•  Monks Kirby, Warwickshire

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In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Monks Kirby like this:

MONKS-KIRBY, a township in Lutterworth district, and a parish partly also in Rugby district, all in Warwickshire. The township lies adjacent to the Fosse way, 2 miles NE by E of Stretton r. station, 2¾ SW of Watling-street at the boundary with Leicestershire, and 6 NNW of Rugby; and has a post office under Lutterworth. ...

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Pop., 596. Houses, 13-4. The parish contains also the hamlets of Pailton, Stretton-under-Foss, Newbold-Revel, and Copston-Magna in Lutterworth district, and the township of Easenhall in Rugby district. Acres, 9,640. Real property, £14,388. Pop. in 1851,1,899; in 1861,1,931. Houses, 429. The manor was known at Domesday, as Chirchberye; was given, by William the Conqueror, to Geoffrey de Wirce; was given by him to the monks of Angiers in Normandy, who then founded here a cell of their abbey; took thence the name of Monks-Kirby; was given by Richard II. to Thomas Mowbray, in exchange for Epworth priory; passed, in the time of Henry VIII., to the Duke of Suffolk; went, by sale, to Lord Fielding; and has descended to the Earl of Denbigh. Newnham-Paddox, a handsome mansion, is the Earl of Denbigh's seat; and contains a choice collection of family portraits and works of art. Townthorn is the seat of W. Jackson, Esq., brother of the late American general, Stonewall Jackson; and stands on an eminence, with an extensive view. Street-Aston House and Newbold-Revel also are chief residences. A place called Cloudesley-Bush, on the W side of the Fosse way, taken its name from having a mound reputed to have been the burial-place of a Roman soldier called Clandins; and numerous Roman relics, including bricks and substructions, have been found. The living is a vicarage, united with the vicarage of Withybrook and the p. curacy of Copston-Magna, in the diocese of Worcester. Value, £3x00. * Patron, Trinity College, Cambridge. The church was built, on the site of an older one, by Geoffrey de Wirce; was rebuilt by the Duke of Suffolk, of the time of Henry VIII.; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with pinnacled tower; contains several ancient monuments of the Fielding; and, in 1867, was likely to be restored. Another church is in Copston-Magna; and is a modern edifie, in the Norman style. There are also, within the parish, a school-church, an Independent chapel, two Baptist chapels, a national school, a grammar school, another school with £30 a year from endowment, and charities £32.

Monks Kirby through time

Monks Kirby is now part of Rugby district. Click here for graphs and data of how Rugby has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Monks Kirby itself, go to Units and Statistics.

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