Allesley


Allesley is an English suburban village and civil parish in the City of Coventry metropolitan borough, West Midlands, about 3 miles north-west of Coventry city centre. According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 805, which increased to 837 at the 2011 Census. However, this did not include the neighbouring districts of Allesley Park and Allesley Green. Until 1998 it was home to the main Jaguar car assembly plant at Browns Lane.

The parish

The parish of Allesley covers a much larger area than the village itself, which is based around Washbrook Lane, Browns Lane and Hawkesmill Lane. The parish incorporates the ancient Ardens of Pinketts Booth, Pickford, Pickford Green, Harvest Hill, Hawkes End, Hollyberry End, Wall Hill, and Brownshill Green. The suburbs of Allesley Park and Allesley Green lie to the south and west. Allesley Park is a district developed between the 1950s and 1970s to the east of the A45 and due south of Allesley. Allesley Green, built in the late-1980s, lies a quarter of a mile SW of Allesley. The combined population of the three main districts is about 4000.
Allesley Village denotes the area east the Birmingham Road, including West Point. Although this is largely a dormitory community for Coventry, it retains several aspects of a separate village. Most of the old village is a conservation area on a low ridge of ground between the River Sherbourne and a tributary of it, the Pickford Brook.

History

Allesley grew around the 800-year-old All Saints Church. Its spire is prominent on the skyline of the village. The church, originally built around 1140, was rebuilt in 1863 and remains relatively unaltered since then. A noted writer on husbandry, Walter Blith, was baptised there on 7 August 1605.
The Birmingham Road, which runs through the village, was part of the turnpike trunk road built in 1821–1824 by Thomas Telford between Holyhead and London. A toll house originally stood at the junction of Holyhead Road and Allesley Old Road. The tolls were discontinued by Act of Parliament in 1871, and the former toll house was demolished in the mid-1930s.
Allesley was home to the Browns Lane Jaguar car plant and its national showroom, which closed in the late 1990s. Wood veneer production for Jaguar continued until the mid-2000s, after which the land was sold to developers.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Allesley is twinned with:
The parish has an amateur rugby union club, Barkers Butts Rugby Football Club, which plays at the Bob Coward Memorial Ground, just off Pickford Grange Lane. Formed in 1946, it was originally based in Keresley until it moved to Allesley in 1975.