Chilvers Coton Church. Photograph by Aidan McRae Thomson

Novelist George Eliot was baptised (as Mary Ann Evans) at Chilvers Coton Church, Nuneaton.

Parts of the church date back to the second half of the 13th century. The church was destroyed by bombs in May 1941 and later was rebuilt with the help of German prisoners of war.

The modern traditions of the church and parish are associated with George Eliot, and visitors are shown entries in the registers in connexion with her and her family, also graves of relatives and friends said to be originals of characters in her novels.

Many of the places in Eliot’s novels are based on the village of Chilvers Coton, which she calls Shepperton in Scenes of Clerical Life. Nearby is Arbury Hall, which, in Mr.Gilfil’s Love Story is called Cheverel Hall.

Visting

The village of Chilvers Coton is less than a mile from the centre of Nuneaton and is now absorbed into the town. All Saints is a living church. See website for details.

Opposite the Church is the free school. Built about 1800, it is now a heritage centre.

See also…

• All Saints, Chilvers Coton
• All Saints description and plans on History Online

The catacombs at Warstone Lane Cemetery

This grade-two-listed cemetery is where atheist printer John Baskerville is buried.

Warstone Lane Cemetery was opened in 1848 by the Birmingham Church of England Cemetery Company and acquired by the Birmingham City Council under a compulsory purchase order in 1951.

Baskerville left instructions in his will that he was to be buried in a lead coffin in a conical vault which he had prepared, in his own garden. After the house was sold in 1788 the vault was removed, but the coffin remained until 1821. The open coffin was put on display, for 6d a head, until in 1829 people start to fall ill!

The coffin was reburied secretly among others in a church vault and only rediscovered in 1892. When the church was demolished in 1898 he was reburied in the catacombs at Warstone Lane.

Previously the catacombs’s unpleasant smells had led to the Birmingham Cemetery Act (1846?) which required that non-interred coffins should be sealed with lead or pitch.

The cemetery chapel of St Michael at the cemetery was demolished in 1954 but the grade II listed  blue brick cemetery lodge survived today.

Visiting

The cemetery is open to visitors (see website for opening times). The number 101 bus goes there from Birmingham City Centre; Jewellery Quarter rail & Metro station.

See also…

• Warston Lane Cemetery official site
• Wikipedia article on the cemetery

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The George Eliot Fellowship holds a wreath-laying ceremony on the site every June to celebrate the author.

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Nuneaton Library. Photograph by Oliver & Karl

Nuneaton Library is important for its relation to the novelist George Eliot (real name Mary Anne Evans).  Eliot was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire where the library is located.

Many items, including photos, over 60 facsimiles of letters from her friends and family and first editions of her work can be found in the library.  These include:

• Kirby Letters:  Relating to the Sibree family
• Gojnic Letters: to George Henry Lewes from his son Herbert in Africa
• Helps Letters: Arthur Helps was a writer and friend of George Henry Lewes.
• Wedgwood, Bastian and Stebbing Letters: including scientific items from Lewes
• George Eliot Fellowship Letters: relates very largely to Isaac Evans and his family, particularly his son Frederic.

Additionally, there over 2,000 books relating to Eliot which have been collected over the years.

Nuneaton is one of the prime depositories of books and history relating to George Eliot, her life and work.

Visiting

The library is open every day, check the Warwickshire Library site for details on opening times.

The train journey is about 1 hour 15 minutes from London Euston.

Also see..

• Libraries – George Eliot Collection

Industry and Genius

A sculptural tribute to atheist printer John Baskerville.

On the columns of Portland Stone are reversed bronze letters spelling ‘Virgil’, the Roman poet whose works were printed by Baskerville in the famous typeface that bears his name, in 1757.

The name ‘Industry and Genius’ is taken from a poem praising the printer which was published in 1751 in the Aris’s Gazette - one of Birmingham’s earliest newspapers.

The artist is David Patten, born in Birmingham in 1954, and the monument was placed in Centenary Square in 1990.

Visiting

Industry and Genius is located in the public Centenary Square between Birmingham’s Hall of Memory and Baskerville House.

Also see…

• Industry and Genius on the Birmingham City Council Website