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Bulkington
Bulkington is a large village in the Nuneaton and Bedworth district of Warwickshire, UK. In the 2001 census it had a population of 6,303. It is located around 10 km (6 miles) north-east of Coventry, just east of the towns of Nuneaton and Bedworth and 7 km (4 miles) south-west of Hinckley.
Originally comprising seven separate villages which were later merged, Bulkington was mentioned in the Domesday Book as Bochintone meaning 'town of the beech trees'. Historically the main industry in Bulkington was weaving, which was brought to the area by French Huguenots in the 17th century. Today Bulkington is largely a commuter village for larger nearby urban centres such as Coventry, Nuneaton, Bedworth, Hinckley and Leicester. Bulkington has connections with the locally-born author George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), who knew the village well. She referred to it as Raveloe in her book Silas Marner (1861). The church of St James is where George Eliot's uncle and aunt are buried.
The major schools in Bulkington are St James Church of England Junior School and Arden Forest Infant School, with a combined total of approximately 420 pupils.
The village has been declared a conservation area and no major housing or industrial development is permitted, especially since it is close to being designated a 'small town' as opposed to a village.
Bulkington ------ Part two
BULKINGTON
Acreage: 4,892.
Population: 1911, 1,837; 1921, 2,216; 1931, 2,747.
The parish forms a large roughly square block, 3½ miles across, to the south of Nuneaton. Its boundaries are for the most part formed by small streams, that on the east being the upper reaches of the River Anker. The village is situated centrally, on a slight rise, most of the houses being built on four roads which form a square inclosure south of the church. A road leads due west to Bedworth, passing Bulkington station on the Trent Valley branch of the L.M.S. Railway, which crosses the parish from south-east to north-west. Just to the east of the village is the road to Nuneaton, on the east side of which is the hamlet of Ryton. Half a mile north-west of the church is Weston-in-Arden, a hamlet which contains Weston Hall, the Roman Catholic church, and a few farms. A mile farther to the north-west is Marston Jabet, through which passes the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal, which runs for over a mile along the northern boundary of the parish. In this district are a number of old quarries, and Marston Lane, leading to Bedworth, was described in 1654 as 'the common way to the coalpits and stonepits'. From Ryton a road runs east, and slightly north, to Wolvey, crossing the Anker by the 'stone horse bridge called Goose Bridge' in 1659. North of this road, on the left bank of the Anker, is the hamlet of Bramcote, including Wolvershill, access to which is now diverted owing to the siting of a naval aerodrome.
Under the provisions of the Public Health Act of 1848 a Local Board was formed in July 1850. This was converted into an Urban District Council in 1894, but Bulkington lost its urban status by the Warwickshire Review Order, 1932.
To the south of Bulkington village lies Barnacle, connected with it by a field path, no doubt the 'ancient paved causey' mentioned in 1659. Just to the west of the hamlet is the moated site of Barnacle Park. This was a freehold of the manor of Barnacle Hall and at the time of the Civil War was in the tenure of William Hickman, who was a captain in the army of King Charles, for which offence the Parliamentary forces plundered and burnt his house. It was still in the hands of the Hickmans about 1725.
The village street is lined by late-18th-century houses and cottages, some of which are constructed with three stories, the uppermost being lofty and lit by broad windows, the result of a small offshoot of the silk-weaving industry from the main centres of Coventry and Bedworth. One or two of the cottages are timberframed of the 16th century.
Weston-in-Arden is hardly separated from the village, and the nucleus of the hamlet is Weston Hall, an ancient manor-house, close to a sharp bend in the by-road, with the modern Roman Catholic church standing on the opposite side of a lane branching from the angle. The present Hall is of the mid-16th century and was substantially extended about 1892. It is built of grey and cream-coloured ashlar sandstone with roofs of modern tile, and the old main block appears from the road as a symmetrical three-gabled front facing south. The east side has two gables and is less in width. The three southern gables intersect with the long roof whose ridges stop on the east wall. The new wing, which includes the kitchens and the main entrance porch, continues westwards. The original south front projects beyond the porch of the new wing, which is recessed in the re-entrant angle; there are three stories and the two chimneys have been rebuilt. All the windows are mullioned, with a single transom and a square head, head and jambs being of two chamfered orders. In each of the outer gables the windows are four lights wide, except for those on the second floor, whose width is three lights. Above the doorway, which is central, there is a window of three lights at each of the two stories over, and within the centre gable also are two two-light windows at each side, at ground- and first-floor levels only. The two lower windows in the eastern gable and the doorway, with its moulded jambs and square head of two orders together with the two sunk panels above, are of modern stonework. The plinth is moulded and is returned on either side of the doorway. Projecting string-courses, weathered with a hollow under, are continuous across the facade immediately above both ground-and first-floor windows. The second-floor windows carry straight hood-moulds of their own width. The gables are continuous with the short lengths of moulded parapet at their feet.
The two gables of the east facade are similar, except that the second-floor windows (one in each gable) are less in height and without transoms, and the northern window to the ground floor has been replaced by a modern stone bow window of six lights. The whole of the north facade has been rebuilt except for the bay at the east end, which is two stories in height, each lighted by the same type of window of three lights with a transom. The upper one of these is blocked inside the glazing, which is divided into small panes and is either original or of the 17th century: all the other glazing is modern. Neither string-courses nor the plinth return beyond the north-east corner of the building.
The central entrance door of the original block leads into a vestibule, which, together with most of the interior, was modernized during the restoration of 1893. Here, two open arches with modern panelled elliptical heads open onto an oak-panelled lounge hall beyond. Some of the panelling in the vestibule and most of that in the hall is original; the panels are small and surrounded by a small bead within an ovolo and may be ascribed to the late 16th century; they rise to a height of 7 ft., where they are topped by a modern cornice. The hall fireplace, on a splay wall opposite the entrance, has a modern oak surround, but the overmantel is inset by an original late-16th-century centrepiece 1 ft. 7 in. high of two panels, each being framed by two crude Ionic pilasters supporting a semicircular head enriched with egg-and-dart and interlaced ribands. Each frame contains an urn sprouting flowing vine foliage and thistle heads. Dividing the panels and at each end are grotesque figures used as pilasters, each carrying a rosette. There is a band of enrichment spanning the whole length of the original portion (4 ft. 2 in.), and there are vertical lengths of the same moulding as that of the wall panelling.
There is a staircase hall immediately to the east of the vestibule. This rises up through two stories, and the staircase, giving access to the first floor only, winds round in short straight flights of six or seven steps; it appears to be of the late 17th century, although the panelling re-used for lining the soffit is of the early 16th century. The balusters are turned and moulded and the strings are treated in the form of an entablature with a plain pulvinated frieze.
The panelling which lines many of the internal doorway openings matches that of the lounge hall, but all the doors are modern, except for those to the panelled bedroom described below.
Entered from the staircase hall and situated in the south-east corner is a square library fitted with 18thcentury bookcases; 16th-century carved oak panels incorporated in the modern panelling of the window jambs bear decorative motifs such as leaf forms and rosettes. The timber surround to the fireplace is apparently French and of the 18th century; it has a crested overmantel of the same period.
The room in the south-west angle of the front has a modern projecting bay on the west side with a door providing access to the modern wing.
The first-floor bedroom over the library is completely panelled up to the ceiling with early-16th-century panels like those beneath the staircase. The doors are similarly treated and set flush, with H-pattern hinges on the reverse side. The fireplace is modern and the overmantel is probably of early-17th-century work, consisting of four panels with another above. The bedroom to the north communicates both with this one and the staircase landing, and the doorway between them is treated with an oak surround on the north side. This is of the late 16th century and consists of two Ionic pilasters rising from the skirting and fluted above a height of 2 ft. The entablature above has a moulded cornice supported on small brackets; the triglyphs of the Doric order are crudely represented by a series of slightly bevelled panels planted on at intervals. The narrow architrave has a fine upper mould with a row of guttae beneath each triglyph panel. The walls of this room are plastered and there is a late-17th-century stone architrave surrounding the fireplace.
The other first-floor rooms to north and west are completely modernized, the second floor has been similarly treated with recent plasterwork concealing all roof timbers, and it is entered only from the modern wing.
The original entrance now opens onto a square formal garden, which is surrounded on three sides by walls about 8 ft. in height. The latter are of doubtful age. The opposite wall to the doorway is pierced in the centre by a narrow gateway flanked by piers executed in the early-17th-century manner. These are approximately 12 ft. high; they are square with sunk panels, and the moulded cornices carry ball finials; the lower halves of the finials are fluted. On the south and west sides the walling is carried on a chamfered plinth. The wrought-iron gates are modern. The west and east walls are pierced close to the house by openings with similar piers to those on the south side. Beyond the latter there is a short avenue of beech-trees reaching to the road.
Park Farm at Barnacle is a 17th-century farmhouse built of brick and tile. The windows are wood-framed with mullions and transoms; the brick chimney-stacks are treated with sunk panels, and at the base of the walls there is a plain stone plinth which may have been the foundations of an older building. The internal oak staircase is contemporary and is treated with turned and moulded balusters between square newel posts in short flights. The buildings are partly surrounded by a deep ditch and there are other traces which suggest that there was originally a moat. There are ancient yew-trees at back and front. A few cottages form a group close to the track leading to Park Farm and there are 16th-century timber-framed buildings among them.
Marston Hall, at Marston Jabet, is a late-18thcentury residence built with buff-coloured bricks; and Bramcote House is an 18th-century farmhouse now (1948) standing derelict and in a ruinous condition, the aerodrome being close at hand.
At the time of the Domesday Survey woodland 4 furlongs in length by 3 furlongs in breadth belonged to Barnacle. Now the parish is almost destitute of woodland, though the grounds of Weston Hall may be the last remnants of the park for the enlargement of which Sir William la Zouche had permission in 1372 to close a path leading westwards from the manor. The open country is, however, well watered, being not only bounded but intersected by small streams, which accounts for the large amount of 100 acres of meadows attributed to Bulkington in 1086.
At Bramcote, where the site of a water-mill can still be traced, a mill was given to the Abbey of Leicester by Geoffrey l'Abbe about 1143. This gift was confirmed in 1240 by Ernald de Bois, including meadow and the pond of Cressewelle; ) and at the Dissolution the mill of Bramcote was leased for £3 6s. 8d. A windmill appurtenant to the manor of Weston is mentioned in 1277, and in 1710; and another at Marston Jabet in 1590.
Under an Act of 1766 some 700 acres of common fields at Ryton were inclosed, and four years later inclosure was applied to the remainder of Bulkington, affecting some 1,600 acres.
Manors
It would seem that the parish of Bulkington had originally constituted two 5-hide vills, the southern consisting of Bulkington (4 hides 1 virgate) and Barnacle (3 virgates), and the northern containing Marston (1 hide), Weston (2 hides), and Bramcote (2 hides). At the time of the Domesday Survey the first four of these divisions were among the estates of the Count of Meulan. In BULKINGTON his sub-tenant was Salo, presumably identical with the man of that name who had held in Bramcote in the time of Edward the Confessor, though here the pre-Conquest tenants were Aliet and Alsi. The overlordship of the count's estates here passed to his descendants the earls of Leicester, and after the division of that honour between coheirs in 1204 came to Roger de Quincy, Earl of Winchester, and his heirs, being held in 1299 by John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, and in 1352 by (Henry) heir of John de Beaumont, then a minor and ward of the Crown. This Henry's grandson, Sir Henry, Lord Beaumont, still held the overlordship at his death in 1413.
At the time of the foundation of the Abbey of St. Mary of Leicester, in 1143, the manor of Bulkington was evidently held by Roger de Watevile, or Watervile, as he gave the church and its chapels and 2 virgates of land to that abbey, his brother Robert giving other property in the parish. The Watevile estates passed to Ernald de Bois, nephew of Roger, and he, his son, grandson, and great-grandson, each called Ernald, confirmed the gifts made to the abbey. The fourth Ernald de Bois died in 1277, leaving a son John, aged 24. By this time the centre of the manor had shifted to WESTON-IN-ARDEN—where in 1086 Fulk had held 2 hides which before the Conquest were held by Sexi —and Bulkington had become a member thereof. John de Bois in 1285 successfully claimed view of frankpledge and other franchises, and free warren in his manor of Weston with its members Bulkington, Bramcote, Barnacle, Ryton, Clifton, and Wibtoft, except in the estates of the Abbot of Leicester, who held similar franchises. He died early in 1290, when his brother Master William de Bois had livery of his estates, saving dower to John's widow Joan. In 1296 Master William had licence to enfeof Milicent de Monhaut (wife first of Eudo la Zouche and afterwards of John de Monhaut) in a moiety of the manor of Weston and for her to regrant it to him for life with remainder to William la Zouche (her son) and Maud his wife (daughter of Master William's sister Isabel) and her heirs. Milicent died seised of the manor in 1299 and Master William de Bois died early in 1313,in which year William la Zouche and Maud had a grant of free warren for their lands in Weston, Bulkington, Ryton, Bramcote, Wolvershill, and Foleshill. The manor then descended in the family of Zouche of Haringworth until the attainder of John, Lord Zouche, in 1485, when it was forfeited and in 1488 was granted by Henry VII to Sir James Blount in tail male. On the reversal of the attainder in 1495 the manor was restored to Lord Zouche and continued in the family until 1580 when Edward, Lord Zouche, sold it to Humphrey Davenport and Richard Bucknam. In 1589 Davenport conveyed the reversion of the manor (or more correctly a moiety thereof) to Sir Christopher Yelverton, retaining an interest in it for the lives of himself and his wife Joan. Humphrey died before Joan, who was still living at Weston when Sir Christopher died in 1612. His son Sir Henry Yelverton died on 24 January 1630 and bequeathed the manor of Weston-in-Arden to his younger son Robert in tail, who died on 10 December 1610, when the manor passed to his elder brother Sir Christopher. In 1655 Sir Henry Yelverton, bart., and others conveyed the manor to Sir Richard Samwell, of Upton (Northants.), and his son Richard, and the latter's grandson Sir Thomas Samwell, bart., apparently sold it to John Hayward about 1710, in whose family it was in 1730. One-half of the joint lordship of the manor was held in 1735 by Mary Hayward and in 1744, 1748, and 1769 by Richard Hayward.
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