Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
A town on the Avon.
An introduction to Warwick, the county town of Warwickshire, where the castle stands above the River Avon.
On this page
Read the town
Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire and lies beside the River Avon, 9 miles south of Coventry. On 5 September 1694 a fire destroyed 460 buildings in five hours, and the town was rebuilt with fine 18th-century buildings.
A guide can give context without turning a town into a backdrop. Notice the medieval gatehouses at either end of the old town, and the Lord Leycester Hospital on the High Street, whose oldest parts date from 1383.
The river below the castle
Below the castle, the Mill and Engine House stands by a weir on the Avon, near the ruined arches of a medieval bridge. A water-powered mill worked here, and from 1894 to 1940 it was used to generate electricity for the castle.
Begin with a detail and ask who built it, who used it and how it changed over time. A photograph alone cannot tell you that.
A castle chapter
Warwick Castle shows one side of the town: a fortress of the Norman conquest that became a country house and, in time, a place to visit.
Look at the meeting of the two: medieval towers and walls above the river, and the house that the Grevilles made inside them.
Make room for context
Pair this reading with the castle’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places or represents the people who run them.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
