County Dossier
Warwickshire
Midland shire: castles, cloth & Shakespeare’s fields.
Warwickshire is an inland county in the heart of the English Midlands, with landscapes ranging from the gentle Cotswold Hills in the south to fertile farmland and parklands in the north and west.
At a glance
Warwickshire at a glance
Midland shire: castles, cloth & Shakespeare’s fields.
- Warwickshire: Warwicscire: weir settlement
- Warwick founded 914
- Castles and market towns
- Area: 918 sq miles
- Population: 1,632,885
- County Top: Ebrington Hill shoulder
County Geography
Warwickshire meets Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire. Its county shape is organised by the Avon basin, the Arden-Feldon division, and the eastern boundary line against neighbouring shires.
Arden in the north-west and Feldon in the south-east give Warwickshire a clear internal county contrast. That physical pattern belongs to the county itself.
Map Reference
View Warwickshire on the map
Warwickshire is the county. The map also shows lieutenancies and council areas that use the county name.
The county.
The lieutenancy.
Council areas.
Places and routes
Coventry, Warwick, Leamington Spa, Kenilworth, and Stratford-upon-Avon show the county from major city and county town to spa town, castle town, and Avon-side market centre. Together they explain Warwickshire through its central towns and county geography.
Connections
Warwickshire’s routes run along the Avon and across the Arden-Feldon divide, linking the county’s central towns with its wooded and open farming country. The movement stays within one clear county geography.
Names
- Warwickshire
- County of Warwick
County of Warwick is the formal historical style. Warwickshire is the settled county name, while Warks is only a shortened form.
Warwickshire appears in Domesday as Warwicscire, but the county was already functioning before that survey. The Arden, Feldon, and Avon pattern still gives the historic county a clear geography.