Southam

Southam is a small town in Warwickshire England with a population of around 6,000 (5,304 in the 1991 census). Around 2000 people live in the local villages that surround it. The town is located roughly 7 miles (11 km) east of Leamington Spa.

The town for many years had a small cement and quarrying industry, but the cement works was closed in the mid 1990s.

Table of contents

1 Location
2 Facilities
3 Transport
4 Geography
5 History
6 Southam, Gloucestershire

Location

Southam is located between (Leamington Spa and Daventry) (on the A425) and between Coventry and Banbury (on the A423). The A426 connects it to Rugby. This has meant that Southam has become a rapidly growing commuter town in recent years.

Facilities

Southam has three primary schools, and a secondary school (Southam College) that has around 1000 students from Southam and the local villages. It has a few smaller supermarkets and many pubs within the town itself and the local villages, most of them serve food.

Transport

Southam is located a few miles from the M40, and due to it's location has excellent road links. Taxi firms and minicab companies opperate within the area. The closest station is at Leamington Spa.

Geography

Southam is located on the river Stowe, which flows from Napton-on-the-Hill. The dominant rock type for the area is blue lias clay.

History

Southam can trace it's history back to time of the Anglo-Saxons. Southam is mentionned in Henry VI, part 3 by William Shakespeare in Act V, Scence I (Lines 10 - 16):

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick Say, Somerville, what says my loving son?
And, by thy guess, how nigh is Clarence now?
Duke of Somerset At Southam I did leave him with his forces,
And do expect him here some two hours hence. [Drum heard]
War. Then Clarence is at hand, I hear his drum.
Som. It is not his, my lord; here Southam lies:
The drum your honour hears marcheth from Warwick.

Southam lies not far from Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare.

Southam also has connections to the English Civil War, King Charles I passed through the town just prior to the outbreak of war and apparently was not made welcome by the townsfolk who refused to ring the church bells.

In 1642 he stayed in Southam before the Battle of Edgehill. Later on in 1645, Oliver Cromwell stayed in the town along with 7,000 Roundhead troops.

Southam was also mentionned in the Domesday Book.

Southam, Gloucestershire

There is also a village in Gloucestershire called Southam located on the outskirts of Cheltenham.