The best running trails around Sherbourne

The Tudor House has been closed for a few years, now. There are a couple of pubs/bars nearby, The Castle Pub next to the Tudor is vibrant, the Old Post Office is quirky and traditional and the Four Penny nearby has rooms and great food.

West Gate is a grade I listed stone archway that dates back to the 12th Century. Located at the junction of the High Street and Bowling Green Street in Warwick town centre, the structure was one of three gates through Warwick’s medieval town wall and supports St James Chapel which forms part of the Lord Leycester Hospital. The A429 High Street passes to the south of the structure but the pedestrian footway passes through the archway. The archway is constructed from a type of sandstone that is susceptible to a form of erosion called contour scaling. This results in a hardened crust breaking away from the face of the stone revealing a softer granular layer beneath. Much of West Gate’s masonry is heavily eroded, particularly on the outside elevation that faces the High Street and the vaulted section of the archway, beneath the chapel’s bell tower.

JRR Tolkien married Edith Bratt here at St Mary Immaculate on 22 March 1916. There is a display board in the Martyr's Room displaying further information, photographs and a copy of the Marriage Certificate.

St. Mary Immaculate is an active Roman Catholic parish church in the town of Warwick, England. It lies to the south west of the town on West Street outside the West Gate. The church was opened on 12 May 1860. The architect was Edward Welby Pugin, eldest son of the more famous Augustus Pugin. The church is built in red brick and Bath stone in the Decorated Gothic style and is a Grade II listed building. St Mary Immaculate was probably the first church in England to be dedicated to the Immaculate Conception after the definition of the dogma in 1854. During the First World War (1914–1918) J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of over 56 books, including The Lord of the Rings, married parishioner Edith Mary Bratt in the church on 22 March 1916. The church is linked to St. Mary Immaculate Catholic Primary School which was originally next to the church. This building is now the church hall and St. Mary Immaculate Catholic primary school occupies a much larger site next to Priory park.

A Presbyterian society was in existence by 1691, which became increasingly Unitarian in character after the mid 18th century. Prior to 1780 the meeting house stood on a site now enclosed within the grounds of the castle; it is described as a converted house, ‘an old building of timber in squares, plastered over, and whitewashed’. The present building was registered in 1781. The front and rear walls are of sandstone ashlar, the side walls of brick, and the roof, originally tiled, is now slated. A brick and tiled chancel was added in 1862-3. The interior (12m by 8.6m) has been much altered in the late 19th century and was refitted in 1983.

The Guild of Warwick included among its charitable work the support of eight poor women, who were said to have been housed in part of the guild buildings. It is not clear how these almswomen were maintained after the guild's dissolution, but by 1582 they were receiving parish relief. In the next century the Priory estate provided a quarterly payment of 34s. 8d. and a clothing allowance, administered by the bailiff of Warwick and the Vicar of St. Mary's. By 1826 eight widows lived in four houses and received 13d. quarterly. After the death of Mr. Henry Wise, owner of the Woodcote estate, in 1883 no new inmates were appointed, but three years later seven women were still in residence, two receiving 2s. 6d. a quarter and five 13d. In 1888 the Misses Louisa and Julia Harris financed the demolition of the almshouses and erected the four which now stand by the West Gate. One of these ladies, then Mrs. Trollope, by will proved in 1904, devised £1,000 to the almshouse trustees to be invested to provide 2s. each week to each of the four inmates. In 1956 the whole income, comprising a rent charge of £1 14s. 8d. on the Woodcote estate and the Trollope legacy, became part of the St. Mary's Almshouse Charity.

Park Cottage located at the entrance to Warwick Castle and formerly known as Park Lodge is a Grade II listed, timber framed property, which was built in the early 15th Century. Park Cottage belonged to the Earl of Warwick and indeed was sited within the boundaries of Warwick Castle from 1440-1978. The current Breakfast Room with its original sand-stone floor acted as the Dairy for the castle for a number of years. Park Cottage was sold in 1978 by the Earl of Warwick to a private individual who ran the Ground Floor as an Antique Shop until 1987. In 1987, Park Cottage became a Bed & Breakfast.

In 1845, Hill Close pasture land began to be divided into garden plots which Warwick tradesmen rented. They planted apple trees and soft fruit, grew vegetables and flowers and kept pigs and poultry. They built summerhouses of brick or wood in order to shelter from rain or to sit and enjoy the view across the Common. At a later date, the freeholds of these plots were purchased individually, though some were then sub-let. In the early twentieth century, part of Hill Close Gardens was sold off for housing in Linen Street and St Paul’s Close. Fortunately the remainder has been saved and restored.