View source for Warwickshire

{| border=1 cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width=250 style=margin-left:10px
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!colspan=2 align=center bgcolor="#ff9999"|Warwickshire
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|colspan=2 align=center|[[File:County Flag of Warwickshire.svg|220px]]<br>[[File:EnglandWarwickshire.png]]
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!colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Geography
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|width="45%"|Status:||[[Ceremonial counties of England|Ceremonial]] & [[Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England|Non-metropolitan]] county
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|Region:||[[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]]
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|[[Surface area|Area]]:<br>- Total<br>- Admin. council||[[List of Ceremonial counties of England by Area|Ranked 31st]]<br>[[1 E9 m²|1,975]] [[square kilometre|km²]]<br>[[List of Administrative shire counties of England by Area|Ranked 28th]]
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|Admin HQ:||[[Warwick]]
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|[[ISO 3166-2:GB|ISO 3166-2]]:||GB-WAR
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|[[ONS coding system|ONS code]]:||44
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|[[Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics|NUTS]] 3:||UKG13
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!colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Demographics
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|[[Population]]:<br />- Total ({{English statistics year}})<br />- [[Density]]<br />- Admin. Council
|[[List of ceremonial counties of England by population|Ranked {{English cerem counties|RNK=Warwickshire}}]]<br />{{English cerem counties|POP=Warwickshire}}<br />{{English cerem counties|DEN=Warwickshire}} / km²<br />[[List of non-metropolitan counties of England by population|Ranked {{English admin counties|RNK=Warwickshire}}]]
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|Ethnicity:||95.6% White<br>2.8% S.Asian
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!colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Politics
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| colspan=2 style="text-align: center;" | <br />Warwickshire County Council<br />http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/
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|colspan=2 align=center|[[File:Escut Warwickshire.png|220px]]
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|Executive:||{{English county control|CTY=Warwickshire}}
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|[[MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005|MPs]]:||[[John Maples]], [[Mike O'Brien (politician)|Mike O'Brien]], [[Bill Olner]], [[James Plaskitt]], [[Jeremy Wright (politician)|Jeremy Wright]]
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!colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Districts
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|colspan=2|<center>[[File:Warwickshire Numbered.png]]</center>
<small><br>[[media:Warwickshiremap 700.jpg|Larger version]]</small>
# [[North Warwickshire]]
# [[Nuneaton and Bedworth]]
# [[Rugby (borough)|Rugby]]
# [[Stratford-on-Avon (district)|Stratford-on-Avon]]
# [[Warwick (district)|Warwick]]
|}

'''Warwickshire''' ([[IPA chart for English|pronounced]] /{{IPA|ˈwɒɹɪkˌʃə}}/, /{{IPA|ˈwɔːɹɪkˌʃə}}/, or /{{IPA|ˈwɔːɹɪkˌʃɪə}}/) is a [[county]] in central [[England]]. The [[county town]] is [[Warwick]]. The shape of the administrative area Warwickshire differs considerably from that of the [[historic counties of England|historic county]]. Commonly used abbreviations for the county are '''Warks''' or '''Warwicks'''.

Warwickshire is perhaps best known for being the birthplace of [[William Shakespeare]] from [[Stratford-upon-Avon]]. The county has also produced other literary figures such as [[George Eliot]] (from near [[Nuneaton]]), [[Rupert Brooke]] (from [[Rugby, Warwickshire|Rugby]]), and [[Michael Drayton]] from [[Hartshill]].

==Geography==
Warwickshire is bounded to the northwest by the [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]] [[metropolitan county]], and [[Staffordshire]], by [[Leicestershire]] to the northeast, [[Northamptonshire]] to the east, [[Worcestershire]] to the west, [[Oxfordshire]] to the south, [[Gloucestershire]] to the southwest.

The majority of Warwickshire's population live in the north and centre of the county. The market towns of northern and eastern Warwickshire were industrialised in the [[19th century]], and include [[Atherstone]], [[Bedworth]], [[Nuneaton]], and [[Rugby, Warwickshire|Rugby]]. Major industries included [[UK Coal|coal mining]], [[textiles]], [[engineering]], and [[cement]] production, but heavy industry is in decline. Of the northern and eastern towns, only Nuneaton and Rugby (as the birthplace of Rugby football) are well known outside of Warwickshire. The rich towns of central and western Warwickshire include [[Leamington Spa]], [[Stratford-upon-Avon]], [[Kenilworth]], [[Alcester]], and [[Warwick]]. They have light to medium industries, [[services]], and [[tourism]] as major [[employer]]s.

The south of the county is largely rural and has little population, and includes a small area of the [[Cotswolds]]. The only town in the south of Warwickshire is [[Shipston-on-Stour]]. The highest point in the county, at 261&nbsp;m (856&nbsp;ft), is [[Ebrington Hill]] on the border with [[Gloucestershire]], GR SP187426 at its southwest extremity.

There are no cities in Warwickshire since both [[Coventry]] and [[Birmingham]] were incorporated into the West Midlands county in 1974. The largest towns in Warwickshire as of 2004 are: Nuneaton (pop. 77,500), Rugby (62,700), Leamington Spa (45,300), and Bedworth (32,500). Stratford, Warwick, and Kenilworth all house populations with more than 20,000 inhabitants, the smaller towns of [[Atherstone]], [[Alcester]], [[Coleshill]], [[Southam]], [[Bulkington]], [[Polesworth]], [[Kingsbury, Warwickshire|Kingsbury]], [[Henley-in-Arden]], [[Studley]], [[Shipston-on-Stour|Shipston]] and [[Whitnash]] have populations between 5,000 and 12,000.

Historically much of western Warwickshire, was covered by the ancient [[Forest of Arden]] (although most of this was cut down to provide fuel for industrialisation in the 17th to 19th centuries). For this reason, the names of a number of places in the northwestern part of Warwickshire end with the phrase "-in-Arden".

===Historic boundaries===
[[File:Warwickshiremap 700.jpg|right|thumb|300px|A detailed map]]

Areas historically part of Warwickshire include [[Coventry]], [[Solihull]], and most of [[Birmingham]]. These became part of the [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]] [[metropolitan county]] following local government re-organisation in [[1974]].

Since [[1986]] Birmingham, Coventry, and Solihull have been effective [[unitary authority|unitary authorities]], but they still remain legally part of the West Midlands.

Some organisations, such as [[Warwickshire County Cricket Club]], which is based in [[Edgbaston]], in Birmingham, still observe the [[Historic counties of England|historic county]] boundaries.

Coventry is effectively in the centre of the Warwickshire area, and still has strong ties with the county. Coventry and Warwickshire are sometimes treated as a single area and share a single [[NHS trust]] and [[ambulance]] service as well as other institutions.

The town of [[Tamworth]] was historically divided between Warwickshire and [[Staffordshire]], but since [[1888]] has been fully in Staffordshire.

In [[1931]], Warwickshire got the town of [[Shipston-on-Stour]] from [[Worcestershire]] and several villages, including [[Long Marston]] and [[Welford-on-Avon, Warwickshire|Welford-on-Avon]], from [[Gloucestershire]].

==Main settlements==
[[File:StratfordAvon20040717.jpg|right|thumb|Stratford-upon-Avon]]

This is a list of the main settlements in Warwickshire, including towns, or villages with a population of over 5,000. For a complete list see [[List of places in Warwickshire]].
* [[Alcester]], [[Atherstone]]
* [[Bedworth]], [[Bulkington]]
* [[Coleshill, Warwickshire|Coleshill]]
* [[Henley-in-Arden]]
* [[Kenilworth]], [[Kingsbury, Warwickshire|Kingsbury]]
* [[Leamington Spa]]
* [[Nuneaton]]
* [[Polesworth]]
* [[Rugby, Warwickshire|Rugby]]
* [[Shipston-on-Stour]], [[Southam]], [[Stratford-upon-Avon]], [[Studley]]
* [[Warwick]], [[Wellesbourne]], [[Whitnash]]

==Places of interest==
[[File:Kenilworth Castle gatehouse landscape.jpg|thumb|right|[[Kenilworth Castle]]]]
[[File:Oxford Canal from Napton.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The [[Oxford Canal]]]]
* [[Warwick Castle]]

== Other websites ==
* [http://www.warwickchamberoftrade.co.uk Warwick Chamber of Trade] - An invaluable reference to the unspoilt town of Warwick
* [http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/home Warwickshire County Council] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102151519/https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/home |date=2019-01-02 }}

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{{England counties}}
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[[Category:Warwickshire| ]]
[[Category:Ceremonial counties of England]]