The following is a pictorial record of the Church Lawford Village Green, including the days up until the early 20th Century when the Village Stocks were located there. The core scene stays fairly similar, with the White Lion going through plenty of changes, the various trees being felled and replaced, and newer furniture such as telegraph poles and the telephone box appearing during the inter-war period. For details on the equivalent area in Kings Newnham see here.
For details of the White Lion Public House (and predecessors) see here, and see the clickable links to School Street, Green Lane and Church Road.
Around 50 years after the stocks disappeared they became the topic of village discussion in the 1950s when the local press seized on a debate between villagers and Warwickshire Council about errors detected in the latter’s plans for the area – see here.
The pictures below help to highlight the changing size and ages of the trees growing on the village green. As early as 1893 there was evidence of very old trees on the green, and many have grown, matured and been culled in the following years. Perhaps someone with appropriate knowledge might be able to match the trees in the various pictures, helping to confirm their growing cycle as well as more accurately dating the pictures. There is also a further possible picture where help is needed to locate and date it – as detailed here.
The drawing below is from a book published in 1893 called Rugby Past and Present, showing a view of the village green with the old tree stump and the seating around it. There is also a sapling and a mature tree as well as the stocks – see here for the full text. See a separate article detailing a 1954 debate about the Village Stocks. These two articles and the drawing below explain what can be seen in the pictures above.
