About

Old Milverton and Blackdown are neighbouring parishes to the north of Leamington Spa. They form the northern gateway to the historic Regency town of Royal Leamington Spa and the southern gateway to Kenilworth, famous for its castle with Elizabethan connections. The medieval castle of Warwick is just 3 miles away.

Importantly the parishes provide a ‘green lung’ between the conurbations of Kenilworth and Leamington Spa where open countryside is enjoyed by walkers, horse riders, cyclists and runners.

Old Milverton

  • Old Milverton is mainly farm land which has been intensively cultivated since Stone Age times.
  • The parish comprises a hamlet around the site of a medieval settlement as well as farms and a few large country houses.
  • Many of the houses in the hamlet were built for estate workers in the late 19th century.
  • More recent development includes a nursing home, a hospital and a conference centre as well as the conversion of country houses into apartments.

Blackdown

  • Blackdown is also mainly green space.
  • The area comprises farms and large late Victorian and Edwardian country houses. 
  • Many of these houses were built by Quaker families so there are no public houses in the parish. 
  • A substantial proportion of the parish is given over to sports playing fields and club house facilities.
  • More recent development has largely involved farms and existing country houses as well as ribbon development along Stoneleigh Road in the 1930s and 1940s.

Green Belt

  • The parishes of Old Milverton and Blackdown are in the West Midlands Green Belt.
  • This area of the Green Belt is important because it has prevented Leamington, Kenilworth and Coventry merging by stopping development creeping outwards from these centres.
  • As such it has also stopped the communities of Old Milverton and Blackdown merging with Leamington. 

Facilities and Employment

  • Old Milverton and Blackdown provide employment for local residents and residents of neighbouring towns. In total there are 20 businesses employing in excess of 1000 people.
    (Source: Survey by Old Milverton and Blackdown Joint Parish Council May 2013).
  • There are no shops, public houses or restaurants. The closest shops are in Leamington, the nearest public house and restaurant is the Saxon Mill on the western boarder of Old Milverton just in Leek Wootton Parish.
  • Old Milverton has a Parish Church (St James the Great) and a Parish Room (village hall).
  • Blackdown has two sports clubs with associated playing fields. Old Milverton has a private hospital, a private health clinic, a church and a conference centre.
    (Source: Survey by Old Milverton and Blackdown Joint Parish Council May 2013).
  • Warwick and Leamington have four sites for allotments, two of which are in Old Milverton parish.

Farming

  • There are approximately 500 acres of arable farmland in Old Milverton and nearly as many in Blackdown. 
  • The land quality is mainly grade 2 and 3. Grade 1 land is found along the River Avon and the other water courses.
  • The Grade 2 and 3 land, which forms the majority of the agricultural land, is valuable as most crops can be grown in it.  
  • Corn, oats, barley and wheat are regularly grown, together with oil seed rape, borage and linseed.  Beans and peas are grown occasionally.
  • The fields support abundant wild life such as rabbits, rural foxes and badgers. The hedgerows are maintained in a way which benefits birds and insects. Bats are regularly seen at sunset.
  • About 30 years ago an old quarry, south east of the Avon Valley Viaduct was used for tipping building waste.  A wildlife survey identified Great Crested Newts and the tipping was stopped.