Tanworth-in-Arden

Not to be confused with Tamworth, Staffordshire.

The village green, March 2006

Tanworth-in-Arden (/ˈtænwərθ ɪn ˈɑːrdən/; often abbreviated to Tanworth and not to be confused with Tamworth in Staffordshire) is a small village located in the county of Warwickshire, England. It is located south-east of Birmingham in the Tanworth-in-Arden parish and is administered by Stratford-on-Avon District Council. The population of the parish was 3,104 at the 2011 UK census; this figure includes the small village of Wood End, about one mile north of Tanworth-in-Arden but located within the parish.

File:Grave of Nick Drake.jpg

Nick Drake's gravestone. The epitaph reads: "NOW WE RISE / AND WE ARE EVERYWHERE", from his song "From the Morning" (on Pink Moon).

The suffix to the name Tanworth refers to the Forest of Arden in which the village lay. Notable historical buildings still standing in the village include The Bell Inn public house and the 14th-century Church of St. Mary Magdalene. The boxer "Gentleman" Jack Hood was the licensee of The Bell for 36 years, displaying above the bar the Lonsdale belt that he won on 31 May 1926. (The belt was sold by his daughters in 2011.)

Tanworth was the childhood home of folk musician Nick Drake and his sister the actress Gabrielle Drake. His grave lies in the parish churchyard. The song "Life in a Northern Town" by The Dream Academy is a reference to Tanworth, despite its Midlands rather than northern situation (the band was London-based), and was a tribute to Drake.

The grave of nine-times world motorcycle champion Mike Hailwood MBE, GM, and his daughter Michelle, who were both killed in a car accident at Portway in 1981, are also to be found here. An annual memorial motorcycle run is held every March from the former Norton motorcycle factory to Tanworth.

The village was also the filming location for the fictional village of Kings Oak from the British television series Crossroads between 1970 and 1988.

The parish includes Umberslade Hall, for six hundred years the home of the Archer family and later the industrialist George Frederic Muntz.

The village lies close to the ex-Great Western Railway line from Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon but has never had a station of its own: rather it lies mid-way between two others - Wood End to the north and Danzey to the south, both about a mile distant, though the latter was once known as Danzey for Tanworth.

External links

• Warwickshire County Council Towns of Warwickshire — Tanworth-in-Arden
• Tanworth-in-Arden Parish Council, Tanworth-in-Arden & Earlswood
• Annual Mike Hailwood Memorial Run to Tanworth
• 1st Tanworth in Arden Scout Group