Bulkington is a large village and former civil parish near Bedworth, in the Nuneaton and Bedworth district of Warwickshire, England. In the 2011 census the ward had a population of 6,146 decreasing slightly to 6,080 at the 2021 census. It is located around northeast of Coventry, just south of the town of Nuneaton, east of Bedworth and southwest of Hinckley. Despite historically having stronger links with Bedworth, Bulkington forms part of the Nuneaton Urban Area. Bulkington was mentioned in the Domesday Book as Bochintone, meaning "estate associated with a man called Bulca".
The parish originally contained seven hamlets, two of which were subsumed by Bulkington village following residential building expansion which began in the 1930s.
Historically the main industry in Bulkington was ribbon weaving. Today Bulkington is largely a commuter village for larger nearby urban centres such as Coventry, Nuneaton, Bedworth, Hinckley and Leicester.
Bulkington has connections with the locally born author George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), who knew the village well. She is thought to have referred to it as Raveloe in her book Silas Marner (1861). The church of St James is where George Eliot's uncle and aunt are buried.
History
thumb|right|Church Street
Medieval
The early history of Bulkington can be traced in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is mentioned as among the estates of the Count of Meulan, overseen by his sub-tenant Salo. Originally the parish of Bulkington consisted of two five-hide vills - in the south Bulkington and Barnacle, and in the North Marston, Weston and Bramcote. The first four of these were all held by the Count of Meulan.
Early modern
Throughout the medieval period and until the late 18th century, the principal employment in Bulkington had been agriculture: of meadow land were recorded in 1086; further, windmills are recorded for Weston and Marston Jabbett, and a water mill in Bramcote.
The late 18th century and early 19th century was a period of significant growth for the village, with its population almost tripling in size.
The Bulkington Baptismal register, 1841–1861, records that: 'On Thursday, 15 August 1861, six families comprising 27 members left for Quebec, Canada, in consequence of the continued depression of the Ribbon trade… . At the same time 83 houses were vacant in the parish. Robert Potter, Vicar'. Nonetheless, ribbon production continued in Bulkington into the middle of the 20th century, through small factory production rather than as a cottage industry. The last factory, in Arden Road, closed in the early 1950s. In 1968 a new east-west distributor road linking School Road and Bedworth Road replaced an ancient footpath.
This development divorced the Church from Church Street; further road developments led to the demolition of many of the buildings in the historic precinct, and by the 1980s only Church Street retained any historic continuity. The remaining historic buildings were threatened with demolition which led directly to the creation of the Bulkington Conservation Area in 1985, which covers Church Street and the area surrounding St James' Parish Church.
In November 2008 the Barbridge Close area, north of St James' Church, was excluded from the conservation area. Bulkington is represented by Richard Smith (Conservative Party) & Lubs Cvetkovic (Conservative Party).
The Nuneaton and Bedworth district is a subdivision of the Warwickshire County Council, which is currently Conservative controlled. Bulkington elects a councillor to the county council along with part of Whitestone ward. They are currently represented by Jeff Morgan (Conservative).
Bulkington was part of the Nuneaton constituency in the House of Commons. However, following the changes to the Warwickshire parliamentary constituency boundaries which came into effect on 13 June 2007, and used for the first time at the 2010 general election, Bulkington was transferred into the Rugby constituency.
Civic history
In July 1850, Bulkington Local Board of Health was formed under the Public Health Act 1848, and in 1894 this was converted into an urban district council. From 1894 to 1932 Bulkington functioned as an independent urban district; however, the village lost its independence in 1932 under the Warwickshire Review Order, when it became part of the Rugby Rural District.
From 1938 Bulkington was therefore treated as part of Bedworth for administrative purposes. An administrative oversight at the time of the 1938 order merging Bulkington into Bedworth Urban District meant that the civil parish of Bulkington nominally continued to exist as an urban parish until 1954, but did not have a parish council of its own, being administered by Bedworth Urban District Council. The two civil parishes of Bedworth and Bulkington merged in 1954 to create a single parish called Bedworth covering the whole area of Bedworth Urban District. In 1951 the parish had a population of 3240. In 1974 the Bedworth Urban District became part of the Nuneaton and Bedworth district, The village is served by four churches: the Anglican St James' Parish Church, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Ryton Methodist Church, and Bulkington Congregational Church.
Parish Church of St James
St James' is the oldest church in Bulkington, dating to the 12th century. The church was given to the Abbey of Leicester after its foundation in 1143. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries the church came into the Crown's hands until 1554, when it was passed on and sold numerous times before returning to the Crown's possession by 1662. It has remained in the possession of the Crown since. Records for baptisms and burials begin in 1606 and for marriages in 1683. a modern, suburban style vicarage lies closer to the church. The church today "consists of a chancel with a vestry on the north; a nave, with a clearstory to the south only; north and south aisles; south porch; and a western tower". It displays a series of architectural developments from the 13th century through to the 20th, though the earliest material in the church dates from the 12th century, represented by a single voussoir and bell capital found in 1907 and built into the south porch. The tower was built in the mid-15th century and restored in 1907. making it the second oldest church building in the village. Further, the records for births and baptisms from 1812 to 1836 are available in the Warwickshire County archive. The church is a rectangular, two-storey brick building with a balcony. A later, single storey extension from the south of the building serves as the church hall. The church manse is situated to the south of the church. It lay unoccupied for some time but has since been renovated and is now occupied by the new pastor and his wife who moved to the area in the summer of 2008.
Ryton Methodist Church
thumb|right|Ryton Methodist Church
There were originally two Methodist churches in the parish of Bulkington: Bulkington Methodist and Ryton Methodist. Ryton Methodist Church was initially situated in Long Street but moved to Rugby Road in 1911. A gazetteer from 1848 reports that there was a place of worship for Wesleyans in the parish,
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church
thumb|right|The Catholic Church
The presence of the (post-Reformation) Catholic Church in Bulkington begins in 1842 when Richard Brome de Bary, owner of Weston Hall, converted to Catholicism. He established a mission at his home, dedicated to Our Lady of Bethlehem. As well as Bulkington, the church also serves the nearby village of Wolvey. The parish belongs to the archdiocese of Birmingham. The church is a brick building in Gothic style and was built in 1869; it holds 150 people. Recent architectural additions include the extension of the sacristy, the building of a parish hall, and the erection of a grotto to the Virgin Mary.
Arden Forest Infant School was founded in 1996 due to the Warwickshire reorganisation of schools and the subsequent amalgamation of Bulkington First School and Weston-in-Arden First School.
Demography
At the 2001 census, the Bulkington ward, which includes Bulkington, Weston-in-Arden, Ryton, Marston Jabbett, Bramcote (west), had a total population of 6,303.
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1848
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 2001||84.72%||76.94%||72.58%||71.74%
|-
|No Religion||6,303||119,132||5,267,308||49,138,831
|-
|Population Density||4.60p/ha||15.09p/ha||4.05p/ha||3.77p/ha
|-
|White||98.9%||95.1%||88.7%||90.9%
|-
|Asian||54||36||36||36
|-
|Over 75 years old