Early modern and eighteenth century places to visit and things to do close to Warwick
Whether you are an undergraduate, postgraduate, postdoc or a visitor, you might like to consider seeing or doing some of the places and things listed on this page.
Coventry History Centre - contains lots of local archives
The Weaver's House, Coventry, restored to show how it looked in 1540
Stoneleigh Abbey - built on the site of a dissolved abbey, this is an eighteenth century house that has associations with Jane Austen
Kenilworth Castle - parts of the castle were rebuilt by Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, to entertain Queen Elizabeth
Warwick - much of the town is of historical interest but particulary notable are:
- Warwick Castle - privately run; the family papers are in the Warwickshire Record Office, along with many other local archives
- The Lord Leycester Hospital - a late C14th building converted by Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester to cater for soldiers in the sixteenth century.
- St Mary's Church contains the tombs of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, and Fulke Greville who was an Elizabethan polymath. The church tower was rebuilt after a fire that destroyed much of the town in 1694.
- Warwick Words History Festival runs in the first week of term (with tea-time talks up to Christmas) and often has talks about early modern themes, including ones by our own faculty
Stratford is home to :
- the Royal Shakespeare Company which, besides the bard's plays, puts on many productions of early modern drama
- Shakespeare's Birthplace
- nearby is Charlecote Park, a C16th house administered by the National Trust
Birmingham has
- a http://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/bmagthat contains many early modern artefacts
- The Barber Art Gallery which has many early modern paintings and prints
- Birmingham Cathedral - built in the C18th
- Soho House Museum - built by Matthew Boulton, the late C18th industrialist, this houses some of his output and the room where the enlightenment's luminaries used to meet for their Lunar Society.