Warwickshire

Warwickshire (pronounced either /?w????k???/ or /?w????k????/) is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in central England. The county town is Warwick. The shape of the administrative area Warwickshire differs considerably from that of the historic county. Commonly used abbreviations for the county are Warks or Warwicks.

Transport

Roads

Several major motorways run through Warwickshire. these include:

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• The M40 motorway which connects London to Birmingham, runs through the centre of the county, and serves Leamington Spa, Warwick and Stratford.
• The M6 motorway, which connects the north west of England and the midlands to the M1 motorway (and then on to London). Runs through the north of Warwickshire, and serves Rugby, Nuneaton and Bedworth on its way to Birmingham.
• The M69 Coventry to Leicester motorway which serves Nuneaton.
• Other motorways pass briefly through Warwickshire including the M45 (a short spur south of Rugby connecting to the M1), the southern end of the M6 Toll, and the M42 which passes through the county at several points.

Other major trunk routes in Warwickshire includes the A45 (Rugby-Coventry-Birmingham and east into Northamptonshire route). The A46 (connects the M40 to the M6 via Warwick, Kenilworth and Coventry) and the A452 (Leamington to Birmingham route).

Related Topics:
A45 - A46 - A452

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Rail

Two major railway lines pass through Warwickshire.

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• The Chiltern Main Line, the former Great Western route from London to Birmingham passes through the centre of Warwickshire on a route similar to the M40 motorway, and has stations at Leamington Spa, Warwick (and Warwick Parkway) and Hatton. Rail services are provided by Chiltern Railways and Central Trains (Birmingham to Leamington only). There are also two branches off the Chiltern line, one from Leamington to Coventry, and another from Hatton near Warwick to Stratford.
• The West Coast Main Line (WCML) runs through Warwickshire. At Rugby the WCML splits into two parts, one runs west through to Coventry and Birmingham, and the other the "Trent Valley Line" runs north-west towards Stafford and the north-west of England, This section has stations at Nuneaton, Atherstone and Polesworth. There is one branch off the WCML from Nuneaton to Coventry, and there is a station at Bedworth on this branch.

Other railway lines in Warwickshire include the Birmingham-Nuneaton section of the Birmingham to Peterborough Line, which continues east of Nuneaton towards Leicester and Peterborough. Nuneaton has direct services to Birmingham and Leicester on this line, and there is one intermediate station at Water Orton near Coleshill in the extreme north-west of the county.

Related Topics:
Birmingham to Peterborough Line - Leicester - Peterborough - Water Orton - Coleshill

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There is also a branch line from Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon. This line used to continue southwards to Cheltenham but is now a dead-end branch. There are several stations on this line at Henley-in-Arden and at several small villages. Stratford also has direct rail services to London via the branch line to Warwick (mentioned earlier).

Related Topics:
Stratford-upon-Avon - Cheltenham - Henley-in-Arden

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The only major town in Warwickshire not to have a station is Kenilworth. Although the Leamington to Coventry line passes through the town, its station was closed in the 1960s as part of the Beeching Axe. There is a campaign to re-open the station, although currently there are no local services operating on the line, as it is used only by Virgin cross-country services.

Related Topics:
Kenilworth - Beeching Axe - Virgin

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Canals and waterways

Canals in Warwickshire, include

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• The Grand Union Canal, which runs through Leamington and Warwick and onwards to Birmingham.
• The Oxford Canal, which runs from near Coventry and then eastwards around Rugby, and then through the rural south of the county towards Oxford.
• The Coventry Canal which runs through the north of the county from Coventry through Bedworth, Nuneaton, Atherstone, and Polesworth, and then onwards to Tamworth.
• The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal which runs from the Grand Union west of Warwick to Stratford.
• The Ashby Canal passes briefly through Warwickshire from a junction with the Coventry Canal at Bedworth.

The River Avon is navigable from just north of Stratford. It has been proposed recently to extend the navigation to Warwick, but this was rejected by local residents.

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