Vale of Red Horse

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View over the Vale of Red Horse, from Spring Hill near Edge Hill village View from Spring Hill - geograph.org.uk - 461659.jpg
View over the Vale of Red Horse, from Spring Hill near Edge Hill village

The Vale of Red Horse, also called the Vale of the Red Horse or Red Horse Vale, is a rural district in southern Warwickshire, England, lying between the escarpment of Edgehill and the northern Cotswolds around the valley of the Stour. [1] [2] Early gazetteers noted the Vale as a rich corn-growing area, and it is still relatively sparsely populated: its main settlements are Kineton and Shipston-on-Stour. [3] The Fosse Way runs through the area and the Battle of Edgehill was fought on its fringes in October 1642.

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The 17th century Warwickshire poet Michael Drayton devoted a long section of his topographical poem Poly-Olbion to what he called the "Vale of Red-horse", noting it was in length "near thirty miles" and deploring its obscurity compared to the better-known Vales of White Horse and Aylesbury. [4]

The Vale takes its name from the Red Horse of Tysoe, a hill figure once cut into the red clay near the village of Tysoe. The Red Horse was first recorded in 1607, and in its earliest form was nearly 100 yards long. [5] Various dates have been suggested for the figure's creation, ranging from the Anglo-Saxon period to the 15th century. It was lost by the First World War.

The Vale of Red Horse has given its name to an electoral ward of Stratford-upon-Avon and an electoral division of Warwickshire. The modern ward boundaries, which include the villages of Tysoe, Oxhill, Whatcote, Pillerton Priors, Pillerton Hersey and Butlers Marston are smaller than the historic area of the Vale, which was considered to include all the low-lying ground separating the north Cotswolds from Edgehill. [6]

See also

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Ilmington Human settlement in England

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Tysoe Human settlement in England

Tysoe is a civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District of Warwickshire, England. The parish is on the boundary with Oxfordshire, about 7+1⁄2 miles (12 km) northwest of Banbury. The parish includes the contiguous villages of Middle and Upper Tysoe and the separate hamlet of Lower Tysoe. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 1,143.

Whatcote Human settlement in England

Whatcote is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, about 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Shipston on Stour in the Vale of the Red Horse. The population at the 2011 census was 143.

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Pillerton Hersey Human settlement in England

Pillerton Hersey is a village and civil parish about 5.5 miles (9 km) north of Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire, England. The village is on a stream that flows northwest to join the River Dene. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 170.

The Red Horse of Tysoe was a hill figure in the parish of Tysoe, South Warwickshire, England, cut into the red clay below the escarpment of Edgehill. It gave its name to the surrounding area, which is still known as the Vale of Red Horse or Red Horse Vale. The figure was first recorded in 1607, and in its earliest form was nearly 100 yards long. Various dates have been suggested for its creation, ranging from the Anglo-Saxon period to the 15th century.

References

  1. ↑ Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club, v.14, (1903), p.217
  2. ↑ Pick, S. (1988) Exploring Rural England and Wales, p.71
  3. ↑ Beckinsale, R. (1980) The English Heartland, Duckworth, p.5
  4. ↑ Drayton in Anderson (ed) (1795) The Works of the British Poets, III, p.390
  5. ↑ Pevsner, Nikolaus and Wedgewood, Alexandra. The Buildings of England: Warwickshire, Penguin, 1966, p.543
  6. ↑ "The Boundaries of the Cotswolds" in The Geographical Journal, Volume 24 (1904), 91

Coordinates: 52°07′27″N1°31′46″W / 52.124129°N 1.529377°W / 52.124129; -1.529377

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