Nuneaton

Set in the north of Warwickshire, close to the county boundary with Leicestershire, Nuneaton is a town with deep roots. Nuneaton gained its name from a medieval Benedictine nunnery established in the 12th century. It became a small market town and later grew through ribbon weaving, coal mining and brickmaking into a place with a rich and complicated industrial character all of its own. Walk from the market square through Riversley Park and along the River Anker.

Plus, Nuneaton is notable as the birthplace of George Eliot, author of Middlemarch, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner and more.

Nuneaton’s highlights

Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery

The museum is worth allowing time for. It has a superb exhibition dedicated to George Eliot, while the art gallery holds works by the military painter James Princep Beadle and the Flemish Golden Age artist Roelandt Savery.

Riversley Park

The town is blessed with a splendid public park, laid out in 1907 as the result of an endowment by local businessman and colliery owner Edward Ferdinand Melly, who left money not only to landscape the park and to create the museum and art gallery. The park itself, allows visitors to enjoy ornamental gardens, riverside path and children's play area.

Arbury Hall

Just outside Nuneaton, Arbury Hall is the home of Lord and Lady Daventry and is known as the Gothic Gem of the Midlands, standing in rolling lawns surrounded by many acres of beautiful parkland. It is one of the finest examples of Strawberry Gothic architecture and boasts a stable block designed by Christopher Wren. The Hall and Gardens are only open to the public on Sundays and Mondays on the four Bank Holiday weekends between Easter and the end of summer.

George Eliot Country

Nuneaton is famous as the birthplace of the Victorian novelist George Eliot, who lived here from 1819 to 1841. Her birthplace, South Farm, is set in the heart of the Arbury Estate where her father was employed by the Newdigate family and the landscape she knew as a child shaped almost everything she later wrote. A bronze statue of the author stands in the town centre, near the old market square, and the George Eliot Memorial Gardens on Queens Road are a quiet tribute to a writer of enormous significance. You can follow the George Eliot trail - a 2.8km circular route visiting landmarks.

Hartshill Hayes Country Park

A short drive north of the Nuneaton is a stunning 137-acre park known for its rolling woodlands, scenic views (over four counties on a good day) and network of walking trails.

Architectural feature in the town centre

Look up as you walk through the older streets and you will notice fine terracotta features adorning many of the buildings - a legacy of the town's many skilled brick and tile manufacturers.

Medieval and industrial roots

The town dates back to the late 12th century, when a small group of Benedictine nuns founded a priory beside the River Anker. The settlement that developed nearby took the name Nuneaton, which literally means the nun's farmstead by the water. The town later developed into an important industrial centre through ribbon weaving and coal mining and traces of that working past - from the terracotta brickwork to the canal - remain woven into the fabric of the town today.

Insider tips

Plan a visit around the Bank Holiday weekends when Arbury Hall opens - guided tours give remarkable access to rooms that George Eliot described in print with extraordinary precision.
Nuneaton hosts the largest carnival in Warwickshire every August - it is a vivid, noisy, joyful occasion and well worth timing a visit around.
Walk south from the town centre along the Coventry Canal towpath for an easy escape into open countryside - the canal is flat, well-maintained and rich in wildlife.
Visit the Chilvers Coton Heritage Centre on Avenue Road, housed in a Victorian school building, to uncover Nuneaton's more recent industrial and social history through locally donated artefacts and photographs.
Make sure you visit Hartshill Hayes Country Park - it’s particularly lovely in spring when carpeted with bluebells, and in autumn when the trees are ablaze with colour.

Getting here

By rail

Nuneaton railway station, located near the town centre, is an important junction served by the West Coast Main Line, the cross-country Birmingham to Peterborough line, and by a line to Coventry via Bedworth

By bus

Regular bus routes connect Nuneaton with Coventry, Atherstone, Bedworth, Hinckley and surrounding villages, making it easy to reach without a car from much of the surrounding area.

By car

Nuneaton's central position provides outstanding transport links, with the M1, M6, M40 and M69 all within a short drive. Several centrally located car parks give easy access to the town centre and Riversley Park.

Walking and cycling

Nuneaton is nestled in North Warwickshire Countryside and while the Coventry Canal offers flat, easy towpath walking north towards Atherstone or south towards Bedworth and Coventry, while Hartshill Hayes Country Park opens up a greener, quieter side of North Warwickshire. The following walking routes pass through or close to Nuneaton.

Warwickshire Centenary Way

This 100-mile county-spanning trail passes through the George Eliot country around Nuneaton with the second section running from Hartshill Hayes Country Park to Hawkesbury Junction on the Coventry Canal, taking in rolling farmland, former mining villages and several miles of canal towpath. It’s a varied and rewarding stretch that captures the particular character of North Warwickshire beautifully.

Coventry Canal Walk

The Coventry Canal runs through Nuneaton on its 38-mile course from Coventry to Fradley Junction, just north of Lichfield, where it meets the Trent and Mersey Canal. From the town centre the tow path leads directly south through Riversley Park and on towards Bedworth, or north along quiet stretches of countryside towards Atherstone.

North Arden Heritage Trail

This 25-mile circular route passes through the parishes of North Warwickshire, connecting Hartshill Hayes Country Park to the wider landscape of field paths and quiet lanes that surrounds Nuneaton to the west and north, offering a longer day out for those who want to see the countryside beyond the canal.

Discover more

To discover more things to do and explore in and around Nuneaton, take a look at Nuneaton BID.