Meriden

Following remembering about Meriden yesterday, in the margins of reference 1, this afternoon I thought to look the place up, and it turns out to rate an interesting entry in Wikipedia at reference 2.

In no particular order.

The Bull's Head is where it says 'Post Office'. The place called 'Hotel' is a Best Western.

An old village, dating back to Mercia, before the Conquest. The present church, which is indeed on a slight eminence, lower middle in the snap, was first built towards the end of the 12th century, on the site of a church built on her own land by the famous Lady Godiva. The site of the old village, then called Alspath, since mutated down the road to Meriden: presumably the two houses of this name were built by antiquarian types.

The village was indeed thought to be the geographical centre of England, that is to say the centre of gravity of a plywood cut-out, a thought sadly demolished by the Ordnance Survey in 1920. The cross, where it says cross in gothic letters, marks the spot.

The village was famous for cyclists, being the site of a memorial to the cyclists who were killed in the first world war. Presumably chaps carrying messages on tracks and roads just behind the front lines.

And lastly, the village was famous for motor-cyclists, being the site of the Triumph motor cycle factory, relocated from Coventry during the second world war. It finally closed in the early 1980's, being replaced by what Agatha would have called the development. Above Millison's Wood, bottom right, well outside the village proper.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/11/forensic-science-service.html.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meriden,_West_Midlands.

Reference 3: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/search?q=meriden. It looks as if I was much more relaxed about the FSS privatisation at the time it happened. The one and only mention of the place.