Rugby, Warwickshire

Rugby is a market town in the county of Warwickshire in central England on the River Avon. Rugby has a population of 62,790 (2002 estimate). The larger borough of Rugby has a population of 89,240.

Rugby today

Rugby is a lively town. The town centre includes numerous nightclubs, restaurants and pubs. Rugby town centre is noted for its large number of pubs, and was for many years in the Guinness Book of Records for having the second highest number of pubs per square mile in England.

Related Topics:
Pub - Guinness Book of Records

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The main shopping area in Rugby is in the streets around the Clock Tower. The town centre has an indoor shopping centre called The Clock Towers which opened in 1980. A traditional street market is held in the town centre several days a week. In recent years several out of town retail centres have opened to the north of the town. Rugby also contains several large parks, most notably Caldecote Park near the town hall.

Related Topics:
The Clock Towers - 1980 - Market - Park - Caldecote Park

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The modern town of Rugby is an amalgamation of the original town with the former villages of Bilton, Hillmorton, Brownsover and Newbold-on-Avon which merged with Rugby as it expanded; all except Brownsover still have their former village centres. Rugby also includes an area called New Bilton. The spread of Rugby has nearly reached the villages of Clifton-upon-Dunsmore, Cawston, Dunchurch and Long Lawford.

Related Topics:
Bilton - Hillmorton - Brownsover - Newbold-on-Avon - New Bilton - Clifton-upon-Dunsmore - Cawston - Dunchurch - Long Lawford

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The town centre is mostly Victorian, but a few older buildings survive. Much architecture in Rugby including Rugby School and St Andrews church, was designed by William Butterfield in the 19th century.

Related Topics:
Victorian - William Butterfield

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Among the old buildings whose loss is regretted, are:-

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• Holy Trinity Church. (There are old people's apartments there now, called Trinity Court.)
• The almshouses. These faced the Market Place, on its northeast side. There are shops there now.

Places of interest

Places of interest in the town include:

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• The Rugby School Museum which has audio visual displays about the history of Rugby School and of the town.
• The combined art gallery and museum. the art gallery contains a nationally recognised collection of contemporary art. The museum contains, amongst other things, Roman artefacts dug up from the nearby Roman settlement of Tripontium.
• The Rugby Football Museum, where traditional rugby balls are hand made. It contains much rugby football memorabillia.

Places of interest around Rugby include:

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• Coombe Abbey
• Dunchurch - Historic village
• Draycote Water - Reservoir and nature reserve
• Oxford Canal
• Rugby School
• Stanford Hall
• Ryton Organic Gardens http://www.hdra.org.uk/gardens/ryton.htm