page_title: Bedworth
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bedworth / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Former Topshops, Bedworth 'Topshops' were a common feature in Bedworth and Coventry's textiles industry during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The lower two floors served as the weaver's private dwelling, while the upper floor acted as the workplace. You can see clearly in this photograph how the windows on the top floor were once much bigger, to allow for maximum daylight.
context_page_description: Bedworth is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth, Warwickshire, England. It is situated between Coventry, 6 miles to the south, and Nuneaton, 3.5 miles to the north. In the 2011 census the town had a population of 30,438.
context_section_description: Originally a small market town with Saxon origins, Bedworth was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. Bedworth developed into an industrial town in the 18th and 19th centuries, due largely to coal mining and the overspill of ribbon weaving and textile industries from nearby Coventry. The ribbon weaving industry had been introduced to the area by French Hugenot immigrants in the 18th century and thrived for nearly a century, until it was largely wiped out in the 1860s following the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty which removed tariffs on imported French silks, causing enormous hardship to the town. Hat making however grew and largely replaced the ribbon trade, and lasted until the 1950s.
  The opening of the Coventry Canal in 1789 and later, the railway in 1850 enhanced the town's growth.
  Bedworth was for many years primarily a coal mining town: Located on the Warwickshire Coalfield, coal mining in the area was recorded as early as the 13th century. The industry peaked in 1939 when there were 20 pits in the Bedworth area producing over 5.8 million tons of coal. The last colliery in Bedworth, Newdigate Colliery closed in 1982, and Coventry Colliery on the edge of the town closed in 1991. In the middle of the 19th century, the large number of public houses, and thirsty miners lead to the town being called 'Black Bedworth'.
  From 1894 Bedworth was a civil parish within the Foleshill Rural District. In 1928 Bedworth was incorporated as an urban district in its own right. In 1932 the urban district was enlarged by the addition of Exhall and parts of Foleshill, Astley and Walsgrave on Sowe parishes. It was further enlarged in 1938 by the addition of Bulkington. In 1974 the Bedworth Urban District was merged with the borough of Nuneaton to create the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth.
caption: Former topshops. They were a common feature in Bedworth's and Coventry's textiles industry during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The lower two floors served as the weaver's private dwelling, while the upper floor acted as the workplace. This photograph clearly shows how the windows on the top floor were once much bigger, to allow more daylight.
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