Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for GUY'S CLIFF

GUY'S CLIFF, a place in Leek Wootton parish, Warwickshire; on the river Avon, 1½ mile NNE of Warwick. A cave here is alleged to have been formed by Guy of Warwick, after his duel with Colebrand, and to have been the place of his retreat, death, and burial. A hermitage, at all events, seems to have been here from a very early period; and a chantry, for two. priests, was founded here, in the time of Henry VI., by Richard Beauchamp. The chapel was rebuilt in the next reign; and a statue of Guy, 8 feet high, was erected in it, and still exists, but is much defaced. Singular excavations were made in the neighbouring parts of the rock, probably by the hermits and the chantry priests; and were, in comparatively recent times, used as stables, coach houses, and for other similar purposes. The chapel was served by Rous the antiquary, as priest, in the time of Edward IV.; and the property of it was given, at the dissolution, to Sir Edward Flammock, and passed to the family of Percy. A mansion now on that property, and near the old chapel, was built principally in the early part of the 18th century; received various additions at subsequent periods; and contains a rich collection of pictures. The rocks here consist of the upper new red sandstone; are richer in remains of vertebrate animals than similar rocks anywhere else in England; and contain a saurian which, with the exception of one in the dolomitic conglomerate near Bristol, is the oldest British reptile known to geologists.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a place"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Leek Wootton AP/CP       Warwickshire AncC
Place: Guys Cliffe

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