This then and now comparison shows a pre-war view of the clock tower at Abbey End. It can be identified as pre-war simply because it shows part of Lord Leycester’s Lodge (extreme right) which was destroyed by the Luftwaffe parachute mine of November 1940. We can also see the steps beneath the clock tower, later… Read More The Square and Lord Leycester’s Lodge – Then & Now
This Then & Now comparison shows the site of another casualty of the night of the 21st of November 1940, when a lone Luftwaffe bomber dropped a parachute mine over Abbey End. This is where a centuries old timber framed building known as Lord Leycester’s Lodge stood until it was fatally damaged during the tragic… Read More Site of Lord Leycester’s Lodge – Then & Now
This postcard of The Square can be dated between 1906 when the clock tower was constructed and the 1930s when alterations were made to the buildings comprising Numbers 1 & 2, The Square behind the clocktower. Long distance shots of the same scene can be found in previous Then & Now comparisons here and here.… Read More Postcard of The Square & Clock Tower – Then & Now
This week’s Then & Now comparison is provided by two local guest contributors who worked in Kenilworth’s NatWest Bank branch before it closed on the 13th of June 2017. The pictures were kindly supplied by Kally Radcliffe to mark the branch’s closure. The text was provided by another ex-branch employee Mark Francis, taken from a… Read More NatWest Bank – Then & Now
This mid-1960s image shows a rank of shops on the west side of The Square, opposite the clock tower, which survived the blitz and look remarkably unchanged today. A lost telephone box and belisha beacon represent pretty much the only substantial changes in the foreground of the image. Parking was still permitted along Warwick Road… Read More The West Side of The Square – Then & Now
This scene of Warwick Road and The Square is much like many other postcards of the scene from the era. It does however show The Square before the Clock Tower was built in 1906. The right hand side of the scene is not unfamiliar to modern eyes. The buildings either side of Station Road, including… Read More The Square from Warwick Road – Then & Now
Possibly the saddest casualty of the November 1941 Luftwaffe parachute mine, after the tragic loss of life itself of course, was the wonderful property at 1 Borrowell Lane known as Lord Leycester’s Lodge, shown here in an early 20th century postcard view. The origins of Lord Leycester’s Lodge are somewhat lost in the mists of… Read More Lord Leycester’s Lodge – Then & Now
The chipping away of pre-20th Century buildings on Warwick Road during the last 75 years has left us with numerous Then & Now examples such as this one. Listed building status didn’t exist until the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 and even then it only really applied to exceptional historic properties. Local conservation pressure… Read More Poundland – Then & Now
This unusual postcard, dated 1906, shows the clock tower in The Square during its construction. The scaffolding and hoardings are still in place, the stonework appears to have been completed but the clock faces and weather vane are yet to be added. In the background we can see the buildings of Abbey End as they… Read More The Clock Tower – Then & Now
The Square must have been established along with the building of the new Castle End borough on lands granted to the de Clintons as lords of the castle manor in the early 12th Century as a result of a charter issued by the pope on land issued to them by Henry I. Residents of the… Read More The Square from the Clock Tower – Then & Now
This fascinating aerial view of Kenilworth is dated May 1920, and was obtained from the absorbing Britain From Above website. To the modern eye this scene is notable for the amount of green space that surrounded the now very much built-up Warwick Road area. In fact, it takes a while to familiarise yourself with some… Read More Warwick Road Aerial Photo – Then & Now
The De Montfort Hotel (now the Holiday Inn) opened in 1967, occupying part of the site destroyed by the landmine of the 21st November 1940. Historically, the Square had been more of an intimate affair, comprising a cozy triangular area enclosed by low rise buildings on all sides. The ‘then’ picture shows that at this… Read More De Montfort Hotel – Then & Now
The Square, early 1960s and in December 2015. At first glance, little has changed between the two images. However, a handful of the buildings on the left of the clock tower survived the landmine of November 1940 before being cleared for the post-war Abbey End redevelopment, as shown in the modern image. Up until the early… Read More The Clock Tower Post-War – Then & Now
The King’s Arms & Castle, 1960s. According to Rob Steward’s “The Inns and Roads of Kenilworth” (Odibourne Press, 2000) the “King’s Arms Inn” was the venue of the Abbey Courts Leet in 1563 and remained so until the nineteenth century. By the nineteenth century, Coaches used to call in at the King’s Arms ‘from a… Read More The King’s Arms & Castle – Then & Now
The Square, early 1960s. Where the roundabout now stands once stood an elegant building with grand bay-windows, which can be seen on many a postcard of the Square from before the turn of the century. The ‘then’ image above shows its somewhat truncated state in the early late 1960s, following a number of enforced reductions in its… Read More The Square, Early 1960s – Then & Now
UPDATED 19/02/2016: I am very much indebted to the incomparable Robin Leach for correcting the inaccuracies in the previous version of this text. The ‘then’ image above shows an early 20th Century postcard of The Square, taken from the junction with Station Road and Warwick Road with its equivalent image from December 2015. On the… Read More Postcard of The Square – Then & Now
Pre-war postcard of The Square, Abbey End, taken from the War Memorial end looking towards the clock tower. Following the landmine on 21st November 1940, all the buildings on the left were destroyed or damaged beyond repair. The rubble was later cleared to make way for a temporary carpark until the Square was redeveloped in… Read More The Square, Abbey End – Then & Now