Burton Green Burton Green is a commuter village, in Warwickshire, England. Its location is shown by the red cross on the map above. It lies about 4 miles from Meriden, which is the centre of England.

The approach to Burton Green along Hodgetts Lane Bigger version of this picture

Burton Green School Burton Green Church of England primary school, is in Hob Lane, and was built in 1875. Some modern classrooms have been added in recent times. Last year the school celebrated its 125th anniversary.

The Village Hall The village hall in Hodgetts Lane was built in 1923. It was used for all the village activities until 1982 when a new hall was built at the rear. Details of current activities at the village hall are also on the Current Affairs page.

St Johns Church

The local church is St John's, Westwood Heath. The church is about 2 miles from the village.

The church is built in a gothic style, although it is in fact Victorian. The church was built in 1842-4, and was designed by the Victorian church architect George Scott. It was built on land donated by Lord Leigh, and was built using stone provided by Lord Leigh from his quarry in Gibbet Hill Road. There is some more information about the Leigh family on the Stoneleigh page.

The first vicar of Westwood, Edmund Roy, lived in Kenilworth, and commuted to his Church by pony. There is a tablet to his memory on the North Wall.

There was a close relationship between the early Westwood Church and the agricultural community. The Church was partly funded by a tithe rate on the local farms, and each of the pews at the front of the Church was allocated to each of these farms.

St Johns has its own website, which also gives information about its work in the community: Westwood Church Website.

Also, more Warwickshire Churches.

In 1840, a cottage, on the site of the present Westwood Heath Club, was provided by Lord Leigh, as a school. A regular voluntary teacher there was Cordelia Leigh, who taught needlework.

In 1871, a new school was built adjacent to the cottage. The cottage became a reading room where the vicar could read newspapers to the parishioners, and books could be borrowed for a subscription of 1 shilling per year. In 1967, Westwood School closed, and the old school building was converted into the present Greek Orthodox Church, which is shown at the right.

Amenities

The Peeping Tom The village pub, The Peeping Tom, is described on a separate page about The Peeping Tom and Lady Godiva Enjoy a wide and varied selection of draught and bottled beers, cask ales, cocktails and a fine selection of wines from around the world. Lunches are served from our hot tavern every Mon-Fri 12.00-2.00pm. Our excellent value full menu is available every evening 5.30-9.00pm. Saturday lunch 12.00-2.30pm and all day Sunday. Our popular Sunday carvery is served 12.00-2.30pm. For the young ones, our Kid Kranky menu is always available. Our large Beer Garden is great in the Summer. Philip and Cath and their team look forward to welcoming you soon!

Our Landmark The Water Tower Burton Green is situated on high land overlooking both Coventry and Kenilworth. Two water towers are situated in the village, which are distinctive landmarks, visible for several miles around. These enable water to be supplied to the surrounding area at a good pressure. The larger tower, in Cromwell Lane, is named Tile Hill tower, and is used to supply water to the Coventry area. It was built in 1932. Access to the tank and roof is via a spiral staircase which passes in a tube through the centre of the tank.

The picture at the right shows the tower, on the horizon, as viewed from Kenilworth Castle. The stone visible in the right foreground of the picture is part of the castle wall. The photo was taken using a 35mm camera and a long-focus lens.
This picture shows the tower viewed from the top of Guys Tower at Warwick Castle. The electricity pylon visible in the picture is at the point where pylons cross the A46 at Guys Cliffe.
And this picture shows the tower viewed from the top of Holy Trinity Church in Coventry. The white buildings mid-right are the former Rover site at Canley, and the white buildings mid-left, beyond, are the National Grid HQ and the Westwood Business Park.

A second water tower is situated in Hob Lane, and was used to supply the Kenilworth area. This water tower is no longer in operational use. Instead, water is now stored in a large underground reservoir nearby. This underground reservoir is capable of supplying Kenilworth and Warwick.

The whole area around the village has a high water table and even in drought conditions, water can be found less than one metre from the surface. The field at the confluence of Cromwell Lane, Hob Lane, and Red Lane is the final outcrop of the Pennine Chain, the main watershed of England that runs on a north-south escarpment.

Railways Two railway tracks run near the village. At the northern end of Cromwell Lane is Tile Hill station, shown at the left, which is a small station on the main line between London and Birmingham. This line was completed in 1838. Tile Hill station provides convenient access to Birmingham International Airport (15 minutes) and London (120 minutes). The level crossing will be replaced by a bridge over the railway track later this year.

The picture at the right is an old photo of the level crossing at Tile Hill station. The picture is taken looking towards Tile Hill. The tall wooden building on the left, which is on the site of the present booking hall, is the old signal box, which was used to operate the swing gates. The building visible on the right of the picture is the original booking hall. This picture comes from a book of old photos of the Berkswell area, by Albert Smith.

	Village Layout One road, Cromwell Lane-Hob Lane runs along the length of the village. Part of Cromwell Lane is shown at the left. There are individual pictures of many of the trees, throughout Burton Green, on our Oak Trees Page.
Two other roads run off Cromwell Lane: Hodgetts Lane which leads to Berkswell, and Red Lane which leads to Kenilworth. In about 1500 the boundary between Warwickshire and Berkswell ran down the middle of Cromwell Lane.

At the right is a map of the village. A second railway, the Berkswell to Leamington line, completed in 1884, used to run through the village. This is the straight track running North-West to South-East coloured green on the map. This railway track, which is now disused, runs through a deep cutting, and provides an area of interest and beauty where flora and fauna, including some wild orchids, are preserved.

The Greenway The disused railway was purchased by Warwickshire County Council in 1973 for use as a "greenway". Two of the 10 Walks Around Coventry published by the Coventry Ramblers Association, begin and end at Burton Green. One walk takes the disused railway track Westwards to Berkswell, returning via other public footpaths. The other walk takes the disused railway Eastwards to Crackley Wood, which is also owned by the County Council and managed by the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. Both walks manage to pass by the Peeping Tom pub.

	Winter The Winter here is usually quite mild. We would normally have light snow on a half dozen days. The most severe snowfall in recent years was about 7 years ago. This picture shows Cromwell Lane when it was only accessible by 4-wheel drive vehicles.
Two West Midlands buses which had been on their way to Balsall Common were stuck in a snow drift near the Hodgetts Lane corner.

This picture, which I took myself, was subsequently printed in the Coventry Telegraph. It shows the two West Midlands bus drivers digging out one of the buses. One of the residents near the Hodgetts Lane corner gave the drivers overnight accommodation, until the drivers could be rescued the next day.

Names of Local Roads

As a place name Burton is derived from two Anglo-Saxon words, burh meaning fortified and ton meaning farm or village, so burh-tun means "fortified village". Burton also ocurs in the Warwickshire place names of Burton Dasset and Burton Hastings. Although the name is Anglo-Saxon, it is likely that the village was established in Norman times (see below). One of the earliest references to Burton Green is 1585, though the place may have had that name for longer.

Hob Lane and Cromwell Lane both acquired their present names around the time of the Reformation (1645-1665).

Hob Lane takes its name from Hob, a common name for Robin Goodfellow, a well known figure in medieval English folklore. The word occurs in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595), and in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678).

The northern continuation of Cromwell Lane crosses over the Warwickshire boundary and into Coventry, where it subsequently becomes known as Banner Lane. The West Midlands Village Book offers the following fanciful explanation of the origin of the names of Cromwell Lane and Banner Lane:

The area next to Banner Lane, is said to be a place where Oliver Cromwell gathered his troops as he prepared an assault on Kenilworth Castle during the Civil War. Here his army raised its banners, and that is said to be the origin of that name. Cromwell led his men from the assembly point up the lane which now bears his name.

An explanation for the name Red Lane, may be offered by studying the physical geography of the area, which appears to be rich in red clay. The redness of the soil is not clay but decomposed Midland red sandstone, which is the material used to build many local public buildings, including the old Coventry Cathedral.

Burton Green - Main Page