BERKSWELL - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"BERKSWELL, (with Barston) a parish in the Solihull division of the hundred of Hemlingford, in the county of Warwick, 5 miles to the W. of Coventry, its post town. It is a station on the Birmingham and Leamington section of the London and North-Western railway. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Worcester, of the value of £796, in the patronage of the Rev. S. B. Shirreff, incumbent, who holds it with Barston (late a peculiar of Lichfield), value £180. The church of Berkeswell, an ancient building with a low tower, is dedicated to St. John the Baptist; that of Barston to St. Swithin. In the chancel of Berkeswell church are monuments of the Wilmot family. There is an endowed free school, and several other charities, which produce together about £200 per annum. Berkeswell House is the seat of Thomas Walker, Esq.

"BEECHWOOD, a village in the hundred of Hemlingford, in the county of Warwick, 4 miles to the W. of Coventry. The London and North-Western railway is here carried through a tunnel nearly 500 feet in length."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]