Wootton Wawen
| Wootton Wawen | |
|---|---|
 St Peter's parish church, viewed from the south |
|
 Wootton Wawen
|
|
| Wootton Wawen shown within Warwickshire | |
| Population | 1,318 (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SP153630 |
| • London | 108 miles (174 km) SE |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Solihull |
| Postcode district | B95 |
| Dialling code | 01564 |
| Police | Warwickshire |
| Fire | Warwickshire |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Parish Council Website for Wootton Wawen |
Wootton Wawen /ˈwʊtən ˈwoʊ.ən/ is a village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. The village is on the A3400, about 20 miles (32 km) from Birmingham, about 2 miles (3 km) south of Henley-in-Arden and about 6.5 miles (10.5 km) north of Stratford-upon-Avon. The soil is a strong clay and some arable crops are grown, but the land is mainly in pasture. The common fields were inclosed in 1776, but some inclosures had already been made about 1623.
The scenery is wooded and undulating, rising from about 200 feet (61 m), in the south to 488 feet (149 m), in the north-west at College Farm, above Forde Hall. Near here is Mockley Wood, which, with May's Wood in the centre of the parish and Austy Wood near Edstone, is one of the larger blocks of woodland. The older part of the village straddling the A3400 is designated as a Conservation Area because of its open, rural character and many historic buildings.
The toponym "Wootton Wawen" means "farm near a wood, belonging to Wagen". Wagen or Waga is an Old Norse name.
The oldest surviving record of Wootton is from when Æthelbald, King of the Mercians, gave to the Earl Aethilric 20 hides of land for a minster between the years 723 and 737. The first wooden church was built at Wootton as a direct result of this charter of land, (about 2,000 acres (810 hectares)) on which to build a monastery or minster of Saint Mary. The first church may have been burnt and pillaged by Viking invaders, but between about 970 and 1040, Wagen, an Anglo-Danish landowner, established the present church. This land was in the district of the Stoppingas near the river Aeluuinnae, now called the Alne.
...
Wikipedia