The Warwickshire village of Wootton Wawen dates from Saxon times with the first records of the village dating back to the early eighth century. Æthelbald of Mercia granted Earl Aethilric twenty hides of land for a minister between 723 and 737CE [1]. A church was built on the land though the current church of
St Peter & St Paul was established late in the tenth century by Wagen an Anglo-Danish landowner. He gave his name to the village, Wootton Wawen meaning a farm near a wood belonging to Wagen.
It is no surprise that the church is the oldest in Warwickshire and has some of the most notable Anglo-Saxon features of any church in the country. Another notable building in the village is the stately home Wootton Hall built in 1687 [2] though with some parts from an earlier Elizabethan house incorporated into it. The Hall is now part of a caravan park.
Another notable building is the Bull's Head pub near the church. This dates from at least the sixteenth century. As well as the A3400 road which passes through the village Wootton Wawen is a stop on the
North Warwickshire railway line. The Stratford Canal passes through the edge of the village, the canal crossing over the main road via an
aqueduct.
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| Former mill in Wootton Wawen |
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| The Bull's Head, with the church behind |
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| Passing through Wootton Wawen |
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| A wheat field near the village |
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| Canal mooring |
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| A GWR sign alerting people crossing the canal |
[1] "Parishes: Wootton Wawen." A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 3, Barlichway Hundred. Ed. Philip Styles. London: Victoria County History, 1945. 196-205. British History Online. Web. 2 April 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol3/pp196-205.
[2] Nikolaus Pevsner & Alexandra Wedgwood, Warwickshire (Penguin, 1966) p. 482
