Luddington, Warwickshire

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Luddington
latitude= 52.1700944
longitude= -1.75998611
population = 457 in whole parish (2001) [2001 Census results [http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=800278&c=Luddington&d=16&e=15&g=494001&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&enc=1&dsFamilyId=781] ]
shire_district= Stratford-on-Avon
shire_county= Warwickshire
region= West Midlands
constituency_westminster= Stratford-on-Avon
post_town= Stratford-upon-Avon
postcode_district= CV37
postcode_area= Coventry
dial_code= 01789
os_grid_reference= SP165525

Luddington (pronEng|ˈlʌdɪŋtən) is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Warwickshire in the United Kingdom. It is located about five kilometres (three miles) outside the town of Stratford-upon-Avon on the banks of the river Avon and has views south over the Cotswolds. Facilities and communications include a phone box, a nineteenth-century church [Stratford-on-Avon District Council [http://www.stratford.gov.uk/community/community-1006.cfm] ] , a post box, a marina with a seventeenth century lock, a village green and a recently refurbished village hall originally built in 1953. The parish encompasses Dodwell (IPA|/ˈdɒdwɛl/) Caravan Park to the north of the village.

Economy

The village is largely a dormitory village, with the majority of the inhabitants working elsewhere, but there is a Veterinary Laboratory Agency and Bomfords industrial farm, which supplies some major retailers. Farming is the main activity within the village. Following the first suspected H5N1 bird flu outbreak in the UK, when a dead swan was found in Scotland, samples were sent to Luddington for testing. Bomfords has frequently been at loggerheads with the village residents, who took the company to court to prevent its vehicles driving through the village. The Dodwell Trading Estate offers another source of employment. Within the village, there is also a farrier and an organ building and repair business.

History

The name Luddington is of Anglo-Saxon origin meaning Luda's farmstead. Dodwell is also of Anglo-Saxon origin and means Dodda's well or spring.

The village was originally accessed via a road running from the Evesham road down through Dodwell. This then continued through a ford in the river to Milcote. This first part of this road is now a footpath and the second part no longer exists. The village was part of the Ragley estate belonging to the Marquis of Hertford.

The oldest building in the village is part of Boddington Farm, which dates from the 1600s. It marks the eastern boundary of the village's conservation area. During the English civil war, Robert Simcock's (Simcox) barn was emptied of its "carefully stored" apples by marauding troops. [Luddington Parish Plan [http://www.stratford.gov.uk/files/seealsodocs/5588/Luddington%20Parish%20Plan%202006.pdf] ]

Other important buildings include Sandfields Farm (now Luddington Grange), The Manor and The Cottage (now named The Old House). The Cottage's front garden is shown on some maps to have been the original site of the church, where it is rumoured that the playwright and poet William Shakespeare may have married Anne Hathaway. [Stratford-on-Avon District Council [http://www.stratford.gov.uk/community/community-1006.cfm] ] He may have waited in The Cottage before the ceremony. The current church is not the church that stood in the village in Shakespeare's time, but is a nineteenth-century replacement and is on a different site.

There are numerous half-timbered buildings and a former Methodist Chapel. Other more recent buildings have been allocated to the farm estates. The village green is the only remaining land belonging to the Marquis of Hertford of Ragley Hall at Arrow.

Village Life

The village has a several annual events including carols on the village green on Christmas Eve with a brass band and mulled wine. There is an annual village fête in the summer and quiz nights and dance classes in the village hall. Other activities include fishing, boating and canoeing. The route of the Stratford Marathon passes through the village. Dodwell Farm, about 2 km (1.5 miles) north of the village hosts occasional motocross events during the summer. There is no pub and The Cottage, formerly a pub, has a clause in the deeds stating that alcohol may not be sold on its premises. The television channel five cannot be received in the village.

Dodwell

The civil parish also includes the Dodwell caravan park about 1.5km (1 mile) north of the village proper. The construction of this park effectively doubled the parish's population and means that the parish has two separate centres of population. [Luddington Parish Plan [http://www.stratford.gov.uk/files/seealsodocs/5588/Luddington%20Parish%20Plan%202006.pdf] ] Dodwell was originally a farming hamlet on the Evesham Road from Stratford to Bidford west of Bordon Hill.

Youth

The young people of the parish all reside in the village proper with no children living in Dodwell. Those of school age tend to attend schools within Stratford-on-Avon district, usually either in Stratford-upon-Avon or Alcester. There are few facilities for young people, apart from the swings on the green. There are no schools in the parish.

Transport

There are limited bus services for both the village and Dodwell, but not between the two. [Warwickshire transport site [http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/corporate/BusTime.nsf/ByPlace?OpenView&Start=274&Count=30&Expand=283#283] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.stratford.gov.uk/files/seealsodocs/5588/Luddington%20Parish%20Plan%202006.pdf Luddington Parish Plan] contains detailed information about life in the parish, facilities and future improvements.