The Oldnall End One Place Study aims to reconstruct the story of this lost Warwickshire hamlet, its fields and farms, and the people who inhabited it. According to the English Place-Name Survey its name, recorded in the 12th century as Holdenhale or Odenhale and subsequently as Oldenhale, may mean ‘Ealda’s corner of land (healdh)’ or ‘the old corner of land’. If the latter, it could mean Oldnall End is one of the longest-cultivated parts of Berkswell parish.

Where was Oldnall End?

Oldnall End was a roughly rectangular area southwest of the historic village centre of Berkswell, coloured purple on the map below. Its boundaries are taken from the Warwickshire Land Tax lists (1773-1830), when it was one of the administrative divisions of Berkswell, along with Berkswell Village, Nailcote End and Beech End. The boundaries of Oldnall End were generally stable, other than along Hodgetts Lane, where there is some overlap with Beech End to the SE.

How big was Oldnall End?

Land Tax records between 1773 and 1830 show the number of plots in Oldnall End rising from about 40 to about 60. Some of these were dwellings and some were land. The image below is adapted from the 1831 Ordnance Survey map; each star represents a residential building (in case of attached cottages, one star represents 2 or 3 dwellings). Altogether, the 1831 map shows 67 dwellings, all of which are accounted for on the 1839 Tithe Apportionment.

What was Oldnall End like?

Oldnall End was a rural community without a single centre. The local parish church was St John’s in Berkswell, although nineteenth-century residents also used neighbouring parish churches at Hampton in Arden, Barston, Temple Balsall, Allesley and Stoneleigh, as well as the Cathedral and other churches in Coventry. The community was very well connected by road to Coventry, Kenilworth, Warwick and Birmingham; once the railway station was opened in 1844, it became even easier for residents to travel to Coventry, Birmingham and beyond.