Ullenhall is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
in the
Stratford-on-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-west of ...
district, in the county of
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...
, England, situated about west of
Henley-in-Arden
Henley-in-Arden (also known as simply Henley) is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England. The town takes its last name from the former Forest of Arden. Henley is known for its variety of historic ...
and west of the
county town
In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...
of
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...
. In 2011 the parish had a population of 717.
History
The name means Ulla's nook, the
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
word hahl, meaning a nook or corner of land, suggesting the hollow in which the village is situated, being compounded with a personal name of
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...
n origin. The
manor is recorded in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
where it is listed as ''Holehale'', one of the lands of
Robert de Stafford
Robert de Stafford () (''alias'' Robert de Tosny/Toeni, etc.) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman, a member of the House of Tosny and the first feudal baron of Stafford in Staffordshire in England, where he probably built a baronial castle. His man ...
. "In Ferncombe
Hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101.
In mathematics
100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...
in Holehale (Ullenhall) 1
hide
Hide or hides may refer to:
Common uses
* Hide (skin), the cured skin of an animal
* Bird hide, a structure for observing birds and other wildlife without causing disturbance
* Gamekeeper's hide or hunting hide or hunting blind, a structure to hi ...
. Land for 15 ploughs. 17 villagers and 11 smallholders with 6 ploughs. Woodland ½ league long and 1
furlong
A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile, equivalent to any of 660 foot (unit), feet, 220 yards, 40 rod (unit), rods, 10 chain (unit), chains, or a ...
wide. The value was and is £3 Waga held it." Waga, whose name is preserved in the nearby village of
Wootton Wawen
Wootton Wawen is a village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of Englan ...
, was one of the witness's to
Earl Leofric's, husband of
Lady Godiva
Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries.
She is mainly remembere ...
, foundation of the
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...
at
Coventry
Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
during the first year of the reign of
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex.
Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...
(1042/3).
His lands extended beyond those at Ullenhall, but, following the
Norman conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
, Ullenhall was bestowed by the Conqueror on
Robert de Stafford
Robert de Stafford () (''alias'' Robert de Tosny/Toeni, etc.) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman, a member of the House of Tosny and the first feudal baron of Stafford in Staffordshire in England, where he probably built a baronial castle. His man ...
, descended from the de Tonei family and who had fought stoutly with
William the Conqueror
William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...
against
King Harold. He made
Stafford
Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...
his principal seat, where he had a strong
castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
and assumed his surname from thence. Ullenhall stands on lands that were originally part of the
Barrells Hall
Barrells Hall is a large house in the Warwickshire countryside near Henley-in-Arden. The nearest village is Ullenhall, which for many years was the estate village, large parts of it having been built by the owners of Barrells Hall, the Newtons, ...
estate. The earliest mention of Barrells was a reference to a Richard Barel in 1405. In 1554 the estate was purchased by Robert Knight of
Beoley
Beoley is a small village and larger civil parish north of Redditch in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire. It adjoins Warwickshire to the east. The 2021 census gave a parish population of 984, mostly at Holt End. The parish includes the ...
, 4 miles west of Ullenhall, and remained in the Knight family until 1856. An inventory taken in 1652 shows that it was then an ordinary farmhouse, and a member of the Knight family appeared in the 1682 Heralds' Visitation of
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...
.
The future 1st Earl,
Robert Knight, Lord Luxborough, purchased
Barrells Hall
Barrells Hall is a large house in the Warwickshire countryside near Henley-in-Arden. The nearest village is Ullenhall, which for many years was the estate village, large parts of it having been built by the owners of Barrells Hall, the Newtons, ...
from a cousin in 1730. When
Henrietta St John
Henrietta Knight, Baroness Luxborough (; 15 July 1699 — 26 March 1756), was an English poet and letter writer, now mainly remembered as a gardener. She married the rising politician Robert Knight in 1727, but he banished her to his estate ...
was banished to Barrells in 1736 it was still a relatively simple house, in very poor condition. When his son married in 1750 he commissioned the Italian architect
Joseph Bonomi the Elder
Joseph Bonomi the Elder (19 January 17399 March 1808) was an Italian architect and technical drawing, draughtsman who spent most of his career in England where he became a successful designer of country houses. Bonomi was Robert Adam’s leading ...
to build an imposing extension, which thereafter became the main house. On Henrietta's death in 1756 her husband rebuilt large parts of it. His wife Henrietta, Lady Luxborough, made the house the hub of a literary circle after her husband banished her to Barrells following a romantic indiscretion. She was one of the first to establish a ''
ferme ornée
The term ''ferme ornée'' as used in English garden history derives from Stephen Switzer's term for 'ornamental farm'. It describes a country estate laid out partly according to aesthetic principles and partly for farming. During the eighteenth ce ...
'' and is credited with the invention of the word "
shrubbery
A shrubbery, shrub border or shrub garden is a part of a garden where shrubs, mostly flowering species, are thickly planted. The original shrubberies were mostly sections of large gardens, with one or more paths winding through it, a less-remem ...
".
She was a prominent member of the
Warwickshire Coterie,
a group of poet friends including the poet
William Shenstone
William Shenstone (18 November 171411 February 1763) was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of History of gardening#Picturesque and English Landscape gardens, landscape gardening through the development of his estate, ''The ...
, who had developed his own
''ferme ornée'' at
The Leasowes
The Leasowes is a 57-hectare (around 141 acre) estate in Halesowen, historically in the county of Shropshire, later (from 1844) Worcestershire, England, comprising house and gardens. The parkland is now listed Grade I on English Heritage's Reg ...
in
Halesowen
Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England.
Historic counties of England, Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, ...
,
West Midlands. The family crest was a winged spur which gives its name to the village
pub
A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...
to this day. The Newtons owned the house after the Knights had extended it dramatically. However, the house was very seriously damaged by fire in 1933 and lay derelict until 2005 when it was restored as a family home. Despite its ancient roots, Ullenhall was not established as a separate Ecclesiastical
Parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
until June 1861 when the old
manors of Apsley, Forde Hall and Mockley were also included in the parish.
Governance
Ullenhall is part of the
Tanworth in Arden
Tanworth-in-Arden (; often abbreviated to Tanworth) is a village and civil parish in the county of Warwickshire, England. It is south-southeast of Birmingham, north-east of Redditch and 8 miles (13 km) south-southwest of Solihull and is admin ...
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
of
Stratford-on-Avon District
Stratford-on-Avon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Warwickshire, England. The district is named after its largest town of Stratford-upon-Avon, but with a change of preposition; the town uses "upon" and the district ...
Council and despite a strong local representation for the Green Party, is represented by
Councillor
A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...
s Peter Oakley and George Atkinson, of the
Conservative PartyNationally it is part of
Stratford-on-Avon (UK Parliament constituency), Stratford-on-Avon parliamentary constituency
An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
, whose current
MP is
Nadhim Zahawi
Nadhim Zahawi (; ; born 2 June 1967) is an Iraqi-born British former politician who served in various ministerial positions under prime ministers Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak from 2018 to 2023. He most recently served ...
of the Conservative Party. It was included in the
West Midlands electoral region of the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
.
Economy
The village is served by a
public house
A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
, the Winged Spur, which takes its name from the Barrell
family crest
A crest is a component of a heraldry, heraldic display, consisting of the device borne on top of the Helmet (heraldry), helm. Originating in the decorative sculptures worn by knights in tournament (medieval), tournaments and, to a lesser exten ...
. There is a
village hall
A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...
and a
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
club.
Notable buildings
The village has two churches. Situated on a hill to the north of the village is the old
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
of
St Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. ...
s which is locally referred to as the
Chapel
A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...
. The oldest part of the building has been dated back to the 13th century but only the
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
of the original building now remains, to which a western porch has been added. There remain some ancient
stained glass
Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
in the windows and some
encaustic tile
Encaustic or inlaid tiles are ceramic tiles in which the pattern or figure on the surface is not a product of the glaze but of different colors of clay. They are usually of two colours but a tile may be composed of as many as six. The pattern ...
s in the floor.
[Old Warwickshire Churches, W Hobart Bird 1936] The
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design.
For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...
, of the 15th century, has an octagonal bowl with a moulded lower edge, and a plain stem. In the bowl one of the two staples remains.
The
memorial
A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...
s are to the knights of
Barrells Hall
Barrells Hall is a large house in the Warwickshire countryside near Henley-in-Arden. The nearest village is Ullenhall, which for many years was the estate village, large parts of it having been built by the owners of Barrells Hall, the Newtons, ...
and a coloured memorial to Sir
Francis Throckmorton
Sir Francis Throckmorton (155410 July 1584) was a conspirator against Queen Elizabeth I of England in the Throckmorton Plot.
Early life
He was the son of Sir John Throckmorton, Queen Mary's principal legal counsel, who was himself the seven ...
who died in 1554.
The roof and
tower
A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
were still under restoration at the turn of the 2000 millennium but at a service attended by 80 parishioners on the morning of 1 January 2000 the old
bell
A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...
was made to "ring in" the 21st century by throwing
golf ball
A golf ball is a ball designed to be used in golf. Under the rules of golf, a golf ball has a mass no more than , has a diameter not less than , and performs within specified velocity, distance, and symmetry limits. Like golf clubs, golf bal ...
s into the bell tower. The balls were recovered some years later when the restoration was completed.
The modern church of
St Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. ...
is down in the village and was constructed in 1875 at a cost of £5,000 to an odd idiosyncratic design by
John Pollard Seddon in the
Early English style by the three Newton brothers of
Barrells Hall
Barrells Hall is a large house in the Warwickshire countryside near Henley-in-Arden. The nearest village is Ullenhall, which for many years was the estate village, large parts of it having been built by the owners of Barrells Hall, the Newtons, ...
and
Glencripesdale Estate
The Glencripesdale Estate is a country estate situated along the south side of Loch Sunart, a sea loch in the west highlands of Scotland.
Today, the Isle of Càrna is the last remaining part of a once huge acre deer forest, river and grousemoo ...
in memory of their parents Mary and William Newton.
A significant local landmark is The Crowley
Oak
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
which can be located just outside the village heading towards the A435. It has ancient oak status according to the
Woodland Trust
The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland heritage. It has planted over 68 million trees since 1972. The Woodland Tru ...
, with a girth of over seven metres.
Woodland Trust website
/ref>
Geography
The soil is clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
, gravel
Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone.
Gr ...
, and marl
Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, Clay minerals, clays, and silt. When Lithification, hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae.
M ...
and the subsoil keuper marl. The area of the ecclesiastical parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
is 2,933 acres.['Parishes: Ullenhall', A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 3: Barlichway hundred (1945), pp. 212-21]
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=57013
Date accessed: 6 January 2011.
References
External links
The Ullenhall village website
{{authority control
Villages in Warwickshire
Civil parishes in Warwickshire
Stratford-on-Avon District