Kenilworth Castle

Kenilworth Castle is located in the town of the same name in Warwickshire, England. Constructed from Norman through to Tudor times, the castle has been described by architectural historian Anthony Emery as "the finest surviving example of a semi-royal palace of the later middle ages, significant for its scale, form and quality of workmanship". Kenilworth has also played an important historical role. The castle was the subject of the six-month-long Siege of Kenilworth in 1266, believed to be the longest siege in English history, and formed a base for Lancastrian operations in the Wars of the Roses. Kenilworth was also the scene of the removal of Edward II from the English throne, the French insult to Henry V in 1414 (said by John Strecche to have encouraged the Agincourt campaign), and the Earl of Leicester's lavish reception of Elizabeth I in 1575.

The castle was built over several centuries. Founded in the 1120s around a powerful Norman great tower, the castle was significantly enlarged by King John at the beginning of the 13th century. Huge water defences were created by damming the local streams and the resulting fortifications proved able to withstand assaults by land and water in 1266. John of Gaunt spent lavishly in the late 14th century, turning the medieval castle into a palace fortress designed in the latest perpendicular style. The Earl of Leicester then expanded the castle once again, constructing new Tudor buildings and exploiting the medieval heritage of Kenilworth to produce a fashionable Renaissance palace.

Kenilworth

Coordinates: 52°20′28″N 1°33′58″W / 52.341°N 1.566°W / 52.341; -1.566

Kenilworth (pronounced /ˈkɛnᵻlwərθ/) is a town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, approximately 6 miles (10 km) southwest of Coventry, 4 miles (6 km) north of Warwick and 90 miles (140 km) northwest of London. The town is on Finham Brook, a tributary of the River Sowe, which joins the River Avon about 2 miles (3 km) east of the centre of the town. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 22,413.

Kenilworth is notable for the extensive ruins of Kenilworth Castle. Other local sights include the ruins of Kenilworth Abbey in Abbey Fields park, St Nicholas' Parish Church and Kenilworth Clock.

History

A settlement existed at Kenilworth by the time of the Domesday Book of 1086, which records it as Chinewrde meaning "farm of a woman named Cynehild".

Geoffrey de Clinton (d. 1134) initiated the building of an Augustinian priory in 1122, at the same time as he initiated the building of Kenilworth Castle. The priory was raised to the rank of abbey in 1450 and suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. Thereafter the abbey grounds next to the castle, were made common land in exchange for common land that Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester used to enlarge the castle. Only a few walls and a storage barn of the original abbey survive.

Kenilworth station (Illinois)

Kenilworth is a commuter railroad station in Kenilworth, Illinois, a small and affluent village in the North Shore area of suburban Chicago. Metra Union Pacific/North Line trains go south to Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago and as far north as Kenosha, Wisconsin. In Metra's zone-based fare schedule, Kenilworth is in zone D.

The station is on Kenilworth Avenue between Green Bay Road and Richmond Road. Northbound trains stop on the west platform, and Chicago-bound trains stop on the east platform. Travel time to Ogilvie ranges from 28 minutes on express trains to 38 minutes on local trains. It is also across the street from the Kenilworth Village Hall, which has the Green Bay Bike Trail in the front yard.

Bus connections

Pace

External links

Media related to Kenilworth station (Illinois) at Wikimedia Commons

Kenilworth (novel)

Kenilworth. A Romance is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, first published on 8 January 1821.

Plot introduction

Kenilworth is apparently set in 1575, and centers on the secret marriage of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and Amy Robsart, daughter of Sir Hugh Robsart. The tragic series of events begins when Amy flees her father and her betrothed, Tressilian, to marry the Earl. Amy passionately loves her husband, and the Earl loves her in return, but he is driven by ambition. He is courting the favour of Queen Elizabeth I, and only by keeping his marriage to Amy secret can he hope to rise to the height of power that he desires. At the end of the book, the queen finally discovers the truth, to the shame of the Earl. But the disclosure has come too late, for Amy has been murdered by the Earl's even more ambitious steward, Varney.

Explanation of the novel's title

The title refers to Dudley's Kenilworth Castle in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. The novel opens, however, at Cumnor Place, near Abingdon in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire).