|
Meriden is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England. It is located between Solihull and the city of Coventry, and is approximately from Birmingham International Airport. The US city of Meriden, near the centre of Connecticut, is named after the village. == History and amenities == Until 1974, Meriden was part of Warwickshire. The surrounding countryside, known as the Meriden Gap, forms a green belt between the two urban areas of Birmingham and Coventry. It gives its name to the Meriden parliamentary constituency, which covers the Meriden Gap. The A45 bypass opened in 1958. In the United Kingdom Census 2001 the population of the Meriden parish was 2,734. It is possibly the site of an Iron Age field system. The original name of the village was Alspath and it was centred on the site of the parish church. Over the period 15C to 17C the name 'Meriden' gradually supplants that of Alspath. The parish church of St. Laurence was built on the site of a simple Saxon church erected on her own land by Lady Godiva - the wife of Leofric Earl of Mercia in the years prior to the Norman conquest; however although references to a church/chapel dedicated to St Edmund on the site have been found no physical remains have ever been uncovered. The present church was built in several stages. The nave and two thirds of the chancel were finished by the late 12C - late Norman - and were built as an expiation for sins committed during the civil war between Stephen & Matilda. The chancel was extended in 13C; the south aisle was added in the late 14C. The north aisle was added in the early 15C as was the tower; and the Norman roof was replaced in 15C also. By 1831 the aisles had been rebuilt with galleries and you can see the industrial quality of the stonework outside the building compared to the 14/15C stonework inside. In 1883 the church was restored again and the galleries were removed. At some point the 15C wooden ceilings of both nave and chancel had been plastered over - uncovered during a restoration in 1924; and finally extensive restorations of the medieval roof and tower were carried out circa 2006-10. The St. Laurence/Lawrence (the spelling is interchangeable) to whom the church is dedicated may either be Lawrence of Rome who was one of the seven deacons of the early church martyred during the persecution of Emperor Valerian in 258 A.D.; or it may have been Laurence of Canterbury who became the second archbishop in 604 A.D. Legend favours the latter though, from 1318 onwards, the choice of 10 Aug for the Patronal feast day and the village fair (up until 1959) would indicate the Roman Lawrence; so the issue remains unclear. Here the Heart of England Way long-distance path wends its way and brings the Staffordshire Heathlands together with the Cotswolds and Forest of Arden. Meriden is also home to a memorial to all the cyclists who died in the First World War. An annual event, at which thousands of cyclists pay their respects to their fallen colleagues and commemorate these deaths, is held in the village. The memorial was unveiled on 21 May 1921, in the presence of over 20,000 cyclists. Some moated farmsteads and several timber-framed buildings can be seen in the village. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Meriden, West Midlands」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|