Nuneaton | |
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Nuneaton town centre |
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Nuneaton shown within Warwickshire | |
Population | 81,877 (2011) |
OS grid reference | SP361918 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | NUNEATON |
Postcode district | CV10, CV11, CV13 |
Dialling code | 024 |
Police | Warwickshire |
Fire | Warwickshire |
Ambulance | West Midlands |
EU Parliament | West Midlands |
UK Parliament | |
Nuneaton /nəˈniːtən/ is a town in Warwickshire, England. The population in 2011 was 81,877, making it the largest town in Warwickshire.
The author George Eliot was born on a farm on the Arbury Estate just outside Nuneaton in 1819 and lived in the town for much of her early life. Her novel Scenes of Clerical Life (1858) depicts Nuneaton.
The Nuneaton built-up area, incorporating Nuneaton and surrounding villages including Hartshill and Bulkington, had a population of 92,968 at the 2011 census.
Nuneaton is 9 miles (14 km) north of Coventry, 20 miles (32 km) east of Birmingham and 103 miles (166 km) northwest of London. The River Anker runs through the town.
Towns close to Nuneaton include Bedworth, Atherstone and Hinckley, with Tamworth and Lutterworth a little further afield. The town lies 3 miles from the Leicestershire border, 8 miles from Staffordshire and 12 miles from Derbyshire.
Nuneaton's name came from a 12th century Benedictine nunnery (parts of which still exist) around which much of the town grew. Prior to this it was a settlement known as 'Etone', which translates literally as 'water-town'. Nuneaton was listed in the Domesday Book as a small hamlet. A market was established in 1233, which is still held. The first recorded use of the modern name was in 1247 when a document recorded it as 'Nonne Eton'. The nunnery fell into disrepair after 1539, with Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. King Edward VI School was established by a royal charter in 1552. From 1944 it became a grammar school for boys and, although it was locally known as KEGS, it never included the word "grammar" in its name. In 1974 it became a sixth form college. The other grammar schools in Nuneaton in the 1944 to 1974 period were Nuneaton High School for Girls and Manor Park. Nicholas Chamberlaine School in Bedworth was an early comprehensive school that had a grammar school stream.