same period, with several of the railway lines into Rugby closed. Since the 1980s, the engineering industries have gone into steady decline, with many former industrial sites redeveloped for housing and retail. Due to its proximity to the motorway network, Rugby has become a major centre for logistics, becoming, in some definitions, part of the area known as the golden logistics triangle.[19][25]
In the 21st century, Rugby's urban area has undergone further expansion with large new developments at Cawston and the large new development of Houlton on the site of the former Rugby Radio Station to the east of the town.
Rugby is most famous for the invention of rugby football, which is played throughout the world. The invention of the game is credited to William Webb Ellis, a Rugby School pupil who, according to legend, broke the existing rules of football by picking up the ball and running with it at a match played in 1823. Although there is little evidence to support this story, the school is credited with codifying and popularising the sport. In 1845, three Rugby School pupils produced the first written rules of the "Rugby style of game".[3]
Rugby School is one of England's oldest and most prestigious public schools, and was the setting of Thomas Hughes's semi-autobiographical masterpiece Tom Brown's Schooldays, published in 1857.[3] Hughes later set up a colony in America for the younger sons of the English gentry, who could not inherit under the laws of primogeniture, naming the town Rugby. The settlement of Rugby, Tennessee still exists.[26]
Rugby School is said to have been a major inspiration behind the revival of the Olympic Games: the French educator, and father of the modern Olympics Pierre de Coubertin, visited Rugby School several times in the late 19th century, and cited the school as one of his major inspirations behind his decision to revive the Olympic Games.[3]
In the 19th century, Rugby became famous for its once important railway junction which was the setting for Charles Dickens's story Mugby Junction.
Rugby today
The modern town of Rugby is an amalgamation of the original town with the former settlements of Bilton, Hillmorton, Brownsover and Newbold-on-Avon which were incorporated into Rugby in 1932 when the town became a borough,[15][23] all except Brownsover still have their former village centres. Rugby also includes the areas of New Bilton, Overslade, Hillside and the partially constructed Houlton housing development. The spread of Rugby has nearly reached the villages of Clifton-upon-Dunsmore, Cawston, Dunchurch and Long Lawford.
The town centre is mostly Victorian and early 20th century, however a few much older buildings survive, along with some more modern developments. Rugby was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as 'Butterfieldtown'[30] due to the number of buildings designed by William Butterfield in the 19th century, including much of Rugby School and the extension of St Andrew's Church.
The main shopping area in Rugby has traditionally been in the streets around the Clock Tower, two of which – High Street and Sheep Street – were pedestrianised in the 1980s.[7] Until the 19th century, Rugby's urban area consisted of only Market Place, High Street, Sheep Street, Church Street, North Street and what is now Lawrence Sheriff Street. These centred on what is now the Clock Tower, which was built in 1887 on the site of an ancient cross. These streets still form the core of the town centre. In the Victorian and Edwardian eras several more shopping streets were added in order to cater for the growing town, including Albert Street and Regent Street, the latter of which was built in 1905, and was intended to be Rugby's main shopping street, although it never achieved this goal.[4][31] The town centre has an indoor shopping centre called Rugby Central Shopping Centre which opened in 1979 (previously named The Clock Tower shopping centre).[7] A street market is held in the town centre several days a week. In recent years several out-of-town retail centres have opened and expanded to the north of the town, including: Elliott's Field Retail Park, Junction 1 Retail Park and Technology Drive.
Geography
Map of RugbyAerial photograph of Rugby from the north-east.
Most of Rugby sits around 400 feet (120m) above sea level on an irregular shaped plateau which is situated between the valleys of the River Avon and Swift to the north, and the Rains Brook and River Leam to the south. During its modern growth, Rugby spread north across the Avon valley and enveloped the villages of Brownsover and Newbold, which are to the north of the Avon valley.[32][33]
The county boundary between Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire to the east of Rugby is defined by the A5 road (the former Watling Street) around 3 miles (4.8km) east of Rugby town centre. The three counties meet at Dow Bridge; the point where the A5 road crosses the River Avon, forming a tripoint. To the south-east of Rugby the county boundary with Northamptonshire is defined by the Rains Brook.[32][34] Rugby is the easternmost town within Warwickshire (and the entire West Midlands region)
Rugby has an oceanic climate typical of the English interior. Temperatures are mild for the latitude and winter nights average above freezing. Summers are highly variable depending on wind patterns, with an all-time record of 38.7°C (101.7°F) in spite of the mild averages.[35] Annual rainfall is moderate, but frequent drizzle results in about 125 precipitation days per year.[36]
Climate data for Church Lawford, 3 miles (4.8km) from Rugby (1991–2020 normals), sunshine from Coventry, extremes 1983–present
In terms of religion, 52.9% of Rugby residents identified as Christian, 38.6% said they had no religion, 4.0% were Hindu, 2.3% were Muslim, 1.2% were Sikh, 0.4% were Buddhists, and 0.6% were from another religion.[1]
From 1885 until 1983 Rugby was a constituency in itself, a status it regained in 2010. Rugby was historically one of the Midlands' most marginal seats. From 1885 until 1924 Rugby was a marginal seat which changed hands between the Conservative and Liberal parties. From 1924 until 1942, the prominent Conservative David Margesson was Rugby's MP, his resignation triggered the 1942 Rugby by-election which was won by an independent trade unionist William Brown, who retained the seat until losing it to James Johnson of the Labour Party in 1950. From 1950 until 1983 Rugby was a Labour-Conservative marginal, with the Labour Party holding it for the majority of that period.[37]
Following the recommendations of the Boundary Commission for England, Warwickshire was allocated a sixth parliamentary seat. In the 2010 general election, the existing Rugby and Kenilworth constituency was abolished and split in two. A new Rugby constituency was created, and a new constituency of Kenilworth and Southam formed to the south of Rugby, and as a result the town regained its pre-1983 status of returning its own member of parliament, albeit with the addition of the Bulkington Ward from Nuneaton. Jeremy Wright chose to stand for Kenilworth and Southam in the 2010 general election and was successful. Mark Pawsey, son of former Rugby MP Jim Pawsey, was elected for Rugby in 2010. In the 2024 general election the Labour Party's John Slinger won the seat from the Conservatives.[37]
The Borough of Rugby was created in its current form in 1974, with the first elections held in 1973, since then, Rugby Borough Council has spent the majority of its time under no overall control, alternating with periods of Conservative control. (see Rugby Borough Council elections) since 2023 it has been under no overall control.
The largest general purpose venue in Rugby is the Benn Hall which opened in 1961 as part of the town hall complex,[40] Rugby has two theatres, a professional theatre, the Macready Theatre, and the amateur Rugby Theatre, both in the town centre.[41] A nine-screen cinema run by Cineworld is located at a retail park north of the town centre.[42]
The Rugby Art Gallery, Museum and Library which opened in 2000, hosts various temporary art exhibitions. The main collection, which is not on permanent display, is the nationally-renowned Rugby Collection of 20th Century and Contemporary British Art, which comprises 170 artworks by artists including L. S. Lowry, Stanley Spencer, Paula Rego and Graham Sutherland.[43] The museum displays Roman artefacts excavated from the nearby Romano-British town of Tripontium, as well as an exhibition of the social history of Rugby. The building also houses the town's library.[44]
The poet Rupert Brooke was born and grew up in Rugby, and is commemorated in the town by a statue in Regent Place.[45]
In the 1960s, Clifton Hall at Rugby was owned by the music manager Reginald Calvert and became a centre of the Midlands rock music scene, with a number of Midlands bands such as The Fortunes, and the local band Pinkerton's Assorted Colours starting their careers there.[46] In the 1980s the influential rock band Spacemen 3 was formed in Rugby by the local musicians Jason Pierce and Pete Kember. Following its demise in 1991, both musicians went on to form successful subsequent projects; Pierce formed the critically acclaimed band Spiritualized and Kember continued performing under the names Sonic Boom/Spectrum.[47] Other notable musical acts to emerge from Rugby include the 1970s pop band Jigsaw which was formed by musicians from Rugby and Coventry,[48][49] the 2000s singer-songwriter James Morrison, and more recently Emily Burns.[50]
Rugby has an indoor leisure centre, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Centre which opened in 2013, replacing the older Ken Marriott Leisure Centre, it is run by GLL a charitable social enterprise on behalf of the local council.[53]
Sport
Game of Rugby being played on 'The Close' at Rugby School, where the game was invented.
Rugby has a number of rugby union teams including; the Rugby Lions, Rugby Welsh, Rugby St. Andrews RFC, Newbold-on-Avon RFC, AEI (Rugby) Rugby Football Club and Old Laurentian RFC.[54]
For most of the 20th Century manufacturing was the largest employer in Rugby. Manufacturing employment peaked in the 1950s, and has gone into steady decline since, and service industries are now the largest source of employment.[57]
In 2017 the average annual workplace wage in the Rugby borough was £29,059; above the Warwickshire (£28,513) and UK (£28,296) averages.[58]
Rugby remains an engineering centre and has a long history of producing gas and steam turbines and electrical equipment. Engineering in Rugby has taken place under a myriad of different companies; it was established in the 1900s by British Thomson-Houston (BTH) and Willans & Robinson, which later became parts of Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) and English Electric respectively, until both were united as part of the General Electric Company (GEC) in the late-1960s, which itself merged with Alstom in 1989. Most of the engineering works in Rugby were based in the Avon valley area north of the railway station, since the 1980s much of the engineering works have closed with their land sold off for housing and commercial development, however engineering still continues in Rugby on a smaller scale under the auspices of GE Power Conversion, which produces large electric motors, and services and manufactures steam turbines. In 2019 the Rugby site was threatened with closure, but was saved following an order for motors from the Ministry of Defence, after the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, decided that closing the site would lead to a 'loss of sovereign capability and security'.[59][60]
Rugby is also a centre of laser manufacturing: This was started by the local firm JK Lasers, which was founded in 1972. In 1982 JK Lasers merged with Lumonics of Canada and was for a time one of the largest industrial laser companies in the world.[61] Following takeovers and mergers, the JK Lasers brand name disappeared in 2015, and it is now part of SPI Lasers, a subsidiary of the Trumpf company.[62][63] In 2018, SPI Lasers announced that their manufacturing site at Rugby was to be doubled in size.[64] A second laser manufacturing firm in Rugby is Litron Lasers, which was established in 1997.[65][66]
Another major industry in Rugby is cement making; This industry started on a small scale locally in the early 19th century, but began on a large scale in the 1860s when the Rugby Cement company was founded, making cement from the local JurassicBlue Lias limestone at New Bilton. The current cement works at Rugby has the largest cement kiln in the UK, capable of producing 1.8 million tonnes of cement a year.[67] The current plant was opened in 2000, having been rebuilt and substantially enlarged in the late-1990s, upon its opening other Rugby Cement plants at Southam and Rochester were closed, with all production moved to the enlarged Rugby plant.[68] Rugby Cement was taken over in 2000 and is now owned by the Mexican firm Cemex, who moved their UK headquarters to Rugby in 2018.[69]
Logistics
Rugby is often described as being part of the area known as the golden logistics triangle due to its central location and good transport links. In 2021 Rugby had the highest percentage of business units used for transport and storage in the UK, at 17%.[25] Since the 1980s several large industrial estates have been built to the north, and warehousing, distribution and light industry have become major employers. This is due to the town's close proximity to the M6 motorway (Junction 1) and M1 (Junction 19), at the heart of the UK's motorway network.[4] In 2017 nearly half of Warwickshire's businesses in the 'Transport and storage' sector were in Rugby.[58] In 2017 Hermes opened its 'Midlands Super Hub' parcel delivery depot at the Rugby Gateway development to the north of the town, which is the largest of its type in the UK.[70] To the east of Rugby is the large Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT), which opened in the 1990s; although this is across the county border in Northamptonshire, it is closest to Rugby.
One of the last links to Rugby's rural past was the cattle market held near the railway station, and earlier in the "Market Place" in the old centre of Rugby since medieval times. The market near the railway station was closed in late 2008 and the site has been redeveloped into housing, a hotel and a Tesco store as part of a wider scheme of work in the station area.
One of the most notable landmarks around Rugby was, until August 2007, the Rugby Radio Station, a large radio transmitting station just to the east of the town. The station was opened in 1926, at its height in the 1950s it was the largest radio transmitting station in the world, with a total of 57 radio transmitters, covering an area of 1600 acres. Traffic slowly dwindled from the 1980s onwards, and the site was closed between 2003 and 2007.[82] Several of the masts were decommissioned and demolished by explosives in 2004, although a few, including four of the biggest masts remained until 2007. (Firing the explosive charges was delayed by rabbits gnawing the wires).[83] The remaining four 'tall' masts were demolished on the afternoon of 2 August 2007 with no prior publicity. The site is now being developed as a new housing development known as Houlton
Rugby Cement works, is to the west of the town. The main tower of the cement works stands at 400 feet (120m) tall,[84] and can be seen from as far away as the Cotswolds and the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire.[85] The landmark is controversial; in 2005 it came in the top ten of a poll of buildings people would like to see demolished on the Channel 4 television series Demolition.[86] In October 2006, the owners of the Rugby Cement works, Cemex, were fined £400,000 for excessive pollution after a court case brought by the Environment Agency.[87]
William Webb Ellis' statue
The town has statues of three famous locals: Rupert Brooke, Thomas Hughes and William Webb Ellis. The Rupert Brooke statue is situated at the forked junction of Regent Street on the green and commemorates his contribution to poetry. Thomas Hughes' statue stands in the gardens of the Temple Reading Rooms (the central library of Rugby school) on Barby Road. Since England won the Rugby World Cup in 2003, the William Webb Ellis statue outside Rugby School is one of the most visited parts of the town.
As the main growth of Rugby occurred in the 19th century. The central area of Rugby, is known for its many fine examples of Victorian architecture, these include:
St Andrew's Church
St Andrew's Church, in the town centre, is Rugby's original Church of Englandparish church. A church has stood on the site since 1140. The oldest surviving part of the church is the 22metre high west tower which bears strong resemblance to a castle turret, the west tower was possibly built during the reign of Henry III (1216–1272) to serve a defensive as well as religious role, and is Rugby's oldest building. The church has other artefacts of medieval Rugby including the 13th-century parish chest, and a medieval font. The church was extensively re-built and expanded in the 19th century, designed by William Butterfield. The expanded church included a new east tower, added in 1895 which has a spire182 feet (55m) high.[4] The church is grade II* listed.[88] Very unusually, both of the church towers have ringable bells, the main peal of bells (all cast in 1896 by Mears & Stainbank, London) being located in the eastern tower, and the old peal (all cast in 1711 by Joseph Smith of Edgbaston) located in the western tower.[89]
St Marie's Church
St Marie's Church on Dunchurch Road, is Rugby's main Roman Catholic church. It is one of the town's most well-known landmarks as it is quite dominant on the skyline. The church was first opened in 1847, designed by Pugin in the Gothic revival style, it was enlarged in 1864, and in 1872 the current tall and slender spire was added, which is nearly 200 feet (61 metres) tall.[4][7] The church is also grade II* listed.[90]
Rugby School, (from left to right) New Quad Buildings, Chapel and War Memorial Chapel.
The buildings of Rugby School are major landmarks mostly dating from the 18th and 19th century with some early 20th Century additions. The oldest buildings are the Old Quad Buildings and the School House the oldest parts of which date from 1748, but were mostly built between 1809 and 1813 by Henry Hakewill, these are grade II* listed.[91][92] Most of the current landmark buildings date from the Victorian era and were designed by William Butterfield: The most notable of these is the chapel, dating from 1872, which is topped by an octagonal tower 138 feet (42m) tall, and is grade I listed.[93][5] Butterfield's New Quad buildings are grade II* listed and date from 1867 to 1885. The War Memorial chapel designed by Charles Nicholson is a later addition dating from 1922.[94][95]
Rugby's Jubilee Clock Tower in Market Place is one of the town's best known landmarks, which traditionally marks the centre of Rugby. The clock tower dates from 1887, and was built to celebrate Queen Victoria's jubilee. It is 43 feet (13m) tall, built of Derby Dale stone, and was designed by Goodacres of Leicester. The clocks were donated by Evans and Sons of Birmingham. It is grade II listed.[98][99][100]
Places of interest
Places of interest in the town include:
The Rugby School Museum, which has audio-visual displays about the history of Rugby School and of the town.
The combined Rugby Art Gallery and Museum. The art gallery contains a nationally recognised collection of contemporary art. The museum contains, amongst other things, Roman artefacts dug up from the nearby Roman settlement of Tripontium.
Warwickshire County Council have proposed a new station in the area; Rugby Parkway station is to be sited on the Northampton Loop Line, south-east of the existing station; it will serve the Hillmorton area of the town and the new development at Houlton. The station is to be built in between the current edge of town and DIRFT to accommodate for the future expansion of the town where 6,200 homes are planned to be built over a 15 to 20-year period. No date, however, has been given for the opening of this station.[104]
Roads
Rugby is situated near to several major trunk routes including the M1, M6 and M45 motorways, and the A5, A14 and A45 roads. Other main roads in the town include the A426 road, the A428 road and the Rugby Western Relief Road, which links the A45 with the Leicester Road, that connects with junction 1 of the M6.
In 2010, a short local bypass was opened; it was the first part of the Rugby Western Relief Road. It runs from the A428 (Lawford Road), along the edge of the built-up area to the A4071 (road from Rugby through Bilton and Cawston), a little west of Cawston; it takes through heavy traffic off suburban housing roads such as Addison Road. On 10 September 2010, the final part of Rugby's Western Relief Road was opened. The road runs from Potsford Dam near Cawston, through the Lawford Road and ending at Newbold Road, near the Avon Valley School. The initial estimated cost was projected at £36.6million, while the final figure was in excess of £60million.[105]
Buses
Stagecoach in Warwickshire is the town's primary operator, with routes to Coventry, Southam, Leamington Spa, Daventry, Leicester and Northampton; it also serves the major estates of the town.[106]
The Oxford Canal, which runs from near Coventry to Oxford, passes around Rugby and through the areas of Newbold, Brownsover and Hillmorton. The canal was opened in 1790, as a winding contour canal, but was straightened out in the 1830s. Notable features of the canal locally are the 250yd (230m) long tunnel at Newbold and the flight of locks at Hillmorton, which are the busiest flight of locks on the national canal network.[107][108]
Cycling
There are a number of cycling routes in Rugby, including roadside cycle lanes; others are off-road and traffic free, some of which reuse old railway infrastructure.[109]
Junade Ali (born 1996),[110] computer scientist, youngest ever fellow of a professional engineering institution on record and inventor of Compromised Credential Checking amongst other technologies
The Oxford Canal is a 78-mile (126 km) narrowboat canal in southern central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thames at Oxford, and links with the Grand Union Canal, which it is combined with for 5 miles (8 km) between to the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill.
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington, is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following the popularisation of its water which was reputed to have medicinal qualities. In the 19th century, the town experienced one of the most rapid expansions in England. It is named after the River Leam, which flows through the town.
Nuneaton is a market town in Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire to the north-east. Nuneaton's population at the 2021 census was 88,813, making it the largest town in Warwickshire. Nuneaton's urban area, which also includes the large villages of Bulkington and Hartshill, had a population of 99,372 at the 2021 census.
Southam is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England, located about 6+1⁄2 miles (10 km) east-southeast of Leamington Spa. In the 2021 census, the population of Southam was 8,114.
Warwick is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is 9 miles (14 km) south of Coventry, and 19 miles (31 km) south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whitnash.
The Borough of Rugby is a local government district with borough status in Warwickshire, England. The borough comprises the town of Rugby where the council has its headquarters, and the rural areas surrounding the town. At the 2021 census the borough had a population of 114,400, of which 78,125 lived in the built-up area of Rugby itself and the remainder were in the surrounding areas.
Dunchurch is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Rugby, approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south-west of central Rugby in Warwickshire, England. The civil parish, which also includes the nearby hamlet of Toft, had a population of 4,123 at the 2021 Census, a significant increase from 2,938 at the 2011 Census.
Warwickshire is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire to the south, and Worcestershire and the West Midlands county to the west. The largest settlement is Nuneaton and the county town is Warwick.
Rugby railway station serves the market town of Rugby in Warwickshire, England. The current station dates from 1885; two previous stations dating from 1838 and 1840 respectively, existed at locations to the west of the current one. It has been Rugby's only station, since the closure of the former Rugby Central station in 1969, on the now-abandoned Great Central Main Line route through the town. Between 1950 and 1970, the station was known as Rugby Midland before reverting to its original title. The station underwent an extensive remodelling between 2006 and 2008; new platforms were added and a new ticket office and entrance building were constructed. The original Victorian part of the station was retained in the upgrade.
Long Lawford is a village and civil parish in the Rugby borough of Warwickshire, England, located just west of Rugby, around 1.75 miles (2.82 km) west of Rugby town centre. In the 2021 census, the population of the parish was 4,545, a significant increase from 3,180 at the 2011 census, and 2,863 in 2001.
Hillmorton is a suburb of Rugby, Warwickshire, England, around 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of Rugby town centre, forming much of the eastern half of the town. It is also a ward of the Borough of Rugby. Hillmorton was historically a village in its own right, but was incorporated into Rugby in 1932. Hillmorton also encompasses the Paddox housing estate to the west of the old village, which is shown on many maps as 'Hillmorton Paddox', this area however is part of a separate ward called 'Paddox'.
Rugby and Kenilworth was a county constituency in Warwickshire, England. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It existed from 1983 to 2010.
Brownsover is a residential and commercial area of Rugby, Warwickshire in England, about 1+1⁄2 miles north of the town centre. The area is named after the original hamlet of Brownsover. Since 1960, the area has been subsumed by the expansion of Rugby, with the construction of a number of housing estates, industrial estates and retail parks.
Bilton is a suburb of Rugby in Warwickshire, England, located about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south-west of Rugby town centre. It is also a ward of the Borough of Rugby, which at the 2021 Census had a population of 6,544. It comprises much of the western half of the town. Historically a village in its own right, Bilton was incorporated into Rugby in 1932.
New Bilton is a suburb of Rugby, Warwickshire, in England, situated to the west of the town centre. New Bilton is also a ward of the Borough of Rugby whose population at the 2021 census was 8,166. The area straddles the A428 main road, known locally as Lawford Road.
Rugby is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by John Slinger, of the Labour Party.
This is about the history of the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England.
Clifton-upon-Dunsmore is a village and civil parish in the Rugby borough of Warwickshire in England on the north-eastern outskirts of Rugby, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) from Rugby town centre. The population of the parish taken at the 2011 census was 1,304, increasing to 2,991 at the 2021 census. Clifton is counted as being part of the Rugby built-up area, but is considered separate from the town. The parish also includes the new development of Houlton to the south of the old village, which may account for the large population increase since 2011.
The Midland Counties Railway viaduct is a disused railway viaduct at Rugby, Warwickshire, which crosses over both the A426 Rugby to Leicester road, and the River Avon to the north of Rugby town centre.
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