Caldecote's History

100 Years ago, the last squire of Caldecote died at a time when the reformed death duties would devastate the beneficiaries and, like many great estates, it could not be passed on to the next generation. This meant that it had to be fragmented, broken up into Lots to be sold off, which would in theory see most of the parishioners, many of whom had lived their entire lives out in Caldecote, lose their positions and their homes.
The parish has since been saved from full devastation or becoming yet another generic mass of houses or industrial units, due to the community spirit at its heart that persisted because the good squire, Captain Harry Townshend, had the interests of the people at his heart, ensuring, upon his death, that the tenant farmers were offered a fair price to purchase the Townshend Estate farms they occupied, meaning the continued employment and residence of many important parishioners. He and his predecessors did much for the wider community and the town of Nuneaton too, with continued investment in education, new public schemes, the supply of water to the townspeople and championing good farming practices for the betterment of all. The squires also fought for decades to improve sewerage management of the town, resulting in the new works on Townshend lands.  
Soon after Captain Townshend’s death, the parish was occupied by those who had continued to farm it, those who found alternative employment so to remain in their homeland and the newcomers with occupations outside of Caldecote. Over time, more ‘outsiders’ were brought into the fold of a community that cherished the environment they lived in and respected its history. This community kept unnecessary development from its door because of those amongst them who were connected to its past and its heart. The Church building has been preserved through their endeavours and the school transformed into a Village Hall where residents still gather together today for meetings and fundraising events. Parts of the parish is now held in a Designated Conservation Area, which should be managed by those who care about it and the rest should be watched diligently to ensure only critical developments are allowed in.
The Hall itself was momentarily occupied by institutions that cast some dark shadows on the parish but was ultimately saved and protected through its conversion into flats, occupied by those who are equally community spirited.
Progression is no stranger to Caldecote though. The maps shown within this collection bare the physical scars of the canal, railway, quarries and sewerage works – all of which, though, saw its occupants duly prosper.  The key to Conservation is positive-intended, dialogue between those that seek to introduce improvements and those that assume guardianship.

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Empathy is what connects us to each other, to nature and all living creatures. With it, we are able to solve the most difficult challenges for the World and with it also we are able to connect to the past and learn from it. When you read the contained facts associated with listed properties and people or those held within news articles, take a moment to engage with their meaning and the human emotion behind them. A baptism record is the joyous birth of beloved child, a marriage record holds within it all the hopes and dreams of the connected couple and a burial record carries the deepest of griefs. Newspaper reports provide the opportunity to feel the human endeavour, celebration, trauma or frivolity held within each story.
Take these emotions, as valid as your own, with you the next time you are walking around Caldecote and recall those people. Imagine what they saw whilst they walked through the lanes. How the Mill sat perfectly pretty alongside its still and calming pond, set in green, and how the gently turning sails of the windmill provided comfort from its hill-top position, overlooking the busy grandeur of the Hall but also watching over those hardworking men and horses ploughing the fields. Hear the perpetual tapping and clattering echoing from the quarry; the metal clangs of the Blacksmith’s hammer; the Carpenter’s saw; the clip-clopping and heavy wheels squeaking over the bumpy lanes; the lowing, twittering and bleating conversation all around… all only to be interrupted by the rhythmic chuntering and whistling of a passing train. Take in the smells of cooking pots and smoke-pluming, chimney pots of those peacefully situated, village, cottages, but look through a window and you’ll see the energetic toils of women and their children bursting with all of life’s potential. Then each Sunday, when all industry has halted, hear the calling bells, watch the parish’s orderly congregation and, ultimately, take heed of the chatter afterwards because it is that which holds this all together.
Caldecote reflects every small town and parish in the Country, revealing a way of life that should not only be remembered but become an inspiration to how we might come together again, where community is sanctuary – a place to belong and effect positive changes for the cumulative benefit of the entire World.