WARWICKSHIRE, an inland county of England, and nearly in the centre of the kingdom. It is bounded on the western side, from north to south, by Staffordshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire; and on the eastern side by Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, and Oxfordshire. Its greatest length from north to south is about forty-eight, and its breadth across the middle thirty-two miles. It contains 902 square miles, or 577,280 statute acres. It is divided into four hundreds, besides the city of Coventry, which, with its liberties, extends over about 18,000 acres. The hundreds are subdivided into several smaller portions, for the local administration of the law, in which petty sessions courts are held.

In no part of England has the population increased of late years in a greater ratio than in this county, the numbers at the several decennial censuses having been as follows, viz., in 1801, 208,130; in 1811, 228,733; in 1821, 274,392; in 1831, 336,610. If the augmentation has proceeded with the same rapidity as in the ten years from 1821 to 1831, it will be found at the enumeration of 1841, that the inhabitants have been doubled in forty years.

The number of inhabited houses in 1831 was 68,253, comprising 72,357 families. Of those families, 15,880 were chiefly employed in agriculture; 43,291 were chiefly occupied in trade, manufactures, and handicraft; and 13,186 were not comprised in either of the two preceding classes. The number of males twenty years of age was 83,239; the occupiers of land employing labourers were 2838; the occupiers of land not employing labourers, 1142; the labourers employed in agriculture were 15,644. The persons employed in manufacture or in making manufacturing machinery were 11,357; in retail trade, or in handicraft as masters or workmen, 32,579; the capitalists, bankers, professional or other educated men, 4012; the labourers in employments not agricultural, 10,358; the other males twenty years of age (except servants), 3729; male servants under twenty years of age, 3729; male servants more than twenty years of age, 1562; those under twenty years of age, 884; and female servants of all ages, 13,089.

Although Warwickshire is an elevated district, it is in general level. The rivers flow with a languid course, and the undulations of the surface are rare and gentle. It is generally enclosed, and the fields are of moderate extent. The fences are for the most part high and umbrageous, being thickly planted with forest-trees, so that, though woods are rare, the face of the country seems, at a distance, to be one continued tract of woodland. There are but few common fields, and very little waste or barren land. The extent of pasture land is greater than in most parts of England, and is estimated to be more than half of the whole. The pasture land, calculated at 300,000 acres, may be said wholly to be appropriated to the sustenance of the different species of animals. 100,000 acres are annually mowed for hay, and the other two thirds are used for feeding. The agriculture of the country is well conducted. The cultivation of turnips is practised to a great extent, with much skill, and with very productive effects. The crops of wheat, barley, oats, pease, beans, and tares, are quite as luxuriant as in any portion of England. The cows are generally of the long-homed kind, but among them there are many varieties. The ancient breed of Warwickshire sheep has been crossed with the Leicester breed, and this mixture has produced a kind adapted to the land, and equal to any race in the kingdom.

The streams of this county are numerous, out, with the exception of the Avon, are inconsiderable; though, by the means of irrigation which they furnish, they are of great value to its rural economy. The whole of them run directly or indirectly to the Severn. The Avon is navigable for barges from Stratford to its junction with that river near Tewkesbury. The intercourse of the county is much facilitated by the numerous canals that intersect and connect it with every part of England; supply every part with cheap fuel; and serve to convey its heavy productions to the exporting towns, London, Liverpool, and Bristol. These canals are the Birmingham Old Canal, the Birmingham and Fazeley, the Warwick and Birmingham, the Worcester and Birmingham, the Coventry, the Warwick and Napton, the Stratford, the Ashby de la Zeuch, and, above all, the Grand Junction. This county, as it is the central one of the kingdom, is become also a focal point for the most easy access from any one part of England to all the others. This has arisen from the magnificent railroad completed since 1834. A daily communication is by this great work kept up between London and the most distant cities of the kingdom. It enters the county near Rugby, and passes through Coventry to Birmingham, where it enters into Staffordshire; but in its passage sends out, or will soon do so, branches to the midland counties, as well as by Nottingham and Derby to York, from whence other branches will be formed to the most distant parts of the kingdom.

The minerals and fossils of this county are coal, iron, limestone, and freestone. At Leamington Priors are mineral springs, whose celebrity has made that place one of the resorts of fashionable company, as well as invalids. The waters contain neutral and sulphureous salts, with carbonate of iron. Owing to the growing reputation of these waters, the town, which in 1801 contained only 500 inhabitants, is said now to have increased its population to 12,000, and its beauty has similarly increased. The numerous objects of attraction near to it, and the fertility and salubrity of the neighbourhood, have added to the growth and prosperity of the place.

This county possesses considerable manufactories, of which the greatest are those in metals of all kinds, conducted upon a stupendous scale at Birmingham, and the towns and villages in its vicinity. The minute divisions and subdivisions of labour, the various mechanical inventions, the discoveries in chemistry, and the industrious and economical habits of the people, have rendered this part of the country the principal reservoir from whence the world is supplied with domestic utensils, ornaments, and a thousand minute articles which add much to the comfort of civilized life. The city of Coventry has long been celebrated for its manufactures of ribbons, and other goods of silk, which now give occupation, in that place and its vicinity, to more than 15,000 persons. There are also at Coventry large undertakings for making watches; a trade that has of late been much extended. Mills for spinning cotton and wool have been erected at Warwick; and to them is attributed the great increase which has lately taken place in the population of that town. At Tamworth very large works are constructed for printing calicoes. At Alcester, several hundred persons are employed in making needles. In several parts of the county much linen yarn is spun.

The most remarkable objects in the county are Kenilworth Castle, now in a dilapidated state; Maxstoke Castle, a most extensive pile; Comb Abbey, a Cistertian convent; the school-house at Rugby; and the house at Stratford in which Shakspeare was born.
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This county has furnished titles to two British peers, the earl of Warwick and the earl of Coventry; and one Irish peer, Baron Arden. For election purposes, the county is divided into two parts, distinguished as the northern and southern. The election for the northern division is held at the town of Coleshill; and the other polling places are Nuneaton, Coventry, Birmingham, and Dunchurch. The election for the southern division is held at Warwick; and the other polling places are Kineton, Stratford, Henley, and Southam. Two members from Warwick, two from Coventry, and since the reform act two from Birmingham, are sent to the House of Commons. Two are also sent from Tamworth, the largest part of which is in the adjoining county of Stafford.

The towns of more than 3000 inhabitants, and their population, were, in 1831,
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The most remarkable among a great number of noblemen and gentlemen’s seats are, Warwick Castle, earl of Warwick; Ragley Hall, marquis of Hertford; Walton Hall, Sir C. Mordaunt; Compton Verney, Lord Willoughby; Guy’s Cliff, B. Greathead; Great Packington, Lord Aylesford; Compton Wyngate, marquis of Northampton; Astley Castle; Newdigate; Hewill Grange, earl of Plymouth; and Merevale, D. S. Dugdale.^[1. See Dugdale’s Antiquities of Warwickshire; Marshall’s Rural Economy; Hutton’s History of Birmingham; Beauties of England and. Wales. ] '