- Arden, Warwickshire
Arden is an area, mainly located in
Warwickshire ,England , traditionally regarded as stretching from the River Avon to the River Tame. [http://www.solihull.gov.uk/upload/public/attachments/9/ArdenSummary.pdf] Derived from the British Celtic word "ardu", meaning "high land", the area was formerly heavilyforest ed and known as the Forest of Arden. Located in the geographical centre of England, the Forest of Arden was bounded by the Roman roadsIcknield Street ,Watling Street ,Fosse Way , and Salt Road. [ [http://www.cv81pl.freeserve.co.uk/arden.htm Forest of Arden ] ] It encompassed an area corresponding to the north-western half of the traditional county of Warwickshire, stretching fromStratford-on-Avon in the south toTamworth in the north, and included what are now the large cities ofBirmingham andCoventry , in addition to areas that are still largely rural with numerous pockets of woodland (even today, Birmingham has more trees than any other British or indeed European city. [ [http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2004/about/ Institutional Web Management Workshop 2004: About Birmingham And The University of Birmingham ] ] ) The most important and largest settlement in the forest wasHenley-in-Arden , the site of anIron Age hillfort.Thorkell of Arden, a descendant of the ruling family of
Mercia , was one of only two native English landowners in the whole of England who were not dispossessed by theNormans after1066 , and his descendants continued to hold land in the area for centuries thereafter. One such descendant wasMary Arden , mother ofWilliam Shakespeare . [ [http://www.englishhistory.info/Shakespeare/shakespeares-mother.html William Shakespeare's Mother Mary Arden ] ]The Forest of Arden is stated by Shakespeare to be the setting for "
As You Like It "; however, since the play is also set inFrance , it should not necessarily be thought of as taking place in a real forest in Arden. (According to the "Oxford Shakespeare", Shakespeare's "Forest of Arden" is likely to be an anglicisation of the FrenchArdennes forest.)From around
1162 , until the suppression of the order in1312 , theKnights Templar owned a preceptory atTemple Balsall in the middle of the Forest of Arden. The property then passed to theKnights Hospitaller , who held it until theReformation in the 16th century.Robert Catesby , leader of theGunpowder Plot of1605 , was a native ofLapworth , a village in Arden. It is believed that many local families had resisted the Reformation and retained Catholic sympathies, including Shakespeare's family, whose paternal ancestors were from Temple Balsall.Towns in the area include:
*Hampton-in-Arden
*Henley-in-Arden
*Tanworth-in-Arden References
Further reading
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External links
* [http://www.cv81pl.freeserve.co.uk/arden.htm About the Forest]
* [http://www.englishhistory.info/Shakespeare/shakespeares-mother.html About Mary Arden]
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