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The Centre of England

  • Thread starter Thread starter O.C.
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O.C.

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The centre of England has never been determined with exactness: perhaps it cannot be. Many places in Warwickshire have claimed this alluring distinction; Lillington by Leamington, which has an oak tree said to mark the spot; Meriden which has set up a memorial stone; and Copston Magna where the oldest inhabitant will tell you that the centre is just here, many other villages also lay claim to what’s really a useless bit of information as it is shrinking all the time and being eroded by the sea.
It may or may not be;
In the 1930’s schoolboys of King Edward's Grammar School Birmingham tried an ingenious method to solve this problem, and did so to their perfect satisfaction. They drew 40 maps of England on cardboard and accurately cut them out. Then they determined the centre of gravity on each map by careful balancing, and it was found that Minworth, this little place six miles north-east of Birmingham, was the centre of gravity on all the 40 maps.
The schoolboys, of course, could make no allowance for rivers and mountains, lakes and hills, or any other factor that breaks the surface of the land, but as far as it seems likely to be possible to solve it the experiment does seem to solve the problem of what is the exact centre of the face of England if it were all level. All this being so.
Many years ago Meriden use to be besieged by cyclists from all over England on Empire day to pay their respects at the memorial to all the cyclists who died in WW2 and to be at the service held on the village green sadly this no longer happens .........but the odd few still make this pilgrimage
 
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A very nice and interesting piece Cromwell. I always thought it was Meridan but you have posted a whole new perspective. Thank you.
 
Nice one Alf, its like every stately home has in its grounds a tree were the king hid.....
I have always wondered how they come up with the center of England and knew it could not have been accurate measuring that determined it, as the borders of Scotland and Wales were not that clear cut years ago
Still its all good for the tourist trade....
 
Meriden, may or may not be the centre of England, but Birmingham is definately the HEART.:)
 
Graham in one of the bars at the Bull's Head in Meriden is a brass plate stating that this is the centre of England. I haven't been in there for a few years but can remember seeing it quite distinctly, it was embedded in the floor.
 
The Meriden 'cross', plaque and the Monument ...........
In Remembrance of those cyclists who gave their lives in World War II 1939-1945
 
I have come to the conclusion that all villages claiming to be the centre of England ....its just all hearsay passed down through the years as nowhere can you find any substance in the claims or anything that remotely makes sense of the claims....perhaps it was all started in the Bulls Head Pub after a local had to much to drink..
 
I have never been to Meriden - - but I have to say what a picturesque place it is -to be considered the Centre of England -after all it's that what counts
 
Which proves my point......just how do them know (see Alfs post 3)
after a bit it all becomes a joke......Like the Loch Ness Monster
 
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Nick they did not have that years ago..........and even that is flawed as its already given two different locations Fenny Drayton and Dunsop Bridge its according to who puts the co-ordinates into the system ........so guess where a bloke from Meriden would put in to it .....till it gave the right answer
The Ordnance Survey people recently got involved and they worked out it was in the centre of Lindley Hall Farm and they used the same method as the schoolkids and the balance method only with more accurate maps
I feel the debate will rage on..........as other methods are tried,improved,discounted and laughed at
 
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Thanks Nick this is how confusing its become Pin versus GPS and who is right and who will be the first to put McDonalds on the spot to cash in


The Ordnance Survey, has calculated the exact centre of England to be on Lindley Hall Farm.
To be precise, it puts the centre at grid reference SP 36373.66 96143.05. A small padock near the farm.
The centre co-ordinates were calculated by the Ordnance Survey using a gravitational method. To put it simply, it marks the point where a cardboard cut-out of the country could be balanced on the tip of a pencil (The islands of England were included in the computer calculation).


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Much debate surrounds the exact position of the centre of Great Britain. Dunsop Bridge was officially recognised by the Ordnance Survey in 1992 as the neareset village to the centre of the British Isles and BT marked this by placing its 100,000th telephone box on the village green. However, the actual centre of the British Isles is in fact at SD 64188.3 56541.43, at Whitendale Hanging Stones on the hills seven kilometres north of Dunsop Bridge. Others would argue that the centre is much further north in Haltwhistle.
It all depends on how you calculate it.
 
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