Wellesbourne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Map sources for Wellesbourne at grid reference SP278552
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Wellesbourne is a large village and civil parish in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of the UK. In the 2001 census the parish, which also includes the village of Walton, had a population of 5,691.
With the rapid increase in new housing and industrial developments since the 1990s, Wellesbourne is increasingly referred to as small commuter town servicing its larger neighbours such as Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon and Leamington Spa, and a little further afield, the cities of Coventry and Birmingham.
Wellesbourne sits on the A429 road, and is located around seven miles south of Warwick and five miles east of Stratford-upon-Avon.
Wellesbourne was once two villages - Wellesbourne Mountford and Wellesbourne Hastings, the two villages being divided by the River Dene. In 1947 the two parishes were merged, and are now considered to be a single village. For these historical reasons Wellesbourne lacks a proper village centre.
Perhaps the most significant event in Wellesbourne's history was the founding in 1872 of the first trade union for agricultural workers by Joseph Arch - an event which is still celebrated by an annual parade. There is a somewhat unusual memorial in the form of a plaque in the village bus shelter.
Just outside the village is the one of the sites of Horticulture Research International, formerly the Institute of Horticultural Research and, before that, the National Vegetable Research Station. This is partly operated by the University of Warwick. Wellesbourne also has a small airfield, the site of a large market held every Saturday and bank holiday Mondays.
Wellesbourne gained recent publicity when the historic agricultural building featuring a blacksmith's & wainwright's workshops Chedham's Yard won the BBC's 2006 restoration challenge. Locals believe this to be a future tourist attraction on the same scale as the Wellesbourne Watermill which is situated on the outskirts of the village.
