Town in Warwickshire, England
Warwick
A fire in 1694 wiped out much of Warwick's centre, and the Georgian town that rose from the ashes now sits at the foot of a castle William the Conqueror started.
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Key information
- County
- Warwickshire
- Nation
- England
- Population
- About 31,000 (2011 Census)
- Known for
- Warwick Castle, the Great Fire of 1694, Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick Racecourse
- Famous people
- Richard Neville (the Kingmaker), Richard Beauchamp, Walter Savage Landor
About Warwick
The night the old town burned
Warwick looks Georgian in its heart because it had to. In September 1694 a fire tore through the centre and destroyed a large part of the medieval town, including much of the church of St Mary. Rebuilding became a local project. Francis Smith of Warwick, a mason-architect who went on to design grand houses across the Midlands, helped remake the church and the streets around it. The result is the pleasing brick-and-stone sweep around the Market Place and Church Street. Some older buildings escaped, which is why a stroll shows Georgian frontages standing beside timber-framed survivors. The Market Hall, built around 1670, is one of the survivors, while the Court House belongs to the rebuilding after the fire.
A castle that started with the Conqueror
William the Conqueror had a fortification raised at Warwick in 1068, on a rocky bluff above the River Avon. The stone castle that followed grew into one of the great strongholds of the Midlands. The twin towers you see from the town side, Caesar's Tower and Guy's Tower, date from the fourteenth century. Despite the name, Caesar's has nothing to do with Rome. In the 1750s Capability Brown reshaped the grounds, giving the castle the sweeping parkland view down to the river that it still has. Today the castle is a major visitor attraction with a working trebuchet called Warwolf, named after the huge siege engine Edward I used at Stirling in 1304.
Warwick the Kingmaker and the bear
The Earls of Warwick were the sort of nobles who could make or break monarchs. Richard Neville, the 16th Earl, earned the nickname the Kingmaker for his part in the Wars of the Roses, helping put Edward IV on the throne in 1461 and later turning on him to restore Henry VI. Their emblem was the bear and ragged staff, a muzzled-looking bear clutching a rough-hewn branch. You will spot it around the town and on pub signs and badges. Earlier, Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, was a leading figure of the Hundred Years' War. His gilded bronze tomb effigy still lies in the Beauchamp Chapel at St Mary's, one of the finest medieval monuments in England.
Guy of Warwick, the legend with a giant
Warwick has its own folk hero. Guy of Warwick was a legendary knight said to have killed a monstrous dun cow, defeated the giant Colbrand and then become a hermit near the town at Guy's Cliffe. His story was hugely popular in the Middle Ages, and the Earls of Warwick were happy to claim him as part of the family tale. Relics supposedly connected with Guy, including a vast porridge pot, were shown to visitors at the castle for generations. It is a very Warwick mix: real power and politics on one side, a story about a giant on the other.
The old soldiers' home that never closed
At the top of the High Street, a cluster of crooked timber-framed buildings houses the Lord Leycester Hospital. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and favourite of Elizabeth I, founded it in 1571 as a home for retired soldiers. The tradition has lasted more than four centuries. Former servicemen, known as Brethren, still live in the complex in their distinctive robes, and the hospital's chapel of St James stands above the old West Gate of the town. The courtyard and galleries make one of the most photographed corners of Warwick.
Racing, rivers and a town of two halves
Warwick Racecourse has staged horse racing since the eighteenth century and sits on the edge of the town, with a jumps programme through the winter. The River Avon loops beneath the castle, and boats and picnics along its banks are a long-standing local pastime. The Warwick Folk Festival, held in the town since 1980, fills the streets with music each summer. Warwick shares a busy neighbourhood with Royal Leamington Spa, and the two towns merge into each other. Warwick is the older, quieter one with the castle, and Leamington is the Regency spa that grew up in the nineteenth century.