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Heritage - Wheels and Water
The Hub of England became so because of the transportation links. Initially with the Roman Watling Street, and then later with the Salt roads, and packhorse bridges such as we see in Water Orton. However it was with the development of the coaching towns, canals and railways that North Warwickshire became even more recognisable as being the central key to England’s Navigations.
Coleshill, with its fine Georgian buildings and coaching inns, was once on the main route through the Borough. The town is watched over by a superb church which stands tall and proud and would have been a signpost for which travellers would head. The town stocks and pillory post offers a glimpse of law and order, which would have been enforced to ensure the safety of travellers and townsfolk alike. Hence highwaymen headed for the outlying hostelries in the villages such as Wishaw. Other towns such as Atherstone, also have fine examples of coaching inns such as the Red Lion. Coaching also saw the introduction of Toll Roads, which gathered money at the tollgates for the upkeep of the road. The tollgates, which were located in places such as Kingsbury, no longer survive.
The Coventry Canal and Birmingham and Fazeley Canal meander through the Borough and provide pleasant walks through the towns and countryside. Look out for the architectural features and bridges on display along the towpaths, which give a glimpse into the canals’ industrial past. The flight of locks at Atherstone, with its canal turn wheel, always has someone passing through the locks in the summer time.
The railways came in the 1800s, and the towns of Atherstone and Polesworth developed stations along the routes. Whitacre Heath became a major junction, which can still be viewed today from the bridge by the waterworks. Here lines that linked Birmingham and Derby met and the now lost Stonebridge Railway ran down to Hampton with a station at Coleshill on its track. Today we can see the remains of bridges and banks that indicate its way.
The roads that developed from the ancient tracks and the new roads, such as the motorways and toll road, have also pushed their way through the countryside and opened up the transport network.
However, the cycle tracks along the lesser-used quieter routes that criss-cross through the countryside still provide an escape from the traffic.
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