Radway
Radway is a small village at the foot of Edge Hill in Warwickshire.
It is famous for being the site of the Battle of Edgehill, one of the early major engagements of the English Civil War, which took place in the fields surrounding the village, and in the surrounding parishes of Ratley and Kineton. Radway's documented history dates back to medieval times, when its lands were divided between the Priory of Arbury and Stoneleigh Abbey.
Upon the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII during the 1530s, the lands were granted to various of Henry's circle, notably the Coke family. As the lands were sold over the following years, the manorial system broke down at Radway, allowing more freedom of thought, which eventually led to it becoming a centre of Puritanism in the 1650s and afterwards, following the Interregnum caused by the English Civil War. The persecution of these puritans (specifically Quakers) and the gaoling of some led eventually to a small group leaving these isles to Gloucester County, West New Jersey, where a quaker colony was being established in the 1680s. Letters from New Jersey still survive in the local record office.[1]
Radway was enclosed in the 1750s, leading to more modern agricultural techniques. During the 1800s, Radway became associated with the plush trade - the creation of velvet materials. Nowadays, Radway is a sleepy village inhabited in the main by suburbanites and visiting walkers climbing Edge Hill.
Its church dates back just over one hundred years, although the remains of an older church, dating to medieval times, are still visible. Inside the church maybe found the effigy of Captain Henry Kingsmill who fought for the King and died in the Edgehill battle. Many of the buildings in Radway date back several hundred years, and are very picturesque. "The Grange", originally an Elizabethan gentleman's house, but extensively re-modelled by Sanderson Miller in Gothic revival style, stands below the site of the original Stoneleigh Abbey grange and is still a private house. It was occupied by Douglas Haig before he became Commander in Chief in Flanders in World War I.
At the top of the ridge towards Ratley is the Octagonal Tower, a folly built by Sanderson Miller as a scale model of a tower at Warwick Castle. This building has been used as a pub since it was constructed, named in 1817 as the Inniskilling Dragoon, but now the Castle Inn. This is said to lie on the site of another grange complex, known as Ratley Grange, also owned by Stoneleigh Abbey[2].
References
Further Reading
- Brook, William (2010). A History of Radway. ISBN 978-1-4461-9329-7.
- Salzman, L.F. (1908). Victoria County History of Warwickshire Vol 5.
External links
