About Kineton - the area and its history
Kineton (pronounced
/ˈkaɪntən/) is a
large
village and
civil parish on
the
River Dene in
south-eastern
Warwickshire,
England. The
village is part of
Stratford-on-Avon district,
and in the
2001 census it
had a population of 2,278.
Kineton is about ten
miles (16 km)
from the
towns of
Banbury to the
south-east,
Warwick and
Leamington Spa
to the north, and
Stratford-upon-Avon
to the west. Nearby is the village of
Wellesbourne
with its historic
water mill,
Compton Verney House
art gallery, the
Heritage Motor Centre
at
Gaydon,
the
Burton Dassett Hills
country park and the battlefield of
Edgehill.
Kineton can also be considered to be part of the informal area of
Banburyshire.
In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles described Kineton
like this:
Kineton.-- (or Kington), market town, par., and township, with ry. sta.,
Warwickshire, 6 miles W. of Fenny Compton sta. and 11 miles SE. of
Stratford-on-Avon - par., 3810 ac., pop. 1269; town and township, pop. 1053;
P.O., T.O. Market-day, Tuesday. King John kept his court in a castle here; and
the place was the quarters of the Parliamentarians on the night before the
battle of Edgehill
Kineton is in the West Midlands, about as
far from the sea as it is possible to get in the "heart of England". The
national watershed is at nearby Edgehill, where rain falling on the village road
near the Castle Inn could end up flowing south and east to the Cherwell,
eventually joining the Thames, or it could flow south and west down the scarp
into the River Dene through Kineton, and ultimately into the Avon and Severn.
Map of the drainage and watersheds of England (based on
Fig. 2.2 from B K Roberts and S Wrathmell, 2002 "Region and Place" English
Heritage)
The Cotswolds uplands form the eastern
border of the area, and the contrasting ancient forest of the Arden --
Shakespeare's Arden --- is to the north-west across the Avon. In between is the
Feldon, an undulating landscape of fertile clay vales and limestone ridges, with
Kineton in the centre, straddling the River Dene.