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==History== {{Main|History of Rugby, Warwickshire}} ===Ancient history=== Early [[Iron Age]] settlement existed in the Rugby area: The [[River Avon, Warwickshire|River Avon]] formed a natural barrier between the [[Dobunni]] and [[Corieltauvi]] tribes, and it is likely that defended frontier settlements were set up on each side of the Avon valley. Rugby's position on a hill overlooking the Avon, made it an ideal location for a defended Dobunni watch settlement. During the [[Roman Britain|Roman period]] the Roman town of [[Tripontium]] was established on the [[Watling Street]] [[Roman road]] around {{convert|3.4|miles|km}} north-east of what is now Rugby, this was later abandoned when the Romans left Britain.<ref name="RGOAT"/> ===Medieval=== [[File:St Andrew's Church west tower 3.23.jpg|thumb|upright|The west tower of St Andrew's Church, dating from the 13th or 14th century]] The small settlement at Rugby was taken over by the [[Anglo-Saxons]] around 560 AD, and it was mentioned in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 as ''Rocheberie''; there are several theories about the origin of the name; one is that it is derived from an old [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] name ''droche-brig'' meaning 'wild hilltop'.<ref name="Pernell">{{cite book |last1=Pernell |first1=Sarah |title=Rugby |date=2006 |isbn=1-85937-620-7}}</ref> Another theory is that ''Rocheberie'' was a phonetic translation of the [[Old English]] name ''Hrocaberg'' meaning 'Hroca's hill fortification'; ''Hroca'' being an Anglo-Saxon man's name pronounced with a silent 'H', and ''berg'' being a name for a hill fortification, with the 'g' being pronounced as an 'ee' sound. The first part of the name may also be Old English ''hrōc'' (> "rook"). By the 13th century the name of the town was commonly spelt as ''Rokeby'' (or ''Rookby'') before gradually evolving into the modern form by the 18th century.<ref name="RGOAT">{{cite book |last1=Osbourne |first1=Andy |first2=Eddy |last2=Rawlins|title=Rugby: Growth of a Town |date=1988}}</ref><ref name="Unott">{{cite web |title=Key to English place-names |url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Warwickshire/Rugby |website=University of Nottingham |access-date=19 December 2024}}</ref> In 1140, the first recorded mention was made of [[St Andrew's Church, Rugby|St Andrew's Church]], which was originally a [[chapel of ease]] to the mother church at [[Clifton-upon-Dunsmore]], until Rugby was established as a [[Parish (Church of England)|parish]] in its own right in 1221, at which point it was elevated to the status of [[parish church]]. In 1255, the [[lord of the manor]] Henry de Rokeby obtained a charter to hold a weekly [[Marketplace|market]] in Rugby, which soon developed into a small country [[market town]].<ref name="Rughistim">{{cite web|title=Rugby history timeline|url=https://www.rugby-local-history.org/timeline/|publisher=Rugby Local History Research Group|access-date=30 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920204515/http://www.rugby-local-history.org/index.php/history?id=114|archive-date=20 September 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 12th century, Rugby was mentioned as having a [[castle]] at the location of what is now Regent Place. However, the nature of the 'castle' is unknown, and it was possibly little more than a fortified [[manor house]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Site of a Possible Medieval Manor House or Castle at Regent Place |url=https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/catalogue_her/site-of-a-possible-medieval-manor-house-or-castle-at-regent-place |publisher=Our Warwickshire |access-date=27 December 2021}}</ref> In any event, the 'castle' may have been short lived: It has been speculated that it was constructed early in the reign of [[Stephen of England|King Stephen]] (1135–1154) during the period of civil war known as [[The Anarchy]], and then, as a so-called [[adulterine castle]], built without Royal approval, demolished in around 1157 on the orders of King [[Henry II of England|Henry II]]. The earthworks for the castle were still clearly visible as late as the 19th century, but have since been built over. According to one theory, the stones from the castle were later used to construct the west tower of St Andrew's Church, which bears strong resemblance to a castle, and was probably intended for use in a defensive as well as a religious role.<ref name="RGOAT"/><ref name="Wait1">{{cite web |last1=Wait |first1=Rev W. O. |title=Rugby:past and present, with an historical account of neighbouring parishes. |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406212122/http://access.bl.uk/item/pdf/lsidyv2ae4164a |pages=38–47 |date=1893}}</ref> ===17th century=== The Rugby area has associations with the [[Gunpowder Plot]] of 1605: On the eve of the plot, the plotters stayed at the 'Lion Inn' (now a private residence called 'Guy Fawkes House') in nearby [[Dunchurch]], convened by Sir [[Everard Digby]], awaiting news of [[Guy Fawkes]]'s attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament. If he had been successful they planned to kidnap the King's daughter [[Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia|Princess Elizabeth]] from [[Coombe Abbey]] in the countryside between Rugby and Coventry.<ref>{{cite web |title=Remember, remember the Gunpowder Plot's Warwickshire roots |url=https://rugbyobserver.co.uk/news/remember-remember-the-gunpowder-plots-warwickshire-roots/ |publisher=Rugby Observer |access-date=5 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Warwickshire and the Gunpowder Plot 1605 |url=https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/article/warwickshire-gunpowder-plot-1605 |publisher=Our Warwickshire |access-date=5 May 2024}}</ref> During the [[English Civil War]], one of the earliest armed confrontations of the conflict took place at the nearby village of [[Kilsby]] in August 1642.<ref name="NVB">{{cite book |title=The Northamptonshire Village Book |date=1989 |publisher=NFWI and Countryside Books |isbn=1-85306-055-0 |pages=105–106}}</ref> That same year, King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] passed through Rugby on his way to [[Nottingham]], and 120 [[Cavalier]] Horse Troops reportedly stayed at the town, however the townsfolk were sympathetic to the [[Roundhead|Parliamentarian]] cause, and they were disarmed by the Cavalier soldiers. Later, in 1645, Rugby was strongly Parliamentarian, and [[Oliver Cromwell]] and two regiments of [[Roundhead]] soldiers stayed at Rugby in April that year, two months before the decisive [[Battle of Naseby]], some {{convert|12|miles|km}} to the east, in nearby [[Northamptonshire]].<ref name="RGOAT"/><ref name="Rughistim"/> ===Influence of Rugby School=== [[Rugby School]] was founded in 1567 with money left in the will of [[Lawrence Sheriff]], a locally born man, who had moved to London and made his fortune as the grocer to [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth I]]. Sheriff had intended Rugby School to be a free [[grammar school]] for local boys, but by the 18th century it had acquired a national reputation and gradually became a mostly fee-paying private school, with most of its pupils coming from outside Rugby. The [[Lawrence Sheriff School]] was eventually founded in 1878 to continue Sheriff's original intentions.<ref>{{cite web|title=SHERIFF, Lawrence|url=http://www.rugby-local-history.org/index.php/biographies?id=97|publisher=Rugby Local History Group|access-date=11 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412001354/http://www.rugby-local-history.org/index.php/biographies?id=97|archive-date=12 April 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Rughistim"/> [[File:The High Street, Rugby, 1830.jpg|thumb|Rugby High Street in 1830]] Until the 19th century, Rugby was a small and relatively unimportant settlement, with only its school giving it any notability. Its growth was slow, due in part to the nearby markets at [[Dunchurch]] and [[Hillmorton]] which were better positioned in terms of road traffic. In 1663 Rugby was recorded as containing 160 houses with a population of around 650. By 1730 this had increased to 183 houses, with a population of around 900. Rugby's importance and population increased more rapidly during the late 18th and early 19th century due to the growing national reputation of Rugby School, which had moved from its original location at a (now long vanished) schoolhouse north of St Andrew's Church, to its present location south of the town centre by 1750. By the time of the first national census in 1801, Rugby had a population of 1,487 with 278 houses. By 1831 this had increased further to 2,501 in 415 houses. This growth was driven by parents who wished to send their boys to Rugby School, but were unable to afford the boarding fees and so took up residence in Rugby, this in turn attracted domestic staff and tradesmen to the town to service the needs of the newcomers.<ref name="RFASPAST">''Rugby, Further Aspects Of The Past'' (1977) Rugby Local History Group</ref><ref name="BHOL"/><ref name="RGOAT"/> ===Railway town=== At the dawn of the [[railway]] age in the early-[[19th century]], Rugby found itself ideally positioned as a meeting place for various railway lines, consequently a major railway junction grew up here, and Rugby became a nationally important railway centre: The first railway arrived in 1838 when one of the earliest inter-city main lines, the [[London and Birmingham Railway]] (L&BR) was constructed around the town. In 1840 the [[Midland Counties Railway]] made a junction with the L&BR at Rugby, which was followed by a junction with the [[Trent Valley Railway]] in 1847. A [[Rugby and Stamford Railway|line to Peterborough]] opened in 1850, followed by a [[Rugby–Leamington line|line to Leamington]] in 1851, by which time there were more than sixty trains a day passing through [[Rugby railway station]] via the five converging lines. A [[Northampton loop|line to Northampton]] opened in 1881, and finally the [[Great Central Main Line]] opened in 1899.<ref name="RFASPAST"/><ref name="Pernell"/> Rugby was transformed into a [[railway town]], and the influx of railway workers and their families rapidly expanded the population.<ref name="Rughistim"/> Rugby's population grew to nearly 8,000 by 1861.<ref name="BHOL"/> reaching nearly 17,000 by 1901. By which time around 1 in 5 Rugbeians were employed by the railways.<ref name="Histpop">{{cite web|title=Administrative unit Rugby MB/UD Local Government District|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10002485/cube/TOT_POP|publisher=Vision of Britain|access-date=7 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308103209/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10002485/cube/TOT_POP|archive-date=8 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Pernell"/> [[File:Ordnance_Survey_One-Inch_Sheet_132_Coventry_and_Rugby,_Published_1946_(Rugby_crop).jpg|thumb|left|Map of Rugby from 1946]] ===Growth of industry=== The arrival of the railways had the effect of transforming Rugby from a rural backwater, into a substantial industrial town. In the later half of the 19th century, local industries began to develop: Large-scale [[cement]] production began in the town in 1862 when the [[Rugby Cement|Rugby Lias Lime & Cement Company Ltd]] was founded to take advantage of the locally available deposits of [[Blue Lias]] [[limestone]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Rugby Portland Cement Company Ltd. |url=https://www.cementkilns.co.uk/cc_rpcc.html |publisher=Cement Kilns |access-date=25 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026025059/https://www.cementkilns.co.uk/cc_rpcc.html |archive-date=26 October 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="RGOAT"/> A factory producing [[corset]]s was opened in 1882, employing local women, this survived until 1992, by which time it was making swimwear.<ref name="Rughistim"/> In the 1890s and 1900s heavy [[engineering]] and electrical industries began to set up in Rugby, attracted by its central location and good transport links, causing the town to rapidly grow into a major industrial centre: [[Willans and Robinson]] were the first engineering firm to arrive in 1897,<ref>{{cite web|title=THE WILLANS WORKS|url=https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/article/power-people-willans-works|publisher=Our Warwickshire|access-date=7 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308103605/https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/article/power-people-willans-works|archive-date=8 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> building steam engines to drive electrical generators, they were followed by [[British Thomson-Houston]] (BTH) in 1902, who manufactured electrical motors and generators. Within a short time, their product range expanded, and a wide array of electrical equipment came to be produced by BTH at Rugby. Both firms started producing [[turbine]]s in 1904, and were in competition until both were united as part of [[General Electric Company|GEC]] in 1969. Another name associated with Rugby was [[Lodge Plugs]], manufacturer of [[spark plug]]s, who set up a factory in the town in 1916.<ref name="RLHGind">{{cite web|title=Industrial Town – From 1836 to now|url=https://www.rugby-local-history.org/industrial-town-from-1836-to-now/|publisher=Rugby Local History Group|access-date=7 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308104242/http://www.rugby-local-history.org/index.php/industry?id=75|archive-date=8 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> For most of the 20th century, the various engineering works dominated employment in Rugby; at their height in the 1960s, BTH alone employed around 22,000 people.<ref name="WWBTH">{{cite web |title=Trip down memory lane for BTH workers in Rugby – and remembering when the town won at Wembley |url=https://www.warwickshireworld.com/heritage-and-retro/retro/trip-down-memory-lane-for-bth-workers-in-rugby-and-remembering-when-the-town-won-at-wembley-3853912 |publisher=Warwickshire World |access-date=4 October 2022 |date=23 September 2022}}</ref> Rugby expanded rapidly in the early decades of the 20th century as workers moved in. By the 1940s, the population of Rugby had grown to over 40,000, and then to over 50,000 by the 1960s.<ref name="Histpop"/> ===Civic history=== The parish of Rugby was made a [[local board of health|local board district]] in 1849, which was the town's first modern form of local government; previously it had been governed by its [[vestry]] and [[manorial court]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=21020|page=2853|date=18 September 1849}}</ref> The local board's main responsibilities were to provide the town with infrastructure such as paved roads, street lighting, clean drinking water and sewerage. Such districts were converted into [[Urban district (England and Wales)|urban districts]] in 1894.<ref>[[Local Government Act 1894]]</ref> Rugby's status was upgraded to that of a [[municipal borough]] in 1932, and its boundaries were expanded to incorporate the formerly separate villages of [[Bilton, Warwickshire|Bilton]] (including [[New Bilton]]), [[Hillmorton]], [[Brownsover]] and [[Newbold-on-Avon]] which have become suburbs of the town.<ref name="BHOL">{{cite web|title=THE BOROUGH OF RUGBY|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol6/pp202-210|publisher=British History Online|access-date=7 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308042739/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol6/pp202-210|archive-date=8 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="visionofbritain.org">[http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp;jsessionid=E23CCC271601732AAC9B20DF4AA61813?u_id=10002485 visionofbritain.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930210612/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp;jsessionid=E23CCC271601732AAC9B20DF4AA61813?u_id=10002485 |date=30 September 2007 }}</ref> In 1974 the municipal borough was merged with the [[Rugby Rural District]] to form the present [[Borough of Rugby]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Timeline History of Rugby|url=http://www.visitoruk.com/Rugby/20th-century-T1535.html|publisher=VisitorUK|access-date=4 May 2018}}</ref> ===Modern history=== In the postwar years, Rugby became a major junction of the [[motorway]] network, with the [[M1 motorway|M1]] and [[M6 motorway|M6]], and [[M45 motorway|M45]] merging close to the town. The railways went into decline during the same period, with several of the railway lines into Rugby closed. Since the 1980s, the engineering industries have gone into steady decline, with many former industrial sites redeveloped for housing and retail. Due to its proximity to the motorway network, Rugby has become a major [[#Logistics|centre for logistics]], becoming, in some definitions, part of the area known as the [[golden logistics triangle]].<ref name="RLHGind"/><ref name="ONSlog"/> In the 21st century, Rugby's urban area has undergone further expansion with large new developments at [[Cawston, Warwickshire|Cawston]] and the large new development of [[Houlton, Warwickshire|Houlton]] on the site of the former [[Rugby Radio Station]] to the east of the town. ===Fame=== [[File:Rugby School 06.jpg|thumb|right|[[Rugby School]].]] Rugby is most famous for the invention of [[rugby football]], which is played throughout the world. The invention of the game is credited to [[William Webb Ellis]], a [[Rugby School]] pupil who, according to legend, broke the existing rules of football by picking up the ball and running with it at a match played in 1823. Although there is little evidence to support this story, the school is credited with codifying and popularising the sport. In 1845, three Rugby School pupils produced the first written rules of the "Rugby style of game".<ref name="BBC6ways"/> Rugby School is one of England's oldest and most prestigious [[public school (England)|public schools]], and was the setting of [[Thomas Hughes]]'s semi-autobiographical masterpiece ''[[Tom Brown's Schooldays]],'' published in 1857.<ref name="BBC6ways"/> Hughes later set up a colony in America for the younger sons of the English gentry, who could not inherit under the laws of [[primogeniture]], naming the town Rugby. The settlement of [[Rugby, Tennessee]] still exists.<ref>{{cite news |title=Typhoid, tomatoes and Tom Brown's Schooldays - the story of the rise and fall of Rugby, Tennessee | date=19 August 2020 |url=https://www.rugbyadvertiser.co.uk/news/people/typhoid-tomatoes-and-tom-browns-schooldays-story-rise-and-fall-rugby-tennessee-2946947?itm_source=parsely-api |work=Rugby Advertiser |access-date=24 August 2020}}</ref> Rugby School is said to have been a major inspiration behind the revival of the [[Olympic Games]]: the French educator, and father of the modern Olympics [[Pierre de Coubertin]], visited Rugby School several times in the late 19th century, and cited the school as one of his major inspirations behind his decision to revive the Olympic Games.<ref name="BBC6ways"/> Rugby is a birthplace of the [[jet engine]]. In April 1937 [[Frank Whittle]] built and tested the world's [[Power Jets WU|first prototype]] jet engine at the [[British Thomson-Houston]] (BTH) works in Rugby, and during 1936–41 based himself at [[Brownsover Hall]] on the outskirts, where he designed and developed early prototype engines. Much of his work was carried out at nearby [[Lutterworth]]. Whittle is commemorated in Rugby by a [[Frank Whittle#Rugby, England|modern sculpture]] near the town hall dating from 2005, made by [[Stephen Broadbent]].<ref name="OWWhittle">{{cite web |title=SIR FRANK WHITTLE, INVENTOR OF THE JET ENGINE |url=https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/article/sir-frank-whittle-inventor-turbo-jet-engine |publisher=Our Warwickshire |access-date=16 June 2020}}</ref><ref name="BBC6ways"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Winning ways to hail jet pioneer |url=https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/local-news/winning-ways-hail-jet-pioneer-3137042 |work=Coventry Telegraph |access-date=16 June 2020 |date=24 March 2005}}</ref> [[Holography]] was invented in Rugby in 1947, by the [[Hungary|Hungarian]] born inventor [[Dennis Gabor]], also while working at BTH. For this he later received the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1971.<ref name="OWGabor">{{cite web |title=DENNIS GABOR, RUGBY NOBEL LAUREATE |url=https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/article/dennis-gabor-rugby-nobel-laureate |publisher=Our Warwickshire |access-date=16 June 2020}}</ref> In the 19th century, Rugby became famous for its once important [[railway]] junction which was the setting for [[Charles Dickens]]'s story ''[[Mugby Junction]]''.
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