The Bedworth Society

Bedworth Timeline

1086 According to the Domesday Book, the Earl of Mellent, a brother of the Earl of Warwick, held the the Manor of Bedworth. This holding comprised of 60 people living with no priest or mill on 720 arable acres for which they had two ploughs. Before the Norman Conquest of 1066 it had been owned by Edwyn, Earl of Mercia.

1300 Philip de Turville became the second recorded Rector of Bedworth.

1349 Few inhabitants of the town escaped the Black Death.

1555 Lawrence Saunders, nephew of John Saunders of that Estate in the manor of Bedworth, was burnt at the stake in Little Park, Coventry for heresy.

1570 Bedworth coal mines were the subject of a report to the Government by Richard Hussey, Stephen Verney and Michael Purfrey.

1590 The historian William Dugdale found only 14 families in the township.

1662 The Act of Uniformity passed by Charles II, requiring England to accept the book of Common Prayer.

1664 Nicholas Chamberlaine became Rector of Bedworth.

1686 Julius Saunders became the first minister of the Old Meeting Church. His beautiful manuscript diary is still preserved, together with a chained Bible.

1690 Dugdale recorded that there were now 260 houses in Bedworth and 30 in Collycroft.

1715 Nicholas Chamberlaine died in July. His will specified his vision for the formation of the School Foundation (church schools) and Hospital & Sermon charities (Almshouses) which were to be named after him.

1715 Almshouses and schools built in the grounds of Bedworth Hall.

1727 Steam engines first used in a local mine, and experiments in mine ventilation began using a ‘Blow George’ ventilation fan.

1770 Parliament passed the first Bedworth Enclosure Award.

1782 John Wesley preached at Bedworth brickyard on 13th July.

1790 Boiler works established at Collycroft.

1821 The population rose to 3,519.

1824 The Parish appointed Josiah Page as Medical Attendant, although he was to provide his own leeches.

1827 One Parish Meeting considered the Canal Company’s refusal to pay the levied rate, and another changed the official Wake from November to the first Sunday in September. The church was repaired and considerably enlarged.

1828 There was great economic distress in Bedworth, the poor rate amounted to almost £1,500.

1832 In the year of the great Reform Bill a local Board of Health was established.

1840 The old Almshouses were superseded by the present ones at a cost of £8,500.

1845 The Church Schools were built; the Headmaster’s House in the centre, later became part of the schools when a replacement was built.

1846 Dr. Beaumont opened the present Wesley Church.

1850 Bedworth welcomed its new gas-lighting, though Collycroft remained without gas till 1908.

1851 Despite meetings and protests, the Coventry, Nuneaton and Bedworth Railway was completed.

1858 The distress of thirty years earlier was repeated for the weavers, on whom £30 a week was spent from public subscriptions.

1861 The population was now 5,636.

1863 In September the shaft at Exhall Colliery was sunk.

1864 Parish business began to be transacted at the Parish Room in Congreve Square.

1871 The population had dropped by 498 in less than ten years to 5,138.

1873 Bedworth Burial Board appointed Mr. Thomas Dewis as its first Clerk. The Central Schools were enlarged by an additional classroom and playgrounds.

1881 A report on water supplies to the town’s 5377 people showed that only half of the 1,150 houses were adequately supplied.

1883 Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis in Rye Piece opened.

1887 Messrs. Wootton and Forge brought the new hat-making industry to Leicester Street in Bedworth.

1889 The County Council assumed liability for the top part of King Street between the “Shoulder of Mutton” and the railway.

1891 The population, now rising, reached 5,485.

1894 The new Parish Council assumed the powers of the church, churchwardens and similar officials.

1898 The mine-shaft at the new Newdigate Colliery was sunk in December.

1899 New offices in Bulkington Road for the Warwickshire Miners’ Association opened.

1900 Bedworth Water Works and Tower came into use.

1901 The Parish Room saw the last Church Vestry Meeting, which considered the granting of a faculty to build the Belfry Gates.

1901 The population of the town had increased to 7,189.

1906 Mr. William ‘Billy’ Johnson began his unbroken twelve years’ representation of the Nuneaton Division in parliament.

1907 The new Council School in George Street was opened.

1914 The First World War began, in which 1,129 Bedworth men served, 207 of them at the cost of their lives.

1918 End of First World War.

1921 The Great War memorial in the cemetery was unveiled.

1921 The population reached 11,548.

1923 The Miners Welfare Park was opened, and the Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis consecrated.

1924 The Parish was divided into five wards.

1928 Bedworth Urban District was established on October 1st and the first Council elected on October 13th.

1931 At the last census before the Second World War,the population was 12,060.

1932 From April 1st the Bedworth boundary embraced Exhall, Northern Foleshill, East Astley and part of Walsgrave-on-Sowe.

1938 A further boundary extension saw Bulkington come under the Urban District Council.

1939/45 Second World War.

1946 The first Local Elections for seven years were held.

1951 The population reached 24,866.

1952 The Bulkington Sewerage Scheme costing £160,000 was started.

1953 Queen Elizabeth II crowned and Bedworth celebrates its Silver Jubilee as an Urban District.

1957 Population now 28,640.

1974 End of Bedworth Urban District Council. Bedworth becomes part of Nuneaton Borough Council.

1975 Opening of Bedworth Civic Hall.

1980 Bill Lenton leads successful fight to include Bedworth in council title, now Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.

1981 Bedworth Society formed to fight for the preservation of the Victorian Parsonage which is part of the town's almshouses.

1991 Bedworth’s population now approximately 32,500.

2000 Parsonage Project Heritage Centre opened in the Parsonage.

2001 Bedworth’s population now approximately 40,000.

2003 Completion of refurbishment of Nicholas Chamberlaine Almshouses.