Keresley

Keresley is located to the northwest of the city and lies within the Bablake ward, bounded by the Woodlands, Whoberley, Sherbourne, Radford and Holbrook wards.{{cite web|title=Bablake Ward |url=http://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/2000635/bablake_ward/50/bablake_ward/1 |publisher=Coventry City Council |access-date=10 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224004152/http://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/2000635/bablake_ward/50/bablake_ward/1 |archive-date=24 February 2014 }}

Neighbouring villages include Corley, Corley Moor, Ash Green and Brownshill Green.

For most of its history, Keresley was a combination of two further villages: Keresley Green was the most northerly and first to exist, but it was Keresley Heath to the south which was developed the most with the building of schools and the church of St. Thomas. However, in 1911 the construction of Coventry Colliery by the Warwickshire Coal Company near to Keresley Green brought the focus of development back to that area.{{cite book |title=The Mining Engineer |author=Institution of Mining Engineers |publisher=Institution of Mining Engineers |year=1915 |page=799}} It was not until 1974 that the two parts of Keresley lost their separate identities and became united. The closure of the colliery followed in 1991.{{cite web|title=St Thomas' Church Keresley|url=http://www.st-thomas-keresley.org.uk/|access-date=10 February 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221100959/http://www.st-thomas-keresley.org.uk/|archive-date=21 February 2014}}

Keresley parish is largely rural and contains some beautiful ancient woodland. Coventry City Council's wildlife surveys which include Keresley parish, have classified much of the area as an "A" grade - "An area of very high natural history value, containing several varied habitats and a wide diversity of plants and animals". The area has a lot of footpaths which make it accessible to the public and is probably one of the few areas of Coventry where you can hear skylarks. Despite this Coventry City Council propose the area can be developed as an "Eco" suburb with 3000 homes, and a separate estate of new properties is currently being built, as of January 2010.{{cite web|title=Keresley Eco-Suburb|url=http://www.keresleyvillages.org.uk/ecosuburb.php|publisher=Keresley Villages|access-date=10 February 2014}}

The etymology of the word Keresley suggests that it is Saxon in origin, meaning that the name could originate from the 7th century, although the village was not cited in the Domesday Book of 1086.

The -ley suffix is shared by many villages in the country, and means a clearing in the woods. This means that Keresley was a clearing in the Forest of Arden. And the Keres- prefix is thought to either be a corruption of the Saxon word for cress or someone's name, meaning together either: The cress clearing, or 'Mr' Cress's Clearing.

The Church of England parish church of Saint Thomas is just off the Tamworth Road (B4098). It was designed by the Gothic Revival architect Benjamin Ferrey in the Early English style{{NHLE |num=1076609 |accessdate=7 February 2008}} and built in 1844–45.Pevsner & Wedgwood, 1966, p. 326 The bell tower has a ring of six bells.[http://www.coventrydg.co.uk/ Coventry Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers: Tower Directory] St Thomas's is a Grade II listed building.

File:St Thomas church in Coventry 1a07.jpg|St Thomas' Church, Keresley.

File:St Thomas Church tower - Keresley.jpg|The tower of St Thomas' Church.

Coventry City Council is the local government body of the City of Coventry. The city is divided up into 18 Wards each with three councillors.{{cite web|title=Coventry City Council|url=http://www.coventry.gov.uk/|access-date=10 February 2014}}

Coventry forms part of the West Midlands Police force area.{{cite web|title=West Midlands Police - About Us|url=http://www.west-midlands.police.uk/keeping-you-safe/about-us/|access-date=10 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222134752/http://www.west-midlands.police.uk/keeping-you-safe/about-us/|archive-date=22 February 2014|url-status=dead}} The neighbourhood policing team for Keresley, Coundon and Allesley are the Bablake neighbourhood team.{{cite web|title=Bablake Neighbourhood Policing Team|url=http://www.west-midlands.police.uk/your-local-police/coventry/your-neighbourhood/index.aspx?id=51|access-date=10 February 2014}}

The actor Clive Owen and the cybernetics professor Kevin Warwick were born in Keresley.{{cite web|url=http://www.localhistories.org/keresley.html|title = A History of Keresley|date = 14 March 2021}} So was novelist Graham Joyce.

Also from Keresley is Roddy 'Radiation' Byers guitarist of 1980s ska band The Specials.

British Communist leader, trade unionist, and author Graham Stevenson was born in Keresley.{{cite news|date=26 May 2020|title=Remembering Graham Stevenson, titan of the labour movement|work=The Morning Star|url=https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/remembering-graham-stevenson-titan-labour-movement|accessdate=22 August 2023}}

William Tallon, nicknamed "Backstairs Billy", was a resident of the village as a teenager, prior to him joining the Royal Household in 1951.{{cite news|date=27 April 1951|title=Buckingham Palace is now Address of Keresley Boy|pages=7|work=Coventry Standard|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94180447/buckingham-palace-is-now-address-of/|access-date=4 February 2022}}

On the evening of Monday 12 December 2011 hundreds of apples reportedly fell from the sky over the junction between Kelmscote Road and Keresley Road, in Keresley, Coventry. Several witnesses reported that hundreds of apples seemingly fell out of the sky landing on the ground, and several cars, below. This incident received both local and national media coverage and, although it drew comment by the Met Office, it still remains unexplained.{{cite web|url=http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2011/12/14/mystery-of-apples-falling-from-sky-in-keresley-92746-29949102/|title = Coventry News: The latest Coventry news updates from CoventryLive}}{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/12/14/apples-fall-from-the-sky-coventry_n_1148287.html?ref=uk|title = It's Raining Apples: Fruity Shower in Coventry|date = 14 December 2011}}{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-16203214 | work=BBC News | title=Keresley residents mystified by apple shower | date=15 December 2011|access-date=10 February 2014}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |author=Pevsner, Nikolaus |author-link=Nikolaus Pevsner |last2=Wedgwood|first2= Alexandra |title=The Buildings of England: Warwickshire |date=1966 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Harmondsworth |isbn=0-14-071031-0 }}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140221100959/http://www.st-thomas-keresley.org.uk/ St Thomas' Church, Keresley]

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Category:Suburbs of Coventry

Category:Villages in the West Midlands (county)