Warwickshire

This article is about the administrative and ceremonial county. For the traditional county see Warwickshire (traditional).

Warwickshire (pronounced worrickshur or worrickshear) is a landlocked administrative county in central England. It has a population of around 500,000, and covers 489,405 acres (198,055 hectares). The county town is Warwick.

Administrative Warwickshire is divided into a number of district councils. These are North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Rugby, Stratford, and Warwick. The shape of the administrative area looks rather odd, as if Birmingham and Coventry have been bitten out of it - which they have.

Towns and villages of Warwickshire

Places of interest

Coombe Abbey
Draycote Water
Kenilworth Castle
Mary Arden's House
Rollright Stones
Rugby School
Warwick Castle

Warwickshire is bounded to the north west by Staffordshire and the West Midlands county (the latter formed in the local government reorganisation of 1974), east by Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, south by Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, and West by Worcestershire.

The bulk of Warwickshire's population is in the north and west of the county, The north of it has traditionally been industrial, with industrial towns such as Nuneaton, Bedworth and Rugby, whose traditional industries included coalmining, textiles, cement and engineering.

The west of Warwickshire includes the prosperous towns of Leamington Spa, Warwick, Kenilworth and Stratford-upon-Avon.

The south of the administrative county is largely rural and sparsely populated, and includes no towns of any significant size.

Also see:

Warwickshire (traditional) for the traditional county of the same name.