Grandborough

Infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Grandborough
latitude= 52.298983
longitude= -1.27917
civil_parish= Grandborough
population = 399 (2001)
shire_district= Rugby
shire_county= Warwickshire
region= West Midlands
constituency_westminster= Rugby and Kenilworth
post_town= RUGBY
postcode_district = CV23
postcode_area= CV
dial_code= 01788
os_grid_reference= SP491670

Grandborough is a small village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England.

Grandborough is in a rural area of eastern Warwickshire, around six miles (10 km) south of Rugby. The village is part of the borough of Rugby. Grandborough is about two miles from the nearest main roads and can be reached by country lanes from the A45 to the east, and the A426 to the west. The infant River Leam flows nearby.

Grandborough is a picturesque village and contains the historic church of St Peters, a Primitive Methodist chapel (erected in 1856), a village hall and a number of old (mostly Victorian era) cottages. The village has a pub called the "Shoulder of Mutton". In Main Street there is a private house which was formerly a pub called the "Royal George". "Harrow House", in the adjoining hamlet of Woolscott (which is part of Grandborough parish), was formerly a pub called the "Old Harrow Inn". ["Away from it all: Grandborough", "Warwickshire and Worcestershire Life", January 1980, pp 56-57.]

History

Grandborough was mentioned in the Domesday Book as "Graensburgh". Until the early 20th century the name was spelt as "Granborough". Its name was supposed by Eilert Ekwall to come from Anglo-Saxon "Grēnbeorg" = "green rounded hill", but the Domesday Book form points otherwise.

The former village school still stands. It closed in the 1970s and is now a private house. A stone plaque hidden on an east-facing wall has the inscription "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" and the date 1840. ["Warwickshire and Worcestershire Life", January 1980.]

The first mention of a post office in the village is the issue in April 1847 of a type of postmark known as an undated circle (with the spelling Granborough). [ "The Undated Circular Marks of the Midland Counties", (1997) p. 144, 146, 147, 150. The Midland (GB) Postal History Society, ISBN 0 9513311 3 2] The post office and village shop closed in April 1997.

References

* Allen, Geoff, (2000) "Warwickshire Towns & Villages", Sigma Leisure, ISBN 1 85058 642 X
* [http://www.grandborough.com Village website]