STONELEIGH

This is a very large parish in area. The village is about three miles north east of Kenilworth. It is made attractive by the mainly older buildings being grouped around the village green and church. The smithy is still in use. An outstanding monument in the church is that of Alice, Duchess of Dudley, who died in 1668. Her father was Lord Mayor of London at the time of the coronation of Elizabeth I. Alice married Sir Robert Dudley, son of Elizabeth's favourite. Stoneleigh Abbey is on the site of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1156, and it became the home of the Leigh family who were wealthy landowners in Warwickshire. The Abbey park has become the permanent home of the Royal Agricultural Show.

DIOCESE: Lichfield. HUNDRED: Knightlow. UNION: Warwick

ADJOINING PARISHES: Allesley, Coventry, Stivichall, Baginton, Bubbenhall, Weston-under-Wetherley, Cubbington, Ashow, Kenilworth, Berkswell.

HAMLETS: Bockendon, Canley, Crackley, Cryfield, Finham, Fletchampstead, Kings Hill, Rabcroft, Stareton, Tile Hill (partly in Berkswell), Waverley, Westwood, Whoberley.

Parish Registers: Christenings: 1634-1958 Marriages: 1634-1980 Burials: 1634-1980 Banns 1823-1953
Canley Marriages: 1964-1981
Fletchamstead Christenings: 1937-1971 Marriages: 1937-1979
Tile Hill (St Oswald) Marriages: 1958-1978
Westwood Christenings: 1845-1947 Marriages: 1846-1977 Burials: 1846-1933.

Bishop's Transcripts : 1662-1845 LIC Begin c1833 WOR

IGI: Christenings: 1765-1885, Marriages: 1754-1895. Widely available; BMSGH(PS)

REGISTER COPIES: Christenings: 1634-1876 Marriages: 1634-1879 Burials: 1634-1877 SoG
Christenings: 1634-1958 Marriages: 1634-1966 Burials: 1634-1811 & 1842-1980 Banns 1823-1913 COV

NONCONFORMIST: Methodist Marriages: 1952-1967 COV

MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS: St.Mary BMSGH m/fiche , WAR , SoG , BIR
Westwood Heath, St.John the Baptist, SoG

PROBATE RECORDS: LIC
Probate inventories 1536-1750 WAR

CENSUS RETURNS: All (inc.Tile Hill and Westwood) WAR
1851 BIR 1864-1874 All named WAR
1875-1908 All named with ages WAR
1881 BCP , BMSGH(PS)

INDEXES
Burial 1813-1837
Marriage 1754-1795 & 1800-1837
Poor Law c1690-1860

MANORIAL RECORDS: 1280-1807 STR
Finham, rental, Fletchampstead 1574-1592, Inquisition of the lands of the Priory of Coventry listing tenants, 1280 WAR
Kings Hill 1542-1597 STR

DEEDS: Various deeds from 1605. Fletchampstead, deeds 1665. Many in Leigh of Stoneleigh and Gregory of Stivichall collections, STR

OTHER SOURCES: Probate of will of William Judd of The Hurst, farmer 1853.
Canon Thorn of Ashow and Stoneleigh, personal papers 1848-1907.
Day book and diary of Thomas Griffiths of Stoneleigh Abbey Farm 1884-1886.
Surveys and plans of the Leigh estates 1597-1777.
Plan of Wade estate, Whoberley 1760.
Plan and survey of Arthur Gregory (Kings Hill) 1787, also of Stivichall Grange. Stoneleigh Abbey, WWM Vol.1 No.4 April-June 1952.
Stoneleigh Villagers 1597-1650 Dr N.W.Alcock 1975.
People at Home, Living in a Warwickshire Village 1500-1800, Dr.N.W.Alcock, 1993 (relates also to Ashow).
The Leigh collection contains records which could be of great use to the family historian, e.g. Farm and estate books; weekly account of money paid to labourers 1765-1771; money paid to day men 1817-1818, 1821-1822; weekly books 1822-1901; rentals 1852-1917 relating to estates in Warwickshire and many other counties; the account of Thomas Stokes for carpenters' work done by himself and his men at the abbey and on the estate 1768-1770. STR (List at WAR )
Leigh family, letters and other papers relating to the Leigh family of Stoneleigh and Allestrop, Co.Gloucester 1745-1809. BIR
Stoneleigh Ledger Book, ed. R.H.Hilton, published 1960 by The Dugdale Society BMSGH(LL)

[Last updated: 18th March 2013 ]