Monks Kirby is a village and civil parish in north-eastern Warwickshire, England. The population of the parish is 445.
The pre-Conquest church of Monks Kirby was the mother church (minster) for the surrounding area, connected to the important aristocratic estate of Newnham probably at least as far back as the eighth or ninth century. The church's dedication to St Edith of Polesworth may point to a link: St Edith was a saint connected to the Mercian Royal Family and Æthelflæd may have promoted churches dedicated to her. meaning people living in poverty in Monks Kirby were sent to the workhouse in Lutterworth. The Lutterworth Rural Sanitary District was introduced in 1875 covering the same area as the Poor Law Union. Rural Sanitary Districts (RSDs) were replaced with rural districts and aligned with county borders in 1894: Monks Kirby Rural District existed from 1894 to 1932 covering the Warwickshire parishes that had been in the Lutterworth RSD. In 1932 Monks Kirby Rural District was merged into Rugby Rural District, which in turn merged with Rugby Municipal Borough in 1974, to form today's Rugby Borough Council.
Monks Kirby today
Monks Kirby's population today is only slightly higher than that recorded in the Domesday Book, far lower than the village's population in the nineteenth century and probably the twelfth and thirteenth century too. Since the 1950s the primarily agricultural population of the village has been replaced by a wealthy, well-educated older demographic through a process of extended suburbanisation from the many nearby towns and cities. Residents are attracted by the quiet, well-kept village, with good road connections. The village is in the Coventry Green Belt. Apart from one village pub, The Denbigh Arms,