1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nuneaton

NUNEATON, a market town and municipal borough in the Nuneaton parliamentary division of Warwickshire, England, on the river Anker, a tributary of the Tame, and on the Coventry canal. It is an important junction of the London and North Western railway, by which it is 97 m. N.W. from London, and it is served by the Leicester-Birmingham branch of the Midland railway. Pop. (1901) 24,996, rapidly increasing. The situation is low and almost encircled by rising ground. The church of St Nicholas is a large and handsome structure in various styles of architecture, and consists of nave, chancel and aisles, with a square embattled tower having pinnacles at the angles. It contains several interesting monuments. A free grammar school was founded in the reign of Edward VI., and an English free school for the instruction of forty boys and thirty girls by Richard Smith in 1712. The ribbon industry is of less importance than formerly, but there are ironworks, cotton, hat, elastic and worsted factories, and tanneries; the making of drain-pipes, tiles and blue and red bricks is a considerable industry. In the neighbourhood there are also coal and ironstone mines. The prefix of the name of the town is derived from a priory of nuns founded here in 1150. In the reign of Henry III. a weekly market was granted to the prioress. Nuneaton was incorporated in 1907, and the corporation consists of a mayor, six aldermen and twelve councillors. Area 10,597 acres.