Willoughby is a village and civil parish about south of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. The village is about northwest of Daventry in neighbouring Northamptonshire and the eastern boundary of the parish forms part of the county boundary.

Willoughby's toponym is derived from Old Norse Viligbýr meaning "willow farmstead".

The parish is bounded to the south by the River Leam and to the west by one of its tributaries. The village is just west of the main road between Daventry and Coventry, now the A45 road.

The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 398. Ordric held two hides, Leuiet and Goduin held half a hide and Ulvric held three small estates totalling one and a half virgates. and dates from 1230. Thurstan had granted the advowson to the Hospital of St John the Baptist by 1246.

The tower has a clock that may date from early in the 17th century. Joseph Smith of Edgbaston cast five of them in 1713;

Economic and social history

thumb|Vale House, a 17th-century [[Timber framing#British tradition|timber-framed house in Lower Street]]

thumb|The Smithy, an 18th-century [[ironstone house in Main Street]]

In 1248 the Hospital of St John the Baptist was granted the right to hold a weekly market at Willoughby every Tuesday and a two-day annual fair at Whitsun. It closed on 22 May 2002.

Willoughby Cricket Club was founded in 1901 and Willoughby Women's Institute was founded in 1920.

Railway

In the late 1890s the Great Central Main Line was built from the north of England to . It passed north–south through the parish, passing under the road to Barby on the west side of the canal wharf and over the Daventry – Coventry main road just east of the village. The new main line crossed the River Leam on a 13-arch viaduct almost south of the village. This was called Willoughby Viaduct but the site is not in the parish and half of it is not even in Warwickshire.

The Great Central Railway opened the line in March 1899 with a station at the village named "Willoughby for Daventry". In 1904 the GCR renamed the station "Braunston and Willoughby for Daventry". Both names were rather optimistic, as Daventry is away, Braunston is away and both had their own stations on a branch of the London and North Western Railway. In 1938 the GCR's successor the London and North Eastern Railway renamed the station . British Railways closed the station in April 1957 and the line in September 1966. Little remains of the station itself but the Station Master's red-brick house survives.

Amenities

thumb|The Rose Inn

Willoughby has an 18th-century public house, The Rose Inn. The parish had three other pubs including the Four Crosses Inn and the Navigation. The Four Crosses has been turned into apartments and the other two former pubs are now private houses.

Willoughby has a hair salon and other retail businesses.

References

Notes

Bibliography

  • Willoughby Parish Council – website of Willoughby's Parish Council