The best hikes from bus stations around Cubbington

Bridge not in place as of 6th April 2025

If we take the path leading from Cubbington to Weston under Wetherley, which is part of The Millennium Way and The Shakespeare's Avon Way, we will cross through this wood, which is a perfect example of what Warwickshire woodland is like.

St Mary Magdalene's Church, Lillington is the Church of England parish church of Lillington, Warwickshire, a part of Royal Leamington Spa with a population of about 11,000. The church is at the junction of Vicarage Road and Church Lane. It has been a Grade II listed building since 1949. The earliest surviving parts of the present building are the possibly pre-Conquest doorway now located between the Lady Chapel and Sacristy, and the south wall of the chancel. The Perpendicular Gothic west tower is 15th century, built in about 1480. The remainder of the church is Victorian, built or rebuilt between 1847 and 1884. The old south aisle was extended and the north aisle added in 1847. The south aisle was then demolished and a wider aisle built in 1868. Dormer windows were inserted in the roof in 1875. In 1884 the chancel, apart from the south wall, was rebuilt and the Lady chapel and Sacristy on the north side of the chancel were added, the Romanesque doorway being relocated for the second time since 1847. Three of the stained glass windows are by C.E. Kempe and Company: the east window of the south aisle (1895) and two windows in the north aisle (1908 and 1920). A choir vestry was added in 1914. The pulpit is 20th century, designed by T. Lawrence Dale. A detached octagonal meeting room in the churchyard was built in 1987. Benjamin Satchwell, co-founder, promoter and poet of the spa at nearby Leamington, married Mary Whitmore in this church on 23 April 1764. In the churchyard, opposite the vestry door, is the famous 'Miser's Grave'. The headstone of William Treen, who died aged 77 on 3 February 1810, carries this inscription, quoted in many nineteenth-century guides to Leamington, and most famously by Nathaniel Hawthorne in Our Old Home in 1863: "I Poorly Liv'd and Poorly Dy'd, Poorly Bury'd and no one Cry'd." The church has a ring of eight bells. The sixth bell is attributed to Thomas Harrys of London, cast about 1480, which makes it contemporary with the tower. The seventh bell was cast in 1625 by Watts of Leicester, and the tenor in 1675 by Henry Bagley of Chacombe, Northamptonshire. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the remaining five bells in 1927. The bells were re-hung by Nicholson Engineering of Bridport, Dorset in 2007. Lillington church clock was made by Potts of Leeds and installed in 1897. It seems that the tower had no clock before then. The clock was renovated, the four dials repainted and gilded, and the mechanism repositioned within the ringing chamber, by the Cumbria Clock Company of Penrith in 2007.

Holy Trinity Church was started in 1825 as a daughter church of All Saints' Church and opened in 1847. It was designed by Mitchell of Leamington Spa, to the commission of Revd John Craig, vicar of All Saints. It was enlarged in 1865, and more work took place in 1881 when the transepts were enlarged and a vestry was provided by John Cundall. A parish was formed in 1899. The porch and east chancel wall date from 1900, and there were further alterations just before the First World War.

Old guy sits there doing the crossword and dinking coffee, people watching is such a good pastime...

Where the oak tree it was reputed to be the centre of England, the small oak is the seed from the original oak... The plaque was laid in 1988...

Must look out for wild life on the marsh...

The church is a Grade One listed Norman building constructed from sandstone and dates from the early 12th century. The church building seats 200/230 people on mainly fixed wooden pews. In 1980 major restoration work was carried out costing over £250,000. This was paid for by significant additional giving from the congregation, as well as grants from English Heritage and local charities. The church is a Grade One listed Norman building constructed from sandstone and dates from the early 12th century. The church building seats 200/230 people on mainly fixed wooden pews. In 1980 major restoration work was carried out costing over £250,000. This was paid for by significant additional giving from the congregation, as well as grants from English Heritage and local charities.     Early Beginnings  Cubbington was originally a chapelry of Leek Wootton and was granted to Kenilworth Priory at the Priory's "foundation by Geoffrey de Clinton in 1122. By 1331 it had become a separate parish and was appropriated by (fully granted to) the monastery; a Vicarage with House, Mortuaries, Altarage and small tithes being granted in 1345. The Mortuary was the right of the Rector to claim a dead man's second best beast, the first going as a heriot to the lord of the manor. Altarage, or altar dues, were the contribution the parishioners were obliged to make when burying their dead in the churchyard, or upon receiving communion on one of the holy days. Monastic appropriation or owning of parish churches was very common and the effect of this was that the monastic appropriator became the rector (from the Latin for agent). The monastery could claim the tithe of crops and stock, the parish priest being left with the altar offerings and lesser tithe. It was the monastery's duty to provide the church with a priest, and as he therefore performed the various duties in the place of the rector he was called a vicar, from the Latin Vicarius i.e. substitute. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the right of advowson, i.e. the right of presentation to the church of a priest was held by the Crown, but in 1550 was granted to Sir Ralph Sad1eir. In 1555 it was bought by Thomas Shuckburgh in whose family it remained until 1587 when it was held by the Greswold family until the early 1700's, being transferred in conjunction with the manor of Cubbington Grange. In 1768 Edward, Lord Leigh held the advowson and it remained with the Leigh family until the1830's. It is now held by the Bishop of Coventry. The church was valued at £8 in 1291, the rectory was farmed for £6 and in 1535 the vicarage was rated at £6.6s.8d. The Present Building  The building of our present church was probably started by the Augustinian Canons at Kenilworth in the early 12th century and when finished consisted of the nave, chancel, South aisle and Western tower. Kenilworth sandstone would have been used and masons from the monastery employed. In the 13th century the North aisle was added together with the South doorway, and possibly the aisles were rebuilt at this time also. The windows are 14th century during which time the chancel may well have been rebuilt and lengthened. The South wall of the Nave was raised to admit light through a series of clerestory windows in the 15th century. The chancel was repaired by Lord Leigh in 1780 and considerable repairs were done to the South Aisle in the 1830's at which time the Nave roof was extended covering the clerestory windows. In 1885 major alterations were started. The roofing which had previously obscured the clerestory windows was removed and re-roofing completed. The Musicians' Gallery was pulled down and the.-North Aisle extended which greatly increased the seating numbers. New 'pitch and pine' pews were installed in place of the old high backed ones and the plaster was removed from the internal walls to reveal the stonework. The estimate for this and sundry other work came to £836.4.0d and subscriptions totalling £838.1.0d were raised. After the alterations the church was re-opened on Thursday, 17th September 1885 with Morning Prayer and Holy Communion at 11.00 a.m. and Evening Prayer and Sermon at 3.00 p.m., the Preacher being the Lord Bishop of Worcester. In 1896 the vestry and organ were added and electric lighting installed in 1933 to replace the gas. The roof is a good open timber structure with tie beams that run from wall to wall and on whose ends the main rafters or principals rest. The principals have been given extra support by a pair of queen posts used on either side of the centre. The tie beam roof was the simplest form of roof structure used in medieval times, but the heavy tie beam itself was prone to sag in the middle and often needed support underneath by a pair of arch braces which curved down to wall posts.