Ryton-on-Dunsmore

Infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Ryton-on-Dunsmore
latitude= 52.366814
longitude= -1.434499
civil_parish = Ryton-on-Dunsmore
population = 1,672 (2001)
shire_district= Rugby
shire_county= Warwickshire
region= West Midlands
constituency_westminster= Rugby and Kenilworth
post_town= COVENTRY
postcode_district = CV8
postcode_area= CV
dial_code= 024
os_grid_reference= SP3874

Ryton-on-Dunsmore is a village and civil parish in the Rugby district of Warwickshire, and is south-east of Coventry, England. The 2001 census recorded a population of 1,672 in the parish. [ [http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=4&containerAreaId=790539 ONS Neighbourhood Statistics] ] The A45 dual carriageway passes through the village.

Garden Organic, the UK's leading organic growing charity, has a ten-acre demonstration garden dedicated to organic gardening in the village. Ryton Pools Country Park is about a mile south-west of the village.

Notable inhabitants

The cyborg scientist, Kevin Warwick, grew up in the village in the 1960s and attended the local junior school.

The car plant

The former factory (also known as the Ryton Plant) was a feature of the village for more than 60 years. It was situated between the A45 (on the north-east) and the A423 (on the south-west) in Warwickshire. The south-east of the factory site bordered with Ryton-on-Dunsmore village.

The factory was originally constructed by the Rootes Group in 1940 to build aircraft engines during the Second World War. After the war it became the headquarters of the Rootes Group, but when the organisation entered financial difficulties in the 1960s the company (in stages) and thus the plant were taken over by American car-making giant Chrysler. Chrysler itself entered financial difficulties and sold the plant for a symbolic US$1.00 to PSA Peugeot Citroën in 1978.

Peugeot started building their 309 model there on 28 October 1985, and by the end of 1987 it had been joined by the 405. When 309 production ceased in early 1993, the 306 took its place and for a while was the mainstay of production after the 405's demise in the autumn of 1995. The second production line was revived over the summer of 1998 with the commencement of 206 production, and the 206 was the only car produced at the plant after the end of 306 production in the spring of 2001.

In April 2006, Peugeot decided that the Ryton plant would close during 2007. In the event, it closed on 12 December 2006 and the convert|140|acre|km2|sing=on site was sold to developer Trenport Investments Ltd for industrial use in March 2007. [ [http://www.abcmoney.co.uk/news/20200742500.htm PSA Peugeot Citroen agrees to sell Ryton site to Trenport Investments Limited ] ] Demolition of the plant began on 12 November 2007. [http://www.therugbyobserver.co.uk/news.tvt?_scope=Flow/Websites/Rugby/News&id=27878]

Coventry City Football Club

The Academy of Coventry City F.C., the Sky Blues Lodge, is based on the Leamington Road in the village. [ [http://www.ccfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Academy/0,,10269~1120043,00.html Academy Information | Coventry City | Team | Academy | Academy ] ]

References

External links

* [http://contaminationzone.com/Gallery22.php Photographic gallery on the closed down Peugeot plant in Ryton.]