Meriden is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Warwickshire, it lies between the cities of Birmingham and Coventry. It is located close to the North Warwickshire district border within a green belt of the countryside known as the Meriden Gap.
The village is east-northeast of Solihull, west-northwest of Coventry and east-southeast of Birmingham city centre. It was known as "Alspath" in the Domesday Book. The village gives its name to the Meriden parliamentary constituency, which was created in 1955 and covers the Meriden Gap. In the 2021 census, the population of Meriden parish was 3,199.
History
The area has been occupied since the Stone Age, as evidenced by flints in the Blythe Valley. Bronze Age swords have also been found in Meriden. In 43 AD, nearby Corley Rocks marked the southern limit of the cattle rearing Cornovii tribe. Between the 15th and 17th centuries, the name 'Meriden' gradually supplanted that of Alspath as the straggling settlement at the foot of the hill grew in importance. By 1686 the population had grown to 290 people. By 1772 there were 93 cottages and houses. In 1811 the village had 152 homes, 171 families and 817 people."]]
Following the Norman Conquest, the overlordship of Alspath passed successively through the hands of the Earls of Chester (1080), the Segrave family (1220), the Mowbray Earls of Norfolk (late 14th century), the Stanley Earls of Derby (1468/1501), and the Earls of Aylesford (1784). After his death the manor was split amongst his four daughters:
- A manor based on the original siting, around the church and occupied since 1481 by the building of Moat House farm.
- The fifth subdivision (Marbrook Hall) near Hollyberry End, near the junction of Shaft Lane and Becks Lane, is now considered a later claim. It is, however, located within a narrow band of castles with significant historical interest. to the north is Maxstoke Castle, one of the three seats of the Stafford Dukes of Buckingham in the mid-to-late 15th century and deemed to be a favourite residence of Lady Margaret Beaufort after her second marriage into the Stafford family. south is Kenilworth Castle, site of the longest siege in English history; and south is Warwick Castle, the seat of Warwick the Kingmaker, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick.
The escape of the powerful Marcher lord, Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, one of only two escapes from the Tower of London in its history, involves a critical Meriden connection. Constable Stephen Segrave and deputy constable of the Tower Gerard Alspath were overlord and lord of the manor of Alspath, respectively. Gerard was implicated in the escape; but Segrave escaped the initial reprisal, as described by the 14th-century chronicler Henry Knighton from St Mary de Pratis Abbey, Leicester, better known as Leicester Abbey: listing Stephen's excuse being that he had been duped by a supposedly loyal servant in whom he had confidence, Gerard Alspath. Another person involved in the escape was a progenitor of John Wyard of what is now Walsh Hall, whose effigy resides in the parish church.
The last male Walsh owner of Walsh Hall, Sir Richard Walsh, was the Sheriff of Worcestershire who cornered the last group of Gunpowder Plot conspirators in 1605.
Shortly before the first battle of the English Civil War in 1642, south at Edgehill, the royal army camped on Meriden Heath whilst the King slept at nearby Packington Hall.
When Bonnie Prince Charlie marched south in the last of the great Jacobite rebellions in 1745, the government forces, recalled from the continent and assembled to oppose him, waited on Meriden Heath under the command of the Duke of Cumberland.
The novelist George Eliot visited her sister in Meriden repeatedly until 1854.
At the upper level, Meriden is in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull. For elections to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, since boundary changes in 2026 it has been in Meriden & Arden electoral ward.
Historically, Meriden was in the Hemlingford Hundred of Warwickshire. From 1894, it was in Meriden Rural District. In 1974, the rural district was abolished and Meriden merged into Solihull in the newly created West Midlands county.
Demographics
At the 2021 census, Meriden had a population of 3,199 people in 1,414 households. It is the most rural part of Solihull, with a much lower population density than the borough average.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Census population of Meriden parish
|-
! scope=col width=18%| Census
! scope=col width=18% class="unsortable"| Population
! scope=col width=18% class="unsortable"| Female
! scope=col width=18% class="unsortable"| Male
! scope=col width=18% class="unsortable"| Households
! scope=col width=10% class="unsortable"| Source
|-
!scope=row| 2001
|| 2,734
|| 1,409
|| 1,325
|| 1,212
||
|-
!scope=row| 2011
|| 2,719
|| 1,389
|| 1,330
|| 1,221
||
|-
!scope=row| 2021
|| 3,199
|| 1,613
|| 1,586
|| 1,414
||
|}
Traditional centre of England
thumb|upright|Meriden cross plaque
Meriden was identified as the centre of England in 1829. That designation was shown to be inaccurate in 1920, when the first systematic attempt was made to validate the claim.
A grade II listed sandstone monument on the village green carries a plaque commemorating Meriden's status as centre of England. Traditionally known as the sandstone cross, a photograph from 1879 shows a garland that would have originally enclosed a cross on top of the monument, like the one at Hockwold cum Wilton. The garland was lost between 1879 and 1885. The cross was originally located in the old centre of the village, where the road initially came in from Berkswell before the junction was straightened in 1785. The monument was moved to the village green in 1822. It was moved yet again to its current position on the green in 1952–1953.
St Laurence parish church
St Laurence's Church from the north|thumb|right
The parish church of St. Laurence was built on the site of a simple Saxon church, dedicated to St. Edmund, erected on her own land by Lady Godiva—the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia in the years prior to the Norman conquest.
The village's own war memorial is at the junction of Berkswell Road and Main Road, opposite the pool. It takes the form of a wayside shrine with a crucified Jesus and is located on the land donated by Letitia Banks, heiress of Meriden Hall and wife of Captain Edward Banks. Edward Banks was the first WWI death from the village, due to friendly fire at the Battle of St Julien in 1915. He is commemorated in a stained glass window in the church.
Triumph motorcycles
thumb|Demolition of the Triumph Motorcycles factory, January 1984
From 1941 until 1983, Meriden was associated with the large Triumph motorcycles production plant.
Its original Priory Street factory in Coventry was destroyed by the Luftwaffe during World War II.
As documented in the book Forty Summers Ago, the factory was visited by Steve McQueen and Bud Ekins with the rest of the 1964 U.S. International Six Day Trials team to collect their specially prepared Triumphs.
In 1973, Triumph workers blockaded the factory from the new owners, Norton Villiers Triumph (NVT), to prevent closure. The government loaned the subsequent Meriden Workers Co-Operative money to buy the factory and later to market the Triumph motorcycles they produced. The sit-in and formation of the co-operative were the subject of much media interest including David Edgar's play, Events Following The Closure Of A Motorcycle Factory. Trading later as Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden) Ltd., the co-operative eventually closed in August 1983,
A housing development was built on the site of the Triumph motorcycle factory at Meriden, now known as Millisons Wood, up the hill out of the main village. Road names on the estate include Triumph motorcycle model names Bonneville Close and Daytona Drive. A plaque commemorating the site's former use stands outside Bonneville Close.