Grendon, Warwickshire
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Grendon, Warwickshire is technically one, but logically two small villages situated 3 miles to the west of Atherstone and 5 miles to the east of Tamworth. (grid reference SP274994.)
Grendon consists of two parts to the village, the old village (locally known as Old Grendon) and a much larger and newer village situated off Watling Street, which connects Atherstone and Tamworth.
[edit] Old Grendon
The old village of Grendon lies on the north eastern tip of Warwickshire, divided from Leicestershire by a small stream and by the River Anker.
Grendon Hall was demolished in 1933. However, there are several structures of age which remain, most notably the Bridge over the River Anker, which in its current form dates back to 1633. The old servant quarters is now a residential property and several old barns and stable buildings have been converted into residential properties also.
It is rumourded that the houses located on Farm lane, originally to house farm workers of Grendon Farm were built on foundations created from the rubble produced in the demolition of Grendon Hall.
In the woods off Farm Lane can be found a well preserved underground ice house, which would have been used as a place to store ice (probably dragged from the nearby River Anker during the winter months) to serve the manor house's rudamentary refidgaration needs. This structure is of Red brick, with domed ceiling and is covered by a thin layer of earth. Ice would have been insulated with straw and if the Ice was in large enough quantity it would have kept until the following winter.
There are several other mounds of brick and earth in these woods suggesting other structures once existed.
Parts of All Saints Church date back to the 1100s, but the tower is a much later addition added in 1845. The church yard has several graves dating back to the 1600s and possibly older, but due to corrosion on some of the graves this is difficult to verify.
[edit] New Grendon
New Grendon and Old Grendon are separated by a distance of 2 miles and by the hamlet of Bradley Green. New Grendon was spawned from the mine that once exisited on Baddesley Endsor, and in fact new Grendon runs right into the village of Baddesley Endsor.
7 Men from Grendon were amongst the 32 killed in the 1882 Pit explosion at Baddesley Pit. Some of these men are buried in the grave yard of All Saints Church.
[edit] Sources
Grendon, from British History Online, accessed 29.1.07
