Wellesbourne Charlecote

Wellesbourne is a large village bypassed by the A429 a few miles east of Stratford. From the A429 take the B4086 Kineton road and soon spot the pub on the right. Only use the pub car park with permission. A good place to park is along the dead-end Warwick Road which starts immediately to the right of the petrol station opposite the pub. This was once the main road before the bypass was built and so is wide with plenty room. The walk starts along here too.

The walk starts in Wellesbourne, a large village, that with lots of modern house building is almost becoming a small town. It was once two villages, Wellesbourne Mountford and Wellesbourne Hastings, which were separated by the River Dene flowing between them. A notable event in the village's history came in 1872 when Joseph Arch, a well known methodist preacher, set up the National Agricultural Labourers Union, the forerunner to the modern day National Farmers Union. The meeting was meant to be in the Stags Head Pub, but with over 2000 people turning up rather than the expected 30 or so, Joseph spoke from under a chestnut tree on the green outside. The event is commemorated by a stone plaque in the bus shelter across from the pub. The tree died in 1948 and there is now a commemorative stone on the spot.

The parish church, which you pass at the end, is ancient but filled with high quality Victorian decoration. If you look under the carpet in the chancel, however, you will find one of Warwickshire's oldest and most impressive brasses. It shows Sir Thomas Le Strange, who was Constable of Ireland during the reign of Henry V, and dates from 1426.

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