Getting here:

Heritage Trail

Abbey Museum by Jonathan Corbett Photography By Car By Train elcome to Kenilworth, a place most definitely worth Kenilworth is located on the Trains run regularly from your time…. Step into our monumental story amongst A46 just 6 miles from both Kenilworth Station to Coventry W the noble ruins of Kenilworth Castle. Lose yourself Coventry and Warwick. and Royal Leamington Spa. in the rolling greenery of Abbey Fields, or venture just a little further into beautiful countryside alive with nature. Spend a day There is plenty of parking in www.nationalrail.co.uk uncovering the rich threads of our history, browse intriguing the town centre at Abbey End. shops or simply kick back over some fabulous food & drink. By Foot or By Bike By Bus But wait, there’s more here than you’d think! So, slow down, The Kenilworth Greenway savour each moment and... Regular services connect connects to Berkswell and Kenilworth with Warwick, the Centenary and Millennium Royal Leamington Spa and Ways pass through the town. Discover the story for yourself... Coventry. www.warwickshire.gov.uk/ www.traveline.info pathsandtrails

Further Information: Visit visit.kenilworthweb.co.uk for more information

Visit www.shakespeares-england.co.uk for information on the wider area

Kenilworth Castle by Matt Sugars Photography

Want a deeper experience? Kenilworth Town Council into Kenilworth’s This leaflet is just the tip of the iceberg! Step We have also developed a companion enthralling story mobile website which expands on each of These trails were produced by Kenilworth Town Council, and were our trails, with bags more information and funded by a grant from HS2’s Business & Local Economy Fund (BLEF), adding benefit to communities demonstrably disrupted by the 3.5 Miles Approx. 2.5 hours interactive features. construction of Phase One of HS2 from London to West Midlands. Easy route on roads & footpaths (can be muddy) Visit the website or scan the QR code: Design by: www.blackspiraldesign.co.uk

Cover image © English Heritage. Inset images by James Turner & Shakespeare’s England. visit.kenilworthweb.co.uk/discover/trails visit.kenilworthweb.co.uk visit.kenilworthweb.co.uk The Kenilworth Story... www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/kenilworth-castle/ Today a romantic ruin, the Castle has a long and intriguingly enilworth IS heritage, its name synonymous with history royal history. Built in 1120 by Geoffrey de Clinton it became a and stories. But this is a story worth telling, a story that royal possession and hosted luminaries like King John, Simon The Borrowell de Montfort, John of Gaunt, Henry V and Elizabeth I. Several K includes monumental occurrences, triumphs as well as Interior of the Bridge Street Shelter. Image by Geoff Hilton tragedies and an insight into everyday life, all weaved into the courtesy of Kenilworth History and Archaeological Society owners enlarged and fortified the Castle and also flooded the land in front of you to create the mere and further enhance the very stones of this town. So join us for an easy stroll to explore & 2018 to reflect those fallen in the two World Wars and the the highlights! formidable defences. Later additions included the “Pleasance” – Korean War. Turn left and continue down Forrest Road to the a banqueting retreat across the mere and an 800-acre hunting The walk is around 3.5 miles and takes approximately 2.5 hours Junction. forest. The castle in all its splendour was immortalised by Sir (not including a visit to the Castle).The route is mostly on roads Walter Scott in his novel “Kenilworth”. You can visit the Castle and paths (although can be muddy around the castle) and just 2 at this point. Afterwards take the lower path behind the ticket the ticket to spend some quality time absorbed in the past. WW2 & The Borrowell office and follow the path around the Castle walls.

Staying on a war footing, the mound to your right was a WW2 air raid shelter (one of at least sixteen dug in Kenilworth in 1939). Now sealed up, it would have accommodated 50 people S Start: Abbey End in a space 30 feet long and 7 feet high. Cross the road. Postcode (for Satnav): CV8 1QJ A A short detour left along Borrowell lane lies the Borrowell, Coordinates (for GPS): 52.344, -1.579 a water source dating to at least 1580. The current well is 18th century and was moved back 8 feet in 1872 to accommodate Plentiful parking is available in Abbey End or Square West The Dictum of Kenilworth courtesy of the road. Amazingly, drinkable water still flowed up to the A 13th-century depiction of Henry III’s National Archive www.warwickdc.gov.uk/info/20548/kenilworth_car_parks 1960s! Return Northwest past the crossing. Turn left at post coronation courtesy of the British Library box onto small lane and bear right to reach the woodland at the end. Stay on higher path and on leaving woods turn right onto track leading to Castle car park. 4 The Siege of 1266

tart your walk at the pedestrian area in Abbey End. You’ll The castle was increasingly fortified throughout the 12th find options for refreshments nearby as well as public 3 Kenilworth Castle -13th centuries, particularly by King John, who built the outer S toilets. Cross the road to the Holiday Inn and head right curtain wall and towers. In 1265 after the death of the rebel along Abbey End to the War Memorial. baron Simon de Montfort, the garrison commander refused to surrender the Castle to the King. In response Henry III laid siege to the Castle for almost six months in 1266. Despite the 1 bombardment by catapults the powerful sandstone walls and War Memorial defences held, with only disease and starvation eventually forcing the garrison to surrender. Henry enforced the Dictum of Kenilworth, a peace treaty that required the rebels to pay heavy For more info: www.kenilworth-war-memorial.org.uk/ fines. Continue clockwise to the junction with the moat path.

Before you, the land rolls down into Abbey Fields, a landscape shaped by a glacial lake and the eroding action of the Finham Brook. The far slope would probably have held settlements in Roman and Saxon times but Kenilworth was just a tiny hamlet at the time of the Domesday Book. It was recorded as Chinewrde, pronounced Kinny-worth (the farm of Cynehild). Continue overleaf... The War Memorial was dedicated in 1922 and updated in 1951

Kenilworth Castle as it might have appeared in 1420 © Historic England Archive (illustration by Peter Urmston) R e d

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III holding parliament here during the siege (the Abbeye being a Kenilworth Greenway more likely venue – with a roof!), and there is also little evidence Lapidarium wall on the north side of the Cloister Fireworks over the Castle by Benjamin Arnold of parliamentary troops camping here during the Civil War. Abbey Gatehouse Reconstruction by Jonathan Holland Elizabeth I at Kenilworth Castle © English Heritage courtesy of the Harry Sunley Memorial Project We can say that the land was donated by Miss Helen Martin A 452 B irmin (Kenilworth resident and generous benefactor to the University gham Ro ad 5 of Warwick), and the area is today managed as a traditional 11 Abbey Ruins Elizabeth I & Robert Dudley hay meadow. Cross Coventry Road and turn right onto Water

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L The castle is famous for the “romance” between Elizabeth I a n The Augustinian priory of St Mary the Virgin was founded

e and Robert Dudley. Elizabeth granted him the castle in 1563 in 1119 and raised to an Abbey in 1447. Extending to the and keen to impress, Dudley embarked on an ambitious modern tennis courts it was an impressive site that owned all refurbishment; including the Gatehouse, a hunting forest and the land of Abbey fields as well as mills, orchards and other an entire wing and gardens for her sole use. Dudley spared property. During the siege of 1266 the prior had to put all this ne La se no expense for Elizabeth’s visit in 1575 with lavish pageants, at the disposal of the King which nearly bankrupted the Priory. ou leh e a v D hunts and fireworks over the mere. The castle was occupied by Dissolved in 1538 it was stripped of its wealth and left to ruin. ri D s e c n parliamentarians during the civil war and its defences broken, ri The 14th century gatehouse was the main entrance to the P

with much of stone re-used elsewhere in Kenilworth. Take the Abbey but there are more remnants throughout and beyond K e Kenilworth Water Tower © Warwickshire County Record n moat path, cross the road (carefully), turn right at the old Parliament Piece from above. Image courtesy of the churchyard (look out for the plaques). Head south past the W Office o i o l Kenilworth History and Archaeological Society d w l houses at Castle Green and continue ahead. a Swimming Pool (originally built as lido in 1896), up the hill and n o d

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o t on to Abbey End. a h S d to n C G e d om le a r ig o e h m R R e o 9 o a y n d 6 r n t Windmills & Watermills L w Castle Hill n a e n v e a e o n C y a L 9 2 y 4 e e l A an A k L 45 land 2 B The 1885 water tower to your right was originally c enny The modern triangle of land, ‘the Godcake’ (named efore a F hi r d ve C a H * Abbey Museum o ill an 18th century windmill (one of four in R the triangular cake) sits astride an ancient drovers’ route. d n Detour: a l h Kenilworth). Continue down Tainters Hill. ig

Kenilworth’s traditional industries concerned the by-products If it’s open, make sure to stop at the Abbey Museum, housed H e

At Manor Road turn left, cross the in the only complete medieval structure remaining. Runs by of animals and in the 19th century 15 of 22 cottages in New o C l e C o s m lo n U C o bridge and right onto the path by the volunteers, it houses a detailed interpretationt of thet Abbey m Row housed horn comb workshops! The thatched cottages of p n e p e tl o e v it n r n L S o L Brook. There were also watermills p C a Little Virginia are oft cited as the spot Sir Walter Raleigh planted r and artefacts from the Bronze Age to 20th century. n in e g at seven possible sites along the La the first potato in England. Sadly, the current cottages only ne e www.khas.co.uk/kenilworth-abbey-museum-heritage-e Lan S riv use Brook, including the Woodmill o D Kenilworth Common ho date from 17th century and the area was likely stonemasons u eld ale centre-abbey-fields-kenilworth/thfi Finham Brook D workshops in Raleigh’s time. Still, one cottage does feature beyond the modern allotments. a letter “R” on its wall - a remnant of Robert Dudley’s Castle. This section of the Brook was Parliament Piece

channelled to create a mill race e Continue uphill and cross to the southern side. A s se lo Clo 4 C ale rthv

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2 m d d F n a i i o can still be seen). Continuee along W l R d y T g r t a 12 i a the Brook to Bridge Street and n n kesworth Finham Brook e t Haw Drive t Abbey End e

7 e v Wa r o ter T s ow H under the bridge. The 18th centuryL C er L an I a e l 9 l eadow n ll M K 2 Woodmi now Townpool Bridge is marked e with flood e le 4 Lan Hill A se lls d ou HI a leh heights on its upstream side, including Ony e21sts November 1940 aroundo 2:20am Da d R 8 La Finham Brook r e we o g L r a 3.3m one in 1834! Take the tree- two 500kg land-mines,o dropped Allotments F Knowle Hill NR lined path towards the church. from a Heinkel III, landed on Manor Road

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9 a N a 1 L b L 9 s l a m l M 2 4 n o E n 4 e o o d h explosion that levelled the area. Crewe B e L n A r c ane mo a S G e u c t The Globe Hotel was damaged h n e The r C aw Pleasance l L but 60 of its guests survived. A igh Street Shortcut H A se 4 lo Finham Brook memorial, on the site of the Globe El 5 s C izabeth W ar ay 7 2 Pe Pu rlieu La B records the names of the deceased. ne d r a id o 10 R Castle Green g e The Clock Tower was unveiled in 1906. ll e d Purlieu Lane i y H H e S tl t s Abbey Fields r Installed by GM Turner in memory of his C Ca e t re 5 e e w e e t n re L a wife, it lostt its “crown” to the landmine but was a l L n o S e o Abbey h n P c o a 11 S i r restored in 1974.b Continue down Warwick Road to k l H 6 A i 5 l d l 1 junctiona with Station Road. 1 B o 4 R B Inchford Brook 4 A e 1 4 d y 0 5 H 3 Lake 2 Kenilworth C R a o s s t * e l Finham Brook Castle e m S R a pring o Finham Brook r Lane a y d H i ll ane Leyes L 4 G l a s s h o u s Finham Brook e

Abbey Fields L a n e Finham Brook l 3 il A H 4 y 5 e 2 b Sir Walter Scott. Wikimedia, CC BY-SA Ab P Aftermath of the landmine. Image by Leamington ad r ive Ro 4 io Courier from the KenilworthDr Library Collection r 0 ’s oo 1 r ey m 4 y el te B at hi Gate / Stile R h W S o W o on route u a B 2 t d 4 h 1 b 0 a 3 B 1 n orrow k ell R Contains OS data © lan W e B o a i F 4 d 13 n Crown copyright and or rest R 1 d oad 0 Kings Arms Inn y 4 database right 2021 A A r A b b b o e u B y r r o E o n k s d This former coaching inn (now Zizzi) dates from 1563, and i d ft e ro C A 12 y ior v Pr e it famously hosted the novelist Sir Walter Scott in 1815. The

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f i e Close l ld d B e Road) is also a façade, this time of Kenilworth’s original station fi L 4 h a 1 ig n d H e a 0 Ro that was dismantled and moved to this spot in 1883. Talisman Named for being on high ground above the Abbey of St Mary, 3 ion T tat h S this road was the main route to Coventry. On your right is “the e square (a short walk south) was the site of the 19th century S Talisman d a e u Tannery. At its height, during the Greato War it produced 1600 Pound” where stray animals were locked up until claimed (also nu Suare B e a e R 5 v A r 13 t 1 r ia i d c e e r r 1 e leatherR hides a week before demolition in 1963. Retrace your an air raid warden’s post in WWII). The medieval marketplace M a 4 o a W B d

d r was sited where the road widens, overlooked by the 16th West Door at St Nicholas Church steps to reach Abbeya End. e o m

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century Virgins and Castle Inn. The site may have originally F ad ad y o Ro e R w l lle rro r vi Ba housed an almonry for the Abbey, but by 1575 it was known as re e G v

the Two Virgins and the Virgins & Castle by 1852. Kenilworth’s a

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i Coventry Road. Pass footpath and take the gate on left. d n e a Finish! Dating from 1291 this churchA stood alongsidem and outlasted s v li e a You’ve certainly earned a reward so why not grab a tasty treat n T u the Abbey. The West Doore is an interesting mix of Norman or tipple before you call it a day?

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Check out the directory: visit.kenilworthweb.co.uk/food-drink y door was part of Dudley’s efforts to impress. The church was d n

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R m 2 l l If you enjoyed this trail then why not try another next time you

e a W Shortcut... in the 18th century (but lost its spire tod lightning in d1858) and r n a a W e a o r an R R visit? L For a shorter walk... Turn right at the traffic lights onto Bridge ’s w a se by 1885 the churchyard had grown to partially covern the ruined r ou e ic d sh ue as k R l Street and walk to the entrance to Abbey Fields on your right. Q G R o nave and cloister of the Abbey. With your back to church door, o a Follow path to the church to rejoin the main route at point 10. Find more trailsa at: visit.kenilworthweb.co.uk/discover/trailsd walk ahead on the unpaved path to reach the gatehouse. d

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