Chilvers Coton
Chilvers Coton

Origin: Coelfrip’s cot

Domesday: Harold son of the Earl Ralph holds Chilvers Coton of the king. There are 8 hides. There is land for 10 ploughs. In demesne is half a plough and 9 slaves and 15 villans and 7 bordars with 7 ploughs. There is meadow 3 furlongs long and 1 broad and woodland 1 ½ leagues long and 1 league broad. It was worth 40s, now 50 s. His father held it.

 

Nothing remains of historical Chilvers Coton except the church and that was largely rebuilt post war by German ex POW following extensive bomb damage. (There was a POW camp on the adjacent Arbury estate).

 

The old school building adjacent has been saved from demolition (must be a first for Nuneaton, of which Chilvers Coton is now part) and with that exception all else is Victorian or later.

 

chilverscoton2
chilverscoton

The church, probably the most attractive in the immediate area, has links with the novelist George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) and the film of the copy of the Parish Register (at least the Warwick one) is annotated with “cross references” between real people and events and people in her novels. To get a literary perspective on Chilvers Coton “Scenes of Clerical Life” is as good a place as any to start. The other significant event involving the church is that I got married there (was that suit really fashionable?)

The last old building to disappear was the Workhouse, a building that was plain, symmetrical and imposing (I liked it). My great great grandfather (Henry Dunning) died there in 1908.The George Eliot Hospital has extended to cover the site.

There were extensive extraction pits and brick and tile works in the area (long gone and built on) and a number of collieries.

The casual visitor could pay a short visit to Paradise or Bermuda whilst in the area – Paradise Farm (off Bermuda Road) is under houses but Bermuda (a pit village) is still there (named because the pit owner had been Governor of Bermuda if you were wondering).

My father in law, Walter Lees, was born in Bermuda village in 1919 and has lived there all his life. A couple of years ago he wrote a brief history of the village which you will find here

For an idea of what was occupying the people in 1851 I have analysed the 1851 Census

For a description of the village in the early 1900s a Kellys Guideof 1936 is attached.