Did You Know?

Nuneaton began as a Saxon farmstead, by the water. By the time of the Domesday Book (1086), it had grown into a fairly large village. In the middle of the 12th century, the Lord of the Manor gave the village to a French Abbey. They built a priory (small abbey) for nuns there. The nuns, of course, gave Nuneaton its modern name. In the late 12th century Nuneaton grew into a town. At that time trade and commerce were booming and many new towns were founded in England.

A major industry which grew in the local area was coal mining: as Nuneaton was located in the Warwickshire coalfield, mining was recorded locally as early as 1338, however the lack of efficient transport and primitive mining techniques kept the industry on a small scale.

In 1539 Henry VIII closed the nunnery, which had given the town its name. However, Nuneaton continued to be a flourishing market town and a grammar school was founded in 1552.

In 1543, Nuneaton was recorded as containing 169 houses, with a population of around 800, by 1670 this had grown to 415 households, with a population of 1,867, by 1740 this had risen further to 2,480

In the mid-17th century a silk ribbon weaving industry became established in the local area which included Nuneaton, Bedworth, Coventry and much of North Warwickshire. This industry was enhanced by the arrival of French Hugenot immigrants in the latter part of the century, who brought with them new techniques.

Industries in Tudor Nuneaton included leather tanning and brick making. From the mid-16th century, there was also an ironworking industry. Furthermore, although coal mining began in the Nuneaton area as early as the 14th century it boomed in the 17th and 18th centuries.

By the 17th century the population of Nuneaton had risen to about 2,000. It was only a village by our standards but by the standards of the time it was a respectably sized market town.

The growth of Nuneaton was boosted by the railway, which arrived in 1847. In the late 19th century textile and engineering industries grew up in the town. Silk and cotton factories opened. There was also a hat making industry in Nuneaton and coal mining in the area prospered.

King Edward VI School was established in 1552 by a royal charter by King Edward VI. The school was originally a fee paying school, although the county council provided some scholarships, and became non-fee paying as a result of the education act of 1944.

The writer George Eliot 1819-1880 (her real name was Mary Ann Evans) was born in Chilvers Coton, which was then, just outside Nuneaton.

The first railway to reach Nuneaton was the Trent Valley Railway which opened in 1847, linking Nuneaton to the growing national railway network at Rugby and Stafford. This was followed by a branch line to Coventry in 1850. In 1864 a line was opened from Birmingham to Leicester via Nuneaton.