Dunchurch, Warwickshire

Description
Dunchurch, a small town and a parish in Warwickshire. the town stands on the eastern verge of the county, 3 1/2 miles SSW of Rugby, and has a station on the L. & N.W.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Rugby. A horse fair is held on Nov. 15 and 16. In the town is a statue to the late Lord John Scott, erected by public subscription. There are remains of an old village cross. Dunchurch was a meeting-place of the conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot. A court leet and court baron is still held here. Acreage, 3137 ; population, 964. The parish includes also the hamlets of Toft and Cawston, and the township of Thurlaston. Acreage, 4960; population, 1276. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester; gross value, £264 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Worcester. The church belonged to Pipewell Abbey, is chiefly Decorated, includes a fine Norman arch in its western porch, has a large square tower, and contains a curious monument to Thomas Newcombe, the King's printer, who founded an almshouse here in 1695, which was rebuilt in 1818. There are Primitive Methodist and Baptist chapels.