WILLOUGHBY - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"WILLOUGHBY, a parish and watering-place in the Rugby division of Knightlow hundred, county Warwick, 3 miles S.E. of Dunchurch, and 6 S. of Rugby. It is supposed to have been a Roman station from the many Roman antiquities discovered in the neighbourhood, and is mentioned in Domesday survey as Milebei, or Wilbere, from which its present name is derived. The village, which is situated on the main road from London to Holyhead, near the Grand Junction canal and river Leam, was formerly of more importance than at present, and had a market and fair.

In the present century it has been again growing into notice, owing to the discovery of sulphurous and saline springs similar to those of Harrogate. The spa, which is situated about a mile from the village, has a pump-room and baths. The land is in a high state of cultivation. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Worcester, value £220, in the patronage of Magdalen College, Oxford. The church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, contains several ancient monuments, brasses, and effigies of the Clerke family, and a window at the W. end. There are a chapel for Primitive Methodists and an endowed National school founded in 1816. The charities produce near £500 per annum, including the school endowment."

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