10. Guy’s Cliffe Mill 64 11. Peeping Tom, Coventry 73 12. Palace Yard, Coventry 80 13. Ufton 89 14. Kenilworth Castle 96 15. Stoneleigh Abbey 105 16. The Parade, Leamington 112 17. St. Martin’s Church, Birmingham 121 18. Baddesley Clinton Hall 128 19. Maxstoke Castle 137 20. Compton Wynyates 144 21. Burton Dassett Church 153 22. Little Wolford Manor–House 160 23. Long Compton 169 24. Ann Hathaway’s Cottage 176 25. Shakespeare’s Birthplace 185 26. Stratford–on–Avon. The Grammar School 192 27. Stratford–on–Avon 201 28. “Hungry” Grafton 208 29. Abbots Salford 217 30. Bidford Bridge 224 31. Charlecote 233 32. Rugby School 240 _Sketch Map facing p. 1_ [Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF WARWICKSHIRE.] WARWICKSHIRE CHAPTER I WARWICKSHIRE AND ITS HISTORY FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE CLOSE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY Warwickshire has rightly been termed “leafy Warwickshire,” for although deficient in scenery cast in a large mould, which may be described as grand or magnificent, it is undoubtedly one of the most lovely of English counties. Though lacking the peaks and deep–set dales of its near neighbour, Derbyshire, which it touches at its northern limit, it is essentially a county of pleasant hills, uplands, and fertile well–watered vales. Some of the richest meadow–land and most picturesque woodland scenery in the Midlands lie within the confine of Shakespeare’s shire.