Rugby, Warwickshire

Early Iron Age settlement existed in the Rugby area, and a few miles north-east what is now Rugby, existed a Roman settlement known as Tripontium on the Watling Street Roman road. Rugby was originally a small Anglo-Saxon farming settlement on the hill overlooking the River Avon and was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Rocheberie, a popular theory is that this was a phonetic translation of the Old English name Hrocaberg meaning 'Hroca's hill fortification'; Hroca being an Anglo-Saxon man's name pronounced with a silent 'H', and berg being a name for a hill fortification, with the 'g' being pronounced as an 'ee' sound. By the 13th century the name of the town was commonly spelt as Rokeby before gradually evolving into the modern form.[3] In 1140 the first mention was made of St Andrew's Church which was originally a chapel of the mother church at Clifton-upon-Dunsmore, until Rugby was established as a parish in its own right in 1221. Rugby obtained a charter to hold a market in 1255, and soon developed into a small country market town.[4]

Rugby School was founded in 1567 with money left in the will of Lawrence Sheriff, a locally born man, who moved to London and became grocer to Queen Elizabeth I. Rugby School was originally intended as a school for local boys, but by the 18th century it had acquired a national reputation and gradually became a mostly fee-paying private school, with most of its pupils coming from outside Rugby. The Lawrence Sheriff School was eventually founded in 1878 to carry on Sheriff's original intentions.[5][4]

During the English Civil War, King Charles I passed through Rugby in 1642 on his way to Nottingham, and 120 Cavalier Horse Troops reportedly stayed at the town, however the townsfolk were sympathetic to the Parliamentarian cause, and they were disarmed by the Cavalier soldiers. Later, in 1645, Rugby was strongly Parliamentarian, and Oliver Cromwell and two regiments of Roundhead soldiers stayed at Rugby in April that year, two months before the Battle of Naseby, some 12 miles (19 km) to the east, in nearby Northamptonshire.[3][4]

The growth of Rugby was slow, due in part to the nearby markets at Dunchurch and Hillmorton which were better positioned in terms of road traffic. In 1663 Rugby was recorded as containing 160 houses with a population of around 650. By 1730 this had increased to 183 houses, with a population of around 900. Rugby's importance and population increased more rapidly during the late 18th and early 19th century due to the growing national reputation of Rugby School, which had moved from its original location at a (now long vanished) schoolhouse north of St Andrew's Church, to its present location south of the town centre by 1750. By the time of the first national census in 1801, Rugby had a population of 1,487 with 278 houses. By 1831 this had increased further to 2,501 in 415 houses. This growth was driven by parents who wished to send their boys to Rugby School, but were unable to afford the boarding fees and so took up residence in Rugby.[6][7][3]

Map of Rugby published in 1885

Rugby's growth was substantially accelerated by the coming of the railways, as its position made it an ideal meeting place for various railway lines, by the middle of the 19th century, the railway junction at Rugby had become one of the most important in the country: In 1838 one of the earliest inter-city railway lines, the London and Birmingham Railway was constructed around the town, which in 1840 made a junction with the Midland Counties Railway at Rugby. By the 1850s there were five railway lines meeting at Rugby, with more than sixty trains a day passing through Rugby railway station.[6] The railways had a profound effect on the town, as the influx of railway workers and their families rapidly expanded the population.[4] Rugby's population grew to nearly 8,000 by 1861.[7] reaching nearly 17,000 by 1901.[8]

In the later half of the 19th century, Rugby also developed some local industries: Large-scale cement production began in the town in the 1860s when the Rugby Lias Lime & Cement Company Ltd was founded to take advantage of the locally available deposits of Blue Lias limestone.[9][3] A factory producing corsets was opened in 1882, this survived until 1992, by which time it was making swimwear.[4] In the 1890s and 1900s heavy engineering industries began to set up in Rugby, causing the town to rapidly grow into a major industrial centre: Willans and Robinson were the first engineering firm to arrive in 1897,[10] building steam engines to drive electrical generators, they were followed by British Thomson-Houston in 1902, who manufactured electrical motors and generators. Both firms started producing turbines in 1904, and were in competition until both were united as part of GEC in 1969.[11] Rugby expanded rapidly in the early decades of the 20th century as workers moved in. By the 1940s, the population of Rugby had grown to over 40,000, and then to over 50,000 by the 1960s.[8]

A local board of health was established in Rugby in 1848, to provide the town with necessary infrastructure for its growth, such as paved roads, street lighting, clean drinking water and sewerage, this was converted into an urban district council in 1894. Rugby's status was upgraded to that of a municipal borough in 1932, and its boundaries were expanded to incorporate the formerly separate villages of Bilton, Hillmorton, Brownsover and Newbold-on-Avon which have become suburbs of the town.[7][12] In 1974 the municipal borough was merged with the Rugby Rural District to form the present Borough of Rugby.[13]

In the postwar years, Rugby became well served by the motorway network, with the M1 and M6 merging close to the town.[11]

Fame

Rugby School.

Rugby is most famous for the invention of rugby football, which is played throughout the world. The invention of the game is credited to William Webb Ellis a Rugby School pupil, who according to legend, broke the existing rules of football by picking up the ball and running with it at match played in 1823. Although there is little evidence to support this story, the school is credited with codifying and popularising the sport. In 1845, three Rugby School pupils produced the first written rules of the "Rugby style of game".[2]

Rugby School is one of England's oldest and most prestigious public schools, and was the setting of Thomas Hughes's semi-autobiographical masterpiece Tom Brown's Schooldays published in 1857.[2] A substantial part of the 2004 dramatisation of the novel, starring Stephen Fry, was filmed on location at Rugby School. Hughes later set up a colony in America for the younger sons of the English gentry, who could not inherit under the laws of primogeniture, naming the town Rugby. The town of Rugby, Tennessee still exists.

Rugby is a birthplace of the jet engine. In April 1937 Frank Whittle built and tested the world's first prototype jet engine at the British Thomson-Houston (BTH) works in Rugby, and during 1936–41 based himself at Brownsover Hall on the outskirts, where he designed and developed early prototype engines. Much of his work was carried out at nearby Lutterworth. Whittle is commemorated in Rugby by a modern sculpture near the town hall dating from 2005, made by Stephen Broadbent.[14][2][15]

Holography was invented in Rugby in 1947, by the Hungarian born inventor Dennis Gabor, also while working at BTH. For this he later received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971.[16]

In the 19th century, Rugby became famous for its once important railway junction which was the setting for Charles Dickens's story Mugby Junction.

The modern town of Rugby is an amalgamation of the original town with the former villages of Bilton, Hillmorton, Brownsover and Newbold-on-Avon which were incorporated into Rugby in 1932 when the town became a borough,[7][12] all except Brownsover still have their former village centres. Rugby also includes the areas of New Bilton, Overslade, Hillside and the partially constructed Houlton housing development. The spread of Rugby has nearly reached the villages of Clifton-upon-Dunsmore, Cawston, Dunchurch and Long Lawford.

Regent Street with St Andrew's Church

Map of Rugby

Most of Rugby sits around 400 feet (120 m) above sea level on an irregular shaped plateau which is situated between the valleys of the River Avon and Swift to the north, and the Rains Brook and River Leam to the south.[19] The areas of Brownsover and Newbold are to the north of the Avon valley.

The county boundary between Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire to the east of Rugby is defined by the A5 road (the former Watling Street) around 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Rugby town centre. The three counties meet at Dow Bridge; the point where the A5 road crosses the River Avon, forming a tripoint. To the south-east of Rugby the county boundary with Northamptonshire is defined by the Rains Brook.[20] Rugby is the easternmost town within Warwickshire (and the entire West Midlands region)

Suburbs and districts

Suburbs and districts of Rugby include:

• Bilton
• Brownsover
• Hillmorton
• Hillside
• Kingsway
• New Bilton
• Newbold-on-Avon
• Overslade

Adjacent settlements

Places adjoining or on the outskirts of Rugby:

• Cawston
• Clifton-upon-Dunsmore
• Dunchurch
• Houlton (partially constructed)
• Long Lawford

Nearby places

• Nearby cities: Birmingham, Coventry and Leicester
• Nearby towns: Daventry, Hinckley, Kenilworth, Leamington Spa, Lutterworth, Northampton, Nuneaton, Southam and Warwick.
• Nearby villages: Barby, Braunston, Brinklow, Catthorpe, Harborough Magna, Kilsby, Lilbourne, Monks Kirby, Newton and Pailton.

At the 2011 census, there were 70,628 residents in Rugby in 30,901 households, and the median age of Rugby residents was 39.[21]

In terms of ethnicity:[21]

• 89% of Rugby residents were White (Comprising 81% White British, 6.5% Other White, 1.1% Irish and 0.1% Gypsy/Irish Traveller).
• 5.8% were Asian (Comprising 3.6% Indian, 0.8% Pakistani, 0.2% Bangladeshi 0.5% Chinese and 0.8% from another Asian background)
• 2.5% were Black (Comprising 1.2% African, 1.0% Caribbean and 0.3% other Black)
• 2.4% were Mixed.
• 0.1% were Arab and 0.2% were from another ethnic group.

In terms of religion, 62% of Rugby residents identified as Christian, 25.6% said they had no religion, 6.7% did not state any religion, 2.6% were Hindu, 1.6% were Muslim, 0.7% were Sikh, 0.3% were Buddhists, 0.1% were Jewish and 0.3% were from another religion.[21]

The largest general purpose venue in Rugby is the Benn Hall which opened in 1961 as part of the town hall complex,[25] Rugby has two theatres, a professional theatre the Macready Theatre, and the amateur Rugby Theatre, both in the town centre.[26] A nine screen cinema run by Cineworld is located at a retail park north of the town centre.[27]

The Rugby Art Gallery, Museum & Library

The Rugby Art Gallery, Museum & Library which opened in 2000, hosts various temporary art exhibitions, the main collection which is not on permanent display is the nationally renown "Rugby Collection of 20th century and Contemporary British Art" which includes 170 artworks by artists such as L. S. Lowry, Stanley Spencer, Paula Rego and Graham Sutherland.[28] The museum hosts Roman artefacts excavated from the nearby Romano-British town of Tripontium, as well as an exhibition of the social history of Rugby. The building also houses the World Rugby Hall of Fame as well as the town's library.[29]

The Webb Ellis Rugby Football Museum also in the town centre also hosts rugby memorabilia.

Since 2011 Rugby has held the annual Rugby Festival of Culture, which lasts for two or three weeks in June and July, and includes a wide-ranging program of music, theatre, arts and crafts and comedy.[30][31]

The poet Rupert Brooke was born and raised in Rugby, and he is commemorated in the town by a statue in Regent Place.[32]

In the 1980s the influential rock band Spacemen 3 was formed in Rugby by the local musicians Jason Pierce and Pete Kember. Following its demise in 1991, both musicians went on to form successful subsequent projects; Pierce formed the critically acclaimed band Spiritualized and Kember continued performing under the names Sonic Boom/Spectrum.[33] Other notable musical acts to emerge from Rugby include the 1970s pop band Jigsaw which was formed by musicians from Rugby and Coventry,[34] and the 2000s singer-songwriter James Morrison.

There are two large urban parks in the town centre, one is Caldecott Park alongside the town hall,[35] and on the edge of the town centre is the Whitehall Recreation Ground.[36]

Rugby has an indoor leisure centre, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Centre which opened in 2013, replacing the older Ken Marriott Leisure Centre, it is run by GLL a charitable social enterprise on behalf of the local council.[37]

For most of the 20th Century manufacturing was the largest employer in Rugby. Since the 1990s manufacturing employment has gone into decline, and service industries are now the largest source of employment.[38] Rugby remains an engineering centre and has a long history of producing gas and steam turbines at the GEC and at the AEI. The AEI was earlier British Thomson-Houston or BTH. They used to dominate employment in the town. They are now amalgamated to form Alstom. Engineering in Rugby is still the most important sector.

Further afield, within the Rugby borough is the Rolls-Royce engineering works near Ansty. This is nearer to Coventry than Rugby, but is a major employer to the Rugby population.

Rugby Cement works

Another major industry in Rugby is cement making; The Rugby Cement company, was founded in the 1860s, making cement from the local Jurassic Blue Lias limestone at New Bilton. In the 1990s the Rugby Cement works was rebuilt and substantially enlarged, and in 2000 other Rugby Cement plants at Southam and Rochester were closed, with all production moved to the Rugby plant,[39] which has been described as one of the most modern cement plants in the world. Rugby Cement was taken over in 2000 and is now owned by the Mexican firm Cemex, who moved their UK headquarters to Rugby in 2018.[40].

Since the 1980s several large industrial estates have been built to the north, and warehousing, distribution and light industry have become major employers. This is due to the town's close proximity to the M6 motorway (Junction 1) and M1 (Junction 19), at the heart of the UK's motorway network.[3] In 2017 nearly half of Warwickshire's businesses in the ‘Transport and storage’ sector were in Rugby.[41] In 2017 Hermes opened its 'Midlands Super Hub' parcel delivery depot at the Rugby Gateway development to the north of the town, which is the largest of its type in the UK.[42] To the east of Rugby is the large Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT), which opened in the 1990s; although this is across the county border in Northamptonshire, it is closest to Rugby.

Tourism is also important to the town's economy, especially related to Rugby football.[43]

In 2017 the average annual workplace wage in the Rugby borough was £29,059; above the Warwickshire (£28,513) and UK (£28,296) averages.[41]

One of the last links to Rugby's rural past was the cattle market held near the railway station, and earlier in the "Market Place" in the old centre of Rugby since medieval times. The market near the railway station was closed in late 2008 and the site has been redeveloped into housing, a hotel and a Tesco store as part of a wider scheme of work in the station area.

Rugby Radio Station (now demolished)

One of the most notable landmarks around Rugby was, until August 2007, the Rugby Radio Station, a large radio transmitting station just to the east of the town. The station was opened in 1926, at its height in the 1950s it was the largest radio transmitting station in the world, with a total of 57 radio transmitters, covering an area of 1600 acres. Traffic slowly dwindled from the 1980s onwards, and the site was closed between 2003 and 2007.[44] Several of the masts were decommissioned and demolished by explosives in 2004, although a few, including four of the biggest masts remained until 2007. (Firing the explosive charges was delayed by rabbits gnawing the wires).[45] The remaining four 'tall' masts were demolished on the afternoon of 2 August 2007 with no prior publicity. The site is now being developed as a new housing development known as Houlton

Rugby Cement works, to the west of the town, can be seen for many miles. Standing at just 115 metres high, the landmark is not a popular one— in 2005 it came in the top ten of a poll of buildings people would like to see demolished on the Channel 4 television series Demolition.[46] In October 2006, the owners of the Rugby Cement works, Cemex, were fined £400,000 for excessive pollution after a court case brought by the Environment Agency.[47]

William Webb Ellis' statue

The town has statues of three famous locals: Rupert Brooke, Thomas Hughes and William Webb Ellis. The Rupert Brooke statue is situated at the forked junction of Regent Street on the green and commemorates his contribution to poetry. Thomas Hughes' statue stands in the gardens of the Temple Reading Rooms (the central library of Rugby school) on Barby Road. Since England won the Rugby World Cup in 2003, the William Webb Ellis statue outside Rugby School is one of the most visited parts of the town.

St Andrew's Church

St Andrew's Church, in the town centre, is Rugby's original Church of England parish church. A church has stood on the site since 1140. The oldest surviving part of the church is the 22 metre high west tower which bears strong resemblance to a castle turret, the west tower was possibly built during the reign of Henry III (1216–1272) to serve a defensive as well as religious role, and is Rugby's oldest building. The church has other artefacts of medieval Rugby including the 13th-century parish chest, and a medieval font. The church was extensively re-built and expanded in the 19th century, designed by William Butterfield. The expanded church included a new east tower, added in 1895 which has a spire 196 feet (60 m) high.[3] The church is Grade II* listed.[48] Very unusually, both of the church towers have ringable bells, the main peal of bells (all cast in 1896 by Mears & Stainbank, London) being located in the eastern tower, and the old peal (all cast in 1711 by Joseph Smith of Edgbaston) located in the western tower.[49]

St Marie's Church

Rugby's main Roman Catholic church is St Marie's on Dunchurch Road. It is one of the town's most well-known landmarks as it is quite dominant on the skyline. The church was first opened in 1847, designed by Pugin in the Gothic revival style, it was enlarged in 1864, and in 1872 the current tall and slender spire was added, which is nearly 200 feet (61 metres) tall.[3][4] The church is also Grade II* listed.[50]

Rugby School, New Quad Buildings and War Memorial Chapel.

The buildings of Rugby School are major landmarks mostly dating from the 18th and 19th century with some early 20th Century additions. Several individual buildings of the School are Grade II* listed including the Old and New Quad buildings, dating from 1748 and 1867–85 respectively, the School House of 1813, and the War Memorial chapel dating from 1922.[51][52][53][54]

Rugby is twinned with:[4]

• Évreux, France (since 1959)
• Rüsselsheim, Germany (since 1977)

• Rugby, North Dakota
• Rugby, Tennessee
• Rugby, New South Wales, Australia

• Rugby Borough Council