Sign In

My Timeline

GuRoute

Discover Your World

Share your Experiences

Record your Life

   

Top Attractions in Warwick

Priory Park

Priory Park is an urban park located in the centre of Warwick, England. Originally the land was the grounds of a 12th-century priory dedicated to St Sepulchre and built in 1124 but this was closed down by King Henry VIII during the dissolution of the Monasteries. It was then destroyed and a residential home was built in 1566 by a man named Thomas Fisher known as Hawkins. In the 17th century, the estate was owned by Sir Thomas Puckering, 1st Baronet and his heirs, including Sir Henry Puckering, 3rd Baronet who was MP for Warwickshire and then the borough of Warwick. By 1850 the property had been taken over by the famous Warwickshire family, the Wises. During that year the Great Western Railway company were allowed to build an embankment to extend the line to Warwick station which was built in 1852 at the north-east of the estate. In 1926 Alexander W. Weddell, an American diplomat and his wife Virginia, a wealthy woman in her own right, purchased the property after seeing the advertisement that Priory House was to be demolished. They bought the house and shipped several thousand tons of the stones and other materials for the building of Virginia House, Richmond, Virginia in 1928. They signed the house to the Virginia Historical Society who still maintain it today. The estate now is owned and managed by Warwick District council and is a public park. (Part of the park is owned by Warwickshire County Council but managed by WDC) There is very little evidence of the previous buildings in existence. In 1958 and 1979 there were international scout gatherings at the park and a plaque by one of the paths commemorates this. The AMIKARO referred to on the plaque means Friendship in Esperanto. Seven trees were planted, although 3 of these have since died and replaced in 2012, to spell AMIKARO. In the 1970s Warwickshire County Council moved its record offices to the eastern part of the estate into a purpose built building. The public park area is composed of unimproved grass areas that are cut but not landscaped and there are many clumps of trees to explore. Until the late 1990s there was a small children's play area in the middle but this was removed. The nearest play area can be found a minute's walk north west from the park under the railway bridge in a smaller 5-acre (20,000 m2) park called Priory Pools. Because there are many burrows around the park European rabbits are a common sight, even to the casual observer. The total public area of the main park currently stands at 28.7 acres. Famous artists have visited the park; Canaletto in the 1740s and in 1809 John Constable made a sketch. A free leaflet has been published which is both a nature and history walk around the Park and Priory Pools. Available at Warwick Tourist Information Centre, Jury Street, Warwick (with effect from February 2016) and also online.

Central Hospital

Central Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located in Hatton, Warwickshire, England. Building began in 1846 on a 42-acre (17 ha) site purchased from the Earl of Warwick and was completed in 1852, the first patients moving in on 30 June. It was originally named the Warwick County Lunatic Asylum and from 1930-1948 the Warwickshire County Mental Hospital. A classic Victorian asylum built on a grand scale in the gothic style it at one point housed 1,600 patients. Eventually gaining over 377 acres (153 ha) of land, the hospital patients provided most of their own food from three farms in the grounds and a spring supplied it with water. Many of the staff lived there too, it was more like a village than a hospital. It even had its own sports pitches, coffin maker and a chapel which was completed in 1862. The vicar of Hatton was responsible for the religious life of the hospital. Nevertheless it was, in the early days, a reasonably hard place to be treated by modern standards. Mentally ill patients were subjected to, amongst other things, electric shock therapy. It was later said that certain rooms were haunted by dead patients. However compared to contemporary poor house asylums and established public asylums like Bedlam, Central treated their patients quite kindly with parties and drama productions regularly held for, and by, patients who were allowed a lot of freedom within the hospital grounds. In the 1920s construction began on the King Edward VII Memorial Sanatorium on land adjoining the site. This later became the Hertford Hill Hospital and was used for the treatment of Tuberculosis. In 1933 the first voluntary admissions were allowed and outpatient clinics were opened in the neighbouring urban areas of Warwick, Leamington and Coventry. In 1948 the hospital joined the National Health Service freeing up the patients to the outside world as never before. In the 1950s and 1960s the hospital evolved further. With the increasing population and understanding of mental illnesses the hospital was overcrowded for over 20 years between 1945 and the late 1960s. A step in the right direction during that time however was the building of Nuffield House in partnership with the Nuffield Foundation. These were rehabilitation units which were in essence a halfway house between the wards of the main hospital and a typical suburban home and were supervised but not totally controlled by staff. The farms were sold off about 1973 with only the walled-in property and buildings remaining. The hospital itself was officially closed on 31 July 1995 when it was decided a more modern and less imposing hospital was needed. Many of the buildings were razed to the ground and a housing estate, Hatton Park, was built there. However some of the old buildings are listed and remained, albeit as houses. The new purpose built St. Michael's Hospital is located four miles (6 km) away in the town of Warwick.

This attraction is located in

This is a private property. Please enjoy respectfully and do not disturb the occupants.

Edit Categories
Add Tours

This attraction is not part of any tours

Add Collections

This attraction is not part of any collections

 

Some of the attractions we imported from Wikipedia are not perfect. Send us an email detailing what's wrong and we'll look into fixing it.

GuRoute is all about Gurus sharing their local knowledge. If you feel up to fixing this problem yourself, why not adopt it. You will become the owner and can fix whatever problems you see.

We've copied a link to this attraction into your clipboard so that ou can paste it into an email or text message...

More Info...
You can add your friends to the visit yourself, or, send them a link and let them add themselves...

The visit will appear on both your timelines and on your Shared Timeline.

Click below and we'll email you a link that you can send on to friends or post on your group's Facebook page.

If your friends aren't members of GuRoute yet, this is a great way to get them started.
Recent
Recently used Collections will appear here...
Recent
Recently used tours will appear here...

Where is this?

GuRoute likes to place attractions inside other attractions. So, maybe it's in a city, or maybe it's inside a particular park in that city. Maybe your attraction is a huge park that spans half the county, or multiple counties.

Determining where this attraction is gives it context - if it's in a park, you'll be able to see it alongside all the other attractions in that park. And that helps define the park.

GuRoute will automatically calculate a parent region for this attraction. You can change it if there is something more appropriate.

This attraction is currently located in .

Change

This attraction does not yet have any reviews

Please login to write a review...

Reviewed by
Record new Visit

Add this location to your timneline?

  • If there's an existing attraction open it and add it to your timeline...
  • If not, enter a title and we'll create a new attraction for your memories...
Create new Attraction

Create a new attraction at this location?

  • We rely on Gurus like you to share your local knowledge...
(Give a name for this location)


+
Add this to your timeline instead...

Imagine having a record of all the cool things you've done in your life!


Using our timeline you can keep track of everywhere you visit in your lifetime...

But, you'll need to sign in first...

Add contacts so that you can share your travels and record places that you visit together...

Family
Favorites
Family
Favorites

Profile TimeLine Our Visits Edit Accept Decline Invite

If you have any more friends that visited this place with you, feel free to add them to the visit. We'll write it to their timeline and once they confirm it, they too will have this memory for a lifetime.

If they're not already registered, you just need their name and email address and you can add them and we'll send them an invite on your behlaf.

Add a tour comment

Add some extra information for when this attraction is viewed as part of your tour...

Next Stop Instructions

Add some instructions for what to see/do on the way to the next stop...

Next Stop Instructions

Add some instructions for what to see/do on the way to the next stop...

If you're visiting an existing attraction, open it and add it to your timeline. If there is no attraction for the place you are visiting...

  • Click 'Add My Location' below
  • Or right-click on the map to mark a different location
  • Or long-press if you have a touch screen
You can even add locations while you're offline....
  • Load up the map when you're online and we'll keep track of your locaiton
  • You can add locations to your timeline
  • When you are online again we'll sync them with the cloud

We can't connect to the internet right now. The following attractions are saved locally and can be uploaded when you're online...

GuRoute would like to access your current location so that we can pin you on the map and show you nearby attractions

Add friends so that you can share your experiences with each other...

Add tour to What's Next?

Go...

Either for yourself or someone else...

  1. Do your trip research in GuRoute
    Add all the places that you think might be worthy of a visit into a trip-plan
  2. Add your trip-plan to your "What's Next" timeline
    (or a friend's "What's Next" timeline)
  3. When you're on vacation you'll have all your research at your fingertips
  4. Share your timline with your friends
    They can enjoy your vacation with you, seeing not only where you've been, but where you're going next...
  5. Add/remove attractions if things change

It also makes a great souvenir of your trip

Collections

Go...

Create a home page for a collection of attractions

  • Add an image and description to display on the homepage
  • Start adding content
    Add existing attractions to your collection or create new attractions of your own
  • Collections can be:
    • Public (Anyone can add attractions to your collection)
    • Shared (Only yourself and Gurus you nominate can add content)
    • Private (The collection will only be visible to yourself)

Uses

  • Local business or hotel
    Showcase local attractions that you endorse
  • Clubs
    Showcase attractions that members have created (eg. local historical society)
  • Special Interest
    If GuRoute does not have a category for your special interest you add your attractions to your own collection instead

Examples

Walking/Driving Tours

Go...

A guided tour where GuRoute will direct you from stop to stop and narrate a description of each attraction you arrive at

  • GuRoute uses your phone's GPS to guide you from stop to stop
  • GuRoute automatically detects when you arrive at the next tour-stop and narrates the description of the attraction (Chrome Only)
  • It then sends you on to the next stop

Tours are great to attract people to your town. Even places with no significant points of interest can be lots of fun when part of a tour


Cater tours to your Audience

  • Kid-friendly Tours
    • Focus on what will keep kids interested
    • Instead of parents having to drag their kids around they'll be struggling to keep up
    • Let the kids navigate and they'll get more fun out of finding that historical plaque than they ever would from reading it
  • Accessible tours
  • Short and long tours of the same location

What you need to do...

  1. Click 'Go...'
    Enter a title, description and location for the tour
  2. Add existing attractions OR create new ones and add them to the tour
  3. For existing attractions you can add more information specific to the theme of the tour
  4. You can also add instructions on what to do or see en-route to the next tour-stop
  5. Try out your tour and see how it works...

Mystery Tour

Go...

Create a Mystery Tour

Create a series of clues to show people around a city, neighborhood or whatever place you like...

  • GuRoute will show people clues to get them from attraction to attraction
  • When they reach each stop GuRoute will tell them about the place and give them the next clue
  • Take as long or as you like and explore each location at your leisure

Scavenger Hunt

Go...

Create a Scavenger Hunt

Create a series of questions that people have to answer. The answers can all be discovered by walking aroung the area, looking for clues.

  • How many beers are on tap at Michael Collin's Irish Bar?
  • What's the name of the oldest building on main streeet?
  • Show a picture of some public art and ask them what it is called
  • Clues can have numeric or multiple choice answers